Building a design-driven culture at AAA

In this week’s episode, James Lane shares the evolving story of how AAA is becoming a design-driven organization.

James, a Senior Product Design Manager at AAA Club Alliance, joins host Janelle Estes, UserTesting’s Chief Insights Officer, and Andy MacMillan, UserTesting’s CEO, to share AAA’s story, which is one of many being shared in the upcoming User Tested and that will be featured in Season 4 of the Human Insights Podcast. The book was authored by podcast hosts Janelle Estes, UserTesting’s Chief Insights Officer, and Andy MacMillan, UserTesting’s CEO. The book is being released on February 15th, but you can pre-order it today here or on your favorite book seller’s website.

James said becoming a design-driven organization is similar to how organizations evolved into being data-driven, moving data insights from just the math wizards in a corner office to enabling everyone in an organization to use data to inform and improve their work. 

“We can all use design processes, just as we all use data, to understand our world a little better, as a process for exploring what customers are looking for,” he said. 

The results are impressive. Following their customer-informed design changes, organic conversions for the website were up 30%, including a 55% lift for Premier memberships (AAA's top-tier membership type), a 39% lift in revenue for this channel.

In their conversation, they go on to discuss: 

• Going from pilot to launch
• What he means by design-driven
• And how customer insights are informing new initiatives, such as a recently rolled out new website