As the head of product for a User Experience Research company I gathered feedback from our clients to help other product managers get user research embedded within their companies. We talked about getting buy-in from stakeholders, getting started with UX and proving its value and also some of the common tools and methodologies involved.

1. User Research
Getting Buy-in, Getting Started and
Tools & Methodologies
Morag McLaren | @moragmclaren | WhatUsersDo.com

2. What am I talking about tonight?
1. Getting Buy-in to do User / UX Research
2. Getting started with user research / UX testing
3. User Research tools and methodologies
(very brief overview)

3. Really important points
1. Context and Timing in UX are key
2. “You need to understand what decision is being
made & work to inform it” Alex Street, Sky Q
3. Everyone owns the customer
4. Anything is better than nothing
5. Find what works for you & your situation
- conventions & best practice not always right

4. Getting Buy-in: Know Your Stakeholders &
what motivates them
HEART HEAD WALLET
Brand loyalty Risk of not doing it
Potential increase in
Revenue / conversions
Customer satisfaction
Show competitor doing it
better
Potential savings
e.g. less hours spent on
customer support
Inclusivity
Start with the data
“we have a problem, but
don’t know why”
Definite savings on re-
development time

5. Getting Buy-in: Show, don’t tell
• Over 75% of people I asked said their personal
lightbulb moment (about the impact of UX) came
from “watching users”
• Easier to understand and process meaning
• Videos more likely to convey emotion, meaning and
context
• Observe users, don’t ask (wherever possible)

6. Getting Started: Start Small & Fast
• Start small - pick 1 thing to test (& make changes
to)
• Measure the results of the change
• Testing method & output should match,
e.g. Don’t measure ‘happiness’ with A/B test
• Bring it back to Heart, Head or Wallet outcomes

7. Getting Started: The Right Question(s)
• Think carefully about the question(s) you want answered
• Think about each question as a separate ‘test’, e.g.
• “I’ve got plenty of app downloads, but not many 1st uses - why?”
• “The AOV for product X is down this month - why?”
• “Our retention numbers are up (yay!), but we didn’t change anything, so we
don’t know why?”
• “Our competitor offers loads more filters than we do - but I don’t know if our
customers would find them useful”
• “How easy is it for customers to find a product on our site?”
• “How quickly can customers get through the checkout process?”

8. Getting Started: What should I use?
• Whatever works best for you and your users
• You may need to use more than 1 tool or technique
• Consider what type of information you need:
• Attitudinal (what people say) vs. Behavioural (what people
do)
• Qualitative (why or how) vs. Quantitative (how many or much)
• Context of Use, i.e. Natural, Scripted or Not using the
product

9. User Research Methods
Usability-Lab Studies
Usability
Benchmarking
Participatory Design Clickstream Analysis
Ethnographic Field
Studies
Moderated Remote
Usability Studies
Concept Testing A/B or MV Testing
Focus Groups
Unmoderated
Remote Panel
Studies
Desirability Studies Customer Feedback
Interviews
Unmoderated UX
Studies
True-Intent Studies Intercept Surveys
Diary/Camera
Studies
Card Sorting Eye-tracking Email Surveys
Article: When to Use Which User-Experience Research Methods by C Rohrer, Nielsen Norman Group
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux-research-methods/

10. Tools & Techniques (cost/effort/time)
Lower barrier to entry Medium barrier to entry Higher barrier to entry
Face to face or Guerrilla
interviews /
Customer feedback
Unmoderated Usability tools
e.g. WUD, UserTesting, etc.
Lab-based Usability
e.g. Bunnyfoot, City
Interaction Lab, etc.
Prototyping
e.g. Paper & pen, Marvel,
InVision, etc.
Click analysis tools
e.g. HotJar, Usabilla, etc.
Ethnographic Field Studies
Surveys / intercept tools
e.g. Informizely, Qeryz,
Survicate, etc
Information Architecture
e.g. Tree testing, Card
sorting, etc.
Diary / Camera Studies
Google Analytics
AB / MV Testing tools
e.g. Optimizely, Unbounce,
Maxymiser, etc.
Focus Groups / Moderated
Usability Sessions

11. Advice from people doing UX testing
• “There’s no UX without the U(ser),” Pablo Dominguez, Just Eat
• “Don’t believe that users don’t know what they want,”
Augusto O’Callaghan, Arnold Clark
• “I’ve never left a user session thinking I’ve learned
nothing today,” Luke Jones
• “The only UX experts out there are your customers,”
Zoe Farrington, RealRider
• “Talk to more people. Analytics are great, but spending a
few hours with customers is priceless!” Paul Randall, Evosite

12. Round-up
1. Getting Buy-in to do User / UX Research
• Appeal to stakeholder Heart, Head or Wallet
• Show (results of research / testing), don’t tell
2. Getting started with user research / UX testing
• Start small - pick 1 thing that’s changeable & measurable
• Decide on the right questions
• Then choose the right tool / methodology
3. User Research tools and methodologies (overview)

13. Reading List
• When to Use Which User-Experience Research Methods, Christian Rohrer
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux-research-methods/
• Sprint, Jake Knapp
http://www.thesprintbook.com/
• Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience, Jeff
Gothelf
http://www.jeffgothelf.com/blog/
• Designing for Interaction: Creating Innovative Applications and Devices,
Dan Saffer
http://www.odannyboy.com/
• User Interface Engineering - All You Can Learn Seminars, Jared Spool et al
https://aycl.uie.com/

14. Reading List cont.
• The Design of Everyday Things, Don Norman
http://www.jnd.org/about.html
• Don’t Make Me Think, Steve Krug
http://www.sensible.com/
• Smashing UX Design, Jesmond Allen & James Chudley
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/usability-and-user-experience/
• BADASS: Making Users Awesome, Kathy Sierra
http://seriouspony.com/badass-users-the-book/
• Measuring the User Experience: Collecting, Analyzing, and Presenting
Usability Metrics, Thomas Tullis & William Albert
http://www.measuringux.com/
• UX Myths http://uxmyths.com/

15. And if all else fails - remember…
“It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to get
permission”
Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper U.S. Navy & developer of the first
compiler for a computer programming language.
“Opinions are like arseholes - everyone has one”
a client who believes UX testing removes opinions & bias