Curly, Coily, Kinky, Wavy Hair Care
With one product and many SKUs already under their belt, successful entrepreneurs Rebecca Allen and Carly Stapleton approached me to help guide them through the product development process for a new direct-to-consumer product.
GOALS
We began the product development process with a six-week needfinding user research project to map out the current user journeys, uncover design opportunities, and prioritize their product pipeline.
PROCESS
The Rebecca Allen team and I collaborated on interviews, debriefing, and analysis of 21 typical, extreme, and expert interviews within Black women's hair care. Our participants shared stories and opened their bathroom cabinets to us to talk all things product, tools, and Wash Day.
FINAL DELIVERABLES
Interview Guides for typical, extreme, and expert interviews
Photo, video, and transcripts from interviews of typical and extreme users
A custom framework for fast and easy debrief and analysis across 21 distributed participants and three interviewers
User journeys
Led a distributed brainstorm that leveraged the design opportunities uncovered within the user journey and connected user needs to unlock product ideas
A custom metric for prioritizing the product pipeline that balances user needs, business needs, and the team's resources
Final analysis presentation with actionable insights and next steps
IMPACT
By the end of the engagement, the Rebecca Allen team was closer to their users, understood the most common and largest pain points in the Black hair care space, had dozens of new innovative product ideas, and - using the metric - was able to identify a clear product pipeline carving out a unique offering for their upcoming brand launch.
RECOGNITION FROM REBECCA ALLEN
Gabrielle was wonderful to work with. Our team had a fabulous experience working with her while she led a research project that will inform our product pipeline. She presented us with different engagement options to fit our start-up budget and led us through the process with ease. She was, of course, timely with all deliverables, thorough and efficient. The results were incredibly actionable. But, more than anything, Gabrielle is a creative thinker who brought a unique perspective and felt like an extension of our team. We look forward to working with Gabrielle again soon. We highly recommend her!
- Rebecca Allen, CEO, and Carly Stapleton, COO