What UX Designers Really Want from User Research

Understanding the User

“UX designers want an understanding of the users so they can make the correct design decisions,” replies Jim. “Design is nothing but decisions. Some design decisions have obvious answers that are based on design principles and best practices, but designers constantly have to make difficult decisions for which the answer isn’t obvious. There are often multiple ways one could design something. If the users need X, design A would be ideal. If the users need Y, design B would be best. Without an understanding of the users, designers have to guess. If they guess incorrectly, this may necessitate an extensive redesign. Design decisions are much easier to make when you have a good understanding of the users and their goals.

“The specific information that is most helpful to know about users is their knowledge, characteristics, the tasks they are trying to perform, their goals in performing those tasks, how frequently they perform those tasks, the environment in which they perform those tasks, and the technology they are using.”

“Early on, during research, we want to gain a firm understanding of what the problem is and who the user is, so we know who and what to design for,” adds Mark. “Having this background information provides the foundation for decision-making throughout the design process. Later on, down the road, UX designers want validation research to confirm what works and what doesn’t.”

Understanding How the User Will Use the Product

“Simply put, UX designers want to know how people are going to use their designs,” says Jordan. “This research begins by identifying what users need—what outcomes they hope to achieve. Once research has identified user needs, a UX designer can begin thinking about the user journey and mental models—or user flows—a product needs to support. This applies to all kinds of user research that we use to identify new or unmet needs, including usability testing. It’s important to note that there are many useful frameworks we can use to identify user needs—for instance, the jobs-to-be-done framework, which involves interviews with people who’ve recently hired or fired a product that does the same job as the one you’re designing.”

Understanding the User’s Why

“In a narrow sense, UX designers want to know what capabilities they should provide to users through design,” answers Tobias. “Think requirements or use cases, which tell us what users need. That’s great, but there’s something missing. How can you empathize with your target users if all you know is what they need? And has that need really come from users or did the project manager just have some ideas? How can you see the actual person behind a requirement?

“In a broader sense, UX designers need to know the whys behind users’ needs. Through user research, designers get a richer, more nuanced understanding of why they must design certain capabilities for users. Designers need context beyond individual requirements. We can represent this richer understanding of users’ needs in documentation formats such as scenarios and user stories, which describe more than just what users need—showing to various degrees the whys in addition to the whats. The basis for this understanding is solid user research that comes from identifying target audiences, engaging with them, analyzing their behaviors, needs, and expectations, then synthesizing that knowledge into insights that we can share—with designers and others—and also track.”

“We want to understand the why behind what people do,” responds Sarah. “It’s not enough to know just what people do—through observation and analytics. We do user research to help us get inside users’ heads and gain a clearer understanding of what drives them to do the things they do. This knowledge then equips us to make smarter product and design decisions.

“But there’s more to it than that. We also want to understand users as people. We don’t just want to know someone is a 33-year-old, working mother with two children, a spouse, and a labradoodle dog. Understanding someone as a whole person requires that we learn about their lifestyle, their dreams, fears, motivations, how technology fits into their lives, and a lot more.

“Similarly, in medicine, doctors don’t just treat symptoms. They have to do tests, ask questions, and get to know a person so they can get an accurate snapshot of that person’s whole life. Without this snapshot, the doctor can’t go beyond the symptom to see what the underlying problem might be.

“We do research to gain an understanding of the person as a whole and inform our decisions, not just for the sake of the data alone.”

Sarah recommends her video “Why You Cannot Understand Your Customers Through Data Alone,” which appears in Figure 1. This video explains why analytics data in not enough and discusses reasons to explore the whys behind the data that we can discover through user research.

Video source: “Why You Cannot Understand Your Customers Through Data Alone,” on Facebook.

Discovering the Unexpected

“Our expectations of user research depend on the type of research,” replies Warren. “Some types of research—for example, field studies and surveys—are more open-ended. If you’re fortunate they’ll elicit Aha! moments, and you’ll discover things that you hadn’t thought or didn’t know to ask about. Usability research should be more targeted. You should have a goal going in about what you want to learn. There still may be Aha! moments, but your lens is usually narrower. Research is ultimately about gathering data to inform design decisions.”

Peter quotes Isaac Asimov, who said:

“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!—I found it!’—but ‘That’s funny….’”

“Everyone likes to be told they’re right,” acknowledges Peter. “But, in research, what is far more interesting is to hear that you’re wrong—that some belief you’ve held about your users is incorrect. Often, such new learnings can trigger further research to understand exactly why your belief is wrong. What is it about these users, in this situation, with this software that is different? Is it a significant enough difference that you should be concerned about it? This research can trigger a change of direction for the product—perhaps a new target audience or market—that is based on evidence.”

Findings That Help You Improve an Existing Product

“When I’m working on an existing application, I want to learn about any disconnect between what the application provides and what users want or need to accomplish their goals,” says Ben. “I’m typically listening for complaints, then asking users to expand on them. Sentences that start with ‘I don’t understand why I have to…’ or ‘Why can’t it just…’ or ‘I wish…’ usually take you down the right path.”

Updating the design of an existing product presents particular challenges: not only do you need to improve the product’s design, you must also avoid making so many changes that the new product is unrecognizable to current users. For consumer products that people buy in an online marketplace that has ratings and comments, customer reviews can be a goldmine of information for a redesign. They let you get a true picture of how well the product is actually working for users. First, try updating a prototype of the product leveraging users’ feedback. Then, conduct user research to discover how you might even better serve users who are, hopefully, no longer so frustrated.

Updating the design of an enterprise product can be trickier. First, the bad news: as our expert panel discussed in my Ask UXmatters column “The Differences Between Enterprise and Consumer UX Design,” enterprise products often lack good UX design. The good news: you may be able to quickly have a positive impact on users because simply applying basic UX design principles and patterns can greatly improve the existing design in a short time. However, when you’re designing enterprise products, integrating new UX designs with legacy systems and management processes can be challenging. In this difficult situation, it can be useful to take a three-phase approach:

1. Determine what the users and other stakeholders need.
2. Evaluate the legacy system to understand its value. You might be able to apply the legacy system in ways that differ from current operations.
3. Create a design that bridges the needs of the users and stakeholders and the power of the legacy system—making sure you meet as many user needs as possible.

Of course, Step 3 is the most difficult. You’ll earn your place as an enterprise UX design specialist as you weave together two disparate worlds. During user research, determine what is working and what does not work in the current design. You must also understand what the legacy system offers and how current management systems could better support the user experience.

As UX designers, we must stand up for the user and challenge anything that would adversely affect the user experience. This may necessitate our improving a process or management system, as well a product’s user interface. When challenging the status quo, it might be helpful to remember Richard Branson’s advice from Screw It, Let’s Do It: if the reason you’re doing something a certain way is because your company has always done it that way, it’s probably time to find another way to do it!