UX research doesn't have to be expensive. In fact, it's often preferable that it's pretty cheap! There are a lot of options at our disposal these days for getting research done for little budget. Let's dive in.
Maybe you're a product designer running research for your team, a product manager, or a ux researcher who's running out of budget. It can be very expensive to have a company or contractor source research participants for you, and even more expensive having those participants show up in person in specialized rooms with microphones, one way glass, and cameras. That's not to mention the incentives in the form of cash or gift cards doled out to the participants.
But honestly... you probably don't need most of that. That's level 2 or 3 stuff. We're level 1 right now. It's great to have, but the good news is you can conduct solid UX research without spending a dime. This guide will walk you through how to do just that.
1. Defining Your Research Goals
Identify What You Need to Know
Determine what aspects of your product or user experience you're unsure about. This could be product direction as a whole all the way down to in the weed usability issues.
Talk to your stakeholders, if you've got them
It's important to know what sort of information or questions people across your company or team may want answers to. Write your test guide based on what you hear. And make sure you avoid leading questions.
2. Utilizing existing user data
Dig into analytics
If you're measuring the customer experience, look at the data. MixPanel, Amplitude, Google Analytics, and so many other platforms can be of use here. Not measuring yet? You should be; that may be an area for your team to focus after this.
Data can equally answer questions and raise new ones. You'll know who and what is happening. The why and how is where research helps. That's a great thing. As we build a fuller picture we can make better decisions. Notice a drop off along a conversion funnel? Sounds like a great place to conduct some research.
Review existing feedback
Realistically, your customers are probably trying to tell you something somewhere. Talk to your support team. Look at customer support tickets if you can get access. Search social media for your product. Read reviews. It's free research! They're coming to you. Use that information.
3. Conducting user interviews
Recruitment
Reach out to existing customers or users. If your company or product has a community, ask your most active members if they're interest. The trick here is to find people who are genuine fans and seriously want to make your product better. Reach out to them, write a personalized message, and ask for a short 30 to 45 minute call with them.
In most cases, the only time people really say no is if they're super busy, in my experience. And even then, it's more often "try me later" than it's "leave me alone forever".
Now, this all changes if you're working in a heavily regulated industry like healthcare or finance. Don't go breaking HIPAA laws. It's probably best to follow standard processes before reaching out to customers directly. You may also need to white label your research materials, removing your identifying brand and logo marks from your designs.
Conducting interviews
If you're planning on doing this remotely, I personally prefer Google Meet but you can use Zoom or any other meeting software that allows you to record. And yes, you'll want to record these sessions for later analysis. Divinate can help you there.
Something to keep in mind, you have to have recording enabled at the organization level for Google Meet. Test to see if you can record before you run into a problem live on a call.
Remember, let the participant speak. Be quiet and listen way more than you interject. I aim to speak for at most 20% of a session. Get comfy with that uncomfortable silence. We're mapmaking here, after all, not guiding them through.
4. Synthesizing your learnings
One of the most time intensive processes in research is the act of making it all make sense. You could easily spend several weeks poring over your research transcripts and findings one by one, writing everything that stands out to you on sticky notes. There's a lot of value in marking down the highlights that stand out, but we think that the process of extracting themes and common learnings from your research sessions can and should be way faster. That's what Divinate is for today. We help you get past the blank page problem way faster. Try it out!
You don’t always need a big budget to start research. With some creativity and effort, you can gather valuable UX insights for free or super cheap. It’s about being scrappy, having high agency, and reaching out to people whether you've given the green light or not.
In conclusion...
You don’t need a massive budget or fancy setups to uncover valuable insights. By leveraging existing data, reaching out to your community, and utilizing tools like Divinate, you can conduct meaningful research that drives better decisions and improves your product. Make the most of what you have, stay proactive, and be willing to get your hands dirty.