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nurture.farm

Client

nurture. farm

My Role

UX Research Associate

Tools

Contextual Interviews

Project Duration

4 Months
Telephonic Interviews
Group Discussions
NDRS Redevelopment

Overview

nurture.farm is an open, digital platform for sustainable agriculture globally. Their goal is to make agriculture simple, profitable and sustainable for generations to come. nurture.farm offers complete integrated solutions to secure sustainable outcomes. 

 

Product Stage - Launched and running for over six months.

Overview

The Problem

The nurture.farm app was loosing engagement with its clients. A recent study had shown that a large numbers of users had uninstalled the app. My goal as a UX Researcher was to:
 

  1. Generate insights on the reason for the uninstallation.

  2. Propose recommendations to make the product more trustworthy for the users.

Research Question

WHAT MAKES THE USERS MISTRUST THE APP?
 

Nurture.farm had clients that had purchased goods and services from them in one season, but deleted the app after the crop season ended. We wanted to know what triggered this action.

User Research

Research Method

Qualitative - Contextual Interviews and Phone Interviews

  • In-depth interview time - 30 mins for Contextual Interviews, 10-15 min for Phone Interviews
     

Why?

The interview questions were designed to get answers to the following questions-

  1. Users Pain Points with the app and service

  2. Reasons for uninstallation

  3. How can the product better serve their needs.

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Quantitative - App Usage Insights

  • Working with Data Analysts to sift through the data and look at specific use cases.

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Why?

The data analysis would lead to answering the following questions about the app usage statistics-

  1. Who is using what feature?

  2. What features are being used?

  3. What changes are in the usage after introduction of key features?

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Recruiting

I conducted a total of 103 interviews of Farmers and Field Staff from across six states in India. In Punjab and Haryana, I conducted interviews on the farms whereas in the other states I had to conduct interviews on the phone due to the COVID-19 lockdowns.

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Blind Spots

Insights & Recommendations

  1. Give more power to the Field Force, train them about products and invest more in them.

  2. Display product videos and demos and local testimonials on the app

  3. Issue Farmer ID card, through which even the farmers who don't have access to technology can see their booking history.

  4. Modify UI on specific features like One Time Password message and gateway change that generates mistrust.

  5. Include features that are wanted by the users - Short-Term Loans, Weather Widget, Spray Timeline, Product Information and Soil Testing

Findings

  1. Majority of the users are not using the app to order product or service

    1. 90% of the users have their apps installed by the field force.

    2. It is not regularly used.

    3. When their phones get full, the farmers uninstall the app.

  2. The famers believe in the claims of a product only once they see it working on a demo farm / on a neighbors farm.

  3. Delay in Service availability, operational issues of language and location identification in the app and recent Pest Attacks made the users mistrust the app.

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Design Concepts
Learnings

Challenges

  1. As many of the farmers were unlettered, there was not a great scope of a survey or questionnaire. The interviews and the interviews questions had to be improvised throughout.

  2. There was a definite language barrier across the large user base throughout the country

  3. It was difficult to align the direction of the product development to the on ground needs of the users in between the process of development.

  4. Farms throughout India vary widely and so do their issues. Although I had initially planned to visit farms in six states, due to COVID outbreak, many interviews had to be done remotely.

Research Impact

  1. After reading the insights, the stakeholders decided to shift focus from the digital app to the on ground team and infrastructure.

  2. Triggered a culture within the company for UX Researchers to collaborate with Data Analysts and vice-versa.

  3. Brought awareness to the stakeholders that fieldwork and contextual inquiry are most effective tools to gather User insights

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