Operation: Save Cursed Prince — 6 sources of data when you have no analytics
Episode #2: data sources and analytics techniques for busy designers
“It was launched fast”
The “launch fast, fail quick” lesson is drummed into founders brains everywhere but the ones who just want cash simply use it as an excuse to ignore research. You launch fast to validate core features and your market assumptions, not to cut costs. Without any analytics set up, how will you know the reason features fail? are you open to spend some dough on testing & research afterwards?
The ones who actually care about their products usually do, but the ones who just want quick money try to fix issues after launch by trial and error. That is not easy, let me tell you, folks.
Only way out of a mess is through it, let’s start right at the beginning then.
Getting data: As a designer, how to find use patterns and market data with no installed analytics.
So I found myself tasked with revamping a live product, with real issues and almost no analytics. I was able to obtain data later but until that point I had no usage statistics, no heat-maps, no funnels, no nothing. So I based phase 1 of my research on:
1. Reviews
You learn a lot from users’ not so happy reviews. Dive into reviews section from the products page on app stores (iOS, android, etc..) and gather all that. Save it for step 2: analysis.
2. What are people saying on SM?
Does the product have presence on SM? Twitter and Facebook pages usually are what people tag when talking about a product they love or hate. Gather all that as well, and save it. Don’t forget to look for #productname everywhere as well.
3. Customer Service Records
Some products can’t exist without CS, especially ones that deal with sensitive info, e-commerce apps or Fintech apps. When someone is angry/anxious they usually call customer service, this is the real treasure if you have no analytics. Ask to have access to CS email or see records, this will give you strong indications where people are facing issues and which are the biggest issues that need immediate attention. And don’t forget to check the humans manning customer service, too. It matters.
4. Install rating / review at the end of the product’s core journey.
This is not so hard to do, unless the journey is really long, in that case you need to reach out via email or text at a reasonable time (not directly after journey ends, but still user remembers..an hour later for example). Give ’em points and build a rewards system as an incentive. I love Deliveroo’s rating flow when an order is delivered, it gathers good and precise info yet you can skip a step or skip it altogether. Not invasive at all.
5. Usability testing / observation
If there are places or settings where users are more likely to complete a journey, for example: if someone designed the interface for self-checkout software at a supermarket, it is great to see recordings of people interacting with it or have the researcher sit somewhere close and watch.
Unlike moderated testing, people are not stressed when they are not being watched, the flow reflects the real journey they go through every time they interact with the product.
If, on the other hand, this product is not like that, it pays to arrange a round of unmoderated testing to gather some real insights.
6. UX Audit
based on our own expertise and knowledge of UX fundamentals, we must perform a heuristic report and competitor analysis to find places where the interface or logic is failing. When that is done, compile a list of all found issues, prioritize by impact and keep it. Here’s a free template ❤️
2. Analysis for the busy designer
Ok, so we got some usage data, what do we do with it? find issues by keywords and cluster. Then sort by importance.
Using your AI of choice, dump your notes and ask for a summary of recurring issues. Or using good old spreadsheets, find the recurring issues by keyword/phrase to make it easier to wade through all the data you got. try notion’s AI, a piece of heaven :)
Once you have the list of issues, prioritize by impact and combine it with issues found during UX audit phase.
3. Ideate: issues > Actionable items. Gameplan.
Now all you need to do is put the full list of issues, sorted by impact and start ideating on how you can solve each issue. Split into phases as your resources allow and you’ve got a game plan!
Did you find that useful?? Next time, we’re explaining how the actionable items are handled in UX then UI design. Got any tips for me? please share!
Till next, time, lots of love and #keepdesigning!
