Hipopótamo Hipopotesis
Anthropology for business growth

Four success cases to inspire you

1

Shopping in digital times

We don't have a brick and mortar shop and our clients forget about us

2

3

Can we design a transition to university that reduces uncertainty and increases academic success?

We want them to get to us

4

1

Shopping in digital times

A San Francisco based design firm asked us to design and execute an ambitious project for an online shopping giant. The initial research question was “¿how do consumers navigate between virtual shops and brick and mortar shops when purchasing something of value?”.

The value participant placed on their purchases was mainly emotional: a new car, their dream T.V or a music system they had been saving for. 

Our mission was to find relevant insights during the on/offline shopping process, discovering and understanding the touchpoint where both shopping paths met. We had to comprehend what made participants decide to shop on or offline. 

Participant recruiting

Translator team

Location research team

Research design

Research execution

Data analysis

Participant recruiting

Translator team

Location research team

Research design

Research execution

Data analysis

Qualitative research: Digital + In person

Qualitative research:
Digital + In person

Virtual ethnography

Shop-alongs

Digital self-ethnography

In-depth user interviews

In-context user interviews

Contextual observation

Digital costumer journeys

Tech adaptation tests

Virtual ethnography

Shop-alongs

Digital self-ethnography

In-depth user interviews

In-context user interviews

Contextual observation

Digital costumer journeys

Tech adaptation tests

Video insight for the shopping process, with in depth and contextual participant interviews

Verbatim transcriptions

Shopping process blueprint

Decision-making process map

Experience map

Final report as a consumer experience process workshop

Video insight for the shopping process, with in depth and contextual participant interviews

Verbatim transcriptions

Shopping process blueprint

Experience map

Decision-making process map

Final report as a consumer experience process workshop

Detailed user profile who prioritizes online shoppers vs. brick and mortar shopping

Pin point the moments throughout the shopping experience when users were keen on deciding to shop in a store to create a more focused funnel that redirects clients

Map out expectations for online and offline shopping and turned them into helpful key messages on a site

Increased client fidelity by directing attention to a seamless experience and creating value for them on hard-to-reach areas of their shopping experience. 

2

We don’t have a brick and mortar shop and our clients forget about us

A fast growing online supermarket, competing for relevancy contacted us when they detected an ongoing problem: a new client would log in their platform, shopped once and rated the app positively but would not return to shop again. 

The mysterious happy client who would not come back forced them to invest resources in customer acquisition. They could not keep costumer in spite of having quantitative data to prove customer satisfaction. 

Our mission was ambitious: map out both new and loyal customer profiles, build their shopping journey, understand their traditional supermarket shopping process, find key touchpoints, and perform UX tests to help us increase retention in the platform. 

Participant recruiting

Research design

Research execution

Data analysis

Participant recruiting

Research design

Research execution

Data analysis

Qualitative research: Digital + In person

Qualitative research:
Digital + In person

Virtual ethnography

Customer journeys

In-depth user interviews

In-context user interviews

Contextual observation

Digital costumer journeys

User blueprints

Eye-tracking

UX testing

UI testing

Card sorting

Persona & JTBD

Quant. satisfaction survey

Social media community ethnography

User flows

Rapid prototyping

Edited user video-interviews

First shop storyboard

User Journey map

User personas cards & JTBD cards

UX + UI report

Final report delivered as a dynamic team workshop

Edited user video-interviews

First shop storyboard

User Journey map

User personas cards & JTBD cards

UX + UI report

Final report delivered as a dynamic team workshop

Help the brand improve usability making their platform more intuitive for users

Fix their fidelity strategy.

Define a user target, their need and channels to connect with them, finding the brand’s strong point from the user POV.

Improve customer experience by creating a seamless shopping process.

3

Can we design a transition to the university that reduces uncertainty and increases academic success?

The education department (SED) of one of the biggest cities in Colombia faced the challenge of discovering what was happening in the short period of time high school students had to decide whether they were going to go to university. This was a concern because universities reported a growing issue of academic failure during the first year of studying. 

The education department wanted to understand which factors played a role during the decision-making process, knowing which elements influenced the decision towards choosing a university degree and what could be done to make that decision faster, less confusing, and resulting in less academic failure (meaning better academic results and less university withdrawal after the first year).

Our job was to gather insight on the transition from high school to university and help re-design solutions to help students, SED, and local universities. We collaborated with a local social innovation non-profit organization. 

Research design

Participant recruiting

Training of local research team

Moderation

Research execution

Data analysis

Research design

Participant recruiting

Training of local research team

Moderation

Research execution

Data analysis

Qualitative research: Digital + In person

Qualitative research:
Digital + In person

Desk research

Ethnography

In-depth user interviews

Participant observation

Focus groups

User analysis and segmentation

Desk research

Ethnography

In-depth user interviews

Participant observation

Focus groups

User analysis and segmentation

Current status report

JTBD cards

Experience map

User interviews transcriptions, before and after research, visual format

Final report for universities and city council

Current status report

JTBD cards

Experience map

Final report for universities and city council

User interviews transcriptions, before and after research, visual format

Map main issues and challenges students faced during the university access time frame.

Collaborate and join forces amongst local universities, city council and the education department in a focused line of work.

Facilitate access and information for student looking at university options.

Brining universities closer to high schools and the rest of the city in order to fill I the information gaps that prevented student from making study-related decisions.

4

We want them to get to us

A relevant store chain in the DIY market was looking to increase their brand awareness in the Spanish speaking market and connecting their brand to home décor. 

The store chain was consolidated in other markets but was struggling to reach its demographic in Spain. They needed to connect to their target and make a name for themselves as a reference in DIY for homeowners. They wanted to build loyalty and grow their presence. 

Our mission was, in the first place, help them connect to their target and then, discover the best channels and strategies to better their brand recognition. 

Participant recruiting

Competing business customer recruitment

Location research team

Research design

Research execution

Participant recruiting

Competing business customer recruitment

Research design

Research execution

Data analysis

Qualitative research:
Digital + In person

Quantitative research:
Digital + In person

Ethnography

In-depth user Interviews
(on /offline)

Participant observation
(on /offline)

User interviews in context

Focus groups

Personas & JTBD

Tests A / B

Social media listening

Task performance analysis in-context

Ethnography

In-depth user Interviews
(on / offline)

Participant observation
(on / offline)

User interviews in context

Focus groups

Personas & JTBD

Tests A / B

Social media listening

Task performance analysis in-context

Moodboards and visual identity guides

Analytic reports for web and social media presence

Brand ecosystem map

Digital Communities map

A dynamic workshop to share final results with the team

Moodboards and visual identity guides

Analytic reports for web and social media presence

Brand ecosystem map

Digital Communities map

A dynamic workshop to share final results with the team

Mapping potential customer social media communities while defining their target and needs.

We helped the brand shift its online strategy to connect with their customers in a more sustainable way, consolidating a loyalty growth strategy.

We increased brand awareness in professional DIYer communities.

Positive Impact

We owe society, the environment, and animals a good footprint. We can't just earn money at all costs. We need to be responsible, which is a must in this high-impact economic world.

Your company is a social, political, and economical statement. The more you take care of the world around you, the more you became a respectful leader to follow.

Positive Impact

We owe society, the environment, and animals a good footprint. We can't just earn money at all costs. We need to be responsible, which is a must in this high-impact economic world.

Your company is a social, political, and economical statement. The more you take care of the world around you, the more you became a respectful leader to follow.

All activities have an impact. Let's make yours a better one.

Your company might be so big and wealthy that you have so much money in your hands, and that’s a big responsibility. The more money goes in, the more money that has to be dealt with, redistributed, and taken care of. 

What will we do?

Qual. Research | In-depth interviews | Contextual Observation | Virtual ethnography | Social media observation | Group discussions & activities | Suppliers Segmentation | Suppliers Blueprints | Suppliers Journeys | Experiments

We’ll share all the insights with you in different creative and effective ways, from powerful & boring reports to videos, presentations, or even customized workshops.

What will you discover? 

All this ad hoc research will give you in-depth knowledge about how your wealth affects your stakeholders:

  1. Are you paying enough to your employees or are they receiving a poor salary? #EmployeeExperience
  2. Who goes down when you decide to stop some activity or to make some cuts? #EconomicImpact
  3. How economically satisfied are the people that are dependent on you directly or indirectly? #EconomicalDependence
  4. Are you investing your money to create a great impact on different levels? #ConsciousInvestments
  5. Who is earning ridiculous amounts of money and why and who is earning just to keep living? #RethinkingPayments


How is this going to help you?

With all that detailed, useful, and actionable information, you will have a greater and deeper picture of the use and impact of your finances. Not only do your employees depend on you, and you in them, also your suppliers, vendors, investors, and clients.  

When you make a move, a lot of people get affected directly or indirectly, so it’s better to rethink twice what will be the effects of your choices. Economic disorders are so frequent and brutal to families that you can try your best to mitigate those effects. People will deeply thank you. 

No matter the industry you are in, it’s almost sure that you are going to have some technological impact. In a globalized hyper-connected world, digital coins mining or stone mining, transports or farming, have a direct or indirect impact on technology. We live in a chain economy, everything’s related and interconnected. 

What will we do?

Qual. + Quant. Research | In-depth interviews | Virtual ethnography | Social media observation | Group discussions & activities | Investors Segmentation | Investors Blueprints | Investors Journeys | Experiments |

We’ll share all the insights with you in different creative and effective ways, from powerful & boring reports to videos, presentations, or even customized workshops.

What will you discover? 

All this ad hoc research will give you in-depth knowledge about your share of technological impact and how to benefit from it:

  1. Which of the technologies you develop are game-changers and how are they impacting the world?  #PowerfulTech
  2. Are your actions making technology more user-friendly and useful or are you complicating things? #UserExperience
  3. What do your people think about the technology you design? #DeepListening
  4. Is your activity making technology more accessible, secure, transparent, inclusive, or human?. #HealthyTech


How is this going to help you?

With all that detailed, useful and, actionable information you will understand better what’s the technological role your company plays in the big scenario, and how can you improve some processes to make it more useful and human.

Technology plays a big role in our hyper-connected world and your company must take a step forward in order to make it more useful, easier, more accessible, transparent, inclusive, secure, reliable, and human. 

Depending on your activity, you’re always going to impact positively or negatively on some groups of people or others. It’s true that you can’t please everyone, but you can mitigate the worst effects of your activities. 

What will we do?

Qual. + Quant. Research | Shop Alongs | In-depth interviews | A day in the life | Contextual observation | Group discussions & activities | Virtual ethnography | Real-life tests | Buyer Personas | Customer Blueprints | Customer Journeys | Experiments

We’ll share all the insights with you in d