Guiding a Chinese photo-editing app into North America with in-depth interviews

Timeline

4 weeks

Role

UX Researcher

Methods

In-depth Interviews

TL;DR

Meitu, a leading Chinese photo-editing app, wanted to reach users in North America. In four weeks, I interviewed users across the US and Canada to learn why they edit photos, how they edit them, and where they share them. The findings showed that North American users edit for a natural look, not a perfect one, and share to stay connected with family and friends. This led the team to build a new product for North America rather than tweak the existing app.

Context

Taking a Chinese photo-editing app to a new market

Meitu’s editing tools are a daily habit in China. Before entering North America, the team needed to know if users there edit and share photos the same way.

Choosing Methods

Choosing in-depth interviews under a tight timeline and no budget

Research Questions

How do North American users edit and share their photos?

01What motivates them to edit photos?
02In what situations do they share photos on social media?
03How exactly do they edit portrait and landscape photos?

	In-depth Interviews	Diary Study	Survey
Time & cost	Fits 4 weeks, recruited through my network at no cost	Runs for weeks, usually needs incentives	Quick to build, but needs a paid panel
Depth of insight	Follow-up questions on motivation and culture	Rich detail on each moment	Shows what, not why
Natural behavior	Relies on recall	Captured in the moment	Self-reported

With more time & budget

Pair interviews with a diary study to capture editing and sharing in the moment, not from recall

Study Design

Recruiting a diverse mix of users across the US and Canada

Screening Criteria

Born and raised in the US or Canada
Has at least one photo-editing app installed
Under 35
Shares edited photos on social media, publicly or privately, at least once a month

Participants

Markets

US & Canada

Diversified by

GenderEthnicityRegionAge

Participant tracker listing each interviewee’s region, ethnicity, gender, recording type and completed interview rounds

A remote interview session over Zoom with a participant

Interview protocol Walkthrough, editing and posting habits, views on beauty

Topic

User purpose and habits of editing photos

Opening statement

Hi! I am [name], good to meet you. I am now working on a project focused on photo editing, and our team is particularly interested in photo editing behaviors of people in western cultures, including why you take photos, the process of editing and posting them on social media, and your opinions about what is beauty.

Privacy statement

This project is launched for my coursework. Personal information will be strictly confidential and desensitized, and will only be shared within our team.

Walkthrough questions (for each scenario)

Start: Can you show me some photos you recently edited?
Motivation: Under what circumstance did you decide to take this photo?
Taking photos: Did you succeed the first time? If not, what adjustments did you make?
Editing: Why do you want to edit them? How do you edit them?
Posting: Do you post them? Before clicking the “post” button, what else did you do?
Beauty opinions

Possible scenarios: selfies, landscape photos, product photos for eBay, etc.

Main questions

You don’t have to ask every main question. Choose the most appropriate for this interviewee.

Editing habits

Observation: Could you pick one recent photo you want to post and edit it as an example? Show us the screen and say your actions and thoughts during the process.

Which app(s) did you use? Why?
Which function(s)? Why?
Which part of editing is the most difficult?
Do you edit photos with friends? What’s the difference between doing it alone and with friends?
If you have multiple photos, what would you like to do?

For selfies:

Which body part do you edit most? Why?
What is your most unsatisfied body part? How do you deal with it in the photo?
Which body part are you most proud of? Do you edit it?

Comments on apps:

What do you think of the app you use? Which parts are good or which parts are terrible?
Any function or service you want to add to the app?
Which app do you use most often? Would you recommend it?

Posting habits

Do you post photos on social media?
Which social media do you use more often?
What types of photos do you post? Landscape or selfie? Could you share your most recent photos with us?
What camera do you use to take the photos? iPhone camera, app camera, or a professional camera? Why?
What criteria do you apply when you have to choose among so many photos to post?

Opinions on beauty and purpose of taking photos

What do you value most in one picture?
Can you name a friend or influencer whose photos you really like? Can you tell me why?
Which kind of reviews on your photos do you expect to receive?
Which kind of reviews on your photos will make you happy?
Do you have a certain standard while editing the photo?
Do you have any favorite idols or KOLs that influence your photo’s style?
Can you recommend one or two KOLs who you really admire for their photos?

Useful probes

Could you give me an example?
Could you explain how you do this in detail?
Anything else?

Download .docx

Data Analysis

Coding across researchers, then synthesizing themes as a team

01Code

Paragraph by paragraph in Excel
Cross-coded by a non-interviewer to reduce bias
Async

02Cluster

Team workshop in Figma
Key quotes on an affinity diagram

03Synthesize

Clusters grouped into themes
Themes turned into key insights

Themes

Remove temporary imperfections such as pimples

Maintain natural imperfections such as freckles

Opt for better angles and lighting to enhance photos

Minimal editing principle

Authenticity is much more valued than perfection

Photos serve as a medium for friends to connect

Themes from synthesis. Raw interview data, including transcripts and coding sheets, is confidential and not shown.

Looking back

How I would speed this up with AI today

Let AI handle

TranscriptionFirst-round codingInitial clustering

Then check its work

Compare AI tools and review where they disagree
Feed in interviewer notes to keep the focus on what the team wants to highlight

Key Insights

North American users edit to look natural and share to stay connected

01The goal of editing is to look natural, not perfect.
02Ethnicity shapes editing behavior more than any other factor.
03Editing takes only a few simple steps and is closely tied to social media.
04Users share photos to keep in touch with family and friends, not to show off how they look.

“I want my skin tone brighter, not whiter. Most apps in the market fail to do this. I grew up in a Mexico community where people still consider whiter skin color as more beautiful, and it takes years for me to finally accept who I am.”
Interview participant

“They know me looking bad, they know me looking good, they know me in a lot of situations, so I don’t need to show them something.”
Interview participant

Personas

Market Research

Scanning competitors to find the gap in the market

Before deciding on a strategy, I mapped competing apps on the App Store and Google Play to see which user needs were already served and where the gap was.

Fast-growing competitorsUser needs they targetNetnography