We were conducting preliminary user profiling and segmentation for our clients on a study related to mobile phones. While conducting the research, our user research team got curious about people with earphones(earphone-d people). What ARE people listening to? We decided to have fun with our curiosity and snoop around a little.
What did our curiosity make us do?
We decided to approach people with earphones on and find out 3 things.
1. What were they listening to right then?
2. When and where do they listen to, whatever they were listening to (radio or MP3)?
3. What type of mobile phones were they carrying?
People are quite chatty once you assure them that you are not trying to sell anything or having them to commit their time or resources (read: money). We got a lot more information than we set out to. We spoke to 20 people and found some interesting things.
What did our curiosity help us find?
People prefer FM to MP3. This is because they find it tedious to upload songs and maintain playlists and because FM is interactive and one gets more than just songs. We did find people who listen to playlists, but they prefer to carry a separate device like the iPod.
People do not remember radio stations. They remember programs, radio jockeys (RJs) and the time when the programs are aired.
“When do they listen to music” depends on the language of the song aired, the time of day and the activity they are performing and the RJ/type of program aired on radio.
- Language of the songs aired.
In Hyderabad, as is true anywhere in India, radio stations play Hindi songs (Bollywood movie soundtracks) and/or regional songs (soundtracks from regional language films, ex: In Hyderabad, you would hear Telugu movie soundtracks on the radio.) Some stations also play Western music, usually late at night.
- The time of day and the activity they are performing. For example, commuting to and from work/college, free time at college or lunch/tea breaks at work.
- The RJ/type of program aired on radio.
We were amazed at finding
While at home or during free time with friends or colleagues, people attach their mobiles to speakers and collectively enjoy their programs.
People listen to radio during bed time because they feel it helps them fall asleep.
People text message, reminding others of programs being aired.
What did our curiosity help us to do next?
We profiled the users to get a better understanding of the ear-phoned population. These are the types of ear-phoned people that emerged.
The Traveler - 10 0f 20 people interviewed were close to this profile
She is on her way to catch her bus, which is usually at 9:30 AM. While waiting at the bus stop, she listens to her favorite music on her mobile. Sometimes gets calls from her office while she is travelling in her bus. Due to the peak hours she usually does not get a seat and manages standing all her way. When not on call she plugs her headset and listens to FM.
Profile: Employees, students
Leisure- casual music listener - 5 0f 20 people interviewed were close to this profile
She plugs in her headphones to listens to music from her mobile, usually at nights after a busy day. This activity helps her relax. She has many favorite playlist in her mobile and she picks one according to her mood, she also tunes into her favorite RJ show on particular FM channels. Occasionally she connects her mobile to speakers and plays it loud at a small friends get together at her place.
Profiles: Housewife, students
On the job listener -5 0f 20 people interviewed were close to this profile
He listens to FM during the slag hours of his business, which are usually the afternoons. He owns a shop in a busy market and loves the local language songs and occasionally listens to Bollywood (Hindi) songs. He is aware of the broadcasting schedule of the various programs aired in his city. He shuffles between them according to his preferences. He plays the music on the mobile speakers.
Profile: Shop owners, helpers at the shops, street vendors, Sales man, marketing professionals, courier services, cab drivers
How was this productive to the cats?
Well, besides giving you a chance to speak to strangers and marvel at the layers of information that unfold in front of you, snooping around is a lot of fun!
It helped us,
- Understand the motivation of the earphone-d crowd; it helped us design the study better.
- We understood which profile suits best, in the event of a usability study; it would help us recruit accurately.
- This sort of snooping around helps us segment our user population and to represent it in our participant pool. For example, if we were to recruit 20 users, we would know just how many we want from “the traveler” profile and how many from the “leisure-casual listener” profile.
- During discussions with clients, one gets to confidently talk about the users rather than “Users could….” “Users perhaps….” and “Maybe users….”
- It gives us a face to the users we are studying and if one’s enterprising enough, one could take people’s contact details in the event that they fit your recruitment profile. It cuts down on any headache during recruitment.
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