Marcus Richards
Businesses come up with ideas all the time, but that doesn’t mean they are good ones. No one is saying you shouldn’t try; the key is to understand your product by doing extensive research.
Why is Product Research Vital?
A good idea can be exhilarating when you come up with it. Your mind can go wild thinking of all the applications and the product’s potential. The problem is all of this is in your head.
Once you’ve got your product vision, you need to move towards product design research before you make any decisions. Keep in mind that if you move prematurely, you might end up investing in a product that isn’t as effective as you think.
How Design Research Helps You?
Design research can be time-consuming, frustrating, and can represent a significant investment by hiring designers or a UI design agency. There are a lot of businesses that don’t do much product research, but that would be a mistake.
Taking the time to research now ensures that issues come to surface so that you can address them now rather than later. A business that has to completely redesign a product during production is going to be wasting a lot of money doing so. Research also helps company owners design a product that people want.
Conducting Good User Research
The next thing you’ll have to do is conduct some good user research. The point of this kind of research is to understand user experience. You want to make sure the product you are designing is going to give folks a good user experience. Anything less than stellar might mean that your product is going to earn bad reviews, and it’s not going to have longevity.
You can start with interviews after your test subjects have used the product you’ve designed. The good thing is that the interviews you conduct can be done through the phone, in person, or even via video calls.
This means your reach can be much bigger, and that gives you a better idea of how different folks react to your product. If you don’t want to do a live interview, then conduct an online or in-person survey. Sometimes, folks are a little more honest when no one is asking them something in person.
Try to figure out who you are targeting. Figure out your user demographics, and make sure you allow your data to guide you rather than your gut feelings. Sometimes, there are product designers who have a specific user in mind, and that demographic doesn’t come close to the actual demographic that ends up flocking to the product. If you test the right users, you’ll be better off as you go along with your design.
Understanding Users Themselves
A big part of product research has to involve the users themselves. Yes, you want to learn how they perceive the product you are presenting them, but you also want to learn how they react to it. When it comes to product design, adobe experts encourage designers to “observe behavior, and what people say can be different from what they do. “
As much as possible, observe what users do to accomplish their tasks. What you are looking for are patterns that can tell you if there is something in your design that is frustrating or not easy to understand. Take notice of these issues so that you can address them later. If you notice that users like something in particular, zoom in that specific thing so that you can highlight that feature or make it even better.
Bringing your vision to fruition is a long journey, but the journey is worth the trouble. Be patient with your team and the entire process because it could lead to an impressive launch.
