User retention study for a parental controls app
Challenges
Understanding usability issues and comprehension of the product onboarding for parents of users
Understanding the evolving dynamics between parents and children for product improvement towards better retention
To understand the product fit in the new and evolving digital market in India, a longitudinal study was conducted in tier-1 and tier-2 citied in India over a period of 4 weeks. Parents and children were exposed to the product, then contacted once every few days to get deeper insights on evolving dynamics within the family.
Project Brief
A set of guidelines and behavioural principles to make an effective parental control app for Indian users (which may also apply to many Eastern countries)
An understanding of successful parenting models to embed within the product
Approach
Parenting in Western countries is extremely different from parenting in the East. For examples, parenting in India includes layers of influence, including siblings, grandparents, relatives and, in many cases, neighbouring friends and families. In comparison, in the United States, it would be mostly the parents doing their duty, with the occasional need for a nanny or babysitter. Therefore it is logical to assume that the tools made for Western parenting may not work in the East.
This was the context within which Turian Labs was approached by a leading global tech company to help understand acquisition and retention of a parental control app.
In order to understand how the product worked in the given context, our team immersed themselves into the world of parenting by visiting more than a dozen families. These immersions included extensive discussions around current methods of parenting and how parents controlled their children’s exposure to technology. Discussions were concluded with onboarding parents and children onto the app.
Once the family was exposed to the possibility of digital parental controls, the following 3 weeks consisted of personalised diary study interactions with parents and children separately, to understand the evolving dynamics within the family: this was the most exciting part of the study. Inputs from all interactions were mapped onto various frameworks and matrices to come up with principles and guidelines, in order to restructure the core value proposition of the product.