Optimizing Television Retail Content

2020

VIZIO

Client Need

There’s a moment of truth in the television business, and it happens at retail. We knew from previous research that nearly 70% of TV buyers visit a retail store to look at TVs before they buy them. But here’s the thing: every TV in the store looks pretty good.

So how to people decide? Ask them, and they’ll tell you, ”I’m not sure, there was just something about it.” We hypothesized that TV buyers were having an emotional reaction to the content played on the TVs, and that was enough to swing them from one brand to another.

Methodology: Measuring Neurological Response

We developed an experiment. We took three identical TV sets and masked them, then played un-branded in-store content used by major TV manufacturers in a random order on the three sets. While our subjects watched that content, we directly measured their emotional reaction to the content – second by second – using a galvanic skin response sensor and a camera for facial expression analysis. To simulate a buying experience, we then told respondents they would be entered into a drawing to win one of the TVs in front of them and asked which would they want to win? We interviewed N=102 respondents in total.

Results

We proved the hypothesis. In aggregate, an increased emotional response to demonstration content led to increased consumer preference for the television it was displayed on, and the difference was significant: up to 37%.

As for what happened after that? All we can tell you is that things got a little more emotional over at VIZIO.

  • Study design

    Manufacturer produced retail content, ranging from functional to emotional, rotated amongst three identical but masked televisions

  • Galvanic skin response

    Emotional response measured via galvanic skin response and facial expression analysis

SmartCast UX Studies

2020 - 2021

VIZIO

Client Need

SmartCast is the streaming platform and operating system built-in to all VIZIO TVs, and a critical part of the company’s plan for growth. It’s important that VIZIO owners use it, but unfortunately too many were streaming using third-party devices like Roku or Amazon Fire Stick instead. VIZIO came to us to help them understand satisfaction with the SmartCast user experience (UX) and help optimize it.

Methodology: Integrated Qual and Quant

First it was important to understand the precise level of satisfaction with the SmartCast UX along with the core drivers of that satisfaction. To do that, we fielded a large quantitative survey of VIZIO SmartCast users along with users of competitive TVs and streaming devices to benchmark against. We followed those with in-depth “couples” interviews to understand what exactly works and doesn’t work with the SmartCast UX, getting them to compare the experience to competitive streaming environments.

Results

The initial findings were tough to swallow: NPS scores for SmartCast were the lowest in the category, and our qualitative respondents rated it very poorly across the board. But the product team took on the user feedback to make focused improvements to the platform, and when we measured NPS again one-year later SmartCast users reported the highest satisfaction in the category.

  • Multi-camera setup to monitor respondent, television UX and remote UX

  • The remote control is just as much a part of the UX as what’s on screen

  • “Couples” groups often help keep respondents honest

  • VIZIO SmartCast satisfaction doubles in one year, thanks to optimizations identified in the first phase of research