Knowing the customer

Bose was actively planning a brand-new series of audio components of various capabilities that would compose a robust home-wide ecosystem.

UX Research and the Vision & Validation team wanted to obtain more up-to-date information about the prospective customers and what features and capabilities they would need based on different budget considerations.

A purchase journey

There are many factors to take into consideration when purchasing audio components.

Data gathering

At a kick-off group meeting, we curated a list of our upcoming products, along with their anticipated and target retail prices. We also categorized various home types for better product placement. Additionally, we compiled considerations for both newcomers to music and existing speaker system owners to aid their purchase decisions. Finally, we outlined three possible purchase scenarios to capture the diverse journeys our

Can you build an interactive tool for us to use in capturing user feedback?

User-centered design

User-centered design principles are essential in creating products that meet users' needs and expectations.

• Understanding the needs, preferences, and limitations of the end-users.
• Thorough research and analysis are necessary to design for users' actual needs.
• Research amd data collection, requirements (define pain points), design (functionality and pricing), and evaluations (how the options present themselves).

In order to allow test participants the ability to easily interact with the products, I was asked to created a graphical input engine that allows them to move speakers into and out of selected rooms on a home layout. The available budget would always be visible and their decisions would effect how much money they had left. Like a game, the input engine was designed to be as intuitive as possible.

The guidelines

Here are the products and their details that we targeted for these rounds of purchase research. For each scenario they could choose from three residence types that most closely resembled their own home:

• 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom
• 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
• 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms

The budget restrictions were as follows:

1. First scenario a budget of $2,500 and no previous audio products.
2. Second scenario a budget of $1,400 and already owns a SoundBar.
3. Third scenario a budget of $1,000 and already owns two stationary speakers.

The products that they could choose from (simple physical foam core models were provided for in-person evaluations):

Interview planning

The plan was for each participant to sit with a UX researcher. The data-gathering application would be running in a web browser on a laptop. The researcher would introduce the application and allow the participants to interact with it. If needed, the application could be hosted online and driven by a remote participant while a researcher was connected to them during a phone or video conferencing call.

The participant would first choose their residence type. This would populate a floor plan (layout) in the prototype. Once they were ready to proceed, they would begin their purchase journey for each budget scenario. They could also change the residence type before each scenario if they wished (to capture what a potential change might mean for them).

Pricing for products should be composed in such a way as to introduce tough decisions. We wanted them to need to make certain trade offs while they were in the process of purchasing.

My assigned tasks

1. Work with a UX researcher to wire frame the prototype to ensure it captured everything needed, could easily scale for additional scenarios, and was easy to use by participants.
2. Provide a visual design and working code for the web-based application. Debug any issues that came up. Implement drag and drop.
3. Provide the test results to the researcher in a format of their choosing. We selected JSON for ease of data parsing later.
4. Host weekly (or ad hoc) design meetings to keep things on track.

The tool successfully gathered all the data the team needed (Quantitative). Follow up interviews were performed to gain further insight into the decisions made, gather decision motivators, and other input to gather Qualitative data. Through this program, Bose gained knowledge about the products to be offered, where they might most be used, what price points worked and which didn't, and thus could refine the launch plans.

The web application could be run locally (apache web server) on the researcher's laptop - without a need for Wi-Fi. It was also hosted online so that it could be accessed by anyone from the comfort of a time or place of their own convenience.

Web application

1. The application allowed participants to fully drive the experience and feel actively involved in the purchase journey.
2. Data collection became streamlined for UX Research as they merely consolidated the data and could easily evaluate later on.
3. The application was created with the intention to scale to other purchase journey scenarios and products - allowing easy customization and future use.
4. Data was composed in a fun and easy way for UX Research to consume and evaluate. This informed qualitative follow-up interviews in which I participated.
5. I was able to quickly use vanilla JavaScript to create and iterate on the application. It was timely while also being very successful.

Operational

1. I was able to interact and gain further insight into the UX Research process and methodologies.
2. The Global R&D team gained increased exposure and also confidence with UX Research.
3. The data collected was instrumental in informing previous hypothesis - saving the company significant time and money.
4. Consumer insight was quickly gained to form a solid foundation for future product and feature planning.