Nora Fiore
Senior UX Researcher
Pawlet, VT
Nora Fiore
Senior UX Researcher
Pawlet, VT
Answering questions through observation and analysis. That’s the core of my job. From heavy machinery to commercial insurance, I immerse myself in the nitty-gritty of complex subjects and their audiences. Best practices, interviews with client customer service reps, and moderated qualitative research all inform my recommendations.
My experience as a UX researcher and content strategist enables me to provide holistic, research-backed recommendations on content, design, and the relationship between the two. I investigate content problems through a UX lens and UX problems through a content lens. What information do your users need to complete a task successfully? What confuses or deters them? How can your flows facilitate a more coherent, logical journey for the user?
Recent Work
- UX Research and Design Refresh for Enterprise-Level Travel Industry Digital Tools – I led a series of research-to-redesign projects to improve digital products for a leading B2B travel consortium. Through qualitative UX testing with travel professionals, we identified patterns in product usage, frustrations, and unmet needs. For 3 different research cycles, I hosted half-day interactive workshops with client stakeholders. We presented our analysis and then facilitated collaborative brainstorming and prioritization activities to address the problems and opportunities surfaced by the research. Our final deliverables included comprehensive slide decks capturing insights from our UX research and wireframes, designed by my colleague Jihee Park and directly based on our research and workshop outcomes.
- University Library Search UX Research, Workshop, and Strategic Recommendations Plan — We identified usability problems, along with broader usage issues, related to a central library search tool at a prestigious mid-sized Southern university. One of the client’s key concerns hinged on obtaining a representative sample. First, we phone-screened individuals with strong survey responses, then we presented summaries of our calls and conferred with the client before scheduling sessions. We conducted hour-long interviews with each participant and watched them use the search tool as well as a similar search tool from a peer university. Based on our analysis and a stakeholder workshop, we identified and prioritized 13 friction points and provided concrete recommendations for each.
- Recurring Content Strategy Research Initiative for Fortune 100 B2C Company — My client partners and I launched a multi-year program to create clearer, more consistent, and more empathetic digital content for a finance giant. By regularly conducting research, we built our strategy on user behavior, needs, and concerns. For each project cycle (around 3 to 5 months), our team tackled multiple pieces of content to understand how they should work together. We often tested and revised the client’s public website, self-service application, mobile app, and more within the same compressed time period. I also led training sessions, so that more of the client’s employees could hone their skills and advocate for user-friendly content.
- Account Opening Flow Content Testing for FDIC-Approved California-Based Bank — My client, an online-only bank, planned to roll out a redesigned flow for opening a savings account but had not tested it with people. I recruited participants with savings in the range of $10,000 to $1,000,000. Through remote interviews, I observed users complete the account opening process while they screenshared. After analyzing their feedback, I proposed ways to remove friction from the account opening process, with an emphasis on better microcopy and explanations within the application. Read our case study: Moderated Usability Testing Unlocks Problems in a Bank Account Onboarding Flow.
Past Experience
- Co-managed digital communications for a mid-size university’s fundraising department. I created appeal letters, web pages, and brochures to bring in donations, engage alumni, and promote events. For high-level donor stewardship, I produced personalized videos, articles, and web pages.
- Evaluated nonfiction submissions for the New England Review literary journal, oversaw monthly nonfiction rejections, and passed on editorial recommendations.
- Translated literary and economic articles (French to English and English to French), including a piece published in Yale French Studies.
Education
- B.A. from Middlebury College in French and Film and Media Studies (double major)
Outside the Office
- As a passionate film buff, I tweet and blog about old Hollywood movies on the side. Newsweek and the L.A. Times have quoted me about the importance of classic cinema.
- Paris is my favorite place in the world. I’ve spent over a year there in total. If you need any recommendations for museums, art-house movie theaters, or crêperies, please ask me!
- Since I live by a working farm, I spend much of my spare time feeding stray barn cats and coaxing them to safety. 4 majestic felines—Stella, Godfrey, Hildy, and Laurel—have adopted me for good.
- I knit at the rate of around a sock a week. It’s my preferred form of meditation.
Case Studies of Nora’s Work
Prototype UX Testing of a New McDonald’s Mobile Ordering Flow
A McDonald’s product innovation team was redesigning a key app experience. To uncover friction points prior to rollout, McDonald’s partnered with Marketade on 2 rounds of UX testing with rapid design changes in between.
Product/Market Fit Research for Verizon’s Innovation Group
A Verizon team needed to test key assumptions to move closer to product/market fit for a new enterprise software concept. Our rapid research cycle delivered new user insights that helped answer their questions and validate/invalidate their hypotheses.
3 Highlights from Marketade’s Work with Epsilon
This top-5 U.S. ad agency works with some of the biggest banks and pharma companies in the world. Here are highlights from some of the projects we’ve teamed up on.
Rapid Iterative Content Testing for a Complex GEICO Product
A GEICO insurance product team was eager to increase business KPIs by improving its digital content. We led iterative content testing with overnight changes between rounds.
Nora’s Toolbox
- Content Testing, Audits & Strategy
- Writing and Editing
- User Experience Research
- Usability Testing
- Writing for the Web Training
- User Experience Evaluations
- UX Workshop Facilitation