User experience research (UX) is the systematic study and analysis of target users and their needs to provide realistic contexts and insight to design processes. UX researchers use a variety of methods to identify problems and design opportunities. They uncover valuable information that can be used to improve the design process.
The importance of UX research
You know your business better than anyone. UX research is valuable because it gives you a fresh perspective from your end-users. User testing participants, who are unfamiliar with your language, processes, and systems, can help you identify areas that might be confusing for someone new to your company.
They can also show you where frustration or confusion might cause a potential customer to lose out on product benefits, fail conversion, or turn their attention to your competitors.
UX research can be divided into two groups:
Qualitative Research
Interviews and ethnographic field study are two methods you can use to gain a deeper understanding of why people do what they do. You can conduct user interviews with small groups to gain insight into their exercise habits and ask them open-ended questions. Another aspect of qualitative research is the usability test. This allows you to monitor (e.g., Users’ stress response is another aspect of qualitative research. Qualitative research should be done with care. Because qualitative research involves non-numerical data collection (e.g., opinions, motivations), your personal views could influence the findings. These are qualitative research methods:
Participant observation (also called contextual inquiry)
Real users using a product in their environment, at home or work, is one of the most efficient and effective methods for user research. This method is more efficient because participants don’t have to keep track of their motivations or behaviors and can report them to you.
Unmoderated and Moderated Usability Testing
Collecting data about your product by asking participants to complete tasks is possible. This can be done with either a researcher (a moderator), or the participant alone.
In-depth Interviews
Interviews are where participants meet one-on-one with a researcher to discuss specific aspects of a product. This can provide you with more details about the user experience. You can ask users to answer a series of questions encouraging them to share their feelings and thoughts about your product.
Focus groups
Participants from your target audience meet in one room to discuss your product or service. A moderator leads the discussion. Focus groups allow you to get a variety of inputs that can be used to replicate real-world perceptions.
Quantitative Research
What is quantitative research? You can collect measurable data by using more structured methods (e.g., surveys, analytics). Users do what you ask them to test the assumptions you made in qualitative research. You can ask users to complete an online survey about their exercise habits. This data can help you identify patterns in a large user base. A larger sample of test users will give you a statistically more reliable method of assessing target users. It is worth doing careful research. Design You can collect objective data that isn’t affected by your personality, presence, or assumptions. However, quantitative data alone can’t reveal deeper human insights. These are quantitative research methods:
Eye tracking study
Eye tracking records the eyes’ gaze, allowing researchers to see what the user is seeing and how long they are looking at it. Eye tracking also records how users look at the screen and search for information. This can be used to determine if they are drawn to certain content or features.
Product analytics
You can track and monitor your website or mobile app to gain a wealth of data that you can use to understand your users. Analytics can help you identify and prioritize potential issues to ensure your product runs smoothly. The data you collect also provides useful information about your users’ demographics.
Multivariate testing / A/B testing
It’s a great way of finding out which version converts better by comparing two versions of the same web page or more in multivariate testing. This is especially useful for testing button placements, colors, banners, text variations, and other UI elements. You will be able to predict what people like and avoid future problems.
Quantitative usability test (benchmarking).
This allows you to monitor the product’s progress over time by testing it with different benchmarks. The researcher asks participants to complete a series of tasks. From there, the researcher gathers metrics such as time on task and success to see how these changes impact the user experience.
Sorting
You can ask your test participants to use a card sort to help you understand your site’s information architecture and naming conventions. The participants can then group the cards into meaningful categories and choose names for each category.
Tree testing
Tree testing is used to assess the information architecture of your website. It also validates the results of card sorting. Participants attempt to locate a specific item or piece of content using the website’s main categories once they have been established.
What are the benefits of UX research and
UX research can be crucial because it will help you avoid wasting time, money, and effort on the wrong solution. It is valuable in all aspects of your business and has clear benefits for you, your customers, and your bottom line.
- Product benefits
Asking customers to give feedback on a potential product can help you determine how they use it, how often, what problems it solves, and how to improve the design.
- User benefits
UX research provides objective feedback straight from your customers. This type of research is free from outside influences such as investors or company leaders and is, therefore, the best source for product feedback.
- Benefits for businesses
Understanding what your customers value will help you save time and money on fixing design flaws. It also speeds up product development and improves customer satisfaction.
Data-based decisions can help you make informed decisions
UX research is a key benefit in product design and development. It helps you to understand user behavior and makes better decisions.
Different types of user research tools
Many methods can be used to gather data for product design and development. Some common tools that user experience researchers might use to collect information and gain insights into users’ mental models or thought processes.
User experience surveys or questionnaires are a way to collect data at large through in-person and remote polling.
Focus groups or user groups are structured interviews that ask members of a target audience about their experiences, views, and attitudes toward the product or solution. These groups are usually led by a researcher who asks open-ended, specific questions about the investigation.
User interviews can be one-on-one interviews with target audience members conducted by UX researchers to learn more about their experiences using the product. You can direct these interviews to ask users for their opinions or let them lead the conversation.
Ethnographic Interviews are conducted in the user’s environment to understand their context better. Similar to field studies, site visits can also be used for observation. They are done in the actual place where the product/service is being used. However, larger groups may be involved.