Smiling Mind
Smiling Mind is a not-for-profit company focused in equipping people with the skills they need to thrive with a healthy mind. They began as a tool for young people and now they are looking to expand.
Project Overview
Evaluative Research
Challenge
Smiling Mind began primarily for younger students but now they want to better serve the hybrid and remote workforce.
The goal was to better understand this user segment and help the Smiling Mind team better understand the needs and goals of those working remotely or hybrid looking to try meditation.
Solution
Create a research report that indicates how to tailor an existing meditation app Smiling Mind to a new user segment, remote or hybrid workers.
Scope
4 weeks
My Role
UX Researcher
Tools
Figma, FigJam, Dovetail,
Zoom, Google Forms, Google Slides
These screenshots provide a visual representation of the current user interface of Smiling Mind and serve as a starting point for my research.
Research Plan
Prior to jumping into the research itself, it was necessary to create a research plan, which focused on defining research goals, methods, and participants.
I defined my research goals and developed questions to gather both attitudinal and behavioral data through qualitative and quantitative methods.
Surveys
Writing and distributing surveys was the most efficient way to gather data from remote/hybrid workers about their experience with meditation. This survey has 9 respondents who have prior experience with meditation.
Through a screening process followed by surveys, I specifically selected experienced remote/hybrid workers with meditation backgrounds to gain a better understanding of their needs and preferences.
All the data was collected on Google Forms and all the insights were categorized into 5 different groups due to the amount of information received.
Key insights from Surveys:​
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Sync up with the heart rate is the most desirable feature to have on the meditation app (doesn't exist yet).
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Respondents barely meditate in the afternoon. Morning or evening are the most preferable time: it either helps them to start their day or relax before bed.
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All the respondents were stressed over the last couple of months due to work or some personal reasons.
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All the respondents have very different reasons why they meditate. However, for the most of them feeling calm and at peace is the ultimate goal.
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List of things that need to be in each meditation session: relaxing music, flexible length, no ads, clear instructions, and positive affirmations.
Here are some of the answers:
Competitor Benchmarking
Headspace and Insight Timer were chosen for competitive benchmarking since they are the two biggest competitors among meditation apps. They were audited through SWCDUO Analysis to see what are their strengths, weaknesses, content, design, UX, and opportunities. This was crucial for indicating which areas of the Smiling Mind app need to be improved or avoided upon the completion of the research.
Insight Timer
Headspace
Key Insights from Competitive Benchmarking:
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Showing the length of each meditation session is highly beneficial => it opens an opportunity for users to search based on the length of the session.
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Headspace has some content unrelated to meditation which is distracting and cancels the purpose of the app. Seeing so much content outside of meditation can cause anxiety in users.
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Fun animation and playful brand tones tap into one's inner child.
Interviews
Conducting interviews was crucial as it allowed me to gain deeper insights into the personal experiences of remote and hybrid workers and their relationship with meditation. By engaging in meaningful conversations, interviewees were able to recall specific memories and provide detailed descriptions of their previous meditation experiences. These interviews were essential for understanding their perspectives, uncovering valuable insights, and informing improvements to the user experience of the meditation app based on real-life user experiences.
After all the interviews were completed, they were transcribed and interpreted with tagging taxonomy in Dovetail. At first there were a lot of tags created which had to be cut down to 8 overall.
Before
After
Tagging Taxonomy
After the thorough walk through the transcription of all the interviews which involved tagging, affinity mapping was the next step in synthesizing all the data. Affinity mapping helped to visualize trends to form insights. Here is an example of how it has been done.
Key insights from Interviews:
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It is necessary to keep the meditation app as simple as possible (minimalistic design) to:​
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Make user experience easy​
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Avoid coming off as a capitalistic machine
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Sort by the length of the meditation
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Avoid ads in the meditation session itself
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Good quality acts as a reassurance to meditators
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Remote workers are overwhelmed with the workload and it is hard for them to find time to meditate.
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There's a lot of pressure on how to meditate properly & trying to stick to a meditation routine.
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Need to reassure people that it is okay to not be consistent with meditation or have drifting thoughts.
Quantitative Usability Testing
Usability testing played a critical role in understanding user interactions with the Smiling Mind app and gathering essential usability metrics, including time on task, error rate, and success rate. Quantitative research gave the ability to run studies with large sample sizes and collect statistically relevant data. The major task for users was to find meditation sessions related to the workplace.
Here are a few results from the conducted Maze test:
Click Heatmap
Click Heatmap
Key Insights from Usability Testing:
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The major task for users was to look at the sessions related to the workplace. "At Work" meditations can be found through only "Explore Page" of the app.
Results: On the first screen, 22% of users clicked on “An Intro to Mindfulness” instead of the "Explore page" --> potential to make "At Work" meditations easier to find on the homepage. -
Overall, the average rating for navigating to “At Work” section was 4.2 out of 5 in terms of ease. This could potentially be improved by putting the “At Work” section on the main screen, or higher up on the Explore page.
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70% of users were interested in the free session, “Meeting Starters”.
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30% of users were interested in the premium sessions.
Research Report
Upon the completion of all the planned research which provided a lot of information into user behavior, current trends in meditation apps, their strengths, and pain points, a research report was created with the key insights that have to be taken into consideration when creating new features on the app for remote/hybrid remote workers. This report includes recommendations that will significantly improve user experience once implemented.
Insight 1: Consumers want a simple and streamlined design in their meditation app.
Summary
Users prefer meditation apps with minimal text and easy navigation. They reported that the Smiling Mind app was cluttered and had too much text, a potential barrier to entry.
Consequence
A cluttered UI may leave users frustrated when they’re trying to experience the exact opposite emotion on a meditation app. We need to help create a sense of calm not only through the sessions but through the app design as well.
Suggestion
Take advantage of white space in the app and make meditation descriptions more concise in order to seamlessly guide users through the app.
Evidence
Quotes from Usability Testing
Quote from Interviews
Insight 2: Remote/hybrid workers tend to meditate only in the mornings and evenings.
Summary
Users tend to either meditate in the mornings as a way to start their day or in the evenings to relax before going to bed. Most users don’t have time to meditate during the workday.
Consequence
By offering an “At Work” section with only 2 free meditation sessions (“Meeting Starters” and “Small Business Program”), the app is losing out on remote workers who do not meditate during the work day.
Suggestion
Consider changing the title of the “At Work” section to something more approachable, such as “Managing Work”. Capitalize on users’ motivations to meditate by including sessions such as:
1) Anxiety before the workday
2) How to get better sleep in order to be more productive at work.
Evidence
Survey Responds
A section of affinity mapping from interviews
Insight 3: Remote workers are seeking meditation to alleviate negative feelings.
Summary
Remote workers are facing significant stress and anxiety in their daily lives, much of this stemming from work. Their main motivation for meditation is to relieve these feelings.
Consequence
By not highlighting meditations centered around alleviating stress, we are making it more difficult for users to find this type of content.
Suggestion
Highlight more meditations around
alleviating stress to attract these users.
Evidence
One of the insights from survey
A quote from one of the interviews
Final Takeaways
Through this research I wanted to highlight the importance and benefits of UX research, emphasizing the need to invest time in gathering insights through various methods. I have personally experienced situations where companies and stakeholders frequently prioritize meeting project timelines and scope over this essential stage. However, it is vital to understand that the valuable insights presented in this report were made possible by conducting surveys, interviews, competitive benchmarking, and usability testing.
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If given the chance, I would have surveyed more people with meditation experience and conducted additional interviews to gain a wider range of perspectives. Expanding the research scope in this way would have provided a deeper understanding of user needs and preferences. By prioritizing thorough research, organizations can align their products and services with user expectations, leading to improved user satisfaction and overall success.