The most crucial component of any design process is UX research. Therefore, it shouldn’t be overlooked. You can’t run a successful project when you don’t understand your users’ needs, wants, and expectations. Therefore, UX research is critical before starting any project. It will ensure that your product is designed keeping users in mind.Unfortunately, people consider UX research to be like any other form of market research. In market research, you can get an idea about what people like and dislike about the product. But it will not tell about the accessibility, usability, or functionality of the design. On the other hand, the role of UX researchers is to observe real users and analyze their interactions with a design to assess the overall user experience.
They use different techniques like observation, usability testing, and many more to understand the user base and their needs. Therefore, we have decided to discuss the importance of including UX research in your UX design process.
What is UX research and why should you include it in the UX design process?
Do you know designing a product without research is like building a house without the blueprints of an architect? The good news is some UX designers understand what features should be included in the product and how they want their product to perform.
User research can help designers understand user needs and behaviors so that they can create a coherent design. Moreover, UX research can act as a bridge between users’ needs, wants, and expectations and a beautiful design.
In the past, companies were not giving importance to UX research. But now, things have changed. Now, they conduct proper UX research to ensure that the end product will resonate with their customers. More importantly, UX designers can use this research to build a product that users want.
Remember, UX research sets the foundation for the entire design process. More importantly, it prevents designers from building the wrong product. So, don’t take it easy and understand its importance.
Don’t worry if you’re unsure how to perform UX research and how it can help designers build a successful product. Here, we’ll share some guidelines that can help you conduct proper UX research. Unfortunately, many companies still don’t understand the importance of including UX research in the UX design process.
Make user testing part of a design methodology
Designers’ job isn’t only to design a product, but they should always look for ways to improve the product, identify flaws, and find areas where they can make improvements. User testing is the best approach because it allows you to test a product with real people. Therefore, user testing should be included in the design process.
There are various ways to perform user testing, and the good news is that it gives you insights into the problem you want to solve. For example, before spending hours on a new project, ask someone to test different parts of it, such as:
- Signing up and logging in for an account
- Different features of the app or site
- Navigation through the site
You can perform user testing in the following ways.
- Invite users to test your app or website.
- Ask existing and new potential customers to fill out a survey.
- Ask your friends, family members, and other co-workers to navigate through it. Meanwhile, you should observe their experience.
It means user testing is crucial because it helps designers to solve problems with UX design. Moreover, they can find ways to increase customer satisfaction and conversion rates. More importantly, they can make informed decisions without spending hours on a project.
The key is to perform user testing correctly to get valuable insights into what customers want. It can help designers iterate the product before releasing it in the market.
Let your stakeholders know the importance of UX research methods
Remember, the overall success of your product or service depends on the research you do from the user’s point of view. We know it’s not easy to help your coworkers understand the importance of UX. But once you find the right approach for communicating with them, it can bring good results for you and your company.
Customer retention and conversion depends on how much you focus on their needs. When you perform lots of UX research, it will help you create ground-breaking products and services. More importantly, understanding customer psychology can help you in the long run.
UX research takes lots of time. That’s why many companies overlook it. But it’s not a wise approach.
Why is it important to conduct user research?
When you don’t conduct user research, you build your designs and products on assumptions. When you don’t interact with real users, you can’t understand their pain points and needs. Without knowing their needs and pain points, how can you address them in the UX design process? Read the following reasons why you should conduct user research and include it in the UX design process.
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It helps you design better products
Most companies want to perform research at the end of the project, but it’s not a wise approach. Perform UX research, usability testing, and iteration at each stage of the product design process. The ultimate goal of a company is to design products that customers want to use.
Therefore, user research at an early stage can help you understand user needs, and you can design better products keeping their expectations in mind. Don’t consider user research just optional. In fact, it’s crucial from both a business and design perspective.
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It saves time and money
When you and the design team skip the user research phase altogether, it means when the product is launched, it will have lots of usability and design issues. Or there is a possibility that it might not fulfill the user’s needs. On the other hand, user research will save you from these issues, and you can save time and money.
After user research, you’ll not design a product based on assumptions. In fact, you design with real insights and facts. When a product is designed without research and you introduce it in the market, it will take double time and investment. More importantly, your brand reputation will also be affected.
So, perform user research and get a competitive edge. This research can help you understand how your product will perform, highlight issues, and you will understand user needs before developing a project.
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It can be done on a budget
There are various ways to perform user research, and most of them can be conducted at a low price. So, spending on research can help you save money in the long run. Another challenge that you’ll face is most managers don’t want to spend money on research because they feel that they already know their users.
Sometimes they know it because they can utilize the old data. But it’s not true that what we think is exactly what the user wants. So, the better approach is to identify the target audience. Try to fulfill user needs instead of making decisions based on your assumptions.
Tips for conducting UX research
There is no easy path to success, especially when you want to create ground-breaking products. But the following tips can make your UX research process easy.
- You can help your stakeholders understand the importance of UX research by showing them stats of past results.
- Keeping the retention and conversion in mind, let them know how UX research can help increase the revenue.
- Finally, get an idea of how much time and money they’re willing to spend on UX research.
When companies perform user research on day one, it helps them maximize customer conversion and retention. During the product building phase, lots of things are happening. But don’t let all this stuff divert your attention from user research. It’s important that all the UX research team, stakeholders, and UX design team should be on the same page.
Final words
So, now you understand that UX research is a crucial component of the UX design process. Therefore, it should be performed at all stages of the product design process so that our customers can have an enjoyable experience with our product. As mentioned earlier, most people consider user research as simple market research, but it’s not true.
Understanding customers’ needs, wants, and psychology can save your business time and money. More importantly, it will increase customer retention, conversion rates, and revenue. So, now you understand how important it is to include UX research in the UX design process to gain a competitive edge, become a user-centric designer, and become efficient.
