Shaping the future of Ulta Events through generative research with guests.

CLIENT

Ulta Beauty

TYPE

Insights & reccs

ROLE

User Researcher

FORM

Generative UXR

DURATION

July 2024

INDUSTRY

Retail

This was a generative research initiative focused on deriving quantitive insights to re-imagine Ulta’s in-store events.

Working alongside a research lead, I contributed to interview planning, facilitation, and syntheses, translating guest insights and pain points into informed actionable opportunities that shaped our recommendations.

By transforming in-store events into a digitally connected experience, Ulta can not only delight guests but also drive long-term loyalty.

In order to explore the opportunity of expanding in-store events, we had to fill the knowledge gap:

What do guests expect when attending an Ulta event?
What type of events are they most likely to attend?
What are their current perceptions of events at Ulta?

We started by defining the problem statement and research goals. From there, we began developing the interview protocol.

We conducted 15+ interviews with guests who ranged in loyalty, shopping frequency, and age group.

Interviews were ~60 minutes via video chat. Throughout the interview period, we maintained a pain point tracker. This was vital to helping us identify opportunities and analyze different demographics of guests based on shopping frequency and age. The tracker enabled us to derive quantitive data from the interviews.

Screenshot of one page in the pain point tracker

Finally, we worked together to derive insights and recommendations.

Insights were delivered in a one-hour presentation, organized around key moments in the guest journey: Pre-Event, Booking & Payment, Private Events, Event Experience, and Post-Event. We also shared findings on event types, baseline behaviors, and other notable themes.

**To protect client confidentiality, detailed insights are not published here. Please reach out to learn more.

High Level Insight 1 of 4

Personalization is a baseline.

Guests defined personalization as one-on-one interactions with beauty experts, valuing conversations with associates who demonstrate deep product knowledge. They expect to leave events with products tailored to their needs, an outcome that directly fosters loyalty and repeat attendance.

Notably, 74% of Gen Z believe in-person experiences are more valuable than digital ones, and they prefer making purchases in-store.

Opportunity: Introduce digital features that provide personalized product recommendations aligned with each guest’s unique needs and preferences.

High Level Insight 2 of 4

Motivators for attendance.

Guests expect to gain both skills and tangible product recommendations from beauty experts. While Millennials value information recaps, tutorial videos, and discounts, Gen Z is more motivated by samples and free gifts.

However, awareness remains a major gap. None of the guests we interviewed were familiar with Ulta events and according to a third party Ulta survey, only 17% of those who were aware had actually attended.

Opportunity: Design digital features that build awareness and incentivize repeat attendance, tailored to generational preferences.