UX research is presented as a gateway to the mind and needs of the customer, being a crucial component that facilitates a deep knowledge of the users, an essential aspect for the design of outstanding solutions.

For example, while Customer Experience (CX) research might focus on how customers view a company’s customer service, UX research dives into how those customers navigate a website and its ease of use.

UX research immerses itself in how and why customers interact with your brand. It involves analyzing behaviors, motivations and direct feedback. It can include live testing with your target audience, remote observations using digital tools, surveys, and other methods.

Why is UX research vital?

People might think that no one knows a business better than its owner. However, it is the fresh perspective of end users that reveals the true value of UX research. These users can point out where there are confusions or frustrations that could lead to the loss of potential customers to the competition.

For example, processes like UX Research impact the performance of digital solutions and platforms by providing insight into what users consider important. It is important to remember that the ROI of UX research is not always directly reflected in revenue, but has a significant influence on customer satisfaction, retention and other behavioral goals.

Types and methods of UX research that can be used

The methods you choose will depend on your goal, deadlines and resources. The use of various techniques, both qualitative and quantitative, can guarantee deep and applicable insights in the field of UX Research. The choice of methods depends on specific objectives, deadlines and available resources.

• - Quantitative methods allow testing hypotheses about user behaviors and attitudes based on numerical data and statistics. With these, you can determine, for example, what percentage of users find a specific button or how many clicked on a particular link.

• - On the other hand, qualitative research focuses on understanding the reasons behind users’ actions. Tools such as observations, field studies, moderate usability tests and interviews are used to delve into the human motivations behind each action.

By collecting and analyzing information about users and their interaction, the comprehensive customer experience can be understood and improved. User research is a process that is recommended to do before the launch of a product or service but at the same time is continuous and must be adapted as the needs and preferences of users evolve.

Who can apply UX Research?

UX Research's approach is designed for a wide variety of clients at different stages of their digital projects:

• - Companies in the ideation stage that seek to develop user-centric products.

• - Startups and entrepreneurs who want to validate their business proposals.

• - Medium and large companies looking to elevate the user experience of their current solutions.

• - Design and development agencies that want to integrate user research into their processes.

• - Person or entity that wants factual information on how to improve the UX of their solution.

Steps to Apply User Experience (UX) Research

Some of the most prominent ways in which UX research can be applied are:

1. Card sorting: Evaluate the navigation and structure of an application by asking users to group related items in a way that makes sense to them.

2. Contextual Interviews: Users are observed in their natural environment to obtain first-hand accounts of their experiences.

3. Focus Groups: Moderated discussions where users share their experiences, helping to understand their attitudes and desires.

4. Expert Reviews: Verified evaluations of a website to established standards.

5. Surveys: A series of questions aimed at users to better understand their needs and behaviors.

6. Usability Testing: One-on-one sessions where users interact with specific software.

7. A/B testing: Studies where users are randomly assigned to different versions of a website or application.

Benefits of UX Research with Serempre

UX research brings numerous benefits to organizations. Some of the advantages of conducting UX research include:

• Understand how users experience websites, mobile apps, and prototypes.

• Evaluate and improve ideas based on UX research findings.

• Discover new customer needs and business opportunities.

• Provide superior user experiences over competitors.

• Understand every user interaction throughout their journey.

• Develop a detailed profile of the target audience for better advertising and marketing.

Role and Responsibilities of the UX Researcher

The role of the UX researcher is to uncover user behaviors, needs and motivations to make products, services and websites more intuitive and enjoyable for users. They conduct extensive research and share the ideas gained with UX designers. The goal of the UX researcher is to make the overall design process more fluid and productive.

Some responsibilities of the UX researcher:

• Create a well-crafted research plan with clear objectives.

• Build an image of target users based on their needs, wants, motivations, and challenges.

• Write selection questionnaires for usability research and discussion guides.

• Recruit specific users for specific research studies.

• Moderate one-on-one usability sessions.

• Develop and implement quantitative surveys.

• Conduct interviews with customers and stakeholders.

• Provide actionable and meaningful recommendations for the product team.

• Present the findings of the design research to a larger team in a clear and organized manner.

• Work closely with the product team to identify research objectives.

• Establish and implement an overall research strategy.

Best Practices for Conducting UX Research

The following are some of the most important considerations to keep in mind when implementing a UX research initiative:

• - Understand user needs and behaviors. This is the key to creating a product that people want to use.

• - Pay attention to differences in user behavior. As you move to the quantitative stage of measuring user behavior, don’t just focus on the behaviors of the majority because not all users behave the same way.

• - Conduct UX research at every stage of a project. It's important to set aside some resources and budget to conduct research later in the project.

• - Perform usability testing during the refinement and iteration phase. This will help provide an indication of what features need to be added and what needs to be fixed.

• - Communicate usability test findings, studies, quantitative and qualitative research, and user interviews with developers working on the product. UX researchers must translate their users’ needs into the technical language that developers and the product team will understand.