USER INTERVIEWS RESEARCH
Problem: it is necessary to know the users' behaviour when they use websites, apps or services specialised in buying and selling pre-owned or second-hand clothing with the aim of launching a new application on the market.
Objective: The hypothetical project of launching a website for buying and selling semi-new products is considered. As we do not have much information about this kind of product, the main objective is to conduct as many interviews as possible to gain meaningful insights for our new application.
Other secondary objectives are:
● Identify if there is room for a new application in the market, as others exist and are very popular.
● Explore and get to know our potential users better. Identify unmet user needs.
● Identify opportunities for improvement.
● Know the relationship of users with these applications.
Methodology: the different tasks we need to do to succesfully achieve our objectives will be the following ones:
● Conduct a user research study using interviews (main task).
● To draw up a research plan to organise the time we will invest in carrying out the study.
● Define our user profile.
● Select the type of interview that best suits this case.
● Draw up the topic guide or script.
● From the notes obtained, obtain valuable insights that can help us to develop a valuable product.
To succeed in the project, the following phases must be followed:
● PHASE 0: Pre-project phase: Develop research plan and define user profile.
● PHASE 1: Conduct topic guide.
● PHASE 2: Conduct user interviews (about 30 minutes each).
● PHASE 3: Report on insights obtained.
Usage context: research study on typical users of websites or applications in which users buy or sell second-hand or pre-owned clothes through the use of interviews.
Role: UX researcher.
PHASE 0: Pre-project phase.
Research plan.
To carry out this case study for the UX design postgraduate course, we have 10 days to complete all the tasks. The research plan is as follows:
● Preliminary project: 1 day.
● Elaboration of topic guide: 2 days.
● Recruiting interviewees: 1 day.
● Interviews: 3 days.
● Report and insights: 3 days.
● Elaboration of topic guide: 2 days.
● Recruiting interviewees: 1 day.
● Interviews: 3 days.
● Report and insights: 3 days.
Total project duration: 9 days:
In a real case, we know that this process takes longer, but because this is a case study for a UX design postgraduate course, we do not have the time to develop it properly.
Defining profiles
The ideal would be to carry out a Screener, shorter questionnaires with personal, demographic and attitudinal questions that will help us to get to know our target user better. Due to lack of time, we have decided not to carry out this stage because, in addition, as it is a practical case, we will carry out the interviews with people close to us, family or friends who volunteer their time. Even so, we provide a sample Screener questionnaire/survey to define our target user:
Question 1. Name (short question).
Question 2. Age.
● Under 18 years old.
● 18 to 24 years old.
● 25 to 34 years old.
● 35 to 44 years old.
● 45 to 54 years old.
● Over 54 years old.
● Under 18 years old.
● 18 to 24 years old.
● 25 to 34 years old.
● 35 to 44 years old.
● 45 to 54 years old.
● Over 54 years old.
Question 3. What do you identify with most?
● Male.
● Female.
● I prefer not to say.
● Other...(description).
● Male.
● Female.
● I prefer not to say.
● Other...(description).
Question 4. What is your level of education?
● Secondary education.
● Baccalaureate.
● Vocational training.
● University degree, diploma or bachelor's degree.
● University master's degree.
● Secondary education.
● Baccalaureate.
● Vocational training.
● University degree, diploma or bachelor's degree.
● University master's degree.
Question 5. Marital status.
● Single.
● Married.
● Divorced.
● Widowed.
● I prefer not to say.
● Single.
● Married.
● Divorced.
● Widowed.
● I prefer not to say.
Question 6. What is your employment status?
● Employed part-time.
● Employed full-time.
● Self-employed or self-employed.
● Unemployed.
● Student.
● Retired.
● Employed part-time.
● Employed full-time.
● Self-employed or self-employed.
● Unemployed.
● Student.
● Retired.
Question 7. Could you tell us what level of income you have?
● Less than 15.000€.
● From €15,000 to €20,000.
● From €21,000 to €25,000.
● From 26.000 to 35.000€.
● More than 35.000€.
● Less than 15.000€.
● From €15,000 to €20,000.
● From €21,000 to €25,000.
● From 26.000 to 35.000€.
● More than 35.000€.
Question 8. How often do you use apps, websites or platforms to buy or sell used, pre-owned or second-hand clothes?
● Never.
● Almost never.
● Sometimes.
● Often.
● Quite often.
● Never.
● Almost never.
● Sometimes.
● Often.
● Quite often.
Question 9. What do you usually use this service for?
● Mainly to sell.
● Mainly to buy.
● Mainly to sell.
● Mainly to buy.
Question 10. Tell us about your motivations for using this type of service. If you have not used it, please tell us why you have not used it yet or why you prefer not to use it (long answer text).
SCREENER: Preliminary study on profiles of users who buy or sell semi-new clothes (second-hand, previously used by someone else...) through digital platforms (apps, websites, etc.) for a design project of a new product that we want to launch on the market soon.
Thanks to these questions we can get to know our target user a little bit better in general; their behaviour, ethnicity, demographic information...
Phase 1: Topic guide
Selection of the interview methodology to be used.
There are 3 types of interviews:
● Open interviews: used in the early stages of a project, when we do not have very detailed information and need to explore general issues. It is not very common but it is useful for the conceptual phases of a new product.
● Structured interviews: the questions are predetermined. It is not used in exploratory phases, otherwise it is difficult to define the questions if we do not fully understand the problem. Even so, the user can answer freely and even ask new questions, unlike in a survey.
● Structured interviews: the questions are predetermined. It is not used in exploratory phases, otherwise it is difficult to define the questions if we do not fully understand the problem. Even so, the user can answer freely and even ask new questions, unlike in a survey.
● Semi-structured interviews: these combine closed and open-ended questions and allow you to explore new issues that arise during the interview. It is the most common, but in UX all types of interviews are used depending on the needs of the project.
In our case, we will use an open-ended interview as it is the most appropriate for our project because we are still in an exploratory phase of the project and we do not know very well what product we will design. The most important thing is to collect as much information as possible about the buying and selling of pre-owned textile products by users.
Developing the topic guide.
The topic guide is nothing more than a document in which we develop the questions and tell us how a user interview should be conducted. The flow of questions in the topic guide should be maintained. If the user diverts us, we must have the ability to return the interview to its original course, except for those situations in which the user brings up a topic of interest for the interview, then it may be appropriate to ask some additional questions or let him/her talk more than indicated in case he/she has valuable information to add. In other words, it is not necessarily necessary to ask only the questions that come in the topic guide, but it helps us to keep on track in our interview, as many users ramble on and on in their answers, while other users can give us more concise answers.
At this point, we should ask ourselves what information the user can provide us with that really provides value and formulate our questions, always bearing in mind that they should be open questions to avoid simple answers from the users. The flow of questions should go from the general to the particular.
Thus, after brainstorming and subsequent discussion with the working group, we came up with the following topic guide as a proposal:
INTRODUCTION OF THE TECHNIQUE AND THE INTERVIEWER/MODERATOR:
- Good morning, I am ____, your interviewer for today. Welcome to the interview (treatment mode) _____. We are researching user behaviour when using services/apps/webs for buying and selling pre-owned or second-hand clothes in order to obtain information for a future product we want to launch on the market. In order to do this, it is very important that they answer our questions honestly.
The technique we will use will be that of a personal interview and consists of 3 different sections. In the first one, we will ask you personal questions to segment the information given by our interviewees. In the second, we will evaluate their previous experience using these pre-owned clothing buying and selling services. And in the third one, we will inquire about your future expectations to find out how these products could be improved and to obtain a better user experience. Let's get started!
UNDERSTANDING OF THE INTERVIEWEE'S CONTEXT:
Tell me about yourself:
● How old are you?
● How old are you?
● What is your profession or occupation?
● Marital status?
● Do you have children? If yes, how many?
● What hobbies do you have?
● Can you tell us about your short and long-term goals?
● How often do you use your mobile phone and do you think you overuse your smartphone or computer?
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE OF BUYING OR SELLING PRE-OWNED CLOTHING:
- Let me tell you about the topic we will be discussing during today's interview. As you may know, with the advent of the internet, the buying and selling of pre-owned or second-hand goods has become popular for a variety of reasons. The purpose of this interview is to gather as much information as possible to help us explain why this phenomenon is occurring and, in turn, to help us create a new product we want to launch on the market about buying and selling pre-owned clothing. As soon as this is ready, we will start with the formulation of the first question:
● What is your history with these types of services? How did you start using these services? For what reason? How much do you use these types of services?
● What tasks do you do when you use these services? Tell me about a typical day using a clothes buying and selling service.
● Do you tend to use the app or website in question more for buying or selling clothes? Why do you prefer to buy/sell (based on user feedback) and not the other way around?
● Tell me about a very satisfying experience you had when buying or selling pre-owned clothes.
● Tell me about the worst experience you had when buying or selling pre-owned clothing. Would you still trust these platforms after your experience?
● What problems have you encountered?
● If you want to add a couple of other experiences you have had using the product.
● How often do you use services, either websites or apps, for buying and selling pre- owned items?
● How does the use of these types of apps/webs/services impact your life?
EXPECTATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF THE EXPERIENCE:
- Now I'll ask you about your expectations in these kinds of apps or websites. What characteristics do you expect to find on these services in the future? What functionalities would you add or remove? These questions are aimed to know what your current experience lacks. Let's begin:
● What are the tasks you need to complete successfully to meet your goals?
● What do you consider success in the context of using a pre-owned clothing app?
● Earlier you told us about a bad experience using these types of services, could you tell us why that bad experience occurred and what you would have done to avoid it?
● Do you miss any functionality that these platforms do not have that would improve the experience you received?
● Also, would you remove any functionality present in any of the apps used for this purpose?
CLOSING AND FAREWELL:
● Is there anything you would like to discuss with me that we have not mentioned?
● Do you have any doubts or questions about the interview we have conducted?
Thank the user for their participation.
Phase 2: Interviews
Interviews were conducted with 7 users aged between 26 and 46. All of them are regular users of applications or websites for buying and selling pre-owned products. Some details to highlight from the sample:
● All participants in the sample are highly educated.
● Half are single, half live with a partner or are married.
● Generally without children.
● 4 women and 3 men.
See the document "emptying of answers" clicking on the following link.
The boxes marked with the same colour mean that they are recurrences (they will be used for the report in phase 3). Each column represents a question and its answers and in the rows we find the participants. We can find recurrences both in the same column and in different columns as many questions are related to each other, so that we can avoid contradictory answers.
PHASE 3: Report.
From the recurrences obtained in the interview phase, we can find findings from which to generate insights that are of interest and that we can apply in our future application, which we want to launch on the market. Every finding is presented for purchase users and sale users of these applications.
Patterns obtained.
According to the interviews replies, we found the following patterns.
First pattern: What are such applications used for?
● Purchase: Expensive, luxury or unaffordable brands. Products that are no longer sold in shops.
● Sale: Sale of products no longer in use.
Highlight: they value positively the possibility of acquiring products that they would not be able to acquire at first hand.
Second pattern: Tasks required to use these applications.
● Purchase: They need time, they search, they compare. They use filters to refine their search.
● Sale: They need a good product photo. Write an attractive descriptive text.
Highlight 1: When buying, one difficulty is the sizing, the filters should be thinner.
Highlight 2: When it comes to selling, problems with payments and misunderstandings between users.
Third pattern: Do the users use the application more for selling or buying?
● Purchase or sale: Users rarely use the app to sell and buy at the same level. They only sell or only buy.
Highlight: It is easier to buy than to sell, it requires more involvement and interest.
Fourth pattern: When do the users make use of the application?
● Purchase or sale: Seasonal use is made of the application, to change the wardrobe, times of more pronounced product searches.
Highlight: Occasional or constant use, depending on the user.
Fifth pattern: What impact does it have on users' lives?
● Purchase: Access to the unattainable, either by price or availability. Savings.
● Sale: Benefits. Make room for new things.
Highlight 1: Recurrence, again mentioning luxury, expensive products.
Highlight 2: Some applications have high fees.
Insights
Insights are obtained based on the patterns previously showed. These insights will be the functionalities that will be implemented on the app we want to launch.
Premium products:
● Include a premium section within the app so that people who want to buy a luxury product can find it easily.
● Create an app for buying and selling luxury products, only exclusive products.
Purpose: Niche market available in a space already occupied by many other second-hand buying and selling applications. There is widespread demand for second-hand luxury goods.
● BUYERS: Finer filtering of the products to facilitate the search and classification of the products for the buyer.
● SELLERS: Detailed classification of the products offered for sale to increase sales possibilities.
Purpose: Facilitate the search work and the time spent by buyers in finding the product they are looking for. Facilitate the process of uploading a product for sale for sellers.
Sizing:
● Include a developed size sheet so that the buyer gains in confidence.
● Seller's file: include the seller's size, weight, measurements, so that people with the same physical characteristics can buy clothes from them. "Follow people of the same size as you".
Purpose: Prevent errors, returns and extra costs. Increase user satisfaction.
Helpdesk or mediation service:
● In case of misunderstandings between buyers/sellers, existence of a mediation team for conflict resolution.
Purpose: Diminish fear or lack of confidence. If there is a problem, the mediation team will help.
Social use of the tool:
● Make the application have more space for communication, so that buyers and sellers get to know each other better.
Purpose: It will help to better understand the interests of users and thus be able to show them results more in line with their tastes and hobbies.
Commissions:
● Avoid commissions, look for other means of earning income within the application.
Purpose: The user-seller shies away from commissions. Ideas for earning revenue: fee, pay-per-use, advertisements.
Conclussions
Although not many changes are needed, some of them must be implemented to create an app which best fits to our users' needs.
It is easier to buy a product than to sell it as the seller must prepare the product, create the add, etc. The buyer only has to look for the desired product on the app as in a clothing company app.
It is important to understand which pain points the users have while using these kinds of apps so that we can implement a proper solution to them. To conduct these interviews, was utterly important to create open questions in order to give the user time to explain their experiences - avoiding yes/no questions.
During the interviews, we must conduct the interview without interfering in users' answers and trying to get the most valuable information out of it.
After the interview, the team met to gather recurrences and obtain useful insights from them.
Interviews are useful for a discovery process where we do not know exactly on what to base on and we need handy information to start designing. This technique is really convenient when we do not own the resources and we need to look into our users' needs. On the contrary, focus groups are more expensive to perform but equally provide helpful information.
