User Research Interviews

SURVEY SCRIPT SURVEY GOALS
I am conducting this survey to better To determine what features users are looking for in a
understand how homeowners go about the landscaping or garden design app.
task of designing, updating and caring for To determine how technology plays a role in their
their landscape and garden. The results landscaping needs and what tools they utilize.
from this survey will help me to more
effectively design an app to assist To determine how many users have utilized landscaping
services in the past.
homeowners with landscape design
choices and maintenance needs. Thank To better understand how users/homeowners go about
you for taking the time to take this survey. searching for inspiration for landscaping design.
SURVEY QUESTIONS
1. Do you own a home where you're in charge of maintaining the garden or landscape?
Yes
No
2. How old are you?
3. How satisfied are you with the current landscaping design of your home?
Extremely satisfied
Somewhat satisfied
Not satisfied and looking to update or make changes
4. Have you utilized landscaping services in the past?

Yes, I’ve used both design and maintenance services
Yes I’ve used landscape design services
Yes I’ve used landscape maintenance services
No, I have never used either landscape design or maintenance services
5. Where do you primarily go when you have questions about landscaping or gardening needs?
I search for answers on the internet
I go to the library and look at books
I call a local company and ask for their advice
I ask a family member for advice
I go to a garden store and ask employees
Other
6. Is there anything that is stopping you or making you hesitant to hire a landscape design service?
Yes
No
7. Would you use an app that offered a way to ask landscaping design experts direct questions about your landscaping needs?
Yes
Maybe
No
8. Would you use an app that offered a list of plants that grow best in your area?
Yes
Maybe
No
9. Would you use an app that had an active blog with advice for maintaining your landscaping or garden?
Yes
Maybe
No
10. What websites or apps do you use for garden or landscape inspiration?
(short answer)
11. How often do you use online tools when you are looking for garden or landscaping advice?
Every day
Once a week
Once a month
Once a year
Never
12. How confident do you feel making landscape design decision without the help of a professional landscape designer?
Very confident
Somewhat confident, but I would have some questions to research or ask
Not confident at all
SURVEY RESULTS
19 Participants
Not confident Somewhat confident Confident

SURVEY FINDINGS
19 Participants
Most people are unsatisfied or somewhat unsatisfied with their current landscape design.
A little over half of the people have used landscape design or maintenance services in the past.
Most people search for answers on the internet when they are looking to make changes to their
landscaping or garden.
Most people shared that there are things that are either stopping them or making them hesitant when
hiring a landscape design service.
Most people would like an app where they can ask landscape design experts direct questions.
Nearly all of the people shared that they would like an app that gave them a list of plants that grow best
in their area.
Most people would like an app where that had an active blog with landscape design and maintenance
advice.
Most people shared that they do not have a particular website or app that they go to for landscape
design help and that they mostly do a google search.
RESEARCH GOALS
To determine if users have utilized landscaping services
INTERVIEW SCRIPT in the past and gather detailed insight on what made
the experience either positive and negative.
Documenting any user frustrations in regards to

searching for landscaping design ideas or advice online.
Hello, my name is Danielle and I am going to be
walking you through this session today. I will be To better understand user behavior around the activity
conducting interviews to better understand how of designing and maintaining their home landscaping.
people go about updating their landscaping or
gardens for their home. Please understand that To better understand how users/homeowners go about
there are no right or wrong answers and that you searching for inspiration for landscaping design.
don’t have to worry about making mistakes. This is
simply a way for me to better understand your To determine how technology plays a role in their
thoughts, feelings and experience in regards to landscaping needs.
landscape and grading designing and maintenance.
Is it ok if I record this conversation?
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Have you ever designed your landscape or garden by your self? Tell me about
that experience.
2. What motivated you to redesign your landscape?
3. How many hours do you spend each week on your garden or landscape? What, if
anything, do you get hired help for?
4. What is the most difficult challenge you face when working on your garden or
landscaping?
5. Have you used landscaping design services in the past, why or why not? If so, What
about that experience was positive, what about that experience was negative? If you
haven’t - what are your reasons or hesitations for not hiring landscape design services?
6. What resources do you use when looking for advice or ideas for your garden or
landscape? Who or where do you go to for advice?
7. What is most important to you when looking for solutions to update your landscape or
garden?
8. Describe how you use websites or apps to search for garden or landscape design
inspiration or advice?
9. What are your favorite features of any existing apps or websites that you use for garden
and landscape inspiration or advice and why do you like them?
10. Tell me about a time that you had difficulty using a home improvement or garden app or
website.
11. Would you use an app that offered a way to connect to local experts to get direct advice
about your garden or landscape? Why or why not?
12. How important is it to you to find cost effective solutions for updating your landscape or
garden designs?
13. How much would you be willing to pay for a landscape designer?
14. Have you ever used an ask an expert app or website in the past? Tell me about your
experience.
William INTERVIEW #1
35, Technical Instructor
Married
NW Chicago Suburbs
Homeowner 1. Have you ever designed your landscape or garden by your self? Tell me about that
experience.
No, not really my wife usually makes all of the decisions, but I trust her.
I am motivated by looking at other peoples designs in our neighborhood and I get

inspired by that. I feel like our space could be better, and when I look around the
neighborhood I am inspired to make a change. I would say that I am a visual person.
I’d say around an hour and a half each week and it usually involves maintenance like
cutting the grass, weeding, trimming bushes and trees, watering, fertilizing. In the past
we have had people out to cut trees, that was not for beauty, but for safety but other
than that we normally do all of the maintenance ourselves. If we didn’t have tools for
something or feel like it was out of our reach we would get hired help.
4. What is the most difficult challenge you face when working on your garden or landscaping?
Second guessing myself as to what the proper course of action is, is what’s most difficult about
gardening. When I am pulling weeds I don’t always know what is a weed and what is a flower so I want
to make sure I am not ruining anything. I don’t always have the knowledge to know what is what. If
I don’t know, I look it up using an app called plantsID or ask my wife.
5. Have you used landscaping design services in the past, why or why not? If so, What about that
experience was positive, what about that experience was negative? If you haven’t - what are your
reasons or hesitations for not hiring landscape design services?
I have not, I think it is difficult to find landscape designers because there are so many different
types of landscaping processionals that I wouldn’t even know where to start or what to look for.
I have tried searching on yelp and it was hard because there were so many titles for types of
landscapers and I wasn’t sure what would be the correct company to go with. We want to re-do a
small area with a dead bush and I don’t know where to begin when searching for help, what do I
search? Do general landscapers do this or do I need a designer?
6. What resources do you use when looking for advice or ideas for your garden or landscape? Who or
where do you go to for advice?
I mostly do a search on the internet or go to the local hardware store or garden center and try to
figure it out on my own as long as it isn’t something that I won’t completely destroy. When we
re-mulched it was a big project and I asked my in-laws for advice. Learning how to edge correctly was
another thing that I looked for advice on the internet. My wife watched YouTube videos to learn
how to correctly remove and lay down new mulch. We saved a lot of money doing it ourselves.
7. What is most important to you when looking for solutions to update your landscape or garden?
I would say, insuring that I am not paying too much but not getting someone who doesn’t know
what they are doing is very important to me. So, getting a fair price is important. It doesn’t need to
be absolute perfection, I just want it to look nice and to trust who I am working with. Listening to
their plan and seeing their passion, if they offer up solutions that is helpful for me. If they keep
up with commitments and are proactive and realistic about timeframes and price those are the things
that are very important to me.
8. Describe how you use websites or apps to search for garden or landscape design inspiration or
advice?
My wife shows me things on Pinterest. I am mostly in charge of the “how to” of the project, so I
normally google search for answers. I use plant ID to look up weeds to make sure I am not pulling
the wrong thing.
9. What are your favorite features of any existing apps or websites that you use for garden and
landscape inspiration or advice and why do you like them?
I like when a website has step by step instructions with pictures that show the process. That
helps guide me through. Detailed pictures help me to visualize, I need that. I like that Pinterest has
a large volume of ideas and the search function seems to be good about finding specific things such
as landscaping by a brick house vs a house that doesn’t look like ours. I prefer using visual tools like
pictures or vides vs. text based.
10. Tell me about a time that you had difficulty using a home improvement or garden app or website.
Pinterest, the design drives my crazy. There’s a lot of times when you have to click through 3 our 4
times to actually get to the article or website. I really don’t like their internal browser, it’s very difficult to
maneuver.
11. Would you use an app that offered a way to connect to local experts to get direct advice about
your garden or landscape? Why or why not?
Yes, I would definitely give it a try. The pricing of the app would persuade me or dissuade me. If
there was a free trial, of course I’d give it a try.
12. How important is it to you to find cost effective solutions for updating your landscape or garden
designs?
I would say its fairly important. Cost effective is the name of the game. A lot of the times I feel that
these things don’t have to be done, but if I am comfortable with the price I’d love to go ahead and
make the improvements. Cost is rated highly in my considerations.
Maybe around $100. I have no frame of reference.
14. Have you ever used an ask an expert app or website in the past? Tell me about your experience.
When I bought my wife’s wedding ring, they gave me the option to have a couple help me pick out the
diamond. They were able to guide me through and help me find the perfect diamond that fit all of my
qualifications and it ended up working really well. The fact that they (the couple) did not take a fee
from me and instead from the online diamond company and the fact that they were a husband
and wife team made me feel like they had my best intentions in mind. I was able to read about
the couple before and it made me feel even more comfortable.
Joseph Behun INTERVIEW #2
37, Middle School Teacher
Single
Chicago Suburbs
Homeowner
1. Have you ever designed your landscape or garden by your self? Tell me about that
experience.
I’ve made some decisions myself when I moved in. The back yard was what I did the
most with on my own when it comes to design and changes. I didn’t pick things out
myself other than burning bushes because I saw them in college and I loved them. My
mom helped me with the design. We had a friend who was a landscape designer
who helped us too in his free time.
When I moved in there were so many things I wasn’t a fan of. Everything was too
cluttered and I wanted to clear the clutter. I wanted it more open and green and to
refresh everything. There were also some safety concerns with trees that looked like
they could blow over anyway along with bees that had taken nest in our deck that I
wanted to take down. I also wanted to block the view into my neighbors yard as they
have some rather outdated things that I didn’t want to stare at every time I went into
my back yard.
3. How many hours do you spend each week on your garden or landscape? What, if anything, do you
get hired help for?
Well, during the summer I do everything myself. During the school year my parents come over and help
with things. My estimations during the summer are around two to three hours a week. Again, my
parents help me during the fall and spring but I don’t ever hire help.
Weeds, weeds weeds! They grow so quickly and so much better than the normal plants.
I have, we have a friend who my parents know who is a landscape designer. I liked that he gave me
options. He drew diagrams and had discussions with me. Before making plans or suggestions he
asked great questions and listened to the fact that I wanted low maintenance and plants that
come back every year. For someone like me who is not good at this, it was very nice to talk to
someone who had experience and could show me options. I can recognize when it looks good but
its nice when other people who have knowledge and experience can give me ideas.
I often need clarification about maintenance tasks. When it comes to design choices, I go to home
depot or a garden place and see what looks nice and I rely on my mom who comes up with ideas.
advice?
I don’t really use any apps. A lot of times I just google and try to decide what looks reputable as
opposed to someone who just has an opinion. I try to look for multiple sources that say the same
thing. I look for reputable and repetitious information so that I know its quality advice.
I don’t really have any that I consistently go to. I guess what I am looking for when I am searching are
sights that are reputable or that have a lot of information about a wide range of topics. Sites that
have wide ranges of sources are ones that I usually use.
I would go to big name places like home depot and search their website along with customer
feedback. It is a lot of searching, but nothing really bad, I usually move on to something else if I
don’t like it.
Yes, that would be interesting! I like that its worded as LOCAL! I don’t want to talk to someone in
Arizona about landscaping in Chicago, that’s a different environment. Knowing that it’s local
would be very important and they even may know where to send you for local products and they
would know what is in season right now. I would be very much more likely to use if the experts
were local.
designs?
Cost is VERY IMPORTANT! Weather and climate around here can really destroy plants, if you need to
readjust or redesign I am looking for cost effective solutions, sometimes you need to make changes
multiple times a year. Although, if you want quality, it adds up.
Id’ if they are designing and helping pick out what’s going there I’d say around $300.
I am fortunate that my parents “know a guy” for everything. I usually talk to their guy. I always seek
out the real person connection so I don’t ever use apps or websites like this. I am lucky to have
parents who know local workers they can refer me too based on their experience working with them.
Tiffany INTERVIEW #3
34, Music Teacher
Married - 3 Children
South Chicago Suburbs
Homeowner
that experience.
Yes, we put in a deck two years ago and then the follow year we decided that we wanted
to have more flowers and a vegetable garden. We designed it around the deck. It included
a flower bed and a place for planting vegetables and herbs. We used left over bricks, we
used what we had and put it together.
Before there was nothing there, I wanted it to look esthetically pleasing to the eye and
I like growing my own veggies and herbs so I wanted to incorporate that as well.
We mow our own lawn and we do a lot of watering and the maintenance, anywhere
between 15-20 Horus a week in the summer. We love being outside. We don’t seek out
hired help for maintenance and we didn’t for that design project around the deck.
Controlling Bugs, and bunny and other animals, pests are a big deal and a big challenge. We are
also trying to teach our kids about weeds so they can help us too. We also took down a fence and found
all of these plants that we didn’t know what they were so we let it grow until we could figure it out. We
also have some trouble with an area in our yard that is pooling water from where an old shed was. We
are looking to hire someone who can give us ideas on how to re-do that back area. We want to do it
properly and the right way without messing with our neighbor’s yard. We want to eventually make the
yard kid friendly and fun while also making it look nice.
We haven’t done design service but we did have someone come out a do the mulch one year. It was
160 for us to do it ourselves but 1500 for them to do it. Never again! Cost deters us from hiring help,
but it was the first yer we moved into the house and we had a new born baby. We didn’t have
anyone to watch her while we were doing the job so it made sense.
Usually I wander home depot or another garden center. I ask questions and give details about my
yard and garden. I listen to their ideas or I look at the tags on the flowers and try to piece it together. I
get inspiration when I walk around the garden centers and I usually know what I like based on colors.
My biggest inspiration usually comes from shopping around.
I think the most important thing is getting good advice and to help out local businesses if we
can. They know a lot because they have been in business for generations sometimes. I have a cousin
who is a landscape architect, I call him up sometimes and he is very smart and knows how the roots
grow on different plants. He is our own expert who is nice to have to go to when I run into any
questions. How they speak to me is also important when I hire someone. When they give you their back
story I feel more comfortable and that they are genuine. We usually shop around to get a feel for their
ideas. We are going through this process now. We search on google and look for who is local and we
look at reviews but don’t take it into crazy consideration.
advice?
I go in person. To me, it’s more trustworthy if you talk to someone in person. The person who just came
out told us his “story,” and you could tell that he knew what the ground was like here and that he
understood how to work on landscape in this area. I appreciate people who are local and who know
the area. If I don’t get my answers from calling people, I seek out garden centers and ask the
employees. There are so many things I don’t know myself and its hard sometimes to type things
out to describe your problem in a way that the online search engines would understand.
Sometimes I search Pinterest for visual ideas.
The HomeDepot, has a lot of good stuff.. but when you’re searching sometimes the search engine
comes up with something completely off topic things. One time I searched for flowers and it came
up with a table cloth that had flowers on it. I find that internet searches aren’t always relevant and
you have to weed through the results. I wish there was a way to have climate specific plants that
look good. I wish I could search by climate and shade or sun spots.
ABSOLUTELY! That way I wouldn’t have to call them and wait for them to send someone out.
There are so many times when I want answers quickly and it can take up to 2 weeks to get someone
out to help you or give advice or a quote and that’s frustrating.
designs?
I think the most important part would be the advice side. Then we could determine, if we could do this
ourselves after getting that advice. So, cost is important.
I think you get what you pay for. There’s so much that they do, depending on how big the job is we
wouldn’t go above $500 because I think we could probably figure it out ourselves. I don’t think design
takes too much time and it shouldn’t be too expensive. I would expect the reviews to back up their
price. I would need to justify the cost.
I don’t think I have but maybe my husband has. I usually get advice from my Dad or someone in the
store.
Lauren INTERVIEW #4
29, Kindergarten Teacher
Married - 1 Child
North Chicago Suburbs
Homeowner
that experience.
Yes, I’ve don’t everything when it comes to designing our landscape or garden. I get a lot
of plants from my mom or friends. I look up on the internet about what works well in the
shade vs. sun. If we get a plants that we love and it doesn’t grow we just won’t buy that
again, more of a trial and error approach or learn as you go.
We like being outside and we feel accomplished when we do the work ourselves. We
mostly do things a little bit at a time because we have to keep cost in mind. It may
not look as nice right away, but we will get there eventually.
3. How many hours do you spend each week on your garden or landscape? What, if anything, do you get
hired help for?
We spend 2-3 hours a week weeding, watering and general maintenance. We have hired people to lay mulch
and we do hire a landscape company to mow our lawn because its rather large. We did have to hire two
local residents to take down a large poison ivy bush. We really struggled finding professional
landscapers who would help us with that.
For us it was the poison ivy and removal. I had to search the internet and read blogs and I joined a
Facebook group about poison ivy identification and how to remove it. You can post a picture and
someone will comment with the information. There are so many different types of poison ivy, we had no
idea! We hate using pesticides, but this felt necessary.
No, we haven’t, we have done it ourselves. I guess I never really reached out because I figured it would
cost too much money. Cost and time commitment really deter us from hiring help. I saw an app where
you can get a quote in the app, that would be ideal. I wouldn’t have to call or have someone stop by. I don’t
want to waste their time if I don’t go through with it after finding out their cost.
I use Pinterest a lot for ideas and inspiration. I got some great ideas about all of the river bed rocks we
have found in our yard.
It is great to be able to visualize everything, to get ideas and inspiration from sources. It would also
be nice to know when plants bloom to better create a landscape where something is always blooming.
advice?
I mostly use Pinterest for visual inspiration and google search to find specifics. I search for plants that fit
what I need for example, plants that grow well in the shade or full sun, or that repel bugs. I go with the first
search that comes up and if it dies, well then it didn’t work and I try something else.
9. What are your favorite features of any existing apps or websites that you use for garden and landscape
inspiration or advice and why do you like them?
Idea inspiration apps are great. I think Pinterest is great for that. I am a DYI person, and I like when you
can click on visuals to get more details. I am looking for visual inspiration. Thumbnails that you can
click on and then read more! I like the apps that identify different plants but I don’t always use them
because most of them cost money and that’s where I say, NOPE! I’d rather have a one time app payment
than a subscription based one. They look “free” but then they often have subscriptions once you download,
and all of these subscriptions are starting to add up.
Looking at Home Depot for countertops, I think I put in the dimensions wrong or something, because the
quote was really high, but I didn’t have anyone to ask if that was right or wrong so I gave up on the site.
11. Would you use an app that offered a way to connect to local experts to get direct advice about your
garden or landscape? Why or why not?
Yes, I think so! I know that around me there are cool nature centers and it would be nice to connect
through an app with them.
designs?
Cost is very important. You can spend just as much money outside your home as inside. Quality is also
very important, long term investment is important. I don’t want to have to replant every single year, I’d want
solutions that last and plants the come back every spring.
I’d pay around $1000 just for design, but my property is huge!
I use Next Door, that’s a community based app. It is great to get answers to questions from locals. I
like that you’re getting advice from people that are in your area and that they give ideas for local
referrals.
MARYLOU INTERVIEW #5
60, Office assistant
Married - 3 adult children
North Chicago Suburbs
Homeowner
that experience.
Yes, I have been planning and landscaping my summer flower garden for the past 10
years. I start the plants in the house and bring them outside once the frost is done. I
enjoy watching them grow. I like to look at pictures and scenes in garden magazines.
These give me ideas and inspiration. I also get ideas from friends who are great at
gardening and who have inspired me over the years.
Lately I feel like I want more perennials vs annuals because I am getting older. These
come back every year so that makes it easier. But, I am motivated to change things
because I like color and variety during the whole growing season.
3. How many hours do you spend each week on your garden or landscape? What, if anything, do you get
hired help for?
I spend about 7-8 hours a week on my garden. Once the weather is good enough to be out there, I spend
every day outside in my garden. We have only hired people to do things we can’t do ourselves like tree
trimming. We are mostly DIY’ers.
BUGS! The bugs are a pain in the neck! I need to be able to anticipate them before things get bad. I like
to read up on things online to see what people are saying and how they go about getting rid of the
pests in their garden. I look up specific questions on google and look at their suggestions for
products or advice.
No, we have not. Money is always an issue for us, we like to do things ourself as much as possible.
I sometimes I look in books and I LOVE looking in magazines. I occasional go online, its just so easy
and accessible. It’s a quick answer and you get a variety of information. Lately I use YouTube, they
have great videos and testimonials and they usually explain things nicely! I leaned a lot about my
garlic plants this year from watching YouTube videos.
We always look at things through a financial sense first. If things are too expensive we will shy away
from it. If its really important to us, we will make it work and hire someone if we really want a solution.
advice?
I go to google and I’ll search a certain topic. I scroll and if it sounds like it makes sense to me, I will click on it.
This is new for me in the last couple of years. I mostly. Use my computer because it gives me a bigger
screen however I do use my phone at the store when I need questions about plants, about how they
grow or what’s best for those plants.
9. What are your favorite features of any existing apps or websites that you use for garden and landscape
inspiration or advice and why do you like them?
One of the things I really liked was an app where I took at picture of a plant and it gives you
information about the plant. I think it is an awesome way to understand the plant you are going to use in
your garden. I like using this to identify plants and figuring out where it likes to grow, how it likes to grow and
what it looks likes when it flowers also any information that is important to know when caring for this plant.
I was looking for specific information online but no one seemed to have the information I was looking
for. The information I found was very generic. I really had to dig to get answers and it took quite some
time. I wish there was a way to ask follow up questions on some of these sites like they do on Youtube.
11. Would you use an app that offered a way to connect to local experts to get direct advice about your
garden or landscape? Why or why not?
Sure! Having information that accessible would be GREAT!
designs?
Cost is very important to us all the time.
We are looking to possibly change a small area in the front of our home, I’d pay $50 for a designer to come
up with solutions.
No, I’ve never used this type of app or website.

INTERVIEW FINDINGS
4 Participants
Most people are motivated to make changes because they value their outdoor space
Most people seek out visual inspiration from sites such as Pinterest when making landscape updates
Finding cost effective solutions is very important to all participants when making updates to their
landscaping.
Working or hiring locals is important for most people, because they feel that they will get tailored advice
and solutions that are right for their location.
All of the people interviewed would like an app where they can ask local landscape design experts
direct questions.
Most people value personal interaction when looking for solutions and answers.
All of the participants shared that cost deters them from hiring landscaping designers.
Most people shared that they do not have a particular website or app that they go to for landscape
design help and that they mostly do a google search or visit a store or seek out a knowledgeable family
member.
Some participants shared that app subscriptions deter them from using that service.

User Research Interviews

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

User Research Interviews

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

SURVEY SCRIPT SURVEY GOALS

2. How old are you?

4. Have you utilized landscaping services in the past?

Not confident Somewhat confident Confident

Documenting any user frustrations in regards to

2. What motivated you to redesign your landscape?

I am motivated by looking at other peoples designs in our neighborhood and I get

Maybe around $100. I have no frame of reference.

2. What motivated you to redesign your landscape?

2. What motivated you to redesign your landscape?

Sometimes I search Pinterest for visual ideas.

2. What motivated you to redesign your landscape?

2. What motivated you to redesign your landscape?

Sure! Having information that accessible would be GREAT!

Cost is very important to us all the time.

No, I’ve never used this type of app or website.

You might also like