UX RESEARCHER

“The experience a user has while interacting with a product”

UX researchers are akin to data scientists: rather than hypothesizing about what a consumer may like, they analyze actual consumer behavior and build data-driven insights to address the needs of these consumers. UX researchers replace guesswork with informed insights and then work with UX designers, engineers, and product managers to turn these insights into actionable, consumer-centric results that resonate with the audience. Basically, UXR work based on real data, delivering an accurate solution to a problem that is currently happening.

According to: "Researcher George Kalyvas said people in his role “should be able to conduct in-depth and advanced research both in qualitative and quantitative methods. It is important to be able to understand the research objective and what type of research or combination of research approaches you will use.” the purpose of the UX researcher is “to conduct research and set up the scope of the study according to the research objectives. The outcome of the research is the application of design"

While a UX designer is more concerned with the consumer-facing final outcome of a project, a UX researcher focuses on the customers’ wants and needs. Observation, understanding, and analysis are the three key methodologies employed by UX researchers and can are done via face-to-face interviews, online surveys, or usability testing.

A UX researcher should have a solid understanding of analytics and the design process as a whole, but they also need soft skills such as adaptability, an understanding of human behaviors, and a willingness to collaborate.

Choosing the right UX research strategy

The combination of strategies will be always a decision that resides in each researcher as an individual, the way they are implemented, and the outcome that is expected.

Focus on Business Goals First

An important place to start before diving into specifics like a site redesign or decreased call volumes is to focus on the larger business goals of the company for the coming months and quarters. Often, giving the previous year’s performance a long, hard look is where this begins. The most important aspect is how to achieve the different objectives that are set, and are these objectives primarily something on the product side, or could there be more and better marketing for the product? Do we need a strategy plan to educate the buyer? etc?

Define and create the Product Roadmap

A product roadmap is a shared source of truth that outlines the vision, direction, priorities, and progress of a product over time. It’s a plan of action that aligns the organization around short- and long-term goals for the product or project, and how they will be achieved. When the corporate strategy is refined and agreed upon, it’s time to get more granular by defining a product roadmap. As mentioned before, a successful Product Manager relies on their knowledge and expertise of the product and its users to create a shared game plan amongst UX, UI, and design teams.

Internal roadmap for development team: These roadmaps can be created in several ways, depending on how your team likes to work. Some common versions include the detail about the prioritized customer value to be delivered, target release dates, and milestones. Since many development teams use agile methodologies, these roadmaps are often organized by sprints and show specific pieces of work and problem areas plotted on a timeline.

Internal roadmap for executives: These roadmaps emphasize how teams' work supports high-level company goals and metrics. They are often organized by month or by quarter to show progress over time towards these goals and generally include less detail about detailed development stories and tasks.

Internal roadmap for sales: These roadmaps focus on new features and customer benefits in order to support sales conversations. An important note: avoid including hard dates in sales roadmaps to avoid tying internal teams to potentially unrealistic dates.

External roadmap: These roadmaps should excite customers about what’s coming next. Make sure they are visually appealing and easy to read. They should provide a high-level, generalized view of new features and prioritized problem areas to get customers interested in the future direction of the product. Create a UX Research Roadmap

This is where researchers get even more granular by crafting a strategic overview with specifics on how to meet the proposed product roadmap. A good UX Roadmap is a defined list of all research goals put into a timeline and development schedule to ensure that product and design phases are met on time and on budget. One benefit of crafting a timeline is that researchers can allow for multiple product releases as well as ongoing optimization of current sites and products, allowing design and iteration to happen simultaneously for more agile and efficient research. Another benefit is that accounting for multiple projects also helps allocate the budget effectively throughout the year.

To be consistent and deliver the best outcome possible is necessary to follow the next order mentioned below:

Build a roadmap

Present the roadmap

Use and update the roadmap

Best practices for the best roadmaps:

Keep it simple and watch for unnecessary details

Focus on short-term strategies to reach small goals related to a long-term vision

Make it flexible so you can change or adapt it during the time

Full access to all parties

Ensure alignment, work closely with stakeholders

Common research practices

Face-to-Face Interviews: These can be one-on-one or via focus groups comprised of multiple people. The UX researcher can ask specific questions, simply engage in conversation, or, in an ethnographic interview, observe the participants in their natural settings to see how they interact with a website or product.

User Surveys: Researchers can send online surveys to a targeted group to get their thoughts on a product. While this is a cost-effective way of eliciting a high number of responses, the downside is the lack of behavioral clues. As a researcher cannot physically see her target, she misses the chance to pick up on things that a survey cannot.

Usability Tests: Researchers can share prototypes with a target audience to see how they interact with them. This can be done either in person or online, and the tester is encouraged to talk through their thought process as they navigate the product or site. This is a great way to gauge whether a customer’s mental model aligns with the actual design.

Techniques to address the problem

Observation: observe people interacting with a product and look for behavioral (i.e., unspoken) clues to understand what a person thinks of a product. Do they find it easy to use? Did their behavior reflect what the UX designer intended them to do?

Understanding: seek to understand consumers’ “mental model.” According to Nielsen Norman Group, a mental model is “what users know (or think they know) about a system such as your website.” When a person visits a webpage, they act according to their mental model. If they click the magnifying glass icon, they expect it to open a new search; if they click on your logo, they expect it to direct them back to the homepage, and so on. Thus, it’s imperative that a product’s design is well aligned with a consumer’s mental model.

Analysis: must not only be able to observe and understand consumer behavior, but they must also be able to interpret it as well. They need to analyze their findings to identify patterns and trends that they can then share with the UX design team in a digestible way.

As a result, A UX researcher should have a solid understanding of analytics and the design process as a whole, but they also need soft skills such as adaptability, an understanding of human behaviors, and a willingness to collaborate.