Inspire next-gen design by deeply understanding digital shower users

May 8

project context

A manufacturer of bath products aimed to inspire future innovations in the digital shower industry. They sought a comprehensive understanding of the entire user journey, from discovery and purchase to usage and repair. Their goal was to explore the various nuances, styles, motivations, frustrations, and aspirations that users experience throughout this journey.

Client challenge

How might we inspire the development of the next generation product by understanding users' diverse motivations, drivers, and preferences across different lifestyles, life stages, and levels of tech savviness?

Project Scope

Type of Engagement
Foundational Research

Time-frame
8 weeks

50 hrs

Data Collection

150 hrs

Analysis, Recommendations & Story building

Virtual Expert Interviews
Screener Survey
Pre-work Activity
In-Home Tour
In-Home Interview
In-Home Activity: User Journey Mapping
Observation pictures
Khoj Lab Team
Senior Design Strategist
Senior Design Researcher
Communication Designer
Recruiting Partner
Client Team
Director of UX
UX Researcher
Product Designers
Design Methods Used:
User Profiles
User Journey Mapping
Prioritization Matrix
Research Methods:
Virtual Expert Interviews
Screener Survey
Pre-work Activity
In-Home Visits + Interviews
Communication Methods Used:
Video Storytelling
Diagrams & Visualizations
Virtual Presentation

client testimonial

“This research provided a great foundation to rethink the product experience from end-to-end and identify ways to make it more appealing, accessible and valuable for a wider range of consumers. The recommendations outlined provide a solid roadmap to explore new opportunities in the near future.”

— Senior Product User Experience Design Leader, Client Organization

KHOJLAB APPROACH

Our team took a holistic approach using three lenses—home, product, and technology—to understand users in their context. This helped us uncover new opportunities across various lifestyle choices, levels of tech-savviness, and needs at different life stages.

The shower is a space shared by the whole household. It goes beyond the individual necessity of a daily shower. We approached the problem holistically to understand its impact on everyone touching it. We want to learn how users' lifestyles and well-being impact their digital shower experience. How might a digital shower enhance daily life and bring about new opportunities for innovation? To do that, we interviewed internal client experts and external experts from the industry, such as plumbers, interior designers, and sales professionals, and visited Digital Shower users’ homes.

IMPACT/OUTCOME

The insights provided a fresh perspective for the user experience design, product performance, and marketing & sales teams, enabling them to approach shower solutions in a more user-centric manner.

This foundational research helped our clients build empathy with their customers and better understand their needs, motivations, frustrations, aspirations, and desires. Based on individual, couple, or household needs - we were able to put together a compelling story of how the future of shower experiences is evolving. The client could visualize the problem areas more clearly, and the opportunity areas could be represented as “gaps” in the user’s journey.

We ended the project with six key recommendations based on the journey map. Within each, we called out the problem, “How Might We’s,” ideas to solve them, and obvious next steps. This made the research more actionable and helped prioritize issues to solve and ideas to work on.