The Role Of User Research In The Field Of Design

Do you ever wonder about the emphasis placed on user research in UX design? Well, it is a factor which can decide the success of your product by helping it appeal to the target customers, hence, its importance.

The primary role of user research is to inform you who you’re designing for, and why. Instead of beating around the bush, you can obtain concrete information that will allow you to solve an actual user problem. Therefore, it is imperative that you do not skip the research phase.

Most business leaders that Growth Jockey meets, focus on the principles and heuristic devices of user experience. While these principles are a guiding light for the overall design and functionality, they are only relevant to user research.

At Growth Jockey, our technical and marketing experts have varied experience identifying user pain points. From pilot studies to prototyping with focus groups, we strategise a robust roadmap for your product’s user research.

If you’re struggling to make your products part of your user’s life and want to know the essence of user experience- read ahead.

This post will cover the importance of researcher in design of user experience and how brands can get started.

Why Is User Research Important?

User research is a vital part of any UX design process. Through user research, designers can identify user pain points and create a product for users to rely on.

User research can take many different forms, but some standard methods include interviews, surveys, focus groups, and usability testing. As a UX designer, you should select the user research method that is most appropriate for your project.

It can help you determine what features to build, what design elements to use, and how to make your product as user-friendly as possible.

Not conducting user research can have severe consequences for your product. Without user feedback, you risk building something no one wants or needs. This can lead to wasted time and resources and ultimately fail your product.

Using user research insights, United Airlines increased their daily ticketing sessions by almost 200%. Similarly, product developers can save 50% of their time on unnecessary tasks by conducting prior research.

At Growth Jockey, our founder, Ashutosh Kumar, comes with C-suite experience at giants like Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Rivigo. Modernised knowledge of AI and machine learning coupled with conventional sure-fire success strategies- we accelerate businesses.

User experience is a growing fundamental for businesses, and our experts at Growth Jockey are equipped to provide you with user research and roadmaps that draw excellent customer journeys for you.

Keep reading to know our take on the role of user research to unlock a holistic user experience.

How User Research Can Refine Your User Experience

While businesses claim to know their users well, investing in learning more and reiterating their products can enable companies to charge almost 16% higher!

As a result, user research is a good use of effort. Here are the top ways it helps you and your brand:

1. A Better Understanding of Your Product

Product leaders often need to understand this point. While the general idea of user research is to know your users better, it can also help you understand your product.

It is often difficult to convince the business team of the need for user research. However, any UX project must follow the three processes of research, testing, and reiterations.

The end goal is to create a design that people intuitively love.

Consider this situation; a brand has a UX design ready to go. The design is not based on any user research. However, after running a usability test, they realised that the design lacked functionality and needed rework.

According to Nielson Norman Group, conducting prior research with even five customers can reveal up to 85% of usability issues. Here’s where brands understand their product better. The research not only unlocks customer pain points but also indicates which feature needs rework.

Sometimes, product development managers must let go of their dearest features or elements ‘after’ introducing them because customers hate them. But user research would give you a head-start on whether or not it is wise to implement the feature in the first place.

Founders love their products. User research tells them whether the customers will love it or not.

While most people know the above mentioned benefit, they may refuse to invest time or money. Read on ahead to get exciting insights on the same.

2. Saving Time and Money

There are usually two significant excuses organisations put forth regarding user research. One is time and the other’s budget.

To bust the myth of a budget constraint, take the example of Jared Spool, a UX design coach. Spool brought in a profit of $15 million from the first month of his user research-backed design changes for a major retailer.

Similarly, redesigning based on user research helped American Airlines cut down more than 60% of its costs.

There are abundant studies justifying the investment in user research. However, organisations must first develop a customer-centric approach toward product development.

Furthermore, investing ‘time’ in user research may look like extra work for those at the top of the business ladder. But one common thing among users is that their preferences are dynamic. Demands change constantly.

Devoting time to user research design can benefit productivity in the long run. Moreover, the step is part of the entire user journey and customer experience process. Ignoring the foundation leads to a shaky building.

Recruiting only ten participants per month for user research can help companies save 108 hours of avoidable work annually. That’s as long as two whole working weeks.

Investing time earlier in the process helps save time during execution. With a virtual co-founder through Growth Jockey, you can accelerate your business growth with robust user insights.

At Growth Jockey, we deliver strategic marketing and sales strategies backed by technological tools for efficient execution. Clear the clutter, and make your user research design functional with us.

Keep reading to learn how!

3. Gain a Competitive Edge

Some organisations may carry out nascent stage research. However, there needs to be more depth in the method they use. User research is most fruitful when it’s done well.

Well-done research can give you the competitive advantage two-thirds of companies globally gain, owing to their overall customer experience.

Forrester’s studies found that excellent designs can bring in 400% more revenue. But a precondition to this is robust user research.

For this, a UX researcher usually runs a competitor analysis for design. Running a competitive analysis for design helps understand how your competitors solve problems, where you lack, and opportunities to improve.

Moreover, knowing the competitor’s design approach can help you differentiate your user experience better.

As a result, user research, as the name suggests, is not confined only to your user but other aspects they interact with. Essentially user research can help gain a competitive advantage by interpreting the following:

• Product Functionality

• User Pain Points

• Competitor Differentiation

At Growth Jockey, we focus on these three critical areas combined with design principles to unlock 10X revenue for our clients. If you’re keen on starting your research, keep reading!

Getting Started with User Research

One of the crucial principles in design is to clear the clutter. The same extends to its research. User research may not require complex tools. Businesses can begin with where they are and what they have.

Quantitative Beginnings

If you’re reworking an existing product, then using user analytics is a wise way to go about with research. Data analytics is a user research design from which any researcher can quickly draw insights.

For example, using your website or app analytics can give you information about sign-up ratios. The time taken to sign up can indicate a functionality error on the form page. The most frequently visited pages can help design other pages better.

Qualitative Beginnings

While analytics can be a go-to quantitative approach, brands must look at user reviews and quality feedback.

Online forums and social media are excellent paths to get research done free of cost. Additionally, including a comment or review section helps brands hear directly from customers.

Companies are now adopting a method of offering customer support and recording it for quality research purposes.

Setting the basic foundation of user research in autopilot mode can help businesses get started cost-effectively. Further, investing in comprehensive market research tools and services with usability testing becomes easier to adopt.

Thinking Ahead with Growth Jockey

Understanding the importance of user research is only the first step in considering its implementation. User experience design is null if not backed by the user’s pain points.

Thus, this post helped you get started with a foundational structure for user research. Growth Jockey offers thorough, fool-proof market research, usability testing, and sure-shot design strategies.

At Growth Jockey, we are committed to delivering tailored solutions that effectively address the critical challenges faced by our clients across various industries, ultimately enhancing the user experience. Regardless of your company's size, whether it's a small-scale enterprise or a large corporation, you can now leverage advanced technologies to optimize your user experience. Take a proactive step towards unlocking the next level of growth for your brand by reaching out to us today!