Innovation Strategy for Smart TV User Experience
How to Drive a Competitive Edge in a Homogenous Marketplace
CLIENT:
LG
RELATIONSHIP / DURATION:
Agency / 3 Months
SECTOR:
Home Electronics & Connected Devices
RESPONSIBILITIES:
Foundational strategic research, live moderation, design sprint facilitation, new product discovery
OBJECTIVE:
Identify net-new user experiences that add value for TV owners and increase long-term value from an owner relationship perspective
APPROACH:
I designed a generative, foundational qualitative study to demystify smart TV and device usage in the home, and identify unmet needs for TV owners. I scaled our insights and findings, and prioritized the most valuable solutions for LG smart TV owners who want more from their TV. Then, I led a design sprint to concept these emergent solutions, and structured iterative testing to refine and polish them for handoff.
RESULTING IMPACT:
Word spread of our human-centered design approach to new product development throughout LG, and the agency secured repeat business from different business units within their global organization.
BUSINESS CHALLENGE
Can we develop a robust understanding of smart TV owner behaviors? How can we anticipate their emerging needs?
What innovative opportunities exist for net-new mobile UX? Are there unmet needs that translate to increased loyalty and additional purchases?
Can we design, test and refine concepts for those new experiences?
FOUNDATIONAL QUALITATIVE INTERVIEWS
I designed a generative, foundational qualitative study to demystify smart TV and device behaviors in the home, and identify unmet needs for TV owners. I collaborated with the client to align on the following study design, goals and recruiting criteria.
METHODOLOGY DETAILS
Method: A blind, generative, qualitative study of live user interviews with a total of (n=21) smart TV owners
Session Duration / Time in-field: 60 minutes / 2 weeks
Key Screener Criteria:
50% LG TV owners, 50% owners of other TV brands, who purchased at least one TV within the last two years
Participants had a mix of streaming devices and smart systems such as Alexa and Ring.
Participants reflected persona types already established at LG.
Additional screener criteria included HHI, gender, employment, and popular US demographics for LG.
ABRIDGED LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Home Layout, Inventory:
Why do owners adopt the different smart devices in their homes?
Smart TVs & Streaming Media Players:
Why do owners adopt SMPs? How do they discover new content?
Multi-tasking with the Smart TV:
How does TV use factor into different parts of daily life, such as facilitating hobbies or other interests?
Future & Unmet Needs:
What do you expect smart TV to do next? Are there unmet, activity-specific needs?
INSIGHTS
We uncovered 4 major theme areas, 6 key insights, and 4 additional learnings that we surfaced with the client. We also identified 12 data-informed opportunities for compelling net-new UX, as well as 40+ jobs-to-be-done related to smart TV usage at home, bucketed into 6 major super jobs. From here, we turned to quantitative methods to scale our findings, and prioritize areas of focus for our net-new concepts.
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
I designed a survey to prioritize and build confidence in the opportunities and needs gathered through qualitative research. This helped us determine which experiences would be most worthwhile for TV owners. At this point, I onboarded a freelancer to drive our survey analysis, and I facilitated our survey deployment through a third-party vendor.
METHODOLOGY DETAILS
Method: We completed a general population survey with a sample of (n=1168) smart TV owners aged 25-60 located across the United States. Excluding our screener questions, our survey consisted of 33 questions in total.
Duration: ~One month, from screener definition to analyses and final deliverable
Key Screener Criteria:
Our screener included 9 demographic questions informed by LG, 7 contextual and behavioral questions, and one open response. Consistent with our qualitative round,
50% LG TV owners, 50% owners of other TV brands, who purchased at least one TV within the last two years
Participants also had a mix of streaming devices, smart systems and devices.
Participants reflected persona types already established at LG
Additional screener criteria included HHI, gender, employment, and popular US demographics for the brand
KEY SCALED LEARNINGS
While our entire survey focused on a broad set of smart TV needs, our most compelling learnings brought us back to one of our original qualitative insights—that the smart TV has one main job.
As you can see below, although the market ultimately wants more from their smart TVs, owners simply want to find relevant content faster. Additionally, global search across all streaming apps was most important, and four of the top five needs were concentrated on getting to the right content quicker.
ABRIDGED LEARNING GOALS
Prioritizing our Jobs-to-be-Done:
What are the most important jobs Smart TVs?
What’s the most high-value problem to solve for LG TV owners?
What UX concepts should we develop that we can iterate and test?
Fortifying our Insights:
On the whole, do owners feel their TV is personalized?
Are there sizable productivity-based value propositions worth pursuing related to working from home?
How important is voice for both the TV and around the house?
NEXT STEPS
With our insights in mind, we delved into workshopping mode with our client team to polish 3 concept statements abbreviated below, and I facilitated a research-led design sprint with iterative prototype testing to bring them to high visual fidelity.
North Star Product Vision: an ultra-personalized hub that collects your most used content and platforms on your TV
Membership Objective: a way for LG to serve their own content and products via the TV
Companion Remote: an app managing play back, content searching and content management
LEARNINGS AND IMPACT
Overall, we found validation and viability for all three concepts, and a strong sense from users that this was a complete package that ultimately improves the smart TV user experience by “bringing everything together” in a more seamless way. We also accumulated myriad directional signals as to how to improve each experience, including iterative changes and adjustments to the product level value proposition.
I presented each phase’s insights and findings decks sequentially, and we maintained alignment through a series of workshops staggered throughout our engagement. Word spread of our human-centered design approach to new product development throughout LG, and the agency secured repeat business from different business units within LG’s global organization.
ITERATIVE CONCEPT TESTING
We translated these statements to clickable mobile prototypes via a research-led design sprint with our internal Heady team, and I designed an iterative concept test and discussion guide based on our client needs, as well as our design team’s questions about these three new experiences, incorporating feedback from all stakeholders.
ABRIDGED LEARNING GOALS
North Star Product Vision
Does LG serve as a content aggregator or content provider in this new experience?
How does this shift or not shift the users’ relationship and expectations of LG?
Membership Objective
Is this experience about taking those content moments with you? If so, how?
How do users conceive of product placement?
Companion Remote
What are the basic needs from a remote?
Are there unmet needs from the current remote experiences that could be met with a digital experience?
METHODOLOGY DETAILS
Research Approach: We conducted a open qualitative study of moderated user interviews with (n=13) LG smart TV owners
Session Duration: 60 minutes
Time in-field: 2 weeks
Key Screener Criteria:
All participants have LG TVs, and made at least one TV purchase within the last two years
Participants also had a mix of streaming devices in their homes, in addition to other smart systems and devices
Participants reflected persona types already established at LG
Additional screener criteria included HHI, gender, employment, and LG’s popular US demographics
Innovation Strategy for Smart TV User Experience
How to Drive a Competitive Edge in a Homogenous Marketplace
CLIENT:
RELATIONSHIP:
SECTOR:
RESPONSIBILITIES:
OBJECTIVE:
DURATION:
APPROACH:
RESULTING IMPACT:
BUSINESS CHALLENGE
Can we develop a robust understanding of smart TV owner behaviors? How can we anticipate their emerging needs?
What innovative opportunities exist for net-new mobile UX? Are there unmet needs that translate to increased loyalty and additional purchases?
Can we design, test and refine concepts for those new experiences?
LG
Agency
Home Electronics & Connected Devices
Foundational strategic research, live moderation, design sprint facilitation, new product discovery & concepting
Identify net-new user experiences that add value for TV owners and increase long-term value from an owner relationship perspective
3 Months
I designed a generative, foundational qualitative study to demystify smart TV and device usage in the home, and identify unmet needs for TV owners. I scaled our insights and findings, and prioritized the most valuable solutions for LG smart TV owners who want more from their TV. Then, I led a design sprint to concept these emergent solutions, and structured iterative testing to refine and polish them for handoff.
Word spread of our human-centered design approach to new product development throughout LG, and the agency secured repeat business from different business units within their global organization.
FOUNDATIONAL QUALITATIVE INTERVIEWS
I designed a generative, foundational qualitative study to demystify smart TV and device behaviors in the home, and identify unmet needs for TV owners. I collaborated with the client to align on the following study design, goals and recruiting criteria.
METHODOLOGY DETAILS
Method: A blind, generative, qualitative study of live user interviews with a total of (n=21) smart TV owners
Session Duration / Time in-field: 60 minutes / 2 weeks
Key Screener Criteria:
50% LG TV owners, 50% owners of other TV brands, who purchased at least one TV within the last two years
Participants had a mix of streaming devices and smart systems such as Alexa and Ring.
Participants reflected persona types already established at LG.
Additional screener criteria included HHI, gender, employment, and popular US demographics for LG.
ABRIDGED LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Home Layout, Inventory:
Why do owners adopt the different smart devices in their homes?
Smart TVs & Streaming Media Players:
Why do owners adopt SMPs? How do they discover new content?
Multi-tasking with the Smart TV:
How does TV use factor into different parts of daily life, such as facilitating hobbies or other interests?
Future & Unmet Needs:
What do you expect smart TV to do next? Are there unmet, activity-specific needs?
INSIGHTS
We uncovered 4 major theme areas, 6 key insights, and 4 additional learnings that we surfaced with the client. We also identified 12 data-informed opportunities for compelling net-new UX, as well as 40+ jobs-to-be-done related to smart TV usage at home, bucketed into 6 major super jobs. From here, we turned to quantitative methods to scale our findings, and prioritize areas of focus for our net-new concepts.
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
I designed a survey to prioritize and build confidence in the opportunities and needs gathered through qualitative research. This helped us determine which experiences would be most worthwhile for TV owners. At this point, I onboarded a freelancer to drive our survey analysis, and I facilitated our survey deployment through a third-party vendor.
METHODOLOGY DETAILS
Method: We completed a general population survey with a sample of (n=1168) smart TV owners aged 25-60 located across the United States. Excluding our screener questions, our survey consisted of 33 questions in total.
Duration: ~One month, from screener definition to analyses and final deliverable
Key Screener Criteria:
Our screener included 9 demographic questions informed by LG, 7 contextual and behavioral questions, and one open response. Consistent with our qualitative round,
50% LG TV owners, 50% owners of other TV brands, who purchased at least one TV within the last two years
Participants also had a mix of streaming devices, smart systems and devices.
Participants reflected persona types already established at LG
Additional screener criteria included HHI, gender, employment, and popular US demographics for the brand
KEY SCALED LEARNINGS
While our entire survey focused on a broad set of smart TV needs, our most compelling learnings brought us back to one of our original qualitative insights—that the smart TV has one main job.
As you can see below, although the market ultimately wants more from their smart TVs, owners simply want to find relevant content faster. Additionally, global search across all streaming apps was most important, and four of the top five needs were concentrated on getting to the right content quicker.
ABRIDGED LEARNING GOALS
Prioritizing our Jobs-to-be-Done:
What are the most important jobs Smart TVs?
What’s the most high-value problem to solve for LG TV owners?
What UX concepts should we develop that we can iterate and test?
Fortifying our Insights:
On the whole, do owners feel their TV is personalized?
Are there sizable productivity-based value propositions worth pursuing related to working from home?
How important is voice for both the TV and around the house?
NEXT STEPS
With our insights in mind, we delved into workshopping mode with our client team to polish 3 concept statements abbreviated below, and I facilitated a research-led design sprint with iterative prototype testing to bring them to high visual fidelity.
North Star Product Vision: an ultra-personalized hub that collects your most used content and platforms on your TV
Membership Objective: a way for LG to serve their own content and products via the TV
Companion Remote: an app managing play back, content searching and content management
LEARNINGS AND IMPACT
Overall, we found validation and viability for all three concepts, and a strong sense from users that this was a complete package that ultimately improves the smart TV user experience by “bringing everything together” in a more seamless way. We also accumulated myriad directional signals as to how to improve each experience, including iterative changes and adjustments to the product level value proposition.
I presented each phase’s insights and findings decks sequentially, and we maintained alignment through a series of workshops staggered throughout our engagement. Word spread of our human-centered design approach to new product development throughout LG, and the agency secured repeat business from different business units within LG’s global organization.
ITERATIVE CONCEPT TESTING
We translated these statements to clickable mobile prototypes via a research-led design sprint with our internal Heady team, and I designed an iterative concept test and discussion guide based on our client needs, as well as our design team’s questions about these three new experiences, incorporating feedback from all stakeholders.
ABRIDGED LEARNING GOALS
North Star Product Vision
Does LG serve as a content aggregator or content provider in this new experience?
How does this shift or not shift the users’ relationship and expectations of LG?
Membership Objective
Is this experience about taking those content moments with you? If so, how?
How do users conceive of product placement?
Companion Remote
What are the basic needs from a remote?
Are there unmet needs from the current remote experiences that could be met with a digital experience?
METHODOLOGY DETAILS
Research Approach: We conducted a open qualitative study of moderated user interviews with (n=13) LG smart TV owners
Session Duration: 60 minutes
Time in-field: 2 weeks
Key Screener Criteria:
All participants have LG TVs, and made at least one TV purchase within the last two years
Participants also had a mix of streaming devices in their homes, in addition to other smart systems and devices
Participants reflected persona types already established at LG
Additional screener criteria included HHI, gender, employment, and LG’s popular US demographics