Peeking into your participants lives through a diary study

Let’s picture the following. It’s time to expand the business by developing a new product, service or feature. You and your business or product development team are sitting in your ivory tower. The creative juices are flowing. Grand, albeit vague, ideas are taking shape. Suddenly, a manager asks, ​“But is this what our consumers want? Will it, in one way or another, enrich their lives?” There is a silence. You realise there is little knowledge about your consumers. It is time to conduct a diary study.

Getting in touch with your users

A diary study is primarily useful in the early, or perhaps the very first, stages of product development – the stage where you’re looking for new ideas. It’s a method for getting to know your (potential) consumers. Who are they? What motivates them? How do they go about their daily lives? Do they face any challenges? And what is already going well? These answers will provide the necessary context — the context in which your product will eventually be used — and reveal where the opportunities lie. The insights gained from a diary study will inspire you to develop a product that will truly enrich your consumers’ lives.

In theory, a diary study can also be used to examine the context in which existing products are being used. It might be illuminating to see whether or not your consumers use your products as you had envisaged or intended. However, we believe its strength lies in providing inspiration for new business ventures or features.
 

Conducting a diary study, our pointers

The concept of a diary study is fairly straightforward: participants document — for example in a diary, hence the name — their experiences relating to certain situations or topics. It is a time-consuming research method and yields a wealth of data. But we find diary studies quite exciting. A few participants are willing to let you into their lives. It’s up close and personal. And as Lotte Horn so eloquently puts it: ​“For a short while, you have a whole bunch of new friends who are welcoming you into their lives!” Here are a few tips to get you started.

• Broaden your horizons
  The results of a diary study are highly unpredictable. The participants are at home, doing who knows what. Your ​‘control’ is limited. It might be tempting to narrow down the subject, trying to ensure all data is relevant. But you should keep an open mind and keep the subject as broad as possible. Surprising bits of information can turn out to be the missing building blocks. Unpredictability is key.
• Gathering data: online or offline
  We used email and WhatsApp to facilitate an online diary study. It is an easy and quick way for participants to share their experiences via text message, photo and/​or video. This allows you to monitor the progress and volume of data you are gathering. Alternatively, you can use paper notebooks filled with creative exercises. These exercises can trigger memories and experiences that participants would not normally think of themselves. It is more difficult to track progress, as participants do not automatically keep you updated.
• Invite a higher number of participants
  Despite (or perhaps because of) your constant reassurances, participants may decide to drop out of the study. Perhaps it was too overwhelming or time-consuming. Or the quality of some participants’ contributions is not as high as you would like it to be. Either way, it makes sense to invite a larger number of participants. We tend to invite around 15 participants. This way, you will definitely have enough data to analyse.
• Guidance and reassurance are needed
  Participants do not realise why their lives are so interesting. They might be inclined to leave out certain experiences. That would be a shame. These details could be the missing link. It is therefore important to guide participants and allay any concerns they may have. Thank them for their input, tell them how valuable it is, and give them a call to see how they’re getting on. Your encouragement makes it easier for them to participate. It will enrich the data and, consequently, your research.
• Always conclude with in-depth interviews
  It is important to conclude a diary study with (individual) in-depth interviews. Together, you can evaluate their input to ensure you interpret their creative outbursts correctly. You can also ask additional questions, which participants can place in the proper context — their context within their daily lives. They have been made more aware of their experiences throughout the duration of your diary study. This increases the value of their answers.

Travel agency seeks new opportunities

Here’s an example. You are the manager of a travel agency offering all-inclusive holiday packages. The website is performing well and you are looking for a new challenge. You want to help consumers who travel in groups during the planning phase. But you do not know how they currently go about it. Who organises everything – one member or the whole group? Does everyone have a say? And if they do, is that helpful? You decide to conduct a diary study.

You ask participants — with the right profile — to document the process of planning a group holiday. They record every consideration, thought and decision, as well as the tools they use. The data is overwhelming, but you spot something shining through: the golden nuggets. You decide to build a platform where groups can organise their holiday. Members can suggest ideas (e.g. hotels and destinations) which others can vote for or against. Comments can also be posted and roles — ​“who books the tickets?” — assigned. And you, the travel agency, suggest suitable holiday deals. A win-win.

An inspirational tool that provides focus

A diary study provides you with an insightful picture of your customers’ lives, helping you to identify new business opportunities. You’re a bit of a Peeping Tom, but a classy one. Once you’ve ​‘peeked’, the data you’ve gathered can spark your imagination. It will help you develop a product or service that actually serves a purpose and is therefore profitable.

There may still be some stakeholders in their ivory tower, coming up with wild ideas. In the past, this might have led to heated discussions. Now you have the data to back you up, to explain whether their idea is sound or not. And discussion is pointless – the data speaks for itself. Consumers simply do what they do.

So, consider a diary study. It might be a more intensive research method, but it will definitely pay off in the end. I promise.