Bonafide Marketing Genius

Use Case Diagram: How to Use It to Boost Your Online Marketing

Picture this: you’re surfing the web, exploring blogs, and occasionally clicking on a few affiliate links here and there. You come across a website that seems interesting; however, there’s no clear indication of what the website is about or what kind of content they provide. You might think to yourself, “This isn’t exactly my sort of site,” and move on to another tab or window. Suddenly, you stumble upon an insightful blog post that completely changes your perspective on the subject matter!

That sort of experience is what a Use Case Diagram (UCD) is supposed to represent. A UCD is a type of cognitive model (or diagram) used to visually represent the flow of value (i.e., what a business provides to the customer) through the use of a product or service.

In other words, a UCD can help you identify the exact purpose of a product or service, explain how that product (or service) helps the customer achieve their goals, and illuminate all the key features of the offering.

Creating a UCD for a product that you’ve never designed before can be a little tricky, but with a little bit of brainstorming, you’ll be able to explain exactly how that product (or service) fits into your customer’s lives and the role you play in helping them reach their goals. This article will teach you how to create a UCD for a product or service that you’re already using (or have used in the past), so there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Let’s get started.

The Basics Of A UCD

The first and foremost thing to keep in mind when creating a UCD is that you are not designing a business plan. A UCD is not meant to replace your product’s functional specifications, details about the manufacturing process, or marketing material. It is designed to capture the essence of what your product (or service) is and how it can best fit into the customer’s lives. So, as you’ll see in a moment, the first thing you need to do is simply identify the problem that your product (or service) is trying to solve.

Once you’ve got that problem (or question) nailed down, you can begin to map out the Solution (i.e., the detailed steps your product (or service) takes to help the customer achieve their goals).

And here’s the best part: once you’ve got all the parts (i.e., problem, solution, and value) laid out in a UCD, you can start to see the big picture. In other words, once you’ve got your UCD complete, you can start to see how all the parts interconnect and interact with one another. This is where the value of a UCD really shines through.

Use Case Interviews

In addition to creating a UCD for a completely new product (or service), you may find it helpful to revisit old products (or services) and see how they could be improved or evolved to suit the needs of today’s customers. This is where a Use Case Interview comes in handy. A Use Case Interview is simply an in-depth interview with a customer (or potential customer) who has used your product (or service) and can provide useful feedback on how to make it better. These interviews are conducted either through email or over the phone (preferably in person), and they typically last for about an hour.

The best thing about a Use Case Interview is that it allows you to get deep (and fast) into the minds of your customers. During the interview, you’ll be able to discover exactly how the customer uses your product (or service) and what they like/dislike about it. This allows you to refine or replace their initial experience with a better one. Additionally, you’ll be able to extract key insights about the customer’s needs and expectations, which you can then translate into a UCD. By creating a better UCD, you’ll be able to align your product (or service) with the needs and wants of your customers better than ever before.

Product (or Service) Assessment

Before you even begin designing your UCD, you need to do some research into the available products (or services) in the marketplace. The better you understand what other options your customers have, the better you can design a product (or service) that will satisfy their needs. This is where a little bit of competitive analysis comes in handy. You can use a few different tools to get an idea of what products (or services) are available on the market. One of the simplest and most popular tools for this purpose is free online survey tools such as SurveyMonkey and Survey Casting. Just click to take a survey today!

What makes a good product (or service)? These tools will help you assess the factors that make a product (or service) desirable, including the following:

  • Desirability
  • User-friendliness
  • Design
  • Cost
  • Quality
  • Reliability
  • Accessibility
  • Energy efficiency
  • Durability
  • Repairs
  • Company support
  • Credentials

The better your product (or service) matches these criteria, the better it will do in the marketplace. When designing your UCD, you’ll want to keep these factors in mind.

Who Are Your Customers?

One of the most critical decisions you’ll need to make when creating your UCD is deciding who the target audience is for your product (or service). You don’t necessarily need to restrict yourself to one target audience; instead, you can use a few different groups of people to help you narrow down the field of potential customers, including the following:

  • Existing customers
  • Potential customers
  • People interested in the subject matter
  • People who’ve experienced a similar problem
  • Appropriate influencers

Once you’ve got a few leads, set up a phone or in-person meeting with these people to better understand their needs, goals, and desired outcomes. During this meeting, you can find out what makes them special and determine if your product (or service) is right for them. In order to create a UCD that will be as effective and helpful as possible, you need to take the time to get to know your customers and determine what they want and need.

Gap Analysis

Once you’ve got your customers figured out, it’s time to do some gap analysis. Simply put, gap analysis is the process of discovering the differences between what your customers want or need and what you provide. In order to design a UCD that will satisfy your customers, it’s important to take the time to do some research into the following:

  • The current products (or services) in the marketplace
  • Competitors’ products (or services)
  • Your product (or service)’s competitors
  • Your product (or service)’s competitors’ products (or services)
  • What are existing customers doing now that your product (or service) is helping them solve their problems

As you can probably guess, this is a lot of research to conduct, so take the time to do all of this work before you begin moving pieces around on a whiteboard or designing your UCD on a computer. You’ll be able to better determine what you need to provide in order to satisfy your customers. Additionally, you can use these insights to determine if there are any improvements or changes that you can make to your product (or service) to make it better.

Once you’ve got all the pieces laid out, it’s time to connect the dots. Take a deep breath and make sure that you’ve got all the information you need before you begin moving pieces around on a whiteboard or designing your UCD on a computer. This way, you can be sure that you’ve got everything figured out before you begin moving pieces around on a whiteboard or designing your UCD on a computer. Having all the pieces laid out in advance will make creating the UCD much easier. Additionally, you can use a tool like a voice recorder to help you accurately capture all the important information. Remember: no diagrams, no math, no formulas! Just your thoughts and ideas.