Building a Successful Productfrom a User Experience Researcher’s point of view

@dianeloviglioApril 2012

#500strong #research

Architecture & AnthropologyStartup FounderUX Researcher

Solving problems at...

Workshop

- Why do user research- How to recruit the right people - write a screener - promote your screener - select interview participants- How to learn about those people - write an interview script - conduct an interview - take notes and collect artifacts

What problem is your startup solving?

What do you want to know about your current or

potential users?

Ethnography Usability

Why User Research?

gain empathy

their motivationstheir values their needs

their behaviors

“Understanding past and current behaviors to use those as a proxy for future behaviors.”

-me

Screener

- used to recruit the users for your research study

- no more than 10 questions

- doesn’t use any branching

- a researcher’s tool

Survey

- used to make charts/graphs and draw conclusions

- gazillion questions

- can use complicated logic

- a marketer’s tool

vs

Tips on Writing Screeners• Put incentive upfront in the description

• Don’t make any question required

• Start easy and broad eg: type of smartphone

• When enumerating always make other an option

• Add at least one open ended question

• Always ask for first name and email or phone as last questions

• Include the exact times and locations of the interviews

• Don’t use any branching logic

• Keep it to 10 questions

Write a screener

Promoting Your Screener

• place-specific people - touristy spot, farmer’s market

• current customers

• personal networks

• email

• twitter - #competitor’s company @specific people

• facebook - ads, fan pages - no spamming :)

• linkedin - status updates, group admins

• places where they hang out online - groups, forums

• have people you know post it on your behalf

• craigslist as a last resort

Selecting Interview Participants

• variety from each question

• interesting use cases eg: iphone and android tablet

• ones who pique your interest from the open ended q’s

• ones who completed the whole form and didn’t skip q’s

Tips on Writing Interview Scripts• Re-ask 1 or 2 screener questions

• Include time estimates for each section

• Ask open ended questions

Who, What, Where, When, Why, How

• Ask about specific times, NOT how often

• Ask about the past, not the future

• Get them to tell you stories, not just answer your questions

• Give them activities to do, so you have artifacts afterwards

Write an interview script

Tips on Conducting Interviews• Let them do 90% of the talking

• Leave awkward moments of silence

• Follow up with “tell me more”

• Bring another person with you to be your notetaker

• Take notes - timestamped in Excel

• Record with Flip cameras, or screenflow, skype, etc if remote

• Call them out on inconsistencies and ask for clarification

• Break up the talking with little activities eg: drawing, timelines etc

12am

2am

4am

6am

8am

10am

Noon

2pm

4pm

6pm

8pm

10pm

Timeline

Me In the Middle

Interview the person sitting next to you

Building a Successful Productfrom a User Experience Researcher’s point of view

@dianeloviglioApril 2012

#500strong #research