Peeking inside their wardrobes - how we used in-home research, personas and rich data to spread customer-love at Zalando
Through in-home interviews and storytelling, we bridged the gap between qualitative insights and quantitative metrics to drive better business decisions, foster a deeper understanding of our customers, and fundamentally enhance our product development process.
CHALLENGE
When I joined Zalando, I noticed the high amount of passionate discussions about the customer. While everyone cared a lot, those discussions were often fueled by assumptions or personal experiences. We were missing that solid understanding of our customers' real needs and motivations, making it difficult to know what solutions to build for them.
We created "Portraits" - rich, data-driven customer profiles built on in-home interviews, real-world stories, and analytics data. We even took a page from my SoundCloud playbook, using "proto personas" to get early buy-in and set the stage for deeper research.
This was a team effort. Under my guidance, we brought together researchers, designers, and analytics specialists to build robust Portraits backed by both insights and numbers. We even empowered folks across the company with in-house training, allowing them to join field research and meet customers face-to-face. This hands-on approach built a shared sense of investment and was key to the Portrait’s impact.
SOLUTION
IMPACT
The payoff was huge! Our detailed, believable Portraits earned trust across the company, including senior leadership. We fundamentally transformed how Zalando talked about customers, scaling our research capabilities without needing a massive investment. Portraits became essential tools, driving smarter strategy decisions and product features that customers truly loved.
Anne Pascual, SVP, Zalando
„Rob's contribution to Zalando was transformative. He skillfully created a User Research and Insights team that aligned with our strategic goals and bolstered our commitment to customer centricity. His leadership in understanding deep customer relationships and customer needs significantly allowed us to take data-informed measures. Rob's empathetic approach and depth of experience make him an invaluable asset to any team.”
