What is User Experience (UX) Research exactly?
Photo by You X Ventures on Unsplash
User experience research is finding out how your users use your website. It’s also called User Testing. What is their (your users) experience of your website? Do they like it? Do they understand the content? Can they find what they want to find? Do they understand how to use the site?
User experience research can be extremely valuable and save you money in the long run. By knowing your user, you can tailor the design specifically to the user and get the best performance. This makes your site more productive.
Why would you do User Research first?
I strongly recommend you conduct user research before the start of any website build or development change.
This is to ensure that any future money invested in making changes to the website is spent effectively. This is because it tests your audience's goals. Understanding your users is key to achieving these goals.
User Research Scoping Meeting
A User Experience (UX) Research project always starts with a scoping meeting between you and any UX expert. This will establish your organisation’s aims, goals and importantly, your target audience. The scoping meeting also decides the priority of the information you want to discover.
User Experience Research Proposal
The outcome of a User Research Scoping meeting is a User Experience Research Proposal. The proposal will layout the best approach to UX research for your project. There is no one best type of user research, each has its merits and your plan will be very specific to your goals, your organisation, your resources and your website.
1. Types of User Research
There are many different types of user research you could choose. Below are some examples of some of the more common ones. It could be that your project benefits from a variety of these, or something completely bespoke to your audiences.
2. User Research Interviews
I always encourage interviews with the organisation’s staff (key stakeholders) at the start of any website development process. Interviews can also work with intended users, but generally, I reserve these for internal audiences.
By interviewing staff, you’re making them feel included and heard. They also have a wealth of really rich and invaluable information on the user. Speaking to all members of staff at all levels of the customer process is a really good way of identifying problems and learning about the kind of things that people forget in big meetings or are reluctant to say in front of other people.
3. User Research Surveys
Surveys are useful for getting a quick and dirty snapshot of how people think they use a website. They are best used as a qualitative not a quantitative tool as you rarely get enough responses to draw quantitative conclusions.
I recommend the survey contains core questions about what people come to the site to find or do, and who they are. I also recommend open-ended questions about the content on the site. These responses often provide richer content and give an insight into how the user feels about the site and the kind of language they use.
4. Contextual User Research
Seeing the organisation in action is a highly efficient way of getting to know an organisation and its users. Go to where the end users are, attend an induction training, visit the shop floor, listen in on calls. Observe, take notes and speak to customers and staff where possible. This method allows you to get a good understanding of how an organisation interacts with its audiences. This helps to get a sense of demographics, tone, emotions, what the organisation means to people and what people need from the organisation.
5. User Research Workshop
A great way to get detailed information in one go, from a range of stakeholders is by arranging a workshop. With everyone in the same room, you can ask a series of probing questions to get an understanding of what these stakeholders think of your current site, what they think can be improved or done better, how they will use the site, what they think of competitors sites and so forth. It’s rich qualitative data which Users interrogate between themselves.
You may also consider a workshop at a very early part of the website production process. For example, if you need help to define your website goals, devise your primary navigation or page titles for information, or test proposed navigational titles.
6. Online User Research Testing
Online remote testing involves setting your participants set test tasks and allowing them to explore the site while you watch and listen to them doing it. This could be done remotely through something like www.usertesting.com or moderated where you sit with the user and watch them and ask questions while they complete the tasks.
It's amazing what you discover.
I would recommend you test with at least 5 representatives.
7. Card Sorting User Research Exercise
If you are struggling to understand how best to organise your content and set your navigational headers, a card sort exercise can be very useful. I definitely recommend a card sort exercise before you invest any money in changing the navigation of the site.
It involves initially identify the page titles which you think will become your content headings. (I often do this through a workshop with internal staff). Then ask the participants to organise these into categories which make sense to them. This could be done online, but it’s a much better exercise if it’s done in person through a workshop.
8. Tree Jack User Testing
Alternatively, you could do an online tree jack test. This is a very useful test to conduct before you build your website, or if you are considering changing the navigation.
It only tests the words that you use in the navigation. You can try a test Tree Jack test to see how it works here http://www.optimalworkshop.com/treejack-demo
9. Heat map User Testing
Heat map testing is useful for getting an idea of how effective the design of a new page layout might be. It involves setting a series of tasks and watching to see how the participants navigate around the page or website to complete these tasks.
It does require specific software to track the movement of the mouse.
Never lose sight of your users
There is no right or wrong when it comes to user experience research testing, it’s about the interpretation. A good user experience expert will bring a wealth of knowledge on what a good website looks like, but they should also have a good understanding of your organisation, your goals and what makes YOUR site more effective to YOUR users.
If you would like help understanding your users
Get in touch