Sabrina Staniewska
January 1, 2025
The research that revealed a product was serving the wrong user.
What
Usability Study
Role
UX Researcher
Participants
6 users, 3 personas
Sector
Transport
Strategic Impact
Research identified that Koleo's product strategy was optimised for casual travellers while systematically failing its highest-value segment — business users. This finding reframed the product problem from 'fix the usability issues' to 'decide which user you are building for.
About KOLEO
Ringier is one of Europe's largest media and digital companies, headquartered in Zürich, operating across publishing, digital marketplaces, entertainment, and sports media in 18 countries. Ringier X was the company's internal corporate innovation accelerator — a structured programme to identify, develop, and validate new business ideas from within the organisation.
Research Setup
Persona workshop with client before recruiting — three distinct mental models defined (student Ania, business traveller Krzysztof, occasional traveller pani Bogusia). 6 participants, 60–70 minute sessions, face-to-face and remote. Six realistic tasks stress-testing the flow across all three personas.
Key Findings
Business users would not recommend Koleo. Casual users would. The NPS split between user types was the headline finding — a product serving two segments but optimised for only one. This reframed the client's question from 'what's broken?' to 'who are you building for?' — a product strategy decision, not a UX fix.
A big idea here that is really exciting
Explain the idea
Writing for websites is both simple and complex. On the one hand, all you need to do is say what you mean and in your words.
In small parts
Are you thinking of keywords you should rank for? Are you including links in your text to additional information?
With more detail
There’s a theory that people read in an F-shaped pattern, and that this should influence how you structure content on your website.
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