Synthetic persona research to understand how different audiences experience the Everyday Living Interiors website — and how to make it work harder for the people Sara most wants to reach.
Defined the research objectives, key questions, and interview methodology. Two objectives: understand the gap between ELI's stated philosophy and how visitors actually experience it, and identify the psychological barriers preventing everyday people from considering interior design.
Six research-grade personas representing ELI's full audience spectrum — from the ideal core target to an indifferent non-audience. Each persona has a detailed psychological profile, cultural context, and specific relationship with home and design.
Each persona was presented with the current ELI website (as it exists today, without visible pricing) and interviewed about their reactions, perceptions, and likelihood to take action.
Analysis of all six interviews, identifying themes, insights, and prioritised recommendations. The verdict: the concept is strong but the website is losing its best prospects through invisible pricing, vague deliverables, and a single emotional register.
A comprehensive description of an improved version of the ELI website, incorporating all research recommendations: visible pricing, emotional entry points, concrete deliverables, before-and-after portfolio, elevated couples positioning, and warmth-authority balance. Detailed enough to serve as a testable artefact.
The same six personas were presented with the improved website prototype and interviewed again. Fresh encounter — they experience the v2 website as if for the first time.
Analysis of the Round 2 interviews: visible pricing collapsed the access barrier, the emotional section is the website's strongest element, the couples positioning has no market equivalent, and portfolio proof is now the primary remaining gap.