This document describes the evolution of use cases for an online content production platform from 2012-2017. It started with 22 use cases that were reduced to 5 by focusing on tasks, goals and content types. Personas were developed to represent key customer roles. Problems emerged from a lack of customer data and focus. The approach was refined using Jobs To Be Done theory to center on the key purposes customers seek to fulfill. This led to aligning the marketing, content and strategy around the core value propositions.

1. Use case battle scars:
How we created, refined and reduced
our use cases
Robert Mills
Content Strategist

2. An online platform to help teams
organise and produce lots of
content for websites.

3. An online platform to help teams
organise and produce lots of
content for websites.

4. A use case is a written
description of how users will
perform tasks on your website.
Usability.gov

5. 2012 - 2014

6. 2014

7. The content-first solution that
helps agencies and their clients
plan, organize and collaborate on
website content. Pre-CMS.

8. Our dilemmas:
A high number of customers
were churning.

9. Our dilemmas:
Other types of customer were
signing up.

10. Our approach:
Let’s rebrand and position
ourselves as a product that
people can use every day.

11. Our expectations:
Our customers will be happy
because we will meet all
their needs.

12. Our expectations:
The company will grow as we
diversify and bring more
customers onboard.

13. Our expectations:
Nobody will ever leave! We’ll
have low churn harmony.

15. Our approach:
Let’s rebrand and position
ourselves as a product that
people can use every day.

16. 2015 - 2016

18. Feedback
How people used the product
How we defined our use cases

19. Feedback
Speaking to customers
How we defined our use cases

20. Feedback
Speaking to customers
How people used the product
How we defined our use cases

21. Feedback
Speaking to customers
How people used the product
Existing understanding
How we defined our use cases

22. 22

23. Some of our use cases:
Write blog posts
Plan social content
Produce website content
Govern content
Create ongoing content
Create intranet content

24. Focusing on job roles led
us down a semantic rabbit
hole.

25. Agency / In-house

27. Reducing our use cases
from 22 to 5.

28. We refined use cases based
on tasks, goals, pains and
broader content types.

29. Website redesign
Content governance
Email content
Editorial
New website

32. A persona led approach

33. X
Major responsibilities
Characteristics
Pains and Solutions
Common objections
Media consumption
Demographics
Income and Home life
Photos

34. Sarah
Adam
Kate
Emma
Agency
In-house
Redesign
On-going

35. Content focused role
Involved in content strategy,
production and governance with
clients
‘Piggy in the middle’ role
Has to deal with lots of files, late
content, chasing clients
Has to ‘sell’ GatherContent to
both her bosses and the clients
Needs to collaborate with
clients, have everything in one
place and know who is
delivering what and when
Sarah
Agency
Website redesign
Kate
In-house
Content production
Adam
In-house
Website redesign
Emma
Agency
Content production
Content or marketing focused
role
Involved in content planning,
modelling and production
Works with many different
people and is organised to do
so effectively
Lots of plates spinning at once
Needs a central place for
content and related
communication with planning
functions
Needs to whitelabel to sell on
Senior content role
Involved in strategy, planning,
production. governance and
guidelines
Also wears project manager hat
Good at analysis and attention
to detail
Faced with late content,
bottlenecks, lack of
understanding from others
Needs help selling content
strategy internally
Senior content role
Leads teams, has a lot of
control and sign off power
Wears many hats and is
efficient at multitasking but
always super busy
Too much time wasted chasing,
sifting through emails and trying
to piece content together
Needs a structured process and
tool to support that
Needs quick and easy solution
Developing personas

36. 2015

37. When you try and talk to
everybody, you end up
talking to nobody.

38. Our approach only focused
on one step in a long
customer journey.

39. Our new dilemma:

40. Number of trials - 2015
June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
525 588 476 569 485 506 425

41. Number of trials - 2015
June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
525 588 476 569 485 506 425
Redesign

42. Number of trials - 2015
June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
525 588 476 569 485 506 425
Redesign Masterclass

43. Number of trials - 2015
June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
525 588 476 569 485 506 425
Redesign Masterclass Holidays

44. Our shortcomings:
Business led, not customer led.

45. Our shortcomings:
Too much hunch, not enough
data.

46. Our shortcomings:
We went too wide.

47. Our shortcomings:
Didn’t properly consider new
business model.

48. More problems emerged:
Hard to market and
communicate what our
product did.

49. More problems emerged:
We weren’t aligned over our
direction.

50. Did we need to change our
content or our strategy?

51. 2017 ...

52. Jobs To Be Done is a theory that
emphasises the higher purpose
for which customers buy
products, services and solutions.

53. GatherContent helps
teams organise and
produce lots of content
for websites.

54. Our 5 sub-jobs:
Organise
Produce
Structure
Manage
Migrate

55. 2017

56. 2017

57. A customer focused
approach.

58. An online platform to help teams
organise and produce lots of
content for websites.

59. Thank you
rob@gathercontent.com
@RobertMills