Unboxing Experience -AirPods Pro
This out of the box experience (OOBE) or first time user experience evaluation was conducted as an endeavor to actualize research methods taught in class. The interview was conducted pre-pandemic.
Type: Personal Project
My Role: Researcher / Evaluator
Tools: Final Cut Pro / Adobe Photoshop
As a young tech enthusiast, I often heard people praise Apple’s unique and chic unboxing experience.
— As a curious UX Researcher, I wanted to record and evaluate this for myself.
What is an “Unboxing Experience” evaluation?
Out of the box or unboxing experience evaluations is done to understand how a product introduces itself to a first-time user.
The experience begins from the moment the package is opened until the user can use it for the first time.
The evaluation also considers the the initial set-up, efficacy of instructions and ease of operation for novice users.
This rookie researcher in the video who almost had no clue what he was doing, is a throwback to when I was barely getting started.
With more enthusiasm than expertise, this exercise was both a failure as well as a success.
— I’ll first review the unboxing experience and then I’ll review my performance as a researcher.
Apple’s Unboxing Experience
While it is undeniable that Apple was one of the pioneers in creating unique experiences for unboxing their products, other brands currently have pretty much caught up to this standard.
This means Apple now no longer holds the monopoly over sophisticated first time user experiences, making it an interesting time to re-evaluate it. I’ve done this by breaking down the unboxing process with live users.
Since this was a passion project with no funding, participants were not compensated. Participants were asked if they would mind being recorded and 1 subject from the sample size (n=4) gave the permission to record and share.
Evaluation Results
User Manuals and Bell Bottom Jeans
What do the two things in the title have in common? Well, they’re both outdated (are bell-bottoms making a comeback? I haven’t been up to date with fashion since quarantine). Apple’s pop up cards seem to be doing well however. Using them for a tutorial from a QR code on the manual would be a preferred alternative..
Power of Words
Words have time and again secured their position over swords and now we know they might be deserving an even higher position. Apple’s set up instructions had a few ambiguous words and technical jargon that could be cleaned up to smoothen out the experience.
Ergonomic Design a.k.a Weird Ears
At least half of my friends (and all 4 participants) complained that the main reason they can’t use true wireless earbuds is because they have weird ears. Since this is a sizable population, it is time to revaluate ergonomics of earbuds. Until then, accessory based support (Ex: AirPods neck straps) is an effective alternative.
Dissecting my debut interview
Even though I’ve heard my professors repeat it a hundred times, I found myself doing the same mistakes he warned us against. One prime example is talking too much. As a defense mechanism to nervousness or awkward silences I tend to speak a lot and this was very evident in my interview — I’ve definitely gotten much better since!
Rewatching this video, I’ve also noticed a couple of lead-ons where due to this tendency to talk too much, I blurted words that I shouldn’t have which might have tainted some of the answers — after conducting about 60+ user sessions I’m finally down to 0 blurts per interview.
One of my takeaways is to “expect the unexpected”. At one point during the video you will notice a student from a neighboring table help my subject out with a task which was totally unexpected and I should account for, when conducting casual trials like this — fortunately this has been my first and last interview experience at a cafe setting.