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In the last post, we talked about why user research is important, and an overview of how to get started if you’re new to it. In this post, we will walk you through the first step, which is to plan your user research activities.
As a product manager, the insights you gather are crucial not just for understanding user needs but for aligning these needs with your product roadmap.
Planning your user research activities is important because the output will shape future iterations of your product, and without adequate planning you may not gather reliable insights. Planning helps you focus your research on core learning objectives, and also where relevant, integrate cross-functional team insights.
Define your learning objectives
Set clear, specific goals so that the findings can directly improve your product in ways that will make a lasting impact to your users. Since time with participants is limited for each round, try to focus the learning objectives on one area of the customer journey, and go deep on it. Consider your product roadmap, and the problem space that is most pressing for your team at the particular time. From there, together with your team, decide on the most risky decisions or least known facts about the user related to your product. Make that the learning objective. This approach ensures you make the most of each session, and are able to go back to the team with the most pressing insights for your team.
Get stakeholder buy-in
Because doing user research will take time away from your day-to-day activities, you will want stakeholders to be aware of what you’re aiming to achieve, and have a chance to provide input on your plan. Invite your team members or other interested stakeholders to chime in on your plan, such as helping you brainstorm questions and also confirm that they agree to your learning objectives. This helps you establish transparency in your research process, and also get valuable input that may help strengthen your research.
If you have access to tools like Confluence, it’s a great idea to publish the plan and invite others for real-time input. Also use this opportunity to invite your team members to listen in. While you don’t want to overwhelm the participant with too many people, you can aim to have 1-2 other team members with you on the sessions. This can be the Product Designer, a Software Engineer, or a fellow Product Manager.
A user research session typically lasts 30-60 minutes. An agenda will help you structure and use your time wisely, and will also ensure that you are able to consistently collect data from each participant to do your analysis.
In your agenda, be sure to include an interactive element. This could be activities such as asking the user to interact with a live prototype, card sorting, or journey-mapping exercises. Doing so helps engage the participant more deeply on the topic, and also helps you collect more tangible insights. You can use tools like Miro to help facilitate these activities.
Set time boxes
For each segment on the agenda, make sure you don’t go over the time limit for each segment by setting time boxes. This helps ensure that you have a chance to cover every segment with each participant, so that you can compare notes and identify themes consistently across.
Record the session
Instead of trying to take notes or trying to remember key takeaways, ask the participant for permission to record the session. Because the time you have with the participant is limited, focus on listening to the participant and asking follow-up questions, rather than on taking notes. You will be able to come back to watch the recording after and take notes. User testing tools like Lightster also helps summarize key takeaways after each session so you don’t have to re-watch each session.
Recordings are also a great way for you to amplify the voice of the user within your team. Share clips of a relevant part of the recording with your team to support your recommendations.
Asking the right questions is key to user research. You want to ask questions that are specific enough to gain accurate insights, while also making sure that you ask them in a way that avoids introducing bias.
Here are a few tips:
If you’re looking for inspiration on a few sample questions, you can view this guide here.
A sample agenda for a 60-minute session typically looks something like this:
We’ve talked a lot about how user research is important in your pursuit to create the most impactful product for your users. Here are a few examples of how leading companies have leveraged user research to improve their product.
Dropbox
In their early days, Dropbox did extensive research to see what issues people faced with file storage. Through user research, they found that a common problem was that people struggled with file sharing and also working on files across devices and users. From there, they developed a user-friendly interface that solved this problem, which led to their rapid adoption and growth.
Airbnb
In their effort of trying to find ways to increase the number of bookings on Airbnb, the team did user research to find what obstacles users faced when using Airbnb. The user research found that people were hesitant to stay in a stranger’s home, and didn’t feel safe doing so. To solve this, the Airbnb team implemented features such as verified IDs, robust reviews, and secure payment options.
A plan is the heart of user research activities. You never want to hop on a call with a customer or participant to “just talk”. Given a clear objective was outlined, a plan helps you ensure that you capture the insights needed for you and how to translate observations from user testing into actionable changes in the product. Having examples of insights that can lead to improvements will get stakeholder buy-in and input, so your insights lead to impactful results.
Want some ideas on sample questions? Download the guide here.
Need users for your next co-creation session? Get started
Check out part 1 of this series here
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In the last post, we talked about why user research is important, and an overview of how to get started if you’re new to it. In this post, we will walk you through the first step, which is to plan your user research activities.
As a product manager, the insights you gather are crucial not just for understanding user needs but for aligning these needs with your product roadmap.
Planning your user research activities is important because the output will shape future iterations of your product, and without adequate planning you may not gather reliable insights. Planning helps you focus your research on core learning objectives, and also where relevant, integrate cross-functional team insights.
Define your learning objectives
Set clear, specific goals so that the findings can directly improve your product in ways that will make a lasting impact to your users. Since time with participants is limited for each round, try to focus the learning objectives on one area of the customer journey, and go deep on it. Consider your product roadmap, and the problem space that is most pressing for your team at the particular time. From there, together with your team, decide on the most risky decisions or least known facts about the user related to your product. Make that the learning objective. This approach ensures you make the most of each session, and are able to go back to the team with the most pressing insights for your team.
Get stakeholder buy-in
Because doing user research will take time away from your day-to-day activities, you will want stakeholders to be aware of what you’re aiming to achieve, and have a chance to provide input on your plan. Invite your team members or other interested stakeholders to chime in on your plan, such as helping you brainstorm questions and also confirm that they agree to your learning objectives. This helps you establish transparency in your research process, and also get valuable input that may help strengthen your research.
If you have access to tools like Confluence, it’s a great idea to publish the plan and invite others for real-time input. Also use this opportunity to invite your team members to listen in. While you don’t want to overwhelm the participant with too many people, you can aim to have 1-2 other team members with you on the sessions. This can be the Product Designer, a Software Engineer, or a fellow Product Manager.
A user research session typically lasts 30-60 minutes. An agenda will help you structure and use your time wisely, and will also ensure that you are able to consistently collect data from each participant to do your analysis.
In your agenda, be sure to include an interactive element. This could be activities such as asking the user to interact with a live prototype, card sorting, or journey-mapping exercises. Doing so helps engage the participant more deeply on the topic, and also helps you collect more tangible insights. You can use tools like Miro to help facilitate these activities.
Set time boxes
For each segment on the agenda, make sure you don’t go over the time limit for each segment by setting time boxes. This helps ensure that you have a chance to cover every segment with each participant, so that you can compare notes and identify themes consistently across.
Record the session
Instead of trying to take notes or trying to remember key takeaways, ask the participant for permission to record the session. Because the time you have with the participant is limited, focus on listening to the participant and asking follow-up questions, rather than on taking notes. You will be able to come back to watch the recording after and take notes. User testing tools like Lightster also helps summarize key takeaways after each session so you don’t have to re-watch each session.
Recordings are also a great way for you to amplify the voice of the user within your team. Share clips of a relevant part of the recording with your team to support your recommendations.
Asking the right questions is key to user research. You want to ask questions that are specific enough to gain accurate insights, while also making sure that you ask them in a way that avoids introducing bias.
Here are a few tips:
If you’re looking for inspiration on a few sample questions, you can view this guide here.
A sample agenda for a 60-minute session typically looks something like this:
We’ve talked a lot about how user research is important in your pursuit to create the most impactful product for your users. Here are a few examples of how leading companies have leveraged user research to improve their product.
Dropbox
In their early days, Dropbox did extensive research to see what issues people faced with file storage. Through user research, they found that a common problem was that people struggled with file sharing and also working on files across devices and users. From there, they developed a user-friendly interface that solved this problem, which led to their rapid adoption and growth.
Airbnb
In their effort of trying to find ways to increase the number of bookings on Airbnb, the team did user research to find what obstacles users faced when using Airbnb. The user research found that people were hesitant to stay in a stranger’s home, and didn’t feel safe doing so. To solve this, the Airbnb team implemented features such as verified IDs, robust reviews, and secure payment options.
A plan is the heart of user research activities. You never want to hop on a call with a customer or participant to “just talk”. Given a clear objective was outlined, a plan helps you ensure that you capture the insights needed for you and how to translate observations from user testing into actionable changes in the product. Having examples of insights that can lead to improvements will get stakeholder buy-in and input, so your insights lead to impactful results.
Want some ideas on sample questions? Download the guide here.
Need users for your next co-creation session? Get started
Check out part 1 of this series here
Toronto Product Management Association (TPMA) is a community focused on development, growth and networking of Product professionals in the Greater Toronto Area.
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