Girl Scouts Digital Cookie
The iconic Girl Scouts' Digital Cookie program had run through its second year, and as a part of the team assigned to evaluate what kinds of learning outcomes girls were gaining from the experience, we decided it was vital to the development of the experience to understand more about how users were actually using Digital Cookie.
My Role
As the qualitative research expert, I had already created the protocols and done recruitment for focus groups on what girls had learned from Digital Cookie, I then advocated that we add user and usability research to the scope in order to broaden our understanding and help pin point key issues in the experience. I led this additional user experience research, including creating a robust research plan, user scripts, recruitment, deciding on methods (phone interviews, in-person, etc.), and eventually conducting the research itself.
The Challenge
Many complaints of Digital Cookie had been logged, and there were many ideas for upgrades and improvements, but to truly understand the user experience it was vital to talk to actual users. While I initially wanted more usability research, it became more important to take a step back and do some initial user research while uncovering some usability issues in the process.
The Process
1. Focus Groups
Previously, I partnered with another researcher whose expertise lies in quantitative research to create and distribute a survey to a sample of over 6,000 Girl Scouts and non-Girl Scouts. Using several items per outcome (5), this survey was used to assess girls' learning outcomes when engaging in the cookie program.
Using the learnings from the the survey, I created a protocol and led focus groups (20 girls) to fill in the gaps of knowledge and expand upon what we know to be the unique learning value of this experience for girls.
Findings: We saw that there was an appetite for this kind of tool since this generation was already living in a digital world. We also saw that they gained the same leadership outcomes from selling digitally as they did from selling in person. To reinforce these learning outcomes, the digital version incorporated relevant badges.
A notable finding from these focus groups were that girls wanted this to be a destination for all things cookie, and were particularly excited about related games.
2. Product Build
Based on feedback from the focus groups, the Digital Cookie platform was built out to include resources girls mentioned they would want. An outside dev shop was leveraged to create the entire site. As you can see in this screen shot utilities that were initially included were
Page set up which included creating a video or message for your customers, creating goals, and detailing how your troop would spend their money.
Badges and their requirements along with the ability to check off if you had earned them.
Games, but really just one interactive game, Cookie Crush.
Videos on how to sell and tips around leveraging the Digital Cookie platform.
Order review for a parent or guardian could view incoming orders and approve them.
3. User Interviews
After launch, the involved stakeholders found some mysterious usage reports. Utilities and pages that had received large investments were not being used without a good explanation. To get a holistic view of how girls were using the site throughout their cookie season, I scheduled a number (31) of in-person and online user interviews with girls and their parents. This gave a unique insight into the value, use, and usability of key features.
I split this time with girls and their parents into two segments. The first was to understand their selling habits, how they were leveraging Digital Cookie, and how they sold cookies successfully before this platform. The second half was to explore potential new features and utilities. To engage the girls, I created quick sketches of utilities that they could choose from to custom craft their own Digital Cookie.
Tactile cards with potential features and utilities for girls to choose
Example of a custom site a girl made with her chosen utilities and information
Key Learnings:
User Personas: While not my initial goal, I found that the best way to share my learnings was through user personas. These had never been done for this project, but truly helped to paint a picture of who is using the site and why. I created 3 main personas in the end, which you can see in full depth here.
Tools not Toys: A big question the business team had was around some features that were added in the previous year. There was a huge investment in learning games and videos for girls using the site, yet the analytics told us no one was visiting these assets. It quickly became clear in the interviews that parents and their girls were simply too busy during cookie season to spend time playing games. Digital Cookie served as a tool to simplify their life during this hectic time, and games were not a part of that.
Guardian/Gatekeeper: Unsurprisingly, for girls under 13, parents were mainly running the experience. This is important to emphasize since the experience of the site had been directed at girls across ages. Knowing that parents are deciding what younger girls see and when can help to make key decisions around messaging and tools that can increase use and girl engagement.
For a deeper look at all of my learnings see the final report here.
4. Future Recommendations
This research made a big impact on the cross functional internal team. It answered a lot of questions around use of the site, and also gave direction to alterations for the future. As a result of the research, I was also brought in as key decisions were being made around these changes for the fall. Based on my knowledge of the user, I created a new design and prototype to call attention to the important features of the site while fixing some of the now known usability issues.
While this prototype was well received, the changes were not in scope. I then worked closely again with the team to make what little changes we could fit in for the fall to help redirect the experience in line with user needs and expectations.
Conclusion
This project clearly demonstrated the need to truly understand user behavior through ethnographic studies. While Digital Cookie remains a big hit, there are many usability pain points from both sides. For buyers, you have to know a Girl Scout to make a purchase and get a link to their cookie shop. Once there, the simple interface does what is needed, but leaves one wondering what greater good they are supporting besides their own craving for Thin Mints. For girls and their parents, they miss a one-stop-shop that merges their own homemade methods of making and tracking sales. When I talked to users, they told me how they were still using their trusty Google spreadsheets at home and found the utility of Digital Cookie to be lacking. And while girls crave fun and learning around cookie sales, the nature of the short season and need for parental supervision leaves them without time to fully engage in Digital Cookie as it stands.