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Freight Transporter Mobile App - Product Concept Testing  

An evaluative research project that I completed in 2019 as the sole UX Researcher at BW Marketing Solutions. A logistics company had some decisions to make about a new mobile app targeted to freight transporters. The product owner literally said "Here's a spreadsheet. Turn it into a mobile app".  :-) Specifically, the product owner had to decide upon features for the mobile app, on what platform(s) to develop the mobile app, and how to price it. 

Background and Goals

The Freight Transporter mobile app is a tool that helps freight transporters quickly and easily calculate their income from each individual transport job. The product owner felt that the new mobile app had potential to be a useful & powerful tool for the freight transporters, and another revenue stream for the logistics company. 

  • Should the company develop both Android and iOS apps? Or should they develop the mobile app on one platform first and then on the other platform later? 

  • Should the mobile app pricing strategy be freemium or paid?

  • What features would the freight transporters find useful in the mobile app?

​The risk was that developing the mobile app without knowing the answers to these questions, would not only cost the company time and money, but might also be unlikely to attract users due to pricing strategy, lack of features, and wrong mobile app platform.

What features should be included?

Smart Phone Screen

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Evaluative Research Goals​

The primary objective of this research was to determine the most favorable product concept based upon target market preference and revenue potential. Some key goals were:

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  • Evaluate competitors

  • Audit Features

  • Evaluate Pricing Strategies

  • Evaluate Secondary Research

  • Concept out Mobile App Features

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BW Marketing Solutions

Methods

Product Concept Testing Question

concept-test-question.png

Stakeholder Interview​

  • Timeframe: 2 days

  • Prepared interview questions

  • Scheduled interview

  • Conducted & Documented interview

  • Analyzed and Synthesized interview data

  • Prepared findings and insights report

  • Collaborated with Stakeholder to determine which Stakeholder Interview insights to include in the Product Concept Testing

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Competitor Analysis​​

  • Timeframe: 2 days

  • Conducted SWOT Analysis with 3 competitors

  • Prepared SWOT Analysis report

  • Presented SWOT Analysis findings and insights to stakeholder

  • Collaborated with Stakeholder to determine which Competitor Analysis insights to include in the Product Concept Testing

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Secondary Research​

  • Timeframe: 1 day

  • Reviewed internal research data & insights

  • Collaborated with Stakeholder to determine which Secondary Research insights to include in the Product Concept Testing

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Product Concept Testing​

  • Timeframe: 7 days

  • Single Concept Evaluation

  • Conducted with freight transporters recruited from logistics company database

  • Qualified respondents were selected by the product owner

  • Product Concept was evaluated by 3 respondents

  • Respondents were shown the single concept, including Wireframes & description, and then asked questions about their feelings about the Product Concept

  • Analyzed and Synthesized data

  • Prepared findings and insights report

  • Presented findings and insights report to stakeholder

Crucial Insight Sample

The Product Concept Testing respondents didn't want to enter specific data every time they used the mobile app to perform an income calculation because that data was static. 

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Through Product Concept Testing I found that there was dynamic and static data used to calculate the freight transporters income. To reduce friction and to improve usability, the user should have the ability to enter the static data once and have that data saved and automatically used every time an income calculation is performed. The user also wanted the ability to change the static data in the future if needed.

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For additional findings and learnings:

please contact bellamywest@gmail.com

Don't want to enter static data every time

insight-1-static.png

*Actual image not displayed due to confidentiality

Research Impact Sample

Product Impact

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  • Collaborated with the Stakeholder about Product Concept changes based upon the insights

  • Incorporated the insights gained from research, regarding saving the static data, into the wireframes: 1) Added a Settings Page for static data; 2)  Prefilled static data on Income Calculator page

  • The Product Concept got as far as being ready to submit to the Google Play and App Store

Insight incorporated into the wireframe

insight-1-static-after.png

*Actual image not displayed due to confidentiality

My Learnings

  • After conducting the Product Concept Testing, I verbally asked the respondents questions about their feelings for the product. Documenting the respondents responses was time consuming on my part as well as the respondents. I literally took notes after asking each question. I ended up taking more time with the respondents than was scheduled, and I had to ask them for additional time. :-( Next time I will schedule additional time upfront, 90 minutes versus 60 minutes, with the participants to allow time for note taking. 

  • This Product Concept Testing was conducted with 3 participants selected by the product owner due to confidentiality. Since it's better to have more respondents when evaluating a single concept, next time I would create a confidential Product Concept Testing survey so I could collect feedback from hundreds of respondents, which would help better determine the success of the concept.

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