Salonized Lab
Establishing a Scalable User Research Community
2024 Q2
Notion, Whatsapp
OVERVIEW
Salonized Lab is a user research initiative that I co-created and executed alongside our UX Researcher at Salonized. The goal was to establish a dedicated group of engaged users for continuous feedback, ensuring that real user insights directly influenced product decisions.
By leveraging informal, direct communication methods, such as a WhatsApp community, we made research and validation a seamless part of product development. This initiative increased engagement, improved feature adoption, and made recruiting participants for usability testing more efficient.
My Role
As the UX Designer leading this initiative, I:
Designed and launched the Salonized Lab research community.
Conducted user recruitment, structured engagement strategies, and designed communication workflows.
Established a process for continuous feedback loops, including prototype sharing, polls, and usability tests.
Analyzed findings and incorporated them into feature iterations and product roadmaps.
The Challenge
Salonized needed a scalable, ongoing user research process that allowed the product team to:
Validate ideas before development, rather than relying on post-release feedback.
Reduce friction in user recruitment for research activities.
Increase engagement with salon owners, making them feel heard in the product development process.
Existing research efforts were ad hoc and reactive, making it difficult to maintain a steady stream of feedback. Traditional survey methods had low response rates, and users often provided limited insights after features were already built.
The Journey
1. Structuring the Research Community
We established Salonized Lab as a WhatsApp-based research group, providing a direct channel between users and the product team. This enabled fast, informal feedback and a more engaged user base.
Steps Taken:
Reached out to users from the Salonized customer list to join the initiative.
Created a centralized participant database for easy tracking and recruitment.
Developed a structured communication plan, including regular updates, polls, and feedback requests.
2. Continuous Engagement & Research Activities
To ensure ongoing participation, we introduced various lightweight research activities that encouraged quick and actionable feedback.
Key Activities:
Prototype Sharing – Sent short videos of new features to gauge initial reactions.
WhatsApp Polls – Collected direct user preferences on UI elements and functionality.
3. Insights & Impact