As a product designer, user research is essential to creating products that meet both user and business needs. But what does it actually take to conduct user research that gets results?
In this blog post, I’ll share my top tips for conducting user research that will help you understand your users’ needs, identify problems, and come up with solutions that work for the business.
If done well, it sets the project off on a clear path. This article highlights the steps I recommend for conducting user research that get results.
Step 1 — Define the goal
Every research exercise should have an expected end result. An example of a user research goal can be to validate an assumed market need. At the end of this research, you should be able to determine whether or not there’s a market need for your product.
Step 2 — Define your audience
Just as the research process has an end goal, there should be a target audience for the research. Defining an audience could be classified according to demographics, age, social status, or a combination of several characteristics. Prior understanding of your audience will guide you in designing your questions to suit the desired audience.
Step 3— Design your survey
This is the next important stage of the user research process. It actually leads you closer to achieving the goal or takes you further away from your desired goal. With that in mind, your questions should be in line with the outlined goals. It is important at this stage to ask only relevant questions. It should be as brief as possible and respect the users’ privacy. Asking for personal details like an email address, phone number, or address can be a turnoff for users, especially when those details are not relevant to the research goal.
Step 4— Choose survey channel
Getting your survey out to the desired audience is critical. Depending on your target audience, your survey channel can either be:
- Personalised, such as sending the survey to individual users via email or social media. This can be a good option if you have a small target audience or if you want to make sure that each user receives the survey.
- Unpersonalised, such as sending the survey to a large group of users via a website or social media platform. This can be a good option if you have a large target audience or if you don’t need to make sure that each user receives the survey.
Step 5— Communicate your findings
Once you’ve completed your user research, it’s important to communicate your findings to your team. Share your insights with your stakeholders and use them to inform your design decisions.
User research is an essential part of product design. By following these tips, you can conduct user research that will help you create products that meet their goals.
In addition to the tips above, here are a few more thoughts to consider when conducting user research:
- Be empathetic. When you’re conducting user research, it’s important to be empathetic with your users. Try to understand their needs and frustrations from their perspective.
- Be prepared for surprises. User research is often unpredictable. You may think you know what your users want, but you may be surprised by what you learn. Be prepared to adapt your plans as you go and be open to new ideas.
- Be persistent. User research can be time-consuming and frustrating, but it’s important to be persistent. Don’t give up easily. Keep learning and keep improving your user research skills.
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