creator motivations

Year: 2024
Role: Lead UX Researcher
Research Method: In-depth-interviews, Quantitative survey
Research Type: Exploratory Research
Company: Miro

Due to the sensitive nature of some of my work, the detailed case study is available by request only. If you’re interested in checking it out, please drop me a quick line here or through LinkedIn for the password.

In the meantime, below is a high-level outline of the goals of the project, methods used, learnings and outcomes. 

background and goals

We are at a key point in how we understand and enable Miroverse contributors to reach moments of inspiration, to understand their emotional contexts, and continue to advocate for product enhancements and strategies that will benefit the contributor experience. In particular, we identified that there is opportunity for product and marketing teams to make decisions that will inform and support one another.

Strategic and Tactical

• Understand the scope of the needs and requirements for contributors to inform the development of a long-term strategy for the Miroverse community. Optimize the contributor lifecycle by addressing pain points, improving user experience, and fostering long-term engagement.

• Understand what makes them convert, and how to translate this into specific metrics and measurements. Understand their 'reasons not to submit' so that we can help them cross that chasm on a continuing basis. Streamline the contributor conversion funnel by removing frictions.

• What is their need to connect with others and how might we facilitate this? Determine which features can be best designed to meet deeper and more specific needs and expectations of contributors. Help contributors feel more motivated to submit and more connected to Miro and Miroverse.

method

We conducted the research in several different phases with different user groups:

• R1: passionate publishers
• R2: brand builders
• R3: casual contributors

Phase 1: Industry Landscape
Conducted a comprehensive review of industry reports, articles, and publications related to creator-focused platforms and services. Analyzed competitor websites, marketing materials, and social media presence to understand their positioning and offerings.

Phase 2: In-depth Interviews
Conducted semi-structured interviews with a small sample of contributors. Explored their motivations, pain points, and barriers they experienced in the process. Understand their expectations, desired features, and suggestions for improving their experience.

Phase 3: Audience Survey
Administered a survey to a wide range of Miroverse contributors to gather quantitative data on their demographics, motivations, goals, content creation patterns, and engagement levels. Collected both quantitative and qualitative information.

Phase 4: Concept Testing
Conducted concept testing sessions where participants interact with the early-stage prototype of the creator hub. Observed their reactions, listen to their feedback, and note any issues they encounter to help inform and refine the direction of the creator hub.

crucial insights

Our audience consists of three main groups: passionate publishers, casual contributors, and brand builders. Our creators are motivated by creating templates that are useful to others. They don't lack ideas for templates, but rather a reason to publish them publicly. Most templates are recycled content that has been tested internally and repurposed for Miroverse

The full case study can be found here. Please contact me for access to the board and for additional findings and learnings.

research impact

Marketing Impact​

• The Marketing team is working to optimize the publishing process, all while keeping UGC quality high. Their goal is to improve the creator experience and increase the number of monthly published templates by 25%, and drive a revamped community engagement strategy.
• Investing in increasing Miroverse traffic is key to ecosystem growth. By developing growth and distribution strategy across SEO, lifecycle and influencer and partner collaborations, the Creator Labs team hopes to increase engagement with Miroverse as a whole.

Product Impact 

• The Miroverse team is working to support our Creators through developing and improving features like the Feedback Loop and Creator Hub. The goal is to inspire creators to submit more templates and help them feel supported in doing so.
• The Miroverse product team continues to focus on supporting organizations and individuals who actively contribute to and advocate for the use of our products. Miroverse Creators are high on this list.

my learnings

• Starting strategic projects with a pragmatic approach.
• Don’t start fire! You need a strategy to deliver “bad news” - and it takes practice.
• Individual 1:1s with Leads before the team-wide research readouts help get buy-in.
• The more you engage stakeholders in every stage of the research process, the more they are willing to act upon your findings.