Pie Bird
UX Researcher & Marketing Analyst
About Piebird
Founded in 2019, Pie Bird is a restaurant located in the center of Shanghai. Its featuring products are handmade traditional American Pie. Piebird’s main advertising platforms include Instagram, Facebook, Wechat, Weibo, Red, etc.
—01 Intro
Team
Manager - Lindsey
Timeline
June 2020 - August 2020
Role
UX Researcher, Marketing Analyst
The problem
As a young influencer restaurant, PieBird found it challenging to secure return customers when building its customer base. Based on survey results collected from past visiting customers, 70% of them are first-time customers and did not plan to come again. This research aims to investigate users' consumption habits and pain points when shopping at our store. Then, develop proposals that meet both users' and business needs.
My role
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Targeted observed problems and determined research goals
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Planned research methods accordingly
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Designed survey & interview questions and implement them
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Analyzed the results and raise possible solutions
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Reported results and the solutions to the boss
Research Goal & Research Question
Goal:
Better understand the habits, desires, pain points, and highlights of restaurant-goer in Shanghai
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Question:
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What are the major factors that motivate user’s first-time visit
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What is the factor that attracts users to stay tuned?
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What is the user’s current and major consumption pattern at Piebird?
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āWhy Do I Target These Research Questions?
According to my observation of Piebird, its current problem mainly focuses on not having enough returned users. We had many first-time visitors, but we met problems attracting those visitors to come back and become loyal customers. To make one restaurant more competitive and sustainable, I believe we need to investigate the thinking pattern and motivation behind customers’ behavior and motivate them to stay tuned with us.
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The Major Factor that motivates first-time visit>> what is the element that triggers the user’s curiosity
The Factor for stay tuned>> find out the factor we need to work on (e.g price, flavor)
Consumption Pattern>> give a direction on how could we improve (e.g price adjustment, advertising style)
Research Methods
Qualitative
1. Survey Creation
2. Contextual Interview
Survey
I picked this method because it could not only help me quickly find out the basic information of our customers including their age and their preference on taste but also can it help me get a general attitude from the customer to our brand.
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I have first designed a survey that investigates customers’ basic information including consumption level, age, and number of past time visits
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I distributed the survey to 10 tables during afternoon teatime (the most populated hour) while analyzing the results
Interview
I picked this method because interviewing the customer under the product-using context could give me a more accurate and insightful response. Compared to answering a survey, the customer normally goes into detail and is willing to elaborate on their comments when interviewed face-to-face.
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I interviewed 10 customers who were dining at the store on their opinion of the taste and the price
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I also asked what platforms they usually use when exploring restaurants in the city
Research Methods
Quantative
Digital Research tool: DianPing
Using a Chinese local online directory app called Dianping (similar to Yelp), I accessed thousands of comments left by past users. I have targeted the store’s strengths and key pain points most users had during their consumption experience at Piebird.
Findings
According to the survey and interview results, I learned that the Dianping app and Advertising posters in the mall are the major sources that motivate users’ visits and their first-time purchase at the store. With this result, I’ve helped my boss locate the best medium for reaching out to the maximum amount of customers and advertising our products
Take Aways & Reflection
Some Take-Aways
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Communication Skill
Since Piebird has a very small management team, sometimes I need to report my findings and proposed solutions directly to the boss. Also, I have the opportunity to talk to different customers as a user experience researcher. These factors have helped me become more logical and sensitive to one’s needs and concerns when communicating with others.
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Analytical Skill
Due to the small size of the team, I have to deal with much data and feedback pretty much by myself. The opportunity to work alone has trained me to process information quicker and select valid messages better.
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Reflections
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Limitations in research scale and methods
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Lack of coherence during the research process
Due to time and sources limitation, my results are primarily based on the 15-20 customers’ responses from the survey and the contextual interview. More in-depth and large-scale research is needed to ensure more credible results.
Besides, the research process would be more efficient if I could make a more solid research plan and implement the procedure in advance.
āOther works...
Groc
Donit
