Methods – Customer experience study carried out in the consumer’s home, diary study, consumer panel, online community, in-depth interviews.
The Need – A consumer robot manufacturer wished to know how its customers reacted to a brand new “mapping feature”. As the robot went along it created a map of the space cleaned that you can see through a smartphone app. The manufacturer wanted to know if consumers valued this capability, how they might leverage it, and how the map’s user interface could be designed for maximum usability.
Our Solution – Starting with face-to-face in-home studies with people who already owned a cleaning robot — and who matched the target profile for this high-end product — we asked them to run several cleanings with a mapping-enabled robot. Then we showed them the map of their home the robot had generated. This effort was successful and we then replicated it on a national scale with dozens of participants. We managed all interactions with them via an online panel. Participants used the panel to keep a diary and to upload videos and pictures of their cleanings.
Results – The manufacturer learned a great deal about how different kinds of people reacted to the mapping feature. They gave feedback and thoughts on how they would use it. They also offered advice for how to modify the map’s user interface on their phone to make it easier to interpret. We gained insight into how to present mapping to consumers as well as how to structure the setup and training needed to get this feature up and running.