Don’t ask kids what they want to eat, cook what they need
How denaturising user-centricity is harming your business
User centricity is a key topic in today’s businesses. So much that it’s almost a buzzword that it’ll ASAP be a no go in a Brainsto’. Truth is, user-centricity is not only relevant, but important. Misunderstand your users or try to force them to go into a direction and they’ll find a way to hack it in the best case, or just leave in the worst. What do I mean by hack it? Well here’s an example:
Using user-centricity badly is harming the principle of understanding your users. This isn’t about asking whether or not they like/want something but assessing if they need it and understanding if and how you should deliver it to them.
Simply put, it’s not about asking your kids what they want for dinner (spoiler alert: fries) but asking them what they are doing tomorrow and cook accordingly to support their need, whilst considering your budget, the time you will have and the motivation you will have left after your own day.
We often talk about user-centric design, innovation, etc. while what we’re actually talking about is user-led design, innovation, etc. And the two are quite different and don’t apply at the same stage.
Yes, user research is important.
We moved towards a model in which quantity trumps quality, in which we need to be fast and we think that talking to actual people will take more time than publishing a survey. It might on the phase of development, yes, however, it’ll allow to save time later by being more profitable (according to Deloitte, 60% more profitable) and create a base for a sustainable business model.
We are still in a model in which accepting we are wrong and learning from users are experienced as failures. But once again, remember products, services, business models are here to support people in their missions and if they fail to do so, users will just find better alternatives.
One of the best examples to illustrate is the iPad and the Tablet PC. In 2001 Microsoft launched a tablet. A great piece of technology, but without any rooting in user behaviours or needs at the time. That’s one of the reasons Apple did so well with the iPad a few years later. Once walking around with a screen in our hands became a norm of behaviour in society, the iPad had a place in our daily lives. Think about some other technologies that have come too early and sometimes even are just not as required as a company thinks; Google Glasses, Snap Spectacles.
No, your users don’t have the answer. That’s actually your job to find it.
They might have the solution, but they usually didn’t even notice a specific behaviour that helped them to bypass a problem. Users aren’t aware, or don’t have the same perspective as designers do about their journey. This holistic perspective is what helps designers to understand how we can support them in specific mission. To put it simply, research isn’t about finding the solution, it’s about understanding the problem.
Yes, they’ll ask for vouchers and better prices.
As humans, we tend to be quite rational and it’s easier for users to talk about tangible benefits. So obviously, money would constantly rank in the top five if we ask users what they want as saving money is the main reason for people to enroll in a loyalty scheme. It’s also quite difficult to articulate opinions from a user perspective, as we understand more about different bias and their impact; Confirmation bias, Question-order bias, Habituation, to name a few. So refer to my last point, don’t ask for solutions, ask to understand the problem.
Yes, they’ll compare you to competitors.
Once again, people talk about tangible things. Go explain your work to your family during the holiday season and look at the blank expressions on their faces, that’s because they can’t visualise what you do day to day. It goes the same with users, they’ll use examples from competitors and things those competitors do better.
You want to be ahead of competitors? Think analogous. What other contexts are similar to the one you’re researching? What tangent services, products can compete with yours? For instance, Netflix’s main competitor is Fortnite. Go understand why and find solutions to compete with those analogous competitors.
No, doing persona doesn’t mean you’re user-centric.
Persona is a tool. In the same breed a hammer is a tool and not a process or a solution. As a tool it can’t solve nor fail, it helps or not. As a tool, you can use it in any mean that you want. They can be fake, they can be based on 1 person, on 2 people, or on a user segment. They can be built on hard data (Age, income, how much they spend, etc.), on behaviours, or any other items you see fit. It’s a tool to support the process that will lead to the solution. Remember that a persona based on hard data, is mostly used as a marketing tool (target audience). If you want to delve into behaviours and actually understand people, not assess their worth, you can use Missions Mapping, Mindset Mapping, Behavioural Persona.
No, you don’t need to talk to the whole world.
Of course, when it comes to user research, you’ll need to interact with users at some point. Does it mean you have to talk to a lot? No. Surveys and quantitative research require a certain number of answers to be statistically reliable. However, qualitative research doesn’t need as much. Jakob Nielsen explains research doesn’t need more than 5 users to gather 80% of the total insight you’d need. It’s better to have multiple small research groups at different stages of the process to guide, test and measure the solution you’re developing. You should therefore spend more time defining the scope of your research, what you want to learn and who to interview to ensure its relevance.
Think long term but check-in and iterate often.
In the end, what we need is understanding people to seize opportunities. To do so, market research isn’t sufficient, as this, I guess famous, Prince Charles / Ozzy Osbourne comparison shows the limitation. No matter if you put it into a persona or anything, it won’t support in-depth understanding. Market research dressed in user research, won’t either. This is where you will end-up with serving fries and ice-cream to your kid every evening. User research is about building empathy, is about understanding your users, where they need help, and identifying the opportunities for your business to investigate.
