Sonos
UX Research and Outdoor Speaker Design
As with the United project, I was Associate Director at IA Collaborative for this work with Sonos. Similarly with United, I led the project and a cross functional team in problem framing, research strategy and planning, and execution. I also led research immersions and worked with the Sonos design team to translate research into actionable insights to inform product strategy and craft design decisions for speaker size, sound, mobility, and control.
Context
Sonos was a leader in wireless sound systems for the home, however, they hadn’t yet entered the outdoor speaker market, a significant market opportunity for growth at $2 billion. They were challenged with how to think about outdoor speakers and the key characteristics and design features they should employ.
The challenge was how Sonos would differentiate itself in a crowded market.
Scope
Our job was to develop research insights to help define the product strategy and specific product design decisions around speaker size, sound, mobility, and control, including how Sonos would differentiate in the outdoor speaker market.
How to differentiate in a crowded field?
Exploratory research in the outdoors
The approach we crafted was to conduct user research with a small number of users in a few markets to understand how people set up their environment to enjoy music outdoors. We identified a range of settings where this typically occurred, for example, in solo settings and social gatherings.
Additionally, we analyzed the current market to understand where product and differentiation opportunities might exist.
Research insights led to a “tectonic shift” in product design and strategy
The hypothesis of Sonos was that the speaker must be large enough to fill the entire outdoor environment. However, our research indicated that the outdoor environment was just like indoors—different “zones”, much like having different rooms in the home. Users of speakers did not want to have the music blarring in their ear if nearby, so it made sense, depending on the context, that there could be more than one speaker to provide music enjoyment that fills the entire outdoor environment.
The Sonos Head of Design said our insights represented a “tectonic shift” in how they thought about the product opportunity and speaker design in terms of size, sound, mobility, and control.
Results
Findings drove decisions on key product decisions, including building different speakers for different needs and settings.
Larger, movable speaker that differentiates itself in the market
Smaller, portable speaker for when you’re on the go
Fixed outdoor speakers to simulate indoor environments in the outdoors
The Roam and Move were considered key contributors to Sonos' growth in 2021 due to their portability and popularity.
