Understanding customer ecosystems to improve the listening experience
New product innovation and design research
Reimagining mobile listening
CHALLENGE: Generate customer insights to fuel the exploratory research phase of a cross-functional multi-stakeholder innovation program for an audio equipment manufacturer seeking to redefine personal and social listening experiences in and out of the home.
PROCESS & APPROACH: We leveraged the research capabilities of our online community to engage members in interactive design challenges and surveys to uncover listening needs, behaviors, and pain points. We immersed in our client’s organization to absorb stakeholder perspectives, optimize the relationship, and represent the voice of the customer in the war room and behind the curtain during in-person use tests. Deliverables included weekly research newsletters, synthesized insights, and a final summary report to guide product design and refinement.
RESULTS: We designed a novel final deliverable to ensure our research was accessible and easy to navigate for the teams completing the final stages of product development. The ‘Field Guide to Listening Ecosystems’ is an interactive PDF that functions like a website and contains 10 weeks of raw (and synthesized) data. Using the lens of biological ecosystem health, we identified three key innovation opportunity areas around the experience of personal-portable listening: Anticipate Disruption, Fit Form to Function, and Optimize Resource Allocation. The ecosystem framework proves to be an invaluable tool to the stakeholder team as they socialize guiding insights and transition from prototyping to final designs. Products under final stages of development as of December 2018.