UX Strategy: Persona Development and Customer Journey Mapping

Project Summary

The goal of this project was to help the marketing team better understand the needs of the executive education customer and how they navigate the program selection and application process. This would help inform which marketing initiatives to prioritize and identify any friction points preventing users from completing applications or contacting Wharton.

Through user research and stakeholder interviews, three distinct user personas were developed: the open-enrollment shopper (mid-level executive), the senior executive shopper, and the client representative. A comprehensive customer journey map was created to visualize the end-to-end user experience and identify pain points, opportunities, and solutions across all touchpoints.

My Role

As the UX project lead, I conducted stakeholder interviews, gathered insights from customer care representatives and the marketing team, and analyzed user feedback data. This qualitative and quantitative research informed the development of evidence-based personas and a detailed customer journey map (designed in Figma).

Pain Points Discovered

• Information Architecture Issue: There was no efficient way to compare programs or filter by specific topics of interest. With over 60 programs offered across various subject areas, users experienced choice overload, and the navigation structure required excessive clicks to reach program detail pages.
• External Stakeholder Dependency: Given the high price point of programs ($8K+), 90% of users required company-sponsored tuition reimbursement. Users frequently encountered friction when seeking approval from their organizations, creating a barrier in the conversion funnel.
• Form Usability Issues: The application form suffered from poor usability — it was excessively long, cognitively overwhelming, and included many non-essential fields that weren’t necessary for candidate evaluation, creating unnecessary friction and increasing form abandonment rates.
• Lack of Differentiated User Flows: Approximately eight programs didn’t require applicant vetting, yet all programs shared the same application workflow. This created an unnecessary barrier preventing users from completing direct enrollment and payment for non-vetted programs.

Solutions

This UX strategy project served as a catalyst for multiple product enhancements at Wharton Executive Education:

• Program Finder Tool (Faceted Search): A program discovery tool was developed featuring faceted filtering capabilities, allowing users to refine results across multiple criteria (keyword, upcoming date, career level, format, topic, duration, and location). A comparison feature enabled users to evaluate up to three programs side-by-side, reducing cognitive load during decision-making.
• Supporting Content for Stakeholder Buy-In: Program-specific justification letter templates were created as downloadable resources, providing users with tools to build a business case for their supervisors and reduce friction in the company approval process.
• Form Optimization: Application forms underwent a comprehensive content audit to eliminate redundant fields and consolidate related questions. The form UX was redesigned from a single-page format to a multi-step form with progress indicators, reducing cognitive load and providing clear wayfinding throughout the application process.
• Streamlined Enrollment Flow: A fast-track application process was developed for non-vetted programs, enabling users to complete enrollment and payment in a single session, reducing time-to-conversion and improving the user experience for this segment.