UX RESEARCH, DESIGN MOCK-UPS, FEATURE PRIORITIZATION
YouTube GenAI (Gemini) Search & Chat
As part of my UX Researcher role at YouTube, I worked on multiple projects to help improve YouTube's internal tools used by Strategic Partner Managers. This case study shows one of the projects where I conducted a concept test for their internal dashboard's GenAI Search and Chat features.
Timeline
This particular study spanned for 6 weeks. This included drafting the research plan, recruiting participants, developing discussion guides, moderating interviews, analyzing data, generating insights, and sharing the research findings with the team.
Background
Strategic Partner Managers (SPMs) collaborate with YouTube content creators to help them strategize and achieve their goals through their content. They rely on an internal dashboard to track performance and pitch tailored strategies.
To enhance this process, the product team introduced Gemini-powered Search and Chat features to a select group of dogfooders. These features aimed to provide quick access to insights and strategies during live calls with creators. As the UX researcher, my role was to evaluate their impact on user workflows, identify top use cases, uncover pain points, and recommend improvements for a more seamless experience.
Impact
Influenced product roadmap decisions by uncovering that users preferred Chat over Search, leading to the prioritization of the Chat feature and reducing development efforts on Search.
Accelerated feature implementation by proactively designing mockups, ensuring user needs were effectively translated into the product.
This category details the step-by-step approach taken during the research process
Research Planning
Worked closely with the product lead to identify the goals for the research and to understand the features thoroughly. Decided on utilizing moderating semi-structured 1:1 interviews for the UX research.
Recruiting Participants
Collaborated with the product lead to identify the users who have had a chance to interact with the features that were rolled out as part of the dogfooding program (dogfooding program allows users to sign up for sharing user feedback on product pilots). Sent out invites to the participants for the sessions.
Developing Discussion Guides
Determined the time and number of questions to ask and developed a carefully tailored discussion guide for the interview sessions.
Moderating user interviews
Conducted 1:1 semi structured user interviews with 10 participants and gathered data on the features.
Data Analysis and Insight Generations
Analyzed collected data to generate insights on user CUJs, successes, pain points, and improvement opportunities. Developed design mockups to guide the team in translating insights into actionable implementation strategies.
Generating the UXR Report & sharing the findings with the stakeholders
Developed a report based on the studies and shared the insights with the stakeholders as presentation.
After careful analysis of the data points, the following actionable insights were generated
User preference for Chat over Search
Users did not deem the search functionality to be useful for their workflow. They felt that both Search and Chat delivered the same value, and Chat's easy access made it an instant favorite among users.
Need for guidance on prompt engineering
Users struggled to understand the Chat feature’s capabilities, particularly its inability to link follow-up questions to previous queries. Since Search incorporated follow-up questions, users expected the same functionality in Chat, highlighting the need for improved continuity in conversations.
An expand mode for Chat
To accommodate follow-up prompts and multiple links as requested by users, Chat required more screen space. To address this, I designed an expand mode that declutters the interface, providing a more seamless and user-friendly experience.
Here, the outcomes and achievements of the project are highlighted, including user feedback, adoption rates, and industry recognition.
Optimized Product Strategy
Uncovered user preference for Chat over Search, leading to a strategic shift that prioritized Chat in the roadmap and reduced development efforts on the less-utilized Search feature.
Accelerated Feature Implementation
Proactively designed mockups to bridge the gap in the absence of a dedicated design team, ensuring user needs were effectively translated into the final product.
Enhanced Feature Onboarding
Designed an intuitive introduction message that eliminates the need for a separate onboarding flow, allowing users to learn the feature organically through interaction. This approach delivered high impact with minimal effort.