Business, UI/UX

How to build a better product with user research

User experience is important because users are important. The millions you invest in your product or the high-class technologies that you employ will go in vain if no one actually uses it. Understanding the user’s needs is difficult but it doesn’t have to be. The user research process contains numerous techniques, analysis, and other feedback methodologies to know what the user is really looking for. In this way, companies will be able to create the right product for their customers.

Table of Content:

  1. Define the problem
  2. Build an MVP that fits
  3. Analyze & improve

User research basically focuses on understanding their behavior, needs, and motivation to buy a product. The method for user research you can or should perform depends upon the kind of website, system, or app you are developing and how much time you have at hand.

user experience user research process

So whether you’re looking to improve your existing product, or want to develop a brand new one, user research is the first step. Further, we will talk about the need and importance of user insights and how you can conduct user research in order to succeed.

The need For User Research

An exceptional UX design is closely knitted with great user research – one that uses data-driven strategies while also balancing feasibility and viability.

UX research is where you will disinter and validate the end user’s needs that will form the basis of what you are designing. Without understanding the user’s behavior, motivations, and needs, the design process is only dependent on your own assumptions and experiences- which is not objective.

It is considered to be the first step in the designing process. Think of it as the foundation of the product design process without which the design may fall apart.

User insights are also important because they enhance the performance of your marketing campaigns. The insights backed up by strong data about the end-users can help your company better understand the behavior and motivations of your target audience which can further let you build campaigns that are more user-focused.

How to Conduct User Research

There are various ways you can conduct user research. Following is one of the best user research methods you can follow and define your route:

Step #1: Define the problem

When entering a market, there will be certain questions you would want answers to. At this stage, you only have an idea at hand which you need a bigger and broader understanding of. It’s great to first steer clear of the objective of your idea. Understand the problem you’re trying to solve with your product and what are the core features you have in mind.

user research process

Note down all the important points and form your problem hypothesis. This will help you draw a route and understand the purpose of your product better. You can also add up better questions on the table to formulate a research question you want to pursue.

Step #2: Build an MVP that fits

Now that you understand the problem you’re solving, it’s time to build a solution that might help you start off with your user research. This could be attained by building a Minimal Viable Product. An MVP is simply built on the basic idea of giving users perception and an understanding of the product before finally launching it. It is built before the research is done as it is a visual and tangible representation of a product.

It is basically a version of the product that helps teams collect the maximum amount of validated learning about the customers with the least investment.

Your MVP can consist of the minimum set of features that satisfies a given problem. Once you test your MVP with the initial users, you are able to identify the friction points, fix errors, and avoid unnecessary headaches as you move through the process.

Also Read: 3 Easy steps to build a successful Minimum Viable Product

Step #3: Analyze & Improve

Gather all your results and feedback, don’t take too long before analyzing them. What did you learn from the first round of the experiment? It’s impossible to get everything right in the first test. That is why it is wise to keep listening to the feedback, iterating your product, and go back to testing it to see if you’ve nailed it.

Try to not overlook the negative feedback. While positive and good comments are all we want to hear about our product, they won’t help you improve it.  Identify the common issue where most users find difficulty in and fix it. By tracking down the metrics or user behavior, you can learn which features to improve, add, or delete in your final product.

Conclusion

User research guides you to design smarter and effective products that are mainly-focused on the end-user. If done right, it helps you enhance your design with the support of the needs, experiences, and motivations of the user. This user research strategy will help you back up relevant data about the user that you can use to improve the product for your customers.

It takes great expertise and experience to get the process right. Fortunately, here at Spark Eighteen, we deliver on what counts. Learn more about our services by getting in touch with us here.