Intro: Why research?!
When it comes to user research I learned that independently of the company’s size the most important question is why to research and what to do with it and not so much how to do it.
User Research matters
Often times user research is considered as luxury additional to UX. The methods seem to be time consuming and often times companies do not know how to manage the insights coming out of research.
I learned that most important even before running user research is defining the aim to research. Sometimes just agreeing on missing knowledge and considering its consequences is more important than running the research itself. Sounds weird? Well, asking the right question is most often more crucial then actually thinking on how to get answers.
Prioritize different research methods and efforts
When it comes to choose between qualitative and quantitative user research methods companies ask what matters most and obviously there is no correct answer to this question. Sometimes it is one or the other and sometimes it is the combination of both. But as for design I always suggest to NOT look for perfection but for speed always taking the original objective into account.
Research done and now what?
Even if the right questions were asked a lot of times research teams get stuck in discussions about how to apply research methods and the “costs” . There is little discussion about how to use the research insights for the improvement of a product or a service.
Measure research insight
In general research can be measured. Not only the effort itself (time, quantity and quality) but most importantly the impact of the research insights. Which business risks were found? Which changes impacted revenue and/or user engagement (DAU,WAU and MAU before and after research)? Which costs could be reduced? Could the number of customer support user contacts be reduced?
Returning research events
Sometimes it is Not enough to run a specific research project just once but to see impact you have to repeat the same event at a later time. To do so correctly it is crucial to have a documentation of the previous event so you can repeat it identically some time after,
Store and share insights
Often times there is not even a plan or process on how to store and share user research insights within the company.