This is the third part in a series. The first two parts talk about building your product story and doing research. This blog explores how you can use research to develop a better understanding of your user and design what they want and need.
Knowing your user is the key to success
For your product to be successful, your target users have to choose to engage with it. If your users don’t want, need or understand your product, it’s likely that they’ll completely ignore it.
Understanding your users - how their lives work, the problems they face, the things they want and need - will allow you to create products that they desire, seek out and, most importantly, will pay for.
When you begin, you may not be entirely sure who your user is - you might have a general idea of the type of person who you think will engage with your product, but no insight into their specific characteristics or needs. Where this lack of insight can become a problem is if your eventual product design misses your target - for example, you create a high-cost product but your target user lacks funds, or you develop a very technical product when your ideal target is not tech-savvy.
It will also help to shape how you sell your product - if your users tend to shop in person rather than online, for example, then you may need to consider in-store advertising and promotions.
Building your knowledge
Part 2 described how you should start your product design and development process with desk research and expert interviews. These activities should provide at least some high-level insight into your potential market, however, they are unlikely to provide you with the amount of detail you need to make evidence-based decisions about the structure and design of your product. For that, you need to talk directly to your potential users, using interviews and focus groups.
Users will generally engage with a product if it is interesting or attractive or if it makes their lives easier in some way. Therefore, when you’re creating a picture of the user, your initial focus should be on the value your product will deliver to them. Will it provide pleasure and enjoyment? Will it solve a particular problem, or help them complete a task quickly and accurately?
What you ultimately want to understand is why a particular user will open their wallet and give you money for your product, but you have to begin with an understanding of the realities of your users’ lives - what they do, what they find difficult and what problems they would like to solve. The simplest place to start is by identifying some people who seem to fit your user group and talking to them. Some may talk to you for free, but ideally you should offer around £20-50 for their time, depending on how long the session will take.
Asking the right questions
The value of the data and insight you collect will depend on the quality of the questions you ask.
One common mistake founders make is to show potential customers/users a product concept and ask them ‘would you use this?’ or ‘would you buy this?’ The answer your user gives to these questions is likely to be of very little value - they are imagining a product, which may or may not resemble what you’ll actually produce, and they are predicting future behaviour based on this imaginary product. There are too many complicating factors involved for their answer to be considered accurate or reliable.
When researching with users, your goal is to understand the parts of their lives that are relevant to your product, so you can figure out how your product will (or won’t) fit. You can do this by asking questions about their day to day tasks, the problems they face and the solutions they use.
When designing questions, focus on topics that are meaningful to your user. Keep your questions open - the more a user is allowed to explore a topic, the more likely they are to give you valuable, unexpected details. Don’t ask hypothetical questions, leading questions, or questions that are difficult for your user to answer. Ensure questions are concrete and relate directly to the user’s own life and experiences. Ask about specific situations, tasks and problems. The range of questions you might ask depends on the product and the people involved, but some examples are:
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Tell me about the last time you completed X task
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What aspects were easy?
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What aspects were difficult?
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What tools do you use to do X?
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Why did you choose these tools?
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Which tools work well?
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Which tools don’t work so well?
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Talk me through the process of making a decision about Y
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What are the key pieces of information that you consider?
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Is there anything that makes this decision difficult?
You might also show your user a basic concept or prototype and talk them through it to gather specific feedback on an idea or a design. Be aware that feedback on early concepts can be patchy as it is often difficult for users to imagine how a product might function in the real world. At this point you are looking for initial reactions and any potentially serious blockers or barriers, rather than solid data on how effective a product might be.
This webinar gives more guidance and information on how to design, carry out and analyse research with your users. If you’d like advice on how to use research in your design process, or you’d like to invest £6k in our research package, get in touch.
