Project Overview

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Company: Yahoo!             Role: Sole Researcher               Timeline: 2 months 

In the summer of 2022, Yahoo wanted to gain a deep understanding of parents’ needs, wants, and motivations for an online parent community. 

The business goal for this project is: 

To inform yahoo parent community strategy and drive engagement 

The research objective is: 

Gain an in-depth understanding of parents to help find opportunities for Yahoo Community utilities & Yahoo lifestyle / parenting content. 

- Goals & motivations 

- Attitude & feeling 

- Pain points

- Habits & behaviors 

- Patterns 

1. The ideal parent community depends on Millennial parents’ needs 

2. Similar experience connects parents together 

Parents join different parent communities based on what similarities they share. 

Similarities include: 

●  They have the same due date 

●  Their children are the same age 

●  Their interests are the same: nutrition group; sleep-training group; potty-training group; breastfeeding group; fitness and wellness group. 

●  live in the same area; eg, Facebook Local Parent Group 

●  Work in the same company 

3. Parents’ functional needs are evolving as their kids get older 

4. Parents tend to stick to the group where they formed a strong social relationship 

Parents tend to engage with these groups at least once a day or more due to that strong emotional tie to the group. 

Characteristic of these groups 

●  Small group 

●  members use real names and profiles 

●  Share intimate and personal updates 

●  Supportive and positive energy 

●  Share similar experiences 

Recommendation: 

Not a single platform does it all – opportunity for Yahoo 

Business impact 

●  Building empathy: When cross-functional teams can see and hear users directly, it helps them develop empathy and a deeper understanding of the users' perspectives. This, in turn, can lead to more user-centered decision-making.

●  Stimulating discussion: the user-generated research can spark discussions and brainstorming sessions within cross-functional teams. When teams see firsthand how users are interacting with the product, it can lead to creative solutions and ideas for improvements.

Product impact

●  Decided on what features to build for online parent community to boost engagement informed by research. 

●  Decided on the kind of online parent community to create to cater to target users’ needs.  Discussion forum vs. creator-enabled platform. 

●  Designers incorporated these insights into the prototype-building. 

Integrating research into the product development life cycle and aligning it with business goals is essential for creating successful and impactful products. Research is most valuable when it directly contributes to solving real-world problems and addresses the needs of the business. Instead of research being a detached and isolated academic exercise, it becomes a tool for informed decision-making. By emphasizing the practical application of research findings, you're maximizing the return on investment for the time and resources spent on the research process.

Early stakeholder involvement: Involving stakeholders early on is crucial because it helps in defining the scope of the research and ensures that the insights gathered are aligned with the needs and expectations of various stakeholders, such as customers, investors, marketing teams, and more. Regular communication and collaboration with stakeholders throughout the research process can help in refining the research approach and focusing on the most relevant issues.

Focusing on user behavior is a crucial aspect of conducting meaningful and actionable research. The gap between what people say and what they actually do is a well-known phenomenon, and it's essential to bridge this gap in order to gain accurate insights.

Mixed Methods Approach:While observing user behavior is powerful, it doesn't mean abandoning other research methods. Combining behavioral observation with interviews, and surveys,  can provide a well-rounded understanding of user needs and behaviors.

Incorporating real user stories, quotes, and videos into the research findings report is a powerful way to make the findings more relatable and impactful for cross-functional teams.