Case Studies
Research only matters if it changes something. These projects span consumer discovery, channel strategy, research democratization, and B2B service design, each one started with a real business problem and ended with a decision that moved things forward.
01
Challenge: Target needed to grow digital sales of higher-margin discretionary items, but consumers were buying them at significantly lower rates online than in stores. The team needed to understand why before they could design a solution.
02
Challenge: Analytics surfaced a significant shift in channel engagement but couldn't explain it. The real opportunity wasn't acquiring new users to email and push, it was deepening engagement with existing ones. That required understanding the role these channels actually played in how consumers shop.
03
Scaling & Building Research Acumen
Challenge: The design team had little experience with consumer research and even less confidence in how to use it. As a team of one, I needed a way to build genuine research capability across a large group without creating demand I couldn't meet. The answer was to stop being the researcher and start being the teacher.
04
Provider Claim Status
Challenge: Healthcare providers were experiencing significant friction when checking the status of claims, but the nature and source of that friction wasn't well understood. The team needed a clearer picture of where the process was breaking down and what providers actually needed to move forward confidently.
05
Virtual Makeup Try On
Challenge: When COVID-19 forced Target to shut down in-store cosmetic testers, consumers lost one of the most important steps in their path to purchase. Virtual try-on tools were emerging across the industry, but adoption and confidence weren't guaranteed. The team needed to understand how the shift to virtual changed the shopping experience and what it would take to make consumers feel confident enough to buy.
06
Holiday Kids Toy Catalog
Challenge: The collapse of Toys R Us created a significant market share opportunity in toys, but capturing it required understanding how families actually navigate the gifting process during the holidays. The toy catalog drives nearly half of Target's annual toy sales, and a digital version had just launched. The team needed to understand the kids gifting ecosystem end to end, and specifically how Target was perceived by Black and Hispanic consumers who were more likely to turn to competitors.
