Key Lessons from a Cross‑Border Shopping User Research Project

Preparation & Planning Phase

1. Understanding the world of cross‑border shopping: Conducted desk research, competitor analysis of major platforms (e.g., MiTao Global, Tmall International, Amazon Global), browsed forums and QQ groups, and interviewed friends who shop overseas to grasp market overview and user motivations.

2. Requirement communication – what product/business wants vs. what research can deliver: Held two rounds of discussions with product managers and business stakeholders to clarify focus, scope, and priorities, and to propose follow‑up studies for topics beyond the current project.

3. Research timeline planning: Created a schedule comparing planned versus actual milestones; encountered a one‑week delay due to third‑party contract and internal questionnaire rollout, reinforcing the need to buffer deadlines for uncontrollable factors.

Execution Phase

1. Prioritising tasks when workload is heavy: Daily task list creation and ranking by priority helped reduce anxiety and ensure critical items progressed despite limited time.

2. Summarising findings promptly during a long project: After each interview, brief summaries were recorded to preserve insights and guide subsequent work.

3. Questionnaire deployment lessons: After coordinating with developers on launch timing, a confirmation email was omitted, leading to a mismatch between agreed wording and the live questionnaire; a follow‑up email confirmed details and prevented future miscommunication.

Data Analysis & Report Writing Phase

1. Extracting deeper meaning from data: Went beyond surface‑level results by synthesising qualitative answers, identifying common patterns, and linking user attitudes to product pain points, then offering actionable recommendations.

2. Pursuing format perfection: Revised the report over 20 times, adjusting content order for clearer logic, improving chart styles for scientific presentation, and standardising page layout for consistency.

Before and after screenshots illustrate the visual improvements:

Sharing & Project Closure Phase

1. Report sharing – removing the academic “hood”: Focused on product‑oriented key findings and practical suggestions, avoiding overly technical language to ensure stakeholders easily grasp insights.

2. The importance of post‑mortem: Conducted a comprehensive project retrospective, documenting challenges, solutions, and patterns to build a knowledge base for future research initiatives.

Overall reflections include:

Engage experienced colleagues for inspiration.

Clarify and prioritise product/business requirements during communication.

Plan timelines with buffers for uncontrollable events.

Prioritise tasks to keep critical work on track.

Summarise research findings promptly.

Confirm cross‑team communications via email.

Link data to product decisions and propose actionable recommendations.

Maintain a clean, consistent report format.

Share reports with a focus on stakeholder needs.

Use retrospectives for continuous learning and growth.