Google Pixel

Working closely with our stakeholders at Google's Devices & Services team, we conducted original qualitative research to explore the pain points and motivations for smartphone shoppers in the UK, Germany, Spain and Poland.

A few highlights from our findings:

1. Conducted 40 45-minute interviews, 5x Pixel purchasers + 5x non-Pixel x4 countries
2. Created shopper profiles based on similar behaviours and attitudes which helped shape marketing and product strategy
3. Mapped all touchpoints and their relevance/trustworthiness for customers across different stages of the buy cycle
4. Presented our findings in November 2023 to European retail leads and held a workshop to ideate around the findings and implications.

In Q3 2023, Google's Devices and Services team approached us to help explore the mentality and barriers for customers who are considering buying a Pixel phone. We crafted an approach together, deciding on qualitative interviews across several key markets to provide a more diverse array of insights.

Throughout our work, we used emerging tools and generative AI as copilots, helping us with transcription, translation, summarisation, theme analysis and copy tweaks.

I led a lean research team consisting of a Product Strategist and a User Researcher, with additional assistance from a freelancer for the Polish market where we lacked native language proficiency.

Some key learnings:

1. AI can automate and accelerate some processes but it's not yet a substitute for rigorous analysis
2. Miro is my go-to for capturing research findings and collaborating around analysis
3. I have a rule of 2 when approaching interviews: ideally two people will be present for all interviews in a given cohort—this enables them to collaborate and act as a sounding board for each other when performing analysis.