One of the main objectives of user research is to try to understand ‘why’ a pattern exists. “Statistical methods can help you spot patterns, but they don’t allow you to identify why a pattern exists.” - Donna Spencer
Humanizing the perception of the end user for the product team
Help designers develop a gut feeling for design and priorities
Create a design language aka Bildspracheand realistic personas that will guide product design decisions, both technical and aesthetic (user experience)
Design Research: Purpose and goal
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Design Research: What we did
the context problem to address user groupWe interviewed the end users in their home environment, listened to their descriptions of daily routines, food routines, shopping habits, and did a card sorting and cognitive mapping exercise.
We also asked them to order a meal and asked them to speak out loud their thought process and impressions.
Understanding how the product can fit into their lives, such as:
We found the group as a result of a general marketing email blast. We chose a set of end users based on a deliberately diverse criteria:
#1 What we wanted to learn
#2 What we wanted to learn
#3 What we wanted to learn
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+ Who are they? Why do they use food delivery services? + What are their painpoints and needs?+ What are their values and priorities?+ What are their impressions of the interface? How do they use it in real life?
+ High users (ordered takeaway more than 6x monthly)+ Low users (ordered once a month)+ Never order takeaway online+ Lives in a shared house or with family+ Tried to get a mix of genders
When and how they buy things
Their habits related to food
Their daily routines
Order food
Design Research: Process
Review and Regroup
Contextual inquiry(listening)
Card sorting
Cognitive Map
Wrap UpIntroduction Main Observation
London London Berlin
Taking careful photographs (even simple ones) can reveal so much rich information about the end user and their context and culture
Audio recordings really helped in retrospect to pick up any details like tone of voice and habits during conversation that can be missed during the interview and observation.
Design Research: Field visits
what worked Room for improvement
Agree on a set type of photographs to be taken after the interview, .e.g- portrait of end user in context, their kitchen, or living room
We need a cultural 'interpreter' and guide while we are there to help us make sense of cultural significances: humor as social currency
Card sorting excercise could be duplicated same way for each team (this might have been an issue)
Need to figure out a way to meet with end users when they are 'hungry/hangry' and observe their processes at that state.
Open ended contextual inquiry allows us to elicit the things people care about that can't be detected via remote user testing.
Time Rich Cash Poor
Time PoorCash Rich
Luther
Victoria
Sergio
Rob
Spends easily
Spends carefully
Marisa
Sherri
Design Research: End users
Tom
“Having space and time for myself and my relationships is important as well as enjoying the simple pleasures of life”
Tom
Luther
Victoria
SergioMarisa
“I don’t have an app because I don’t want to encourage myself to order takeaway...since it’s usually unhealthy”
“I'm cash rich and time poor...I'm into techie nerdy stuff"
“I find it easier to make a decision if I'm not given too many options"
Sherri
Design Research: End users
Time Rich Cash Poor
Time PoorCash Rich
Rob
Spends easily
Spends carefully
Luther
Victoria
Sergio
Rob
Marisa
potential avid usersSherri
Design Research: End users*
Time Rich Cash Poor
Time PoorCash Rich
Tom
*see addendum for more detailed profiles
Spends easily
Spends carefully
+ Distance was talked about universally as an important factor in making a decision about a restaurant. Distance was related to how the end user visualised how quickly, how 'hot' their food would arrive to them and how likely they would be to be already familiar with the restaurant.
+ Phone is not dead; the phone is still a 'competitor' and people still like to order by calling restaurants because they like talking to a human/ feel that experience is more 'humane'.
+ People always like getting a deal and prioritise it, whether they are cash rich buyers or not
+ The web not mobile app was the most mentioned method of searching for, discovery restaurants near them, and even in some cases, ordering food (Google and HH website)*
Design Research: What surprised us about the end users
*This could be partially a result of how marketing handled reached out to the initial recruits, i.e.- via email
+ 80% of our interviewees had at least a university or master's degree and identified as in jobs in the young professionals category.(Cp: the Sun vs. Economist)
- Restaurants were surprised to meet HH representatives (us). One of them mentioned that an HH rep never personally reached out or visited them in person (cp: Just Eat sales reps).
- The restaurants didn't like how the HH livelink for Preorders arrive 1 hour before deadline without an earlier warning, even if the order was placed online earlier in the morning (cp: Just Eat who sends out a Preorder confirmation at the time the preorder is placed, and also follows up with a 'reminder' 1 hours before deadline).
- Roughly 75% more Just Eat placards, marketing material (stickers and bags) casually observed in London than Hungryhouse. Even HH delivery came in a 'Just Eat' branded delivery bag.
Design Research: What surprised us about the restaurants
Positive experiences with food
+ Ordering food related to leisure and de-stress
+ Weekend 'treat' and part of relaxation
+ Users tend to order food they can't cook on their own.
+ Food habits learned from family members (i.e.- grandma's cooking, mom ordering, etc.)
+ Cooking food related to being social
+ Cuisines is the go-to for filtering
Negative experiences with food
- Failing to buy enough groceries for the week
- Guilt over consuming "unhealthy" food
- Guilt about ordering food even if they don't feel guilt about visiting same restaurant
- Online food is a gamble
- Hungryhouse is unhealthy, but fast and cheap
- Too many choices = not good
Priorities for restaurants
+ Familiarity of restaurant is important
+ Distance is important factor
+ Ratings and distance are important
+ Clean short menus
+ Loyalty to restaurants is a factor
Attitudes towards style
+ Less information and clean design is better
+ Menu is too generic
+ Judges restaurants and brand by style and graphic design
+ Hungryhouse interface is not slick or calming
+ Doesn't like too much choice in a menu
Shopping Behavior
+ Groceries, clothes, electronics bought online via web and mobile. Mobile used more often for tickets and time-based purchases.
+ Grocery shopping usually on the weekends
+ Spending on small items happens continuously throughout the day for those who 'spend easily'
+ Even if money is no concern, deals and freebies are always seen as a 'gain'
Discovery of Hungryhouse
+ From Google searches
+ From their kids, e.g.- their teen daughter
+ From restaurants they are familiar with in real life
+ App promo (marketing)
Decision Makers
Branding
Spending Triggers
1. Distance indicates familiarity and delivery speed 2. Familiarity of restaurant represents loyalty, relationship, and also security in feeling choices will be good.3. Personal curation (being able to respond to different tastes of the user) adds value to the platform
1. Hungryhouse Express not clearly communicated2. Users find clean, simple and minimal layouts calming and more trustworthy or 'slick'3. Hungryhouse is associated with cheap, quick and unhealthy food
4. Using the phone (calling the restaurant) is still a method used by less tech-savvy users and 'tech-savvy' users as well
1. Google is a major takeaway discovery method in itselfDiscovery
1. Ordering online is for dishes that people can’t (or can’t be bothered) to make themselves (too complicated, needs to be authentic, etc.)
2. Real life familiarity ( e.g.- walking by shop on the way home from work) is a factor in selecting a restaruant
2. There exists a strong relationship in people’s minds between leisure and ordering takeaway 3. Weather and external factors like a busy day or running out of groceries combined with inertia (re: laziness is a trigger for ordering food
Design Research: Main takeaways
develop personas design language
Target Persona exercise or pick personas to be 'guides' for overall design decision making.
Define a design language that speaks to the guiding personas.
Design Research: What comes next
restaurant research
User research directed at restaurants to better understand their needs from Hungryhouse system
Outcome: Target persona excercise, personas
Outcome: Restaurant profiles
Outcome: UI / design principlesand design research guide
Researchers:Gloria Suzie KimKarl-Oskar JanzonAshley HirschJacob E. Dawson
Thanks to: Tom AllisonMelanie WolfArthur MaasAlice MrongoviusRoss McPheatLisa Ann BrigantiSilvia Buder
Dates: Feb 2-4, 2015Central London Zones 1-2
Hungryhouse delivery order that came in a Just Eat bag
Design Research: Thank you
Marisa - Simple indulgences throughout the day
Background
Quote in their ownwords
Life Goals
Experience Goals
Painpoints
End Goals
“Having space and time for myself and my relationships is important as well as enjoying the simple pleasures of life”
* Marisa has worked as a professional in an advertising/marketing agency for several years. A creative at heart who is social and spends time with her friends and boyfriend. * Spending and enjoying time with her friends and family is her priority. * Her life goal is to find a career that is a better fit and is currently exploring the possibility of becoming a children’s art therapist.
* Marisa’s main goals as a product user is to be able to accomplish her task and get offline, whether it is putting in a payment order, tickets to a concert gig, or browsing dresses online. * She likes things to be intuitive but not too dumbed down. She can figure out most interfaces fairly quickly*The appearance of the interface does matter to her and influences her perception of the brand. She has loyalty and feels familiarity with a product if the product rewards her with either extras like a free dessert on her birthday, or a voucher in return for submitting reviews.
26 year old woman living in Fulham at a marketing agency, who is considering moving to Manchester to become a therapist
* Small type on websites annoy her. Graphic design quality matters in terms how she values the quality of the restaurant. * She is on the impatient side and values the ability to quickly accomplish her task. * She feels most frustrated by being blocked after the momentum of searching, sifting through options, and choosing a dish, only to be blocked at the checkout basket (the final step). She wants things to be easily editable.
* Marisa likes to have a be able to find a specific dish she had last time. She likes an efficient funnel of searching for whatever she is craving, be it sushi, indian food, or squid and completing the order. * Buying on the web is a distracting experience and she ends up comparison shopping. * On the mobile phone, her buying funnel is more focused, and her goal becomes more focused on completing the task so she can get off the mobile and go back to watching TV and spending time with her friends.
Rob - Enjoys being in the moment and in a crowd
Background
Quote in their ownwords
Life Goals
Experience Goals
Painpoints
End Goals
“I don’t have an app because I don’t want to encourage myself to order takeaway...since it’s usually unhealthy”
* One of Rob’s goals in life is to become a life coach. He is social, explores what London has to offer, and have backyard bbqs with flatmates.* He used to work at a bank and that his former job consisted of “telling people what I do is part of what I do.” * He is currently in between jobs.
* Rob likes to make people happy. He is cautious when trying out a new service or restaurant and usually tries it once to figure out its quality.* He easily becomes a habitual user once a service passes his 'test' and then he is inclined to explore more offerings. * Rob likes products where there are more choices, findability and that it saves time. His attitude towards takeaway is that it’s a convenient treat but also a last resort.
30 years old, lives in a house with housemates; uses iPad for viewing TV
* Rob would like to be able to select a restaurant and choose a dish with confidence. He easily experiences decision paralysis, based on his experience of ordering through Just Eat. * As long as there is a deal, like a free coke as a bonus to his order, he feels positive and like he gained something.
* Rob frequently loses his login credentials to his Just Eat App. He has several accounts because it’s easier for him to make a new account rather than reset his password. * Rob has a hard time starting over and quitting a habit once its ingrained.
Sergio - The Absent-minded Hacker
Background
Quote in their ownwords
Life Goals
Experience Goals
Painpoints
End Goals
“I'm a picky eater and usually order because of inertia...like the weather is bad outside or if I get a voucher via email. ”
* Sergio works for an ambitious financial startup in London. * His laptop is a constant companion. He is on the computer so often, that he usually orders food while online rather than use the mobile app. * He enjoys taking walks around his neighbourhood and tackling challenges in his job which is related to innovating in digital currency.
* Sergio doesn’t like to make the mistake of ordering dishes that he previously ordered and didn’t like. * He trusts takeaways from restaurants that he’s visited in real life with his girlfriend around their neighborhood. He makes decisions also based on ratings / reviews and distance* Cost is not an issue with him, particularly if its a difference between a few pounds.
31 year old developer who works for a London Startup and lives with his girlfriend who is also a developer. He reads Hacker news regularly and is a fan of the web comic XKCD. Has a pet tabby cat.
* He would like to be reminded to add extras, such as sides, drinks or desserts to his order once he goes to the checkout basket. * He wishes he were able remind himself to mark the dishes in a menu that he liked and didn't like* He would prefer to block out some dishes entirely based on their ingredients he dislikes, such as coriander and cashews.* Sergio can be prompted to buy through a combination of the environment (weather in London, low grocery supply) and after being reminded by email.
* Sergio is forgetful about ordering a complete meal. * Sergio is a picky eater and tries to avoid dishes that he didn’t have a good experience.
Victoria - Fresh startup employee
Background
Quote in their ownwords
Life Goals
Experience Goals
Painpoints
End Goals
“I find it easier to make a decision if I'm not given too many options"
* Victoria used to work in finance / accounting for a bank in London. She is currently working at a startup as a programmer. * She spends most of her day at work and doesn’t have time to do groceries. If she does grocery shopping, it’s at Waitrose (an upscale store) or by using the grocery ordering app Ocado because “it’s efficient” and convenient. * She frequently runs out of groceries during mid-week because she either over-estimates her planning skills or she gets too busy at work.
* As a consumer, she doesn’t like to be overwhelmed with choices. * She values predictability, trustworthiness and clean design. * In choosing a service, she looks for efficiency and convenience.
Victoria is a 26 year old programmer working in the marketing department of a service oriented startup in London
* Victoria would like a minimal restaurant list without as many conflicting colors. * Being able to quickly make a decision- such as finding a dish with a specific ingredient in the menu- without given too much information is desirable. * She’d also likes a way to easily distinguish between high and low end restaurants when scanning a restaurant list with friends.
* The hungryhouse website has too much color or information distracts her and detracts from the perceived experience and brand quality. * The restaurant list on hungryhouse confused her and was “not calming”. She said it had too much information.
Luther - Busy Global Consultant
Background
Quote in their ownwords
Life Goals
Experience Goals
Painpoints
End Goals
“I'm cash rich and time poor...I'm into techie nerdy stuff"
* Luther works as a Tech and Data Security Analyst in London and New York. He’s a global person who has lived in Sydney, London, and New York. * He travels a lot and works hard and plays hard and likes to socialize with his friends, including co-workers. * He is cash rich and time poor and aside from his job which he takes seriously, his goal is to free-time and spend it with his friends and tech hobbies.
* Luther likes the ability to customize his food options and place orders quickly on the go, whether from his laptop or from his mobile on the go* When ordering delivery, convenience and speed of service are major factors in favor of the service, though factors like food quality (healthy) do matter * His standards for healthy food are way too high for Hungryhouse and he views Hungryhouse as a treat for when he is either too busy to cook or trying to relax on a Friday/Saturday. He also orders from Hungryhouse when he is entertaining friends at his flat.
Late 20s to early 30s working as a Data Security Analyst in London and New York
* He wishes there was more description for the food dishes whether text or image. Rather than a stock image, Luther prefers realistic images that were for example, taken by other app users from the platform Instagram. * He also feels that the power of suggestion from what others are ordering online could help him make a more fast and confident decision. (Interestingly, Luther didn’t notice the bottom left column of the Hungryhouse website that shows update of what other users are ordering)
* Luther has an easy time settling on cuisine when searching for food, but once he arrives at deciding between options in a menu, he gets easily sidetracked by comparing menu options from other restaurants.* He has a hard time staying committed to either one restaurant menu or one dish from a restaurant.
Design Research: Addendum
Card Sorting results for top 3 choices for selecting a restaruant
Rob 1. Distance2. Delivery Time3. Ratings/ Reviews
Luther 1. Ratings 2. Pricing 3. Distance
Marisa 1. 20% off 2. Deals3. Ratings
Sergio1. Cuisine2. Restaurant Reviews3. Distance
Victoria1. Restaurant name2. Cuisine3. Pricing
Sherri1. Ratings2. Deals3. Cuisine(4.) Delivery