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Overview

For the past 6 months, we’ve been focused on raising awareness of Dovetail. For example, we’ve been building relationships with infrastructure orgs and funders, figuring out how best to signpost non-profit audiences to Dovetail.

This has left us a bit detached from users, their needs, and the product itself. So we decided to do some user research interviews.

Research method

• 4x 1-hour user research interviews conducted via Google Meet
• Discussion guides prepared and interviews conducted by Noam (Product Lead)
• Of those interviewed, 3 people work in digital roles at non-profits
• 1 person works as a freelance consultant supporting non-profits
• To say thanks, each participant received £50 in Waterstones vouchers

Research goals

We wanted to understand:

• Steps and challenges that people (at charities) face when procuring a digital partner
• Overall thoughts on Dovetail as a service
• If used, how Dovetail helped the process
• If not used, how Dovetail could’ve been useful
• Areas where Dovetail could be improved
• Thoughts on how to find good “fit” between non-profits and their partners
• The role of DEI in non-profit and partner relationships
• Where AI has, or could, be of use in the procurement process

Key learnings

On where Dovetail could be improved

• General
  • Make it clearer Dovetail is more than a directory
    • One interviewee “felt it was only a directory” and “just realised there are resources”
  • Provide more incentive to create an account
    • For example, show previews of the content account holders will access
    • Show testimonials from account holders
    • Make it clearer that account creation is free - Done ✅
    • Two out of four interviewees were sceptical / nervous about sharing data
  • Avoid or explain jargon better, such as “RFI”
• Directory landing page
  • Inform users of requirements for partners to be listed - Done ✅
  • Show partners by digital output (i.e. website, app, game, chatbot) - Done ✅
  • Allow users to quickly see or filter partners by domain knowledge (i.e. sport, legal)
• Profile pages
  • Inform users of how partner information is kept up to date - Done ✅
  • Add LinkedIn, for legitimacy and easy cross-checking
  • Show main services vs secondary - “what are they really good at?”

On how to find good fit

• What people said was important (roughly in order):
  • 💬 Rapport - “Can we have a good conversation? Is there flow?”
  • ✊ Values - “Do they share our ethos and values?”
  • 🥾 Culture - “Do they work in similar ways to us?”
  • 🦉 Understanding charities - “Do they understand charities and our limitations?”
  • 🌍 Domain experience - “Do they have experience working in our space?”
  • 🍎 Similar projects - “Have they done similar work of a similar size?”
  • 👁️ Empathy - “Are they user-focused? Do they empathise with our users?”
  • 🛠️ Tech - “Do we use the same or compatible tech?” (product and internally)
  • 💰 Budgets - “Do we align on budget expectations?”
  • 🗣️ References - “Are there good references?”