The document discusses Google's international research methods. It describes how Google's research focus has shifted as more of its users come from outside the US. Researchers immerse themselves in other cultures through activities like living with locals and using public transportation. They conduct field research through street interviews and test prototypes on local devices. The goal is to build empathy and gain insights that can shape products for different regions. Researchers communicate findings through various mediums to get other teams interested and involved to help change the company culture.
2. Method Google International Research October 2015 2
SIMux:
Search, Identity & Maps.
The team responsible for understanding user needs and
shaping the visual, interactive, and editorial experience in
these core Google products.
3. Method Google International Research October 2015 3
Speakers:
Jeannie
Foulsham
Alessandra
Millar
Saswati
Saha Mitra
UX Researcher,
Google Search.
UX Researcher,
Google Maps.
UX Researcher,
Google Maps.
5. Method Google International Research October 2015 5
10 years ago 1% of the worlds
population was online.
Now over 40% are.
6. Method Google International Research October 2015 6
70% of Google traffic today
comes from outside of the US,
and that number will only get
bigger.
7. Method Google International Research October 2015 7
The next billion users to come
online are going to be from
markets other than North
America and Europe.
China, Brazil and Nigeria all in
the top 10 of internet usage
countries.
9. Method Google International Research October 2015 9
Emerging Markets:
Mobile-first Mobile-only
For internet users in emerging markets, the first experience of
the internet is far more likely to have come via a mobile
connection than their counterparts in a developed country.
Not only are they ‘mobile-first’, many of these users are also
likely to be ‘mobile-only’ having never used a desktop device.
10. Method Google International Research October 2015 10
Emerging Markets:
Feature phones
Devices have smaller screens and memories, provided by local
vendors for under $100.
Second hand devices are very popular.
Majority of users are on pre-paid, low data plans and often
have less than 3G connections.
11. Method Google International Research October 2015 11
Examples of culture
and context:
Brazil
Users are very
cautious and
concerned about
safety and will rarely
use their mobile
phones or cameras
in public.
12. Method Google International Research October 2015 12
Examples of culture
and context:
India
In India a small
amount of the
population have a
bank account - users
often preferred to
buy something
online and pay in
cash on delivery -
many services have
now made this form
of payment available
with huge success.
13. Method Google International Research October 2015 13
Examples of culture
and context:
India
Google maps -
research team
identified that
participants way
finding strategy was
based around
landmarks and not
street names. This
was much more
identifiable for users
and reflected how
they gave directions
to others.
15. Method Google International Research October 2015 15
Create excitement
The research team tries to bring people together from across
the company to solve problems - but people need to know
about research plans in order to join in.
To reach the widest audience they use video and imagery to
demonstrate opportunity areas in their presentations.
16. Method Google International Research October 2015 16
Pre-field homework
If a team requests field research, they first compile desk
research before investing in recruitment and travel. This
focuses on people, culture and the economy.
This helps to fine-tune scope and ask smart & focused
research questions that push the boundary of the teams
understanding of the subject area. Desk research may include
logs analysis, online product reviews, heuristic evaluation,
synthesis of internal and external research.
17. Method Google International Research October 2015 17
Everyone is a researcher
Mixed teams of engineers, project managers, designers and
marketing - as soon as they hit the ground, these roles
disappear - everyone becomes a researcher.
18. Method Google International Research October 2015 18
Immerse yourself
Going to another country and following your normal routine
(eating out at a new restaurant, taking a taxi to get around)
means that you are missing out on learning about how the
locals live their lives.
Immersion activities to build empathy and connect with local
users such as: Riding public transport, buying a SIM card,
eating lunch on the average country budget or buying a
typical thing in a local market.
19. Method Google International Research October 2015 19
Immerse yourself
Home-share - live with a local
over hotels where possible to
truly understand how a family
lives day to day.
Go to local places rather than
‘tourist’ destinations. i.e. Public
places such as visiting local
hubs and chatting with people.
Social experiences can often
inform a products use.
20. Method Google International Research October 2015 20
Immerse yourself
Don’t only think about the
product you are designing for -
think about the context.
What does the context need?
Can you provide it?
e.g. Delhi Public Transport Offline offers directions
and timetable data for buses and metros in New Delhi
available in offline mode, so if someone’s on a limited
data plan or reception is poor, they can still get the
information they need.
21. Method Google International Research October 2015 21
First hand
experience
Try local devices and products.
As an immersion activity,
encourage people to buy a
smartphone and SIM card.
Look at what products and
services are prevalent and how
locals are solving problems using
other apps or workarounds, and
replicate this on similar devices
and infrastructure.
– Using Google’s apps in the wild gives teams a sense
of urgency to fix issues
– Google offices replicate a 2G network so product
teams can test their products at a slow speeds.
22. Method Google International Research October 2015 22
Street intercepts &
Interviews
The team often uses street
intercepts as they can use a cut
down script, it is more natural
with no preparation needed and
they can ask users going about
their daily lives.
Get participants to ‘do rather
than say’ - If they describe a
behaviour ask them to show you
in a live walk-through in person.
23. Method Google International Research October 2015 23
Quant & Qual research
As well as quantitative research, what can we learn from the
quantitive data gathered from our product? Does this match
what we find in the field? What can we probe further?
25. Method Google International Research October 2015 25
Getting buy-in
To ensure the research is accessible and enticing to a broader
audience, the team experiments with different formats/
mediums: posters, postcards, videos shot in-situ, photos,
short one-line insights, live blogging learnings, and have even
tried an expo where they pitched tents in the office to tell their
stories from the field.
26. Method Google International Research October 2015 26
Getting buy-in
Their team have been bringing a popup design studio to the
field - testing and validating on the go.
27. Method Google International Research October 2015 27
Getting buy-in
Communication is the number one skill of a researcher - you
have to learn how to sell in your findings.
You owe it to yourself to hand hold the product team to ensure
the information is shared across teams.
28. Method Google International Research October 2015 28
Getting buy-in
Find a champion within your organisation so you’re not the
only one peddling the benefits of international research.
Co-present research findings together with stakeholders, so
they can add to their stories from the field to bring them to life.
Write implications together and add action items to research
reports to illustrate how insights are informing the roadmap.
29. Method Google International Research October 2015 29
Guiding standards
Google’s 6 C’s guide decision making when creating products
for these emerging markets:
Connectivity Compatibility Cost
Commerce Culture Content
30. Method Google International Research October 2015 30
Changing culture
When in-field research isn’t cost effective:
Remote research tools:
Mechanical Turk
Gotomeeting
usertesting.com
Get scrappy:
Recruit through forums, user networks or snowball
participants.
