When budgets are tight, and deadlines threaten, finding time to search for users can be expensive. Therefore, research is often the first thing that lands on the stock. So, how do companies find the time to put user research in tight time?
Cost Analysis: Do It vs. Do not do it
There are two common misconceptions associated with “costs”. The first, which is more philosophical, is opposed by the inversion of the paradigm of the question of the cost of user research and the question of the cost of non-user research. How bad can we afford to be? The simplest misunderstanding is that user research must be costly, both in terms of time and cost. Of course, extensive research and testing is great, but old-fashioned scrappiness usually brings many useful insights.
Jakob Neilson, one of the most recognized user research agencies, said that “the best results are obtained when more than five users are not tested, and many small tests can be performed”. In many cases, 8-10 is the ideal number of individuals needed for research or qualitative testing. The common critical models are usually clear in the first three subjects and the rest is useful for validation and secondary insights. For more information and get knowledge go to best mobile app developers.
The example of COPA
Last year, COPA America Centenario wanted to build a new location for the 100th edition of one of the most prestigious soccer tournaments in the world, held for the first time in the United States. One of the biggest challenges they faced was finding a way to present tournament statistics to inspire both US fans who had just entered the sport and fans of South American fans.
In an ideal scenario, a user research team would fly to Brazil, Argentina and Colombia to learn about the football culture in the southern hemisphere. But with a tight deadline that simply was not possible. Instead, the web design team has appealed to personal contacts to finally get in touch with a handful of football fans, who adapt to the public. Insights and information were acquired through simple email exchanges to find out quickly what football fans expect on a tournament website and hope for what significantly influenced the design strategy.
All in all, the research process lasted only a few hours in a day. It had a nominal impact on the project budget and did not slow down the process at all. The site was a success and met all COPA goals for fan engagement and repeat visits. This is a direct result of the knowledge and priority of the content that people are interested in.
Do not let the terminology drive you crazy
After all, the term “user search” may seem intimidating and expensive, but in reality, it means only comparing hypotheses with neutral third parties that correspond to your target audience. The best method is the right method for you and your project. Anything that takes the team out of its bubble and comes into contact with the people for whom it was designed will ultimately benefit everyone and will not take much time or money.
Settlement of land
If a large organization is involved in the redesign of a website, each team will always want a prominent place on the home page. This is a challenge for the design teams to ensure that the content takes priority as a result.
This is an all-too-common dilemma for anyone trying to run multiple internal teams by redesigning a website. While political disputes vary between organizations, the best overall approach is to use analysis and research to stay as objective as possible. Let the user be your tie breaker.
In reality, the most user-oriented approach to information architecture is often the one that bypasses the home page as a whole. At this time of the Internet, most of the traffic is driven by search queries or direct links from other channels. On most of the sites we work on, 50-60 percent of traffic ends up in a different location than the home page.
A few years ago, a food manufacturer was engaged in a review of the main website and found that 60% of users had ended up on a blog post or on a product page before they stopped without looking at anything else. By advertising each other for other relevant content and creating a natural flow between those deeper pages of the site, the company and the design team were able to increase page flow by 10% and time on the 40% site. This allowed the brand to tell the visitors of the site a wider story and to present to the users other products that perhaps they were not aware of.
Ultimately, people do not search for websites, but content. Planning user narration through paths and channels, rather than simply designing web pages, is generally more effective for everyone.