( ds labs ) originated because we needed to test a potentially great product.
During a previous hack-a-thon, our team had designed and developed an app called Scout. We wanted to launch it, but doing so would require a tremendous amount of coordination with our parent company, which included enlisting the help of our customer service team in Arizona.
Clearly, we had to test this product before making such a commitment.
A Transparent Solution
How might we test this product in a lightweight, simple way?
First, we made an MVP.
Next, we put it in front of users. Scout targets the same demographic as our recently launched core product, DoorstepsRent. But we didn't want to introduce a half-baked product to our core users (losing their trust and potentially losing them). So what did we do?
I suggested that we become hyper-transparent: Let's tell our users what we're doing, what we're trying to learn, and involve them in the process.
So we did: we created a platform to test out new ideas and products.
We're People,
Just like you!
Our MVP involved daily curated emails, each handmade by our team members: Melissa and Dave. Which means there's a lot of room for human error.
We decided to be transparent about this too. Let our users know that we're not a giant, faceless tech company. We're not here just to make money. We're trying to come up with real solutions to everyday problems, and their input is vital to the process.
By properly framing the MVP, we're able to make mistakes, earn forgiveness, create a human connection with our users.
Scout Today
It didn't suck! People liked it!
And we learned a lot:
- Users want to be able to go back and edit their alert criteria
- Users want to set up multiple alerts
- Users know when they are entering criteria for a unicorn listing
- Users who do this want to be alerted only when their unicorn listing materializes (they don't want an email that tells them we are searching but nothing matched their criteria)
We're gonna take this idea even further and build a native app. These are some rough drafts (don't worry these look nothing like our current drafts -- we've gone through a lot of iterations!).
( ds labs ) today
( ds labs ) allowed us to validate an idea and learn so much. It also laid a foundation to test future ideas and products. Most importantly, it created a space for us to connect with our users: giving them a voice and being there with us as we learn, grow, and evolve.
