︎




Case Studies      Imprint      ︎




IN A NUTSHELL
  • UX Due Diligence for a potential takeover candidate.
  • Acquisition process was halted after the results turned out negative

MY PART
  • User acquisition
  • User akzusition
  • Usability test
  • In-Depth interviews
  • Management summary via condens.io

This research series on usability commenced when a company in the M&A sector was in the process of acquiring a software provider. At that time, the software of the potential acquisition target was nearing its go-live stage. Its purpose was to streamline the purchasing process for the seller, with the focal point being the tabular arrangement of steps. Each candidate progressed through all of these steps sequentially as they advanced further in the purchasing process. For every step, a specific number of features will be unlocked for the potential buyer.


At first glance, this structure appeared too rigid to me, as I envisioned the process of selling companies to be much more personal. I proposed subjecting the software to user testing by potential customers while simultaneously conducting in-depth interviews. The executives agreed, and I recruited eight individuals. They were all decision-makers from the M&A industry.


In the first part of the interviews, respondents were asked about their work routines and processes. None of them mentioned the pain points. That new software was aimed at. When confronted with the click-dummy of the software, their judgments were largely negative. My initial suspicion was confirmed. One of the benefits was that the software would anonymize the process, which is very much defined by personal exchange.


The chart shows the number of highlights per topic from the interview series. Compare the number of "👍🏼️" positive and "👎🏼️" negative feedback quotes.