A presentation on UX Research delivered to a 40-person technology company. The purpose was to summarize the UX research that I've initiated over the past couple of months, to explain the methods used to collect data (especially qualitative findings), and to give a snapshot of some of the preliminary findings. More than half of the organization is currently unfamiliar with UX, so it was also an opportunity to explain basic UX concepts and give a sense of how UX research fits into the product design and development process. I framed the presentation by speaking to user insights desired by various teams within the company. I did this to show how UX research can surface valuable and actionable insights and drive innovation across teams.

1. User Research@ Company X Q1 2011

2. Your Questions How do people create community (on and off the site)? Do users feel supported through the process? What do users want to learn or know before they make decisions? Do users want personalized opportunities? How are users reengaged?

3. What is user research? AKA UX research Purpose: Identify and prioritize unmet needs and pain points among our users Findings serve as a guide to where solutions can be found Framing the problems lets us design the best solutions to meet those needs.

4. Why user research? Competitive strategy: differentiation 2011 team objectives: [general objectives] [specific objectives]

5. User research at Company X Identify what’s most important to our users Align their needs with our business goals Prioritize what we build, when, and how it’s delivered: Product Technology Finance Determine how we speak to and explain things to our clients/users and what we emphasize: Marketing Sales Account management Customer support

6. Methods Quantitative—tells you what Site analytics and log files Surveys Qualitative—tells you why Usability testing Cognitive walkthroughs Interviews

7. Methods Now Outside research: cognitive and behavioral findings Surveys Usability testing Internal interviews: UX goals and questions Next User profiles and interviews Prioritize your UX goals and questions according to Business goals User goals Technology (goals) Frame the problems we’re solving for Unmet user needs Opportunities for product development

8. Surveys What they capture Who our users are Their opinions Purpose Gives us information about what qualities define our audience Tells us on whom to concentrate qualitative research

9. Who we survey Primary audience Secondary audience A Secondary audience B Tertiary audience

10. Survey insights – Q1 User demographics Self-reported behavior Self-reported motivations

11. Age distribution of primary audience

12. Primary audience demographics

13. After completing task A, users ranked site tasks B, C, D and E as most important:

14. In the last 12 months, behavior A was the only incidence, on our site or any other site, reported by 40% of secondary audience B. Almost 80% reported 3 or fewer incidences in the past year.

15. Users feel equally motivated by A as they are by B. C is deemed to be more important than D.

16. C is cited as the most significant influence on behavior M. Many also reported that they are creatures of habit or influenced by others.

17. Top three ways of completing task F currently happen off the site, even when on-site opportunity exists.

18. Why do most incidences of task F happen off the site?

19. How can we improve this experience?

20. Usability testing and cognitive walkthroughs Used to examine the functionality of individual features and how they’re presented Shows what real users do when presented with a task Gives insight into thought processes and mental models for completing tasks 5-8 participants uncover 80% of problems

21. This month’s test: tasks I, J, K Goals: increase conversions Goal #1 Goal #2 Goal #3 Improve conversion rates by removing barriers to key flows Key flow #1 Key flow #2 Key flow #3

22. Usability test tasks: Task I defined Task J defined Task K defined

23. Preliminary results: Themes and trends Overall, product perceived to be a valuable tool Users looked for feedback from site after completing certain tasks Confusing calls to action Confusing sequence of steps Users expressed high degree of concern for making responsible and educated decisions

24. Preliminary findings: Key feature areas to address Feature area 1 Feature area 2 Feature area 3 Feature area 4

25. “Representative user quote.” Feature area 1 details 3/3 users looked for X and did not find it 2/3 users expected to see Q One subject was dissatisfied with functionality and left the site to search on Google.

26. “Representative user quote.” Feature area 2 details Users looked for ways to do Y and Z unsuccessfully Users looked for and had trouble finding information about X in Feature area 2.

27. Next steps Complete remaining usability sessions and write final report Circle up with individual teams Purpose of surfacing findings is to: Be descriptive, not prescriptive Prioritize product improvements and features Communicate better with users in communications (in-product, outbound, community)

28. Questions? Curious? Swing by for a chat Observe a usability testing session Post your additional UX questions on the wall

29. References Reference A Reference B Kuniavsky, Mike. Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner’s Guide to User Research. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers: San Francisco, 2003.