Unlocking Customer Insight to Drive $10M Growth
How Listening to Our Customers Changed Everything—A Ground-Up Persona Initiative That Powered Real Business Impact.
$10M
Revenue Growth in 2 Quarters
8
Distinct Personas Created
28
User Interviews Conducted
The Research Gap Challenge
Despite 20 years of success, CPAP.com had never conducted formal user research—leaving critical experience, marketing, and product decisions based on assumptions rather than real customer insight.
Organizational Pain Points
20+ Years Without Formal User Research
CPAP.com, a leading ecommerce destination for sleep apnea supplies, had been in business for over 20 years but had never conducted a formal user research initiative.
Assumption-Based Decisions
UX improvements were reactive and marketing strategies were built on assumptions rather than data-driven insights.
Siloed Teams
Marketing and merchandising teams lacked actionable customer insights to develop effective targeting strategies.
No Customer Segmentation
Without distinct personas, teams couldn't understand the breakdown of our customer base or design relevant experiences.
Team Survey Insights
“We’re constantly redesigning flows based on guesses or gut feeling. It’s hard to know who we’re really designing for."
UX Designer
“Our campaigns are broad and generic. I wish we had clear personas to help us segment messaging and offers."
Email Marketing Manager
“We don't have a great sense of who buys what and why, so planning product bundles feels like a shot in the dark.”
Merchandising Lead
"I hear the same issues over and over, but we don’t have a structured way to translate those into product or site improvements.”
Customer Support Manager
Leading Cross-Functional Research Initiative
The goal was to create research-backed personas that would align UX, marketing, and product around a clear, shared understanding of our customers.
My Leadership Objectives
🔍 User Segmentation
Illuminate key user types and behavioral segments
🧠 Empathy-Driven Design
Guide UX design efforts with deeper empathy and relevance
📈 Insightful Marketing
Equip marketing teams with actionable customer insights
🤝 Team Alignment
Align the organization around a shared understanding of the customer
👥 UX Leadership
Mentor and lead a UX team through the planning, execution, and synthesis of large-scale research
Success Criteria
✅ Increased Revenue
Persona insights contribute to measurable growth in sales and average order value
✅ Improved NPS
Net Promoter Score increases as a reflection of stronger customer satisfaction and trust
✅ Roadmap Alignment
Personas directly inform UX, product, and marketing priorities and quarterly planning
✅ Targeted Campaigns
Marketing launches more personalized, segment-driven campaigns with higher engagement
✅ Cross-Team Adoption
Personas are integrated into daily workflows across UX, marketing, product, and support
✅ Repeatable Process
Established a scalable, repeatable research framework that can be used for future initiatives
5-Phase Strategic Research Process
A structured, end-to-end approach designed to turn raw data and user conversations into actionable, insight-driven personas.
📊
1. Discovery & Data Analysis
Foundation Building
Before engaging with users directly, we needed to understand existing behavioral patterns and identify areas of friction. This phase established our research foundation and helped us focus our efforts on the most impactful areas.
Key Activities
🔶 Google Analytics Deep Dive
Analyzed user behavior patterns, conversion funnels, and drop-off points to identify friction areas in the customer journey
🔶 Hotjar Behavioral Analysis
Reviewed heatmaps, session recordings, and user feedback to understand interaction patterns and pain points
🔶 Engagement Pattern Mapping
Identified different user segments based on browsing behavior, purchase frequency, and site navigation patterns
🔶 Friction Point Documentation
Catalogued areas where users struggled or abandoned their journey to inform interview focus areas
📋
2. Recruitment & Screening
Building Diverse Participant Pipeline
To ensure our personas represented the full spectrum of CPAP.com customers, we needed a strategic approach to recruitment that would capture diverse demographics, experience levels, and use cases.
Key Activities
🔶 Recruitment Survey Design
Created comprehensive screening survey to gather basic demographic info and assess willingness to participate
🔶 Incentive Strategy Development
Designed thoughtful incentive plan to encourage participation across different customer types and experience levels
🔶 Representative Screening
Ensured representation across gender, age range, therapy experience, geography, and technology comfort levels based on data
🔶 Participant Communication
Established clear communication protocols and expectations for interview scheduling and participation
🎙️
3. User Interviews & Activities
Comprehensive Research Sessions
Each interview session was carefully structured to gather both emotional insights and behavioral data. We combined multiple research methods to understand not just what users do, but why they do it and how they feel about their experience.
Key Activities
🔶 Generative Conversation Guides
Developed structured interview guides to understand emotional drivers, goals, and sleep apnea journey experiences
🔶 Co-Creation Exercises
Facilitated collaborative activities where users helped design ideal experiences and prioritize features
🔶 Card Sorting Activities
Understanding how users mentally organize products, categories, and information architecture preferences
🔶 Usability Observation
Live testing of CPAP.com and relevant prototypes to observe navigation patterns and identify friction points
🔶 Feature Feedback Sessions
Gathered input on new concepts like subscriptions, starter packs, and customization options
🧠
4. Synthesis & Behavioral Mapping
Pattern Recognition & Analysis
The synthesis phase was critical for transforming raw research data into actionable insights. We used behavioral pattern mapping, focusing on understanding shared mental models and motivations.
Key Activities
🔶 Behavioral Pattern Mapping
Analyzed qualitative and quantitative inputs to identify shared behaviors, goals, and decision-making patterns
🔶 Mental Model Documentation
Mapped how different user types conceptualize CPAP therapy, product categories, and purchasing decisions
🔶 Trust Factor Analysis
Identified what builds confidence in CPAP.com vs competitors and what creates barriers to purchase
🔶 Purchase Motivation Mapping
Understanding the different triggers and decision criteria that drive purchasing across user segments
🔶 Pain Point Prioritization
Ranked friction areas by frequency and impact to focus development efforts on highest-value improvements
🛑 Mid-Flight Pivot: Letting Behavior Lead the Personas
Originally, we planned to segment users by demographics and marketing channels. But as interviews progressed, clear behavioral patterns—like trust mindset, therapy adherence, and buying triggers—proved far more useful. I pivoted the framework to focus on decision-making behavior, which gave UX, product, and marketing teams more actionable personas and stronger roadmap alignment.
👥
5. Persona Development & Formulation
Creating Actionable Customer Archetypes
The final phase focused on translating our research insights into detailed, actionable personas that teams could immediately use for decision-making. Each persona included comprehensive information across multiple dimensions of their experience.
Key Activities
🔶 Journey Mapping Integration
Documented each persona's journey with sleep apnea from diagnosis through ongoing therapy management
🔶 Circle of Trust Documentation
Mapped influential relationships including doctors, family members, and online communities for each persona
🔶 Technology & Shopping Preferences
Detailed each persona's relationship with technology, internet usage, and preferred shopping behaviors
🔶 Site Navigation Patterns
Documented how each persona navigates CPAP.com, what confuses them, and their mental models for organization
🔶 Visual & Emotional Associations
Captured color preferences, imagery associations, and emotional responses to different design approaches
🔶 Competitive Positioning Analysis
Understanding each persona's relationship with CPAP.com relative to Amazon and other competitors
Transformational Business Impact
The project led to a $10M revenue increase, a 22% boost in NPS, and a company-wide shift toward user-centered strategy anchored by eight actionable personas.
$10M+
Revenue Growth in 2 Quarters
+22%
Net Promoter Score Increase
100%
Company-wide Persona Adoption
3+
Key Features Launched
Key Features Launched
📦 Starter Kits
Simplified onboarding for new users
🔁 Subscription Options
Recurring supply delivery
🏠 Redesigned Homepage
Optimized for clarity and relevance
🎯 Segment-Specific Marketing
Persona-informed campaigns
Organizational Impact
🗺️ Strategic Planning
Personas embedded in roadmaps
🎧 Customer Service
Persona-based training programs
📝 Content Strategy
User-centered messaging
💡 Decision Framework
Insight-led innovation culture
🏆
Strategic Business Transformation
🏆
What began as a UX initiative became a catalyst for broader business transformation, reshaping how CPAP.com listens, plans, and grows.
"This project helped CPAP.com evolve from a transactional ecommerce brand to a truly customer-centered business. More than a UX win, it was a strategic business transformation rooted in deep user understanding."
💡 Key Leadership Lessons
📊
Data-Driven
Foundation
Combined quantitative and qualitative research for comprehensive insights
🤝
Cross-Functional
Collaboration
Aligned UX, marketing, and product teams around shared understanding
🎯
Strategic
Impact
Connected user research directly to business outcomes and revenue growth
📈
Sustainable
Change
The personas became a lasting foundation for customer-centered decisions, fueling both impact and alignment.
💡 What I'd Do Differently Today
This research changed the game for CPAP.com—but with the benefit of hindsight and new tools, I see ways we could push the insights even further. If I were leading this initiative today, I would:
🧬
Complement Qual with
Quant from Day One
While our qualitative insights were strong, I’d layer in quantitative segmentation from the start—using survey-based clustering or analytics tagging to validate behavioral groups at scale.
👥
Build Dynamic Journey
Maps Tied to Personas
Instead of static documentation, I’d create interactive journey maps linked to each persona—visualizing key pain points, decision triggers, and trust signals across the funnel.
📲
Develop Scenario-Based
Playbooks for Teams
To drive adoption further, I’d co-create tactical playbooks with UX, marketing, and support—showing how each persona thinks, acts, and responds in real-world flows and campaigns.
🔗
Integrate Personas into the
Design System
I'd embed persona data directly into our design system components—for example, by tagging modules or patterns with recommended use cases for specific user mindsets or needs.
📈
Track Persona-Based
Metrics Over Time
I’d set up dashboards to track changes in behavior or conversion by persona—helping teams measure the impact of persona-informed changes and refine strategies accordingly.
📣
Plan for External Validation
or Co-Creation
If doing this again, I’d involve patients or advocates in refining the personas themselves—building even more trust and ensuring our insights reflected the real-world lived experience.