Ocado Technology · Customer research and product understanding
I led a two-week diary study with 20 UK customers to understand the behaviours and motivations behind grocery shopping. The aim was to look beyond individual features and understand what happened around the shop itself, while bringing Product, Engineering and UX into the research throughout.
The question
We wanted to understand more than how customers interacted with individual features on the Ocado website.
People plan differently, remember things at different times, change their minds and have different reasons for choosing what goes into their basket. The research was designed to understand those behaviours and motivations closer to when they happened.
The study
I developed the research plan, defined the questions we wanted to answer and designed the activities customers would complete throughout the diary study.
I then led follow-up interviews with 12 participants, using what they had shared during the study to explore particular behaviours and motivations in more detail.
I wanted the team to experience the research as it happened, rather than waiting two weeks for a presentation at the end.
Bringing the team into the research
A key part of the work was helping the teams building the product engage with customers throughout the study.
I produced short video snippets throughout the study so Product, Engineering and UX could hear directly from customers.
The ongoing communication helped the teams follow emerging behaviours instead of receiving the research only at the end.
I brought the findings together into different patterns of grocery shopping behaviour.
I ran workshops to discuss what the findings meant for current work and what new opportunities had emerged.
The outcome
The study created a broader understanding of how different customers approached grocery shopping.
The workshops gave Product, Engineering and UX a shared way of discussing those behaviours and helped connect the research to work already underway as well as new ideas that emerged from the study.
What made the research useful
The diary format captured shopping behaviour closer to when it happened rather than relying only on recall.
Sharing customer video throughout the study helped teams build understanding before the final synthesis.
The workshops focused on what the findings meant for existing work and where they opened up new opportunities.