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Developing a product without using UX research methods is just like expecting someone to do something without even telling them what you need them to do. You meet with your users in real lifeless and less as more interactions take place on the faceless platform of the internet. Conducting a UX audit with members of your target audience can make the most accurate and helpful results. Because it will show you how to do things the way your customers like them.
You can’t put yourself in their shoes in many cases. So, researching and finding out the answers is a must-do in today’s era. You need to know your customers and make a UX strategy for your website to make sure everything goes the way you need.
Now let’s start our journey through the best UX research techniques and make it great.
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What Is UX Research?
UX research is the act of studying user interactions and helping the design team with first-hand information from users.
When we create anything new, we are standing at the edge of knowledge, in front of a fog that blocks our vision. To design, develop, and code the best solution for the challenge we want to solve, it is crucial that we embrace risk and leap into the unknown. But, we also can make the outcome more predictable.
You want to learn more about the fog in front of you, so you do some research to expand your understanding. The type of research you do is determined by what you want to know and when you want to know it.
What Are the Best UX Research Methods?
There are many types of UX research that can help you in one way or another. But, we don’t settle for just any method, so we went for the best user experience research methods in our article. So, be sure about the quality of these methods and make your UX research based on them.
1.Click Tracking and Heatmaps
Click tracking and heatmaps provide researchers more data with less effort compared to other methods such as interviews, field research, etc.
Heatmaps are useful when you need to test and research an existing prototype of an eCommerce store or any type of website. To follow this method in the right way, you need to get help from services that are working specifically on this matter.
WatchThemLive is one of these platforms which has the ability to make detailed heatmaps of your website. These heatmaps will show you which part of your website is more attractive from the users’ point of view. This way, you will be able to work on them and try to improve weaker parts. The choice is all yours. If you are ready to take your first steps toward the research journey, start with WatchThemLive and sign up now.
2.Interviews
Interviews are relatively simple to put together; all that you need is to contact the users. It can be done over the phone, via Skype, or in a face-to-face meeting. The most important thing to remember is to always ask open-ended questions. The use of direct or multiple-choice questions limits the users’ ability to provide the most useful information. Allow them to think openly and talk about their thoughts.
You’ll need a lot of practice to get good at it. You must build trust by asking the right questions. Then you can analyze them to see if they are what you need or not.
This UX research technique is used when you want to know your audience directly.
3.Field Research
This technique of UX research observes the customers while using your product in real-time.
You should examine how people are using your product, spend time with them, and ask questions to have a better understanding of why they do what they do. This way, you can gain a great understanding of your product in the field, not just in the lab and behind conference tables.
4.Usability Testing
Come up with testing ideas once you have a sort of prototype or even sketches. Many usability concerns will be revealed through usability tests.
Usability testing answers questions like:
what do users intuitively understand and what they don’t?
Where do they get stuck in their experience? To begin, gather test subjects from the area you are working on. Make sure everything is ready. You need a recording device and a place to run the test. Prepare the tasks your participants will do in advance. Pay attention during the test and take note of where they were stuck, hesitated, asked questions, canceled an action, etc.
The output of user testing is very beneficial. You understand the bugs and weak points in your product. You also find out how a new user interacts with your product. So, you can make changes and optimizations on your product according to them.
5.A/B Testing
Determine what to measure and how to identify the winning approach ahead of time. In an A/B test, run two versions at the same time, or many more in the case of multivariate testing. If you’re doing a simple A/B test with two variants, make sure there’s just one change between them. More variables will make it difficult to pinpoint the reason for the winner’s better performance.
A/B testing will show you the winner between your best candidates. You have tested both, and the result is self-explaining.
6.Card Sorting
Card sorting helps you in the creation of navigational and information structures for your UX research. When working on websites with complex menu structures and submenus, this is one of the user research methods that come in handy.
Make little pieces of paper and write the product functionalities or content areas of the website on them in the simplest way possible. Then, it’s time for your participant to organize these cards. Make sure you use both forms of card sorting:
- Open: The participants choose how many groups to form and what to call them on their own. Attempt to understand how they think and determine their structure. The terms that members pick to name their groupings will reveal a great deal.
- Reversed: The elements must be organized into pre-existing categories or a tree structure. The goal for reverse card sorting is to confirm the structure that was defined following an open card sort.
Conclusion
By reading this article, you will get a deep insight into some of the best qualitative UX research methods. First, we provided you with the definition of researching, which, to repeat briefly, is the process of gathering information about your new task or project at hand. Then, you have introduced six methods for UX research that come by with no specific order and matter all the same. Use these methods and make a road map for your UX design.
By signing up for WatchThemLive, Gain deeper insight into how your users use your product by monitoring their activities and generating actionable insights.
