Calmoo
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Turning a legacy complimentary service offered by an education and technology franchise into a profitable product line. How do I tackle the obstacles in the design process with the power of UX research?
Employer
Qi Zhi Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd
Platforms
From Kiosk Machine to Mobile
Timeline
June 2018-Ongoing
Roles
Field Research
User interview
Survey Design
Tools
Calmoo Wearable Device
Lab-used EEG Hat
Figma
Adobe Illustrator
Deliverables
3 sets of survey questionnaires designed to meet research needs before and after the launch of the first-generation product line
Weekly research findings reports (in a two-year time span)
Weekly pitches of research findings to cross-functional teams
Quarterly presentations to stakeholders
At a Glance
The Project
Qi Zhi Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd is an education technology company that provides after-school tutoring services to young students aged 7 to 14. The company had around 20 branch campuses in China (2017), each with a kiosk machine nicknamed "Boxy" that offered complimentary services to attract new students.
To increase the reach of Boxy and generate a new revenue stream, in the middle of 2017, the company decided to develop a new product that brought the capabilities of Boxy to a product line including a mobile app and portable headwear devices called “Calmoo.”
The Obstacles
While working to replicate the functions of Boxy on Calmoo, the company focused heavily on accurate data collection and analysis (20+ user research sets per week on average) but overlooked the significant role and impact of user experience in a paid product.
When the company launched the first-generation product in mid-2018, research indicated that only 45.3% of parents were willing to become paying customers for the product line, despite children reporting equal or better experiences using Calmoo in field research.”
User Research:
What was my approach to help?
Target the
Hidden Users
Even though young students might appear to be the target users of Calmoo, their parents play a crucial role in deciding whether to make a purchase. Therefore, the reactions of parents should also be considered during the design process.
Since the user research focuses on young students aged 7 to 14, most user interviews or field research were conducted with required parental consent and parental presence. This allowed me to include parents in the interviewing process and better understand these "hidden users."
Insights and Key Takeaways
When customers need to invest in a product, their expectations of the product change.
When customers need to invest in a product, their expectations of the product change. The meditation and focus training game sessions are free on "Boxy," but as this complimentary service becomes a paid version, parents expect to see more specific outcomes.
Some parents are concerned about the accuracy of the "focus metric."
If the focus metric does not accurately reflect the current state of young students, parents may view Calmoo as just a gaming device. To address this concern, the research team conducted scientific experiments comparing the performance of Calmoo's wearable headband devices with lab-used wet EEG hats and published a paper to prove their accuracy.
Some parents expect to have the ability to track their children's progress.
Parents who enroll their children in after-school tutoring programs take education seriously, they normally would pay extra attention to their children’s learning progress. When it comes to concentration training, they need to see the progress as well.
Some parents expect to be able to showcase their children's achievements.
Many parents who participated in interviews stated that they value their children's achievements and want to be able to show them off. However, simply displaying a focus score on the screen after each session is not sufficient for this purpose.
My Handoff to the Design Team
Meet the Hidden Users
I created the persona "Kai" by combining quantitative and qualitative data collected during the research to represent as many parents as possible. The design team consistently referred to Kai's needs and perspectives during the design process to ensure that the "hidden users" were considered in the design solution.
The Journey of Kai and His Kid
Most children's experiences remained the same or improved when switching from "Boxy" to "Calmoo," but their parents' reactions and expectations changed due to the fact that they now had to pay for the product and service. I mapped out the user journey to better inform the design team about the situation.
Presented by the Design Team
Personalized Focus Score Report System
When customers need to invest in a product, their expectations of the product change.
The mediation and focus training game sessions are free on “Boxy,” but as this complimentary service turns into a paid version, parents expect to see more specific outcomes.
Create Personal Profile
Create Personal Profile
According to my interview findings, parents need a way to check the focus index of their children. To do that, the function of creating personal profiles is added to store the focus index.
According to my survey findings, some families have multiple children and hope that one set of devices can be used by multiple children. As a result, parents can build multiple user profiles on one mobile platform.
Focus Testing Routine
Focus Testing Routine
According to my interview findings, some parents need to understand how the "focus index" is calculated and to be ensure of the authority of this score.
I'll suggest adding a link in this module, to the paper published by the research team to prove the accuracy of the focus training test.
Focus Index Reports
Focus Index Reports
According to my field research findings, being able to share the achievements of their children is considered a big motivation for parents.
Instead of having the focus score pops out right after the test, there’s a new transition page with a button that leads to the next step - a page where parents are allowed to generate, read, and share children's focus index report.
My take as a UX Designer
My involvement in the user research informed the updates above and resulted in a 27% increase in parents' intent to purchase. This became a major factor in my decision to pursue a career in UX design.
Now, looking back on this project from my perspective as a UX designer, there are several areas where I would have designed differently to enhance the user experience for parents and provide them with more tools to effectively monitor and manage their children's usage of the app.
The successful launch of the first-generation Calmoo headband has had a significant impact on the company, leading to its recognition as a national high-tech enterprise and securing national funding for the development of the next-generation product.
This product features a seamless integration of the meditation clip and focus-training games into the VR goggles, along with a mobile app designed solely for convenient parental control. I am honored to have been a part of this process and proud to see my research findings come to life.
Reflection
Pay extra attention to users behind the scene: Sometimes the users and clients can be two separate groups. Taking both groups into consideration might boost the business growth in an unexpected way.
When customers are asked to invest in a product, their expectations of the product will change. The UX design of Calmoo, both the wearable device and the mobile platform is still ongoing. We should always keep in mind that simply duplicating the complimentary service offered on “Boxy” will never be enough.
Empower the user experience with personalized features, so users can track their progress in growing with the product. Providing users with personalized landmarks and outcomes will help increase user engagement with the product.
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