A critical component of digital product development is user research. You can make your product more successful by studying user insights. This kind of research involves listening to your users, understanding their needs, and iterating based on their feedback. The process, however, takes a lot of time and effort. Organizing and automation can help you get the most out of your UX research without feeling overwhelmed.
Conduct an Evaluation
Reevaluating your tools, methodologies, and user base may seem like it will take time away from analysis, but it can give fresh energy and focus to your process. Do your tools bring in enough information and can you glean deeper insights into the data? How are you organizing and storing that information? Is there a new tool that would work better than current tools? There are many questions you could ask during an evaluation and audit that can highlight not only weaknesses in your UX research but also what is bringing in the best results.
Use Templates
One tool that might be useful to create more organization in your process is a new template that can be applied to your current tools. A template can create uniformity and simplify the research process for the researcher. There are a number of free templates available, or you can create a template to fit your needs. Most templates can be edited to meet the specific needs of your research objectives in the future if you find the data signals a gap that is not being addressed. Templates can also be useful if you need to find better tools, as a working template can give you a helpful guideline to what might work for your organization.
Standardize Current Research
Once you have a working template, your future analysis can be more standardized and make it easier for non-researchers to understand. But it might be useful to apply the template to prior research so that it’s more accessible. Using a repository across departments with similar templates can also create uniformity and make information more available to everyone. This can include adding tags and categories so you can sort data quickly in your user research platform and find the information needed.
Invest in Training
Once you have systematized and organized prior information and your methods, you can train your staff in how to use the template, take notes, and apply tags and categories, so your process is more uniform from person to person. Offer tools for training and research that can help them get the most out of new processes and templates. Non-researchers who use the information to create products may benefit from training on how to get the most from your repository or reporting methods.
User research is crucial for designing new products that are both effective and enjoyable. This process can be time-consuming, but it can improve the efficiency and outcomes of your workflow. It’s important to understand the user’s needs and wants so that you can build something they will actually use.