Role

CX/UX Designer
Writer

Timeline

Sept 2016 – January 2018

Size

<20 employees

The Gokhale Method is a health and wellness startup located in Palo Alto. They teach a method of posture modification—developed by founder Esther Gokhale (pronounced ‘go-clay’)—to eliminate back pain. The company has several functions; they:

• Offer classes and corporate workshops

• Train posture teachers

• Sell products

• Publish content

The GM consists of a very small and mostly remote team, where each employee is often the head and the entirety of their ‘department’. However, everyone pitches in everywhere, and employees are given a lot of room and responsibility to manage their roles and undertake tasks as they see fit.

ADVOCATING for design

I was brought into the GM team to write the biweekly (every two weeks, not twice a week) blog posts, and to do product fulfillment each morning.

Because I was writing the blog posts, I had to quickly become a subject matter expert in the GM teachings as well as the values and voice of the company. This made me the go-to writer/editor for all company communications. In this capacity, I developed relationships with many of the teachers and a sense for the company’s relationship to their customers and the public.

On the fulfillment side, I took on tasks ranging from helping with CS product emails to tracking down missing orders to instructing customers on products usage. I developed a first-hand view into the feelings, needs, and desires of our customers, and it quickly became clear there was a lot more that needed be done to help fulfillment run smoothly.

With this multi-pronged view into the inner workings of the company, I began to notice big areas for improvement where we could create a better customer experience. I spoke to the CEO about my ideas and my experience with UX design, and she gave me freedom to suggest and implement improvements across the company’s services. I set out to unify the customer/company touch-points, from browsing the website, to taking a class, to purchasing products.

Key PRojects

• Updating website UX/UI
  

• Building new online shop
  

• Strengthening brand voice through digital content

• Testing, shipping wearable device/app + instructing teachers on usage
  

• Streamlining product fulfillment + simplifying teacher orders