Recent work
Diageo Whisky Gifting
Using AI to help buy better whisky gifts
2023
What’s your whisky is an AI powered profiler that matches to whiskies based on your taste profile. Our client, Diageo Innovation team, wanted to reuse the technology for gifting.
UX
INNOVATION
PRODUCT VISION
USER RESEARCH
AI
RETAIL
ROLE
UX Lead
TEAM
Diego Enterria, Lead Product Designer
Jared Botha, Account Director
CLIENT
Diageo global innovation team
DURATION
3 months
The problem
When I started working on this project, the client wanted a solution that required the gifter to invite the recipient to fill in a questionnaire and sending the results to the gifter. The journey was convoluted, and more importantly, it spoiled the surprise.
The problem was that the decision making process was based on 11 detailed questions about your taste a gifter would not likely know about their recipient.
Process
I used a user-centred approach throughout the project, testing often, using the right methodology, before moving to a higher level of fidelity.
Building the right product
Building the product right
Testing as you go
Integrated testing throughout
Guerilla testing the original solution
I recruited pairs of gifters and their recipients to talk about their experience of gifting and receiving whisky as a present.
The goal of the study was to find out:
Is giving away the surprise an issue for gifter?
Would they use the solution?
How does the experience feel to the recipient?
Would they open the invitation and complete the quiz?
Any usability issues?
Screener
Testing script
Testing with gifters and recipients
Original user journey - complex and spoils the surprise for the recipient
Key user testing findings
Insight 1: Gifters want to surprise their recipient
Insight 2: Buying the wrong whisky is a problem
Insight 3: Worry about delay caused by involving recipient
Insight 4: Concern about neutrality of whiskies recommendations
Building the right product
Going back to what defines a great gift, using white paper research findings, I redefined the product vision and UX principles.
Gifting insights condensed
New concept
I prototyped a new concept that would meet our users needs.
Users' needs
Rapid prototype of the new solution
I presented the prototype to the client as a better alternative to the solution they had bought and wanted us to deliver.
New concept
New solution: simpler journey
Decision time: Quantitative test
To help our client decide on the best solution, I devised a quantitative test asking users which of the 2 propositions they would choose to find a whisky gift for a loved one.
Result: almost 80/20 split in favour of the Surprise option, my new concept.
Prompt for First click test
Building the product right
Now that we had a decision from the client, I created a higher fidelity prototype
Higher fidelity UX prototype
Testing the UX
This time we used usertesting.com to get feedback on the UX. I set up the test and analysed the results.
Test summary:
Qualitative:
5 x 5min tests
Task:
Find a whisky gift for a loved one
Follow-up questions:
What did you like about it
Anything you disliked
Is it useful to you?
Test findings summary
Changes made as a result
I simplified the price range tabs from 3 to 2.
I made the option to add up to 3 whiskies less recessive.
I refined the copy to address the whisky they like is not available
Documentation
I documented the final solution so that it could be built by our tech team and Diageo's AI partner.
The documentation included business rules to deal with stock availability and dynamic copy generation for each taste profile result.
Documentation
Result
Diego Enterria, our Chief Product Designer, crafted a beautiful UI based on the user experience principles of premium, surprise and delight. I tested the prototype further with testers loving the interface.
The project received glowing praise from Diageo's Board. The launch was scheduled for November 2023, to coincide with the Christmas shopping season. We are eagerly waiting for performance results from the client.
If you are on the hunt for an ideal whisky gift, give it a go !