Day to Day Usage of a Product in the Life of its User

A remote diary study to understand the behavior of event organizers

Townscript is an online DIY event ticketing platform that brings together event organisers and attendees. Townscript wished to understand how they could elevate the user experience for event organisers – how could they improve the dropout rate, and improve the visibility of their features to make event organisers’ event cycle simpler and more rewarding?

As a first step in this direction, it was important to understand the day-to-day event activities of the event organisers as well as their usage of the platform.

Our Approach

Hureo conducted a diary study to map the day-to-day activities of event organizers both in the online and offline world. In a Diary Study, users’ product diary is studied to get highly contextual information to understand user behaviors – what is motivating them to use the product, how they are using the product, what are the challenges in usage.

This approach helped us understand the behavior of users beyond their usage of the platform, and gave us an end-to-end picture of the environment in which the platform is being used.

Methodology of study:

It was a long intense 5 weeks activity where researchers, product managers, designers and even the founder were deeply involved.

• Phase 1 – Getting to know the users:

  In depth interviews to understand the participants and introduce them to the study.

• Phase 2 – Product Diary:

  We started collecting daily product diary entries. Participants sent in their entries either by typing or via voice notes.

• Phase 3 – Follow up on diary entries:

  Intervention to understand the entries and change the strategy of listening based on what we have found.

• Phase 4 – Analysis:

  Using collaborative analysis to understand and evaluate patterns that emerge from daily entries. These patterns provided insights for product strategy.

The remote methodology ensured that the participants were in their context of use while working on their product diaries. It also provided insights on their context while the study was being conducted, and enabled them to report their feelings/thoughts/challenges connected to event actions as they were experiencing them – which was the goal of the study.

Study in a snapshot:

The Outcome

1. Highlighted and prioritized user needs, goals and challenges beyond the platform use:

   • The study enabled to understand the entire event cycle of the organizer – from the planning, their challenges, stakeholders’ involvement at different stages, channels of communication used, and more.
   • We also highlighted the motivations of event organizers – motivation to perform certain tasks, how they feel and think about these tasks, their perception of the brand in real time, etc.

2. Created user journey maps to develop a broader service:

   • The diary study helped to map the flow of activities, along with the frequency of these activities.
   • This journey map included details of the activity, prioritization of activities, the tasks within, the methods of completing these tasks, and the associated subtasks – which showcased the gaps within the current online vs offline behavior.

3. Identified new opportunity areas to enable an enhanced service:

   • Understanding the issues faced and how they are being solved provided insights into the unmet needs of the event organizers, such as challenges faced with on-ground activities, lack of/poor communication within the ecosystem, etc.
   • We highlighted insights and areas of opportunity to guide service strategy and platform redesign.

4. Identified day-to-day use of the online platform to help prioritize platform features:

   • The study helped understand the majorly used features, the timeline and purpose of their use, and the method of use by the event organizers.