Design Research: Discover (Primary Research)

Design Research

Design research focuses on understanding user needs, behaviors and experiences to inform and improve product or service design.

What is UX Research?

Design research aims to guide the design process by considering the perspective of the end user. It emphasizes avoiding designing solely for ourselves and instead focusing on meeting the needs of those who will actually use the product or service. User experience (UX) and user-centered design prioritize designing with the end user in mind, and research helps identify who these users are, how they’ll use the product, and what they require from it.

UX research involves two main aspects: data collection and synthesizing that data to enhance usability. Initially, design research concentrates on understanding project requirements from stakeholders and the needs and objectives of end users. This involves conducting interviews, surveys, observations, and reviewing existing literature or data. As the design process progresses, research shifts towards evaluating usability and user sentiment. This may involve usability tests, A/B tests, user interviews, and testing assumptions to refine designs iteratively.

Common Methodologies

UX research methods can be categorized into two main types: quantitative and qualitative.

• Quantitative research involves measurements using numerical data. It addresses questions such as “how many users clicked on this button” or “what percentage of users found the call to action?” This type of research is helpful for understanding statistical patterns and analyzing user behavior on websites or applications.
• Qualitative research, often referred to as “soft” research, focuses on understanding the reasons behind user behavior. It seeks to answer questions like “why did users overlook the call to action?” or “what other elements did users notice on the page?” Qualitative research typically involves interviews or conversations, providing insights into user motivations and perceptions.

While researchers may specialize in specific interview techniques or tests, they are generally adept at employing a variety of methods. Ultimately, all user researchers aim to gather valuable insights that inform the design process in a user-centered and contextually informed manner.

Discover (Primary Research)

Interviews

User interviews are a crucial research method where interviewers ask participants questions about a topic, listen to their responses, and follow up with further questions to gain new knowledge about users, their experiences, needs, and pain points.

User interviews offer valuable insights into various aspects, including:

• Understanding users’ experiences, memorable moments, and reasons behind them.
• Identifying users’ pain points encountered during an experience.
• Exploring users’ thoughts, feelings, and attitudes toward specific topics, events, or experiences.
• Gaining insight into users’ mental models, motivations, aspirations, and desires.

These interviews enable teams to develop empathy for their users by allowing them to immerse themselves in the users’ perspectives.

Data collected from user interviews can be utilized to create various UX artifacts, such as:

1. User-need statements: These are concise summaries of the needs and requirements of users based on insights gathered from interviews. User-need statements help design teams prioritize features and functionalities that directly address user needs, ensuring that the product or service is aligned with user expectations.
2. Empathy maps: Empathy maps visually represent the thoughts, feelings, actions, and motivations of users. They help teams understand users on a deeper level by organizing qualitative data collected from interviews into a structured format. Empathy maps are typically divided into sections such as “What the user says,” “What the user does,” “What the user thinks,” and “What the user feels.”
3. Personas: Personas are fictional characters created based on user research data, including insights from interviews. They represent typical users of the product or service and help design teams understand and empathize with different user groups. Personas include demographic information, behaviors, goals, needs, and pain points, allowing teams to design solutions tailored to specific user segments.
4. Customer-journey maps: Customer-journey maps visually depict the user’s journey or experience with a product or service across various touchpoints and stages. They help teams understand the user’s interactions, emotions, and pain points throughout the entire journey, from initial awareness to post-purchase or post-interaction. Customer-journey maps highlight opportunities for improvement and optimization at each stage of the user’s journey, ultimately enhancing the overall user experience.

Effective Interviewing Guide:

1. Identify Research Goals: Define specific research goals to understand user behaviors and attitudes related to the product or service.
2. Prepare an Interview Guide: Develop open-ended questions to encourage participants to share their experiences and insights. Include follow-up questions for detailed information.
3. Pilot Your Guide: Test the interview guide with a colleague or a target user to identify any confusing questions or areas needing improvement.
4. Start Easy: Begin the interview with simple, non-threatening questions to help participants feel comfortable and relaxed.
5. Build Rapport: Establish trust and rapport with the participant by using verbal and nonverbal cues to show active listening. Avoid rushing or interrupting.
6. Follow Up and Probe: Ask follow-up questions to delve deeper into the participant’s responses and uncover motivations, perceptions, and attitudes.

Surveys

UX Surveys are a quick and relatively easy method to gather data about your users and potential users. However, they come with risks; asking the wrong questions can lead to surveys that provide inaccurate or useless information.

Surveys are effective for gathering feedback on live products, exploring a company’s unique selling points (USP), conducting contextual inquiries, refining new features, and reducing the risk of implementing poor solutions.

“A form, which people answer on paper or online. These can genuinely feel anonymous, which is useful.”

https://uxplanet.org/this-is-all-you-need-to-know-to-conduct-a-ux-survey-50400af45920

Surveys typically include two types of questions:

1. Closed Questions: These questions gather quantitative data from users. They provide specific options for responses, such as checkboxes or radio buttons. Closed questions do not offer insights into the context, motivation, or reasons behind the responses. The data collected from closed questions can be easily visualized using graphical representations.
2. Open Questions: Open questions gather qualitative data about a user’s behavior or actions. They require users to provide detailed responses in a text box, explaining their thoughts or reasons behind their actions. Open questions provide insights into how users perceive problems and think about them. However, analyzing qualitative responses from open questions tends to take longer compared to closed questions.

12 Essential Guidelines for Crafting Effective UX Survey Questions

1. Neutral Questions: Avoid leading questions to ensure unbiased responses and valuable research insights. For example, instead of asking, “How amazing do you find this feature?” you could ask, “What are your thoughts on this feature?”
2. Simplicity: Keep questions easy to understand and relevant, avoiding confusion or the need for external assistance. For instance, use clear language and avoid technical jargon that might require users to look up meanings.
3. Transparency: Be transparent about data usage and respect users’ privacy preferences. For example, inform users upfront about how their data will be used and provide options for them to control their privacy settings.
4. Anonymity: Respect users’ anonymity and only collect necessary personal information. For instance, ask users if they are comfortable sharing personal details and assure them that their responses will remain anonymous.
5. Design for Conditionality: Ensure questions are relevant to all users and consider logical dependencies between questions. For example, if a user selects a specific option in one question, make sure that subsequent questions are tailored accordingly.
6. Open-Endedness: Encourage open-ended responses to capture preferences, motivations, and reasons behind actions. For instance, instead of asking for a yes/no response, ask users to explain their reasoning in their own words.
7. One Concept at a Time: Avoid mixing multiple concepts in a single question to maintain clarity and data quality. For example, instead of asking, “How often do you shop for Shoes and T-shirts?” ask separate questions for each item.
8. Avoid Influence: Be mindful of how questions are framed and the order of options to prevent bias. For example, phrase questions in a way that does not suggest a preferred answer.
9. Balanced Rating Scales: Use balanced rating scales to prevent skewed responses. For instance, provide an equal number of positive and negative response options on a Likert scale.
10. Focus on Time: Prioritize the efficiency of the survey by considering the time it takes to complete rather than the number of questions. For example, keep the survey concise and avoid unnecessary questions to reduce respondent fatigue.
11. Provide Options: Offer alternative choices for users whose situations may not fit predefined options. For example, include an “Other” option with a text field for users to provide additional information.
12. Show Progress: Keep users informed about the survey’s progress to manage expectations and reduce drop-off rates. For example, display a progress bar indicating how far along users are in completing the survey.

6 Steps of designing a survey:

1. Understand the Goal: Before drafting the questions, it’s crucial to have a clear understanding of what you aim to achieve or learn from the survey about your users. The goals can be defined through stakeholder meetings and should be crystal clear to the team involved.
2. Prepare the Questionnaire: Once the goals are established, the questionnaire should be prepared with a mix of quantitative and qualitative questions. Good questions yield reliable answers, while bad questions result in unusable data.
3. Test with Pilot Users: Testing the survey with a small group of users who match your target audience helps identify any issues or difficulties they may face in understanding or responding to the survey. It’s important to observe the time it takes for users to complete the survey.
4. Iterate the Questionnaire: Based on feedback and observations from pilot testing, make necessary tweaks and corrections to the questionnaire to improve clarity, language, length, and meaning.
5. Set a Screener: Implementing screener questions in the survey helps ensure that it reaches the intended audience and filters out respondents who do not fit your target personas. This helps in obtaining quality data from real users.
6. Roll Out to the Real Users: After making necessary adjustments, the questionnaire is ready to be rolled out to the real users for data collection.

Contextual Inquiry

Contextual interviews, also known as contextual inquiries, are a user research method aimed at understanding the environment or context in which a design will be used. It combines elements of traditional user interviews with observations of how participants interact with a product or service in their real-life context.

Originally developed to study complex systems in work environments, contextual interviews have broadened to encompass technology usage in various contexts. The process typically involves a one-on-one interview followed by observation sessions where the interviewer watches how participants use the product or service. Participants are treated as experts and may be asked to explain interactions as if teaching a novice.

This method helps designers understand users’ experiences in real-time, revealing insights that may not emerge through traditional interviews alone. By pinpointing issues and areas of appropriation, contextual interviews inform design improvements, ensuring products meet user needs effectively.

Let’s say a team of designers is working on developing a new mobile banking app. To understand how users interact with similar apps in their everyday lives, they conduct contextual interviews with a group of banking customers.

During the interviews, participants are asked about their banking habits, preferences, and pain points. Additionally, they are observed as they perform tasks such as checking their account balance, transferring money, and paying bills using their current banking apps.

For instance, during the observation phase, a participant might struggle to find the option to deposit a check using their smartphone camera. The interviewer notes this interaction and follows up with questions to understand the difficulties faced and suggestions for improvement.

Through contextual interviews, the design team gains valuable insights into users’ real-world experiences, allowing them to identify usability issues and design features that better meet users’ needs.

Competitive Research

Competitive Analysis in Product Design

Competitive analysis plays a crucial role in product design, helping businesses understand market dynamics, identify opportunities, and develop strategies for success. The process involves identifying competitors, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses, and comparing their offerings with your own. By conducting a comprehensive competitive analysis, businesses can improve customer satisfaction, increase conversion rates, and differentiate themselves in the market.

Market Size Analysis

Understanding how large a market is before launching any product is critically important.

There are two common approaches to determining market size and identifying competitors:

Top-Down Approach: The top-down approach to determining market size starts by examining the existing market broadly, considering potential customers and revenue from a macro perspective, and then narrowing it down to a segment you can target. It’s based on finding the total market and then estimating how much of that market you can capture. This approach is more optimistic.

Bottom-Up Approach: On the other hand, the bottom-up approach to determining market size starts with your own product and the core elements of your business and considers how you can scale them. It thinks about where your products can be sold, at what price, and how much market share you can capture from the existing market. It starts small and works towards the result. This approach is more realistic.

To understand market size and competitors, you can use platforms, tools, and techniques like Google AdWords, Twitter, Reddit, etc.

Competitor Analysis

Understanding different types of competitors when analyzing competitors can be useful.

There are four types of competitors:

1. Direct Competitors: Direct competitors are companies that solve the same problem as your company. Customers choose between your company and these direct competitors. They offer similar products or services and target the same customer group. For example, if your company sells smartphones, other companies selling smartphones are considered direct competitors.
2. Indirect Competitors: Indirect competitors also solve the same problem but in a different way. They target a different customer group that may overlap with your target customers. Even though they offer different products or services, they cater to customers with similar needs. For example, a food vendor selling bread is an indirect competitor to another food vendor selling chicken nuggets. Both cater to customers looking for food, but they offer different products.
3. Potential Competitors: Potential competitors target the same customer group but offer a different solution or product. They can enter the market with a new approach and potentially disrupt it, so it’s essential to keep an eye on them.
4. Substitute Competitors: Substitute competitors offer alternatives to your product or service. While your company and substitute competitors aim to solve the same problems for customers, they do it differently. For example, a restaurant and a cafe in the same neighborhood could be substitute competitors. Both cater to customers looking for food and beverages but provide different experiences and products.

Understanding these four types of competitors helps you identify who you’re competing with in the market. Analyzing each type helps you understand their strategies, strengths, and potential threats to your business. This information enables you to develop effective competition strategies, differentiate your offerings, and better serve your target customers.

Finding Competitors

Before deciding to enter the market, it’s essential to gather information about your competitors and understand what your product means in the context of the competition.

1. Known Competitors: If you’re working in a company, you should already know the major competitors or have access to a list of them. These are known competitors.
2. Unknown Competitors: Unknown competitors might not be immediately obvious. To find them, you need to first understand what problem your product solves and for whom. Google can be a helpful tool in this regard. You can search for phrases that users use to express their problems and find companies or individuals who address these issues. Google can help you discover potential competitors.

Here are three techniques to find competitors on Google:

• Channeling User Type: How do users express their problems? You can find similar expressions on Google and identify companies or individuals who use these phrases in their content.
• Research on Popular Websites: Conduct research on popular websites using the search query “site: [popular website]” and your search term. For example, if your product explains its function, you can find similar companies by searching, revealing companies that describe your product in a similar way.
• Search with Quotes for Exact Phrases: To search for competitors, consider how you describe your product. By searching with that exact phrase in quotes, you can obtain specific results. For instance, if you describe your product as the “best laundry detergent,” you can find relevant information.

Analyzing Competitors — 5 Criteria

Analyzing competition is a crucial part of running a successful business. By understanding your competitors, you can identify their strengths and weaknesses, gain valuable insights, and make informed decisions to stay ahead in the market.

Here are five essential criteria to better understand your competitors:

1. Product Core: The quality of your competitors’ product core should be the first criterion you consider. Evaluate how well their product is developed and improved. Assess their product features, functionalities, and overall performance to identify their strengths and areas for improvement.
2. Size of User Base: The size of your competitors’ user base plays a significant role in their market reach and influence. Companies with larger user bases have several advantages. They can potentially dominate the market when introducing new features due to their existing customer base. Additionally, larger companies often have more resources for research and development, leading to better products. Assessing the size of your competitors’ user base can provide insights into their market position and growth potential.
3. Design: Design is a critical factor in attracting and retaining customers. Assess your competitors’ design capabilities to understand their ability to create visually appealing and user-friendly products. Well-designed products not only enhance the user experience but also contribute to a positive brand image. By evaluating the design aspect of your competitors’ offerings, you can identify opportunities to differentiate your own product.
4. Brand Strength: A strong brand is a valuable competitive advantage. It builds customer loyalty, allows premium pricing, and influences customer perception. Analyze your competitors’ brand strength to understand their market position, customer loyalty, and overall reputation. Recognizing the importance of branding can help you develop your own brand strategy and potentially attract a larger customer base.
5. Speed: In today’s fast-paced business world, agility and the ability to respond quickly are crucial. Evaluate your competitors’ speed in adapting to changes and making improvements. Companies that can swiftly respond to market trends, customer demands, and technological advancements are often ahead in the competition. Assessing the speed at which your competitors make changes can help you identify opportunities to improve your own operations and gain a competitive edge.

Feature Table

A feature table is a comparison table used to assess how your product compares to competing products based on various dimensions. Before launching your product, it’s essential to understand how you stack up against the competition. To create a feature table, you need to consider why specific features matter to your target audience and conduct research to gather relevant information.

Some examples of dimensions and factors that can be included in a feature table are price, reliability, and other product-specific attributes that matter to your product and market.

After developing your product, you can use the feature table to compare it to what your competitors offer. For instance, if you’re creating a feature table for a discussion panel feature in an online course platform, you can compare discussion panels across different platforms to determine how well your product fares.

To stay competitive, it’s essential to continuously monitor your competitors. There are three key events to watch:

1. Funding: Tracking your competitors’ funding and investments can provide insights into their growth, team size, and product development capabilities.
2. Acquisitions: Monitoring whether your competitors are acquiring other companies can impact their product team and overall development speed.
3. New Features or Product Launches: Keeping an eye on new features or product launches by competitors can help you understand their product strategy and potentially identify gaps in the market that you can exploit.

By regularly monitoring these events, you can adjust your strategies and make informed decisions to maintain a competitive edge in your market.

Customer Feedback Analysis

Customer feedback is a valuable resource for understanding how your product compares to competitors and where you can make improvements. Here’s how to analyze customer feedback:

1. Gather Customer Feedback: Collect customer feedback through surveys, reviews, social media, and direct communication. Encourage customers to provide both positive and negative feedback.
2. Segment Feedback: Segment customer feedback by source, product feature, and sentiment. This helps identify which aspects of your product are performing well and which need improvement.
3. Compare to Competitors: Analyze customer feedback for your competitors’ products using similar criteria. Look for common themes and patterns in both positive and negative feedback.
4. Identify Opportunities: Identify opportunities to outperform competitors based on customer feedback. Focus on addressing pain points that customers consistently mention in competitor reviews.
5. Iterate and Improve: Use customer feedback to inform product development and marketing strategies. Continuously iterate and improve your product to address customer needs and stand out in the market.

By thoroughly analyzing market size, competitors, and customer feedback, you can make informed decisions to position your product effectively and gain a competitive advantage. Remember that the business landscape is dynamic, so ongoing monitoring and adaptation are key to long-term success.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis (or SWOT matrix) is a strategic planning and strategic management technique used to help a person or organization identify Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats related to business competition or project planning. It is sometimes called situational assessment or situational analysis.

For instance, let’s consider a small bakery conducting a SWOT analysis:

• Strengths: The bakery may identify its skilled pastry chefs, unique recipes, loyal customer base, and prime location as internal strengths.
• Weaknesses: On the other hand, it might recognize limited marketing resources, inconsistent product quality, or a lack of online presence as areas needing improvement.
• Opportunities: The bakery could explore opportunities such as expanding into catering services, introducing healthier menu options to align with current trends, or leveraging social media for marketing purposes.
• Threats: External factors like increasing competition from nearby cafes, fluctuating ingredient prices, or changing consumer preferences could pose threats to the bakery’s success.

By conducting a SWOT analysis, the bakery gains insights into its internal competencies and external environment, enabling informed decision-making and strategic planning to maximize its strengths, address weaknesses, capitalize on opportunities, and mitigate threats.

How to Conduct a SWOT Analysis

1. Determine Your Objective: Clearly define the purpose of the SWOT analysis. Whether it’s evaluating a new product rollout or assessing overall company performance, having a specific objective ensures focus and relevance.
2. Gather Resources: Identify the necessary data sets and personnel for the analysis. Understand the internal and external factors impacting the business, considering perspectives from various departments and sources.
3. Compile Ideas: Brainstorm strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for the business. Internal factors like financial resources and brand reputation, and external factors such as market trends and regulatory changes, should be considered.

• Internal Factors: Evaluate what the company excels at (strengths) and areas for improvement (weaknesses), considering aspects like competitive advantage, resources, and product performance.
• External Factors: Analyze opportunities for growth and threats to the business, including emerging technologies, market trends, competitor actions, and regulatory changes.

4. Refine Findings: Review and refine the compiled ideas, focusing on prioritizing key insights and risks. Engage in debates to rank priorities, potentially involving upper management for decision-making support.

5. Develop the Strategy: Translate the SWOT analysis into a strategic plan aligned with the defined objective. Synthesize the identified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats into actionable strategies to guide decision-making.

• Example: If considering a new product launch, the analysis may reveal market leadership in existing products and opportunities for expansion. However, challenges like increased costs and distribution issues may outweigh the benefits. In response, a strategy could involve revisiting the decision in the future to reassess market conditions.