Say Hello to Shreya Gupta, Senior User Researcher

What do you do?

I’m a Senior User Experience Researcher at Instacart, working on Instacart’s Emerging Product and Pickup consumer teams. Most recently, I led the research on launching Instacart’s latest grocery service: In-store pickup!

How did you get into research?

I got into research during undergrad, while I was majoring in Cognitive Science. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do yet, so I decided to become a research assistant in the hopes that I would find a specific branch of Cognitive Science that I enjoyed. I joined three labs in total: One in Linguistics, one in Neuromarketing, and the last in Cognitive Behavioral Dynamics. All these labs helped me broaden my horizons and get exposed to a variety of research methods (which I didn’t realize would help me later in my career). For example, I ran a 500 person survey, led eye-tracking research sessions, and coded 500+ datasheets — all which ultimately helped me land my first job out of college as a UX Research Assistant!

What makes everything worth it?

Knowing that the work I do improves how people live their lives, no matter what background they come from. As user researchers, we have the privilege of hearing stories from people who come from all sorts of backgrounds and then help shape a product experience to match those diverse needs. One of the best moments for me is finding themes and patterns emerge in conversations, even though the people I talk to come from such varying backgrounds.

What’s the greatest piece of career advice you’ve ever received?

I’m not sure if I have actually received advice, as much as just learning through experiences (either my own, or someone else’s). So I’ll share what I’ve learned from seeing people close to me navigate through their career: My parents. They both immigrated to the U.S. in their early forties — a very tough time in someone’s life to start from scratch. They showed me time and time again the importance of working hard, while also enjoying the small things in life. We couldn’t go on many vacations, but I fondly remember going to Serra Park (in Sunnyvale, where I grew up) and having picnics, and realized how hard my parents worked to be able to take the time to do this.

What advice would you give to a researcher just starting out?

Around research specifically, my advice is to be intentional about the research you conduct. Be mindful about what questions you add, and what you end up doing with that data. Not only will it help in making analysis easier, but I also consider it to be the ethical thing to do. People take time from their day and share personal facts and stories about themselves. If you end up doing nothing with that data, it’s usually just stored with no purpose behind it.

Where do you find inspiration?

Reading research related blogs, being part of UXR Slack communities, and attending conferences! In the past, I’ve attended UXPA, Front Conference, and most recently, Strive Conference in Toronto. It’s wonderful meeting and exchanging stories with other researchers, and getting to nerd out about new methodologies!

Working on various projects at Instacart, which one was the most challenging and exciting for you?

Definitely our service for in-store pickup.. I got to lead the research in answering strategic questions such as “Why would someone choose pickup instead of delivery?” to tactical questions like, “Does this pickup flow work?” Once we went live, we also did a large scale ethnographic study for pickup, where my team flew across the country to see how it worked in practice at some of our top-performing stores. Our team PM, Nima, acted like a customer at several locations and tried out how fulfillment logistics worked, while our designer, Andressa, and I observed and took notes. The most challenging part of this project has definitely been working cross-functionally since there are so many teams involved in making sure the product is successful.

Where did you grow up and what made it special?

I grew up in Indore, India — about an hour-and-a-half flight away from Delhi. It was really special because I saw what it’s like to be part of a very tight-knit community. It was very common for people to just drop by in the evening for chai and catch up after work, or for kids from the same neighborhoods to be out playing until sundown. I think this must have left an impression on me because I often find myself grabbing coffee or tea with my coworkers and catching them up on research I conduct, or talking with them through their designs.

What was the first thing you ever researched?

The first thing I researched was around how people associate distance with words. We asked people to read a sentence, such as “The horse walked to the barn” and then another sentence like “The horse walked from the barn.” Then, we asked them to draw these two sentences. I then measured the distance people drew the horse from the barn, to see whether there was a distinction between how people thought about the different perspectives, such as away and toward.

What is something you’re most proud of in your life/career?

I’m really proud of going through a one-year accelerated Masters program in Human-Computer Interaction and Design, while also working full time as a UX Researcher at Blizzard. On top of that, I had just moved to SoCal, started a new job, and managed a long-distance relationship with my boyfriend at the time (now fiancé!). It was definitely the hardest year of my life, but I’m really proud and happy that I did it, because I found out what I was capable of.

What role does food play a part in your life?

Food is a huge part of my life and it always has been! I absolutely love finding new restaurants to try and going out with people to grab food. I’m also learning how to cook. I don’t really like grocery shopping, but since I started using Instacart, I’ve definitely had more home-cooked meals.

Come research with Shreya.

If you’re excited about defining the future of a one trillion dollar industry, building an ad-serving network for groceries, scaling the world’s most extensive grocery catalog, perfecting a real-time on-demand logistics chain, all while simultaneously designing the future of food for millions of people, you should take a look at the available opportunities or reach out to someone from the team.

Instacart

Author

Instacart is the leading grocery technology company in North America, partnering with more than 1,500 national, regional, and local retail banners to deliver from more than 85,000 stores across more than 14,000 cities in North America. To read more Instacart posts, you can browse the company blog or search by keyword using the search bar at the top of the page.