Personalisation of Philips breast pump
This is a collaboration project with Philips to explore the possibilities of applying personalisation strategies to Philips electric breast pumps with a proposed concept webpage to support new mothers in finishing the co-creation confidently.
User research, UX design, Web design
Period
March.2022 – August.2022
Contribution
Project management, User research, Concept development, Prototyping, UX/UI design, User test planning and facilitation
Stakeholder
Challenges and opportunities of personalising breast pumps
Since everyone’s body, needs, and goals are unique, frequent and close interactions with unsuitable products can result in negative physical and mental experiences. Yet breast pumps are still mass-produced products, and finding the right product for themselves can be challenging. With the development of manufacturing and distribution technologies and the widespread use of personal data, companies are now able to personalise their products and services to fulfil the heterogeneous needs of consumers. However, along with personalisation comes the involvement of users in the design process, which changes the relationship between the company and consumers. Together with Philips and NEXT UPPS team, this project explores the opportunities and what it takes to apply a personalisation strategy to the current product/service acquiring process.
Research question
How to engage users in the co-creation process of product personalisation?
What is product personalisation?
In general, customisation and personalisation are similar marketing strategies that meet customers’ individual needs by providing tailored offerings, as Nielsen Norman Group (2022) indicated the term “individualization” to describe both strategies.
However, in terms of the interaction between users and the offering providers, customisation refers to the process of selecting and configuring product variants in the framework predefined by the product provider based on the user’s own explicit need and preference. Personalisation is a way for companies to anticipate consumers’ latent needs based on their knowledge of individual users (e.g. user profile, behavioural data, etc.) and provide users with matching offers.
RESEARCH
In order to gain a deep understanding of the latent needs of breast pumping activity from the user’s perspective, I conducted 11 in-depth interviews with both experienced and new mothers.
User insights
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Difficult for new mothers to clearly articulate their needs, and acquire the matching product
New mothers face challenges in choosing the right breast pump due to their lack of experience and knowledge about the products available. The numerous variations in pumps and difficulty in identifying differences can lead to confusion, resulting in mothers relying on recommendations from others rather than choosing based on their own needs. Additionally, it can be challenging for mothers to determine the suitability of a product after purchase, and their needs for breastfeeding and pumping may change over time. These challenges are compounded by the relatively high cost of breast pumps and limitations in access to information and insurance subsidies, making it difficult for mothers to acquire a product that truly meets their needs.
"But for thinking about these things or personalized products. You need to have information. What is coming?...you need to know what is going on with pumping, but you don’t have any information."
"I look different pumping things on the internet, all looks the same for me with different colours."
"...the problem is, it is really hard to define what is a problem for mothers themselves. Even though I’m experiencing it...of course, we know there is a lot of room to improve, But we don’t know what to ask. Do I have to ask like...is there a better part or a smaller or bigger one? I don’t know if it’s the right size for me..."
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Relying on medical guidance & personal support to deal with overwhelming and unfamiliar information
Lack of relevant experience, along with the physical and mental vulnerability after childbirth, mothers rely heavily on the support and assistance of professional medical experts. Despite the overwhelming amount of information about newborn care, mothers are able to learn to breastfeed and pump confidently, surrounded by physicians, nurses, lactation specialists in the hospital, and Kraamzorg (who provides home care for postpartum women in the Netherlands), with their ongoing and close guidance.
"When I was in the hospital, they taught you how to latch, how well maybe you should be latching. And they teach you some things, which is very nice because you are surrounded with healthcare providers, you can ask questions and everything, but the reality is, it’s just one day, and you don’t even have your milk yet."
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Losing autonomy and self-doubting
With the birth of a new life, most people only focus on the baby, including the mothers themselves; therefore, mothers’ own needs and feelings are often ignored. In addition, too much goodwill from others, including parenting advice and praise for breast milk, can easily bring enormous pressure and mental burden to mothers. In this case, it is easy for mothers to lose their autonomy as individuals and, thus, self-doubt.
"You are a woman, you are a milk producer...it’s on your responsibility. And everybody’s like, ‘oh, how beautiful it is to be a mom. It’s so nice.’ But it’s so intense, and sometimes you lose yourself as a woman."
Research summary
The latent needs of mothers in breast pumping activities are more at the perceptual level than the product or function itself. Through in-depth user interviews, it was found that although mothers have many negative comments about breast pumping, most of them revolve around the breast pump rather than itself. Among them, the support that new mothers need accounts for a large part
Opportunity areas were revealed in the pumping journey
I synthesized the results of the user interviews to form a pumping journey and identified two stages for design intervention, namely product purchase and change of usage scenario.
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Purchasing breast pump
In this study, it was found that 80% of mothers would buy a pump after giving birth. And 60% of them will buy it when the baby is just born, mainly due to the poor yield of breastfeeding. Mothers at this stage rely heavily on professional help and emotional support. The personalization process and even the selection and purchase of mass-produced breast pumps can be quite a challenge for these mothers.
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Changing the usage scenario
After using a breastfeeding pump for some time, mothers will gain confidence by becoming familiar with and mastering the activity. However, when they try to change the context of use, for example, by going back to work, the process and habits established by the user are disrupted, resulting in a negative experience. In addition, the change in context is accompanied by a shift in demand, such as portability, energy supply, etc.
In addition to simply providing products, can the company provide more to continue the appropriate support provided by nurses?
DESIGN STRATEGY
Design goal
To design a supportive and informative product-acquiring process that enables mothers to effortlessly engage in co-creating breast pumps.
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Supportive: Extend the supportive experience mothers have from medical experts to the whole pumping journey. Empower mothers to participate confidently and effortlessly in the co-creation process of product personalisation.
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Informative: Demonstrate the results and benefits of acquiring personalised products that would drive customers’ preference over mass-produced offerings.
Concept
Answering questions
Lack of breastfeeding experience can be challenging for new mothers to choose and customise a breast pump. Therefore, the service can personalise and recommend suitable product configurations for new mothers by asking simple questions to understand the current breastfeeding status and consumers’ personal needs. The idea comes from the fact that most consumers rely on recommendations from other mothers to buy breast pumping equipment. Rather than following the experience of a single individual, consumers may be able to understand what products are more suitable for them through the company’s expertise.
"Normally we let mothers try on different products, but we first start with asking simple questions, you need to know their situation first."
– Breastfeeding Center (Local)
PROTOTYPING
The following flowchart shows the procedure of guiding users to input their data to personalise pumping products. It starts from a section of the current landing page for introducing the new service. And at the end of the process, even if there is no purchase, personal data can be stored and used to recommend and match with existing products. Based on personal data, it helps mothers to easily purchase products.
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Testing with users
RESULTS
Intuitive input
Through simple introductions, users can intuitively input their personal information and needs according to their condition. This empowers new mothers to feel more confident in acquiring breast-pumping products that suit them during the vulnerable stages after giving birth.
Personalised results
Demonstrate personalised products to consumers and also provide the basis for results. On this page, customers can also perform editing actions and get different outputs in real-time by deleting or adjusting inputs.
Due to individual differences, from measurable body shape and size to different internal breast composition, external factors resulting in different dependence on the pump, and even psychological attitudes towards breastfeeding can cause differences in product requirements. According to Jones and Hilton (2009) and Meier et al. (2016), it is important that mothers have a pumping product that suits them not only the size of the shield but also the type of breast pump.
Product badges
When users choose not to purchase personalised items because of high prices or long waiting times, the system will proactively match existing products to the user's profile and label the ones that might meet users' needs with badges.
IMPACT & ACHIEVEMENT
With this personalized experience, customers feel more confident when personalising a product or selecting an existing product. The conversion rate is thus increased.
In addition to users who have already given birth, pregnant women can establish a basic understanding of breast-pumping activities through a simple process.
"When you had your first baby, you always don't know what you're doing. But with this...I can just tell my information, and I don't have to do my homework to find out what I need."
— Mother with 2 children
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