AEIOU
Collaborate reflect on your customer story and empathize by creating an AEIOU chart. The AEIOU stands for (Activities, Environment, Interaction, Objects, Users). Use the information to validate your customer story.
Step 1. Find your user and people who represent your target market, and observe your persona in the environment where they are experiencing the problem.
Step 2. Answer the AEIOU questions, take notes, take pictures and video recordings, and conduct interviews.
Step 3. Organize your findings, and summarize your thoughts, mainly to identify patterns you have observed.
Finally, convene with your team to discuss findings and use the information gathered to create your digital story.
AEIOU
How can we understand the world our persona or target market comes from and the problem they experience? We can use an observational tool called AEIOU which will help us understand the environment in relation to the problem. Work in 2-5 member groups: observe user behavior and environment with one interacting and the other documenting. Or work individually to create AEIOU based off of a possible or current customer/ user. Then, convene as a team to compare and contrast findings.
Group Size: 2-4
Materials Needed: AEIOU, Markers and Post-its, Photos or Videos from observation
Duration: 60-24hrs
AEIOU Instructions
Reflect on your research and observation and empathize with your user/customer by creating an AEIOU chart. The AEIOU stands for (Activities, Environment, Interaction, Objects, Users).
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Develop a nuanced view of the customer and variables influencing behavior.
Provide structure to and observation by using AEIOU.
Gain insights into understanding systems to solve systemic issues.
Develop insights on user/customer behavior by understanding user/customer in relation to the environment.
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Work in 2-5 member groups: observe user behavior and environment with one interacting and the other documenting. Or work individually to create AEIOU based off of a possible or current customer/ user. Then, convene as a team to compare and contrast findings.
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Step 1. Find your user and people who represent your target market, and observe your persona in the environment where they are experiencing the problem.
Step 2. Answer the AEIOU questions, take notes, take pictures and video recordings, and conduct interviews.
Step 3. Organize your findings, and summarize your thoughts, mainly to identify patterns you have observed.
Finally, convene with your team to discuss findings and use the information gathered to create your digital story.
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Use AEIOU as a framework for observations.
Activities: What happens? What is the user doing? What is their task? What activities do they carry out? What happens before and after?
Environment: What does the environment look like? What is the nature and function of the space?
Interaction: How do the individual systems interact with one another? Are there any interfaces? How do the users interact with one another? How does the operation work?
Objects: What objects and devices are used? Who uses the objects and in which environment?
Users: Who are the users? What role do the users play? Who influences them?
Validating Customer Pain Point
Gather an information to understanding our most likely customer is critical for persona validation. One important aspect of persona validation is document the persona pain point your business is attempting to solve. We can accomplish this by conducting an Interview for Empathy, Explorative Interview, Empathy Map, Peers Observing Peers, AEIOU, Customer Journey Map and an Empathizing Persona.
Document what number out of the total you have interviewed or observed has pain point/problem?
Document what number out of the total of people you have interviewed or observed have similar feelings, thought, attitudes and emotions associated with pain point/problem?
Provide your analysis does the persona have the interest problems/pain points your solution solves?
20 out of 30
Out of 30 people 20 identified having customer pain point. The number one feeling emotion, attitude was……….