We identified deep emotions behind product usage and built effective content accordingly.
The Problem
Our client was experiencing user growth issues in gaming consoles and wanted to revamp the shopping experience by improving its site’s usability (e.g., better navigation, better sorting). After speaking with us, the client agreed that first developing an in-depth understanding about its users was critical, as the reasons for lack of growth may go beyond the site’s usability.
The Research
The objective of the research was not to validate what we already knew about gamers, who play video games for fun, escape, and fantasy. We wanted to dig deeper into how gaming plays a role in their lives and how a gaming console fits in with their routines. We wanted to understand who the client’s user was as a person and how the user led his or her life in general. Although we asked the client’s users about their current experience purchasing and using a console, we avoided asking them to tell us how to better design the shopping experience. Instead, we simply asked users what they knew the best—themselves.
The Findings
We were not surprised when users mentioned that they played video games to bond with their friends who lived far away. When we asked them to talk further about how they interacted with their friends, they described in detail their roles in the game—such as how they went out of their way to help each other when someone was in danger, sometimes even at the expense of their own “lives.” This information was particularly insightful to us, especially because it was so different from what we already knew about belongingness—which involves, for instance, sharing a meal with a friend or playing sports together. Instead, gamers were telling us that friendship meant sacrifices, which is when true bonding happens.
The Result
The findings suggest that when crafting stories on how gaming consoles impact a person’s life, we ought to move away from merely showing how much people are having fun and sharing the excitement; such reflections are common in stock images of players with their gaming console. Instead, showing how the product fulfilled users’ needs for bonding and how a gaming console enhanced users’ friendship and well-being are more fruitful.
Our client worked with us to revamp the content on its product page using updated images and storytelling and increased page engagement by over 30%.