Get started with remote UX Research by preparing your toolkit
Part 1 of a 4-step guide on how to gain impactful insights using remote user research
This article is the first part of a 4-step guide on how to get you started with setting up a remote user research practice in your organisation. Each piece will be accompanied by hands-on tips, that we’ve learned along the way at Picnic. Use these links to go straight to any of the other parts:
Doing groceries is a part of everyone’s daily life. At Picnic it’s our mission to build a grocery shopping experience which people love to use. To achieve this goal, our User Experience team in Amsterdam is conversing with Picnic users on a weekly basis to uncover their needs and wants, explore design directions and validate assumptions and solutions.
Switching to remote user research
Over the last year, due to the COVID-19 measures, we have completely revamped our weekly user research rhythm. Originally, we conducted in-person user research studies with customers on a weekly basis — both in our office as well as at locations spread around the country. As we all know, that way of working suddenly became impossible. In order to maintain our research cadence and keep supporting teams with user insights, we certainly had to adapt. And so we did! In a couple of weeks, we were able to pick back up our regular pace — maybe even a bit faster.
It works remarkably well that people are able to tune in to any research activity from wherever they are while using their own personal devices
Conducting remote user research has proven to be extremely valuable in our day-to-day operation. It works remarkably well that people are able to tune in to any research activity from wherever they are while using their own personal devices.
Also, it saves both the participants and the researchers lots of travelling time and costs. At the same time, it’s fair to say that part of the fun and social connection might get lost while both sitting behind screens. When the situation allows for it, we’re likely to start alternating our remote research operations with in-person studies.
In the end, remote research is definitely here to stay. In this series of articles, we will tell you more about how we’ve set up our remote user research practice, share the lessons we’ve learned while getting to where we are now and provide you with some practical tips to get started.
Getting started yourself
To make things easy, we’ve split this guide into four bite-sized articles full of actionable insights and tips which you can use to set up your own remote user research practice. Each piece will be accompanied by a couple of hands-on tips, that we’ve learned along the way at Picnic. Let’s go!
ℹ️ While there are many remote user research methods out there, this guide will specifically focus on conducting remote user interviews. Still, you can apply many of the same tips and tricks when you’re setting up another remote research activity. More about when to use which UX Research method can be found here.
Part 1: Preparing your toolkit
Like with anything, a good start is half the battle. Right now there are many tools out there which can help out during different phases of the user research process. Over the last year, we’ve been trying out a bunch of them and discovered a way of working that supports our needs best. The following tools are all part of our current research toolkit and have proven to be real live-savers.
Designing: Figma
This one is probably quite a no-brainer. Figma is the go-to tool for our entire design team and therefore, a vital touchpoint for the user research team as well. Because of its collaborative nature, it’s extremely easy to take a look at new designs, discuss opportunities — and most importantly come up with the right research questions in direct collaboration with the UX designers. For more on how we use Figma, take a look at Wiemer’s article.
Prototyping: Marvel
After deciding on what to test, we prepare a prototype in Marvel. These prototypes are usually rather limited, covering the elements which we would like to test and not much more. While there are many great prototyping tools out there, Marvel seems to strike the right balance between features and speed. Other tools, like Principle and ProtoPie, might be more powerful and able to let you create beautiful animations and other eye-candy. However, we kept coming back to Marvel since it’s extremely easy to import your screens directly from Figma, link them together and share a link which people can use for quick access to the interactive prototype from any device.
Recruiting: Your own database, TestingTime
From a participant recruitment perspective, we’re relatively lucky. At Picnic, we have our own database full of people using our app, who are mostly very happy to help us out. When we’re looking participants who are not currently using the Picnic app or living in places where we don’t deliver yet we collaborate with our recruitment partner TestingTime. They have been able to help recruit test participant at incredible speed — up to 48 hours in advance. Also, their panel reaches all over Europe.
Scheduling: Calendly
Calendly has proven to be a real time-saver when it coming to manage participant scheduling. Unless you’re very happy to send tons of invitations, confirmation and reminder emails, let this tool do it for you. While it’s certainly not the simplest tool of all, it has all features to make sure it fits the specific needs of any research study imaginable.
Forget about carrying around filming gear, extra batteries and Mr Tappy; with Lookback running on your laptop, you’re ready to go
User testing: Lookback — (Personal favourite by far ❤️)
If you’ve ever conducted a usability study before, you probably recognise the struggle of getting it all right. Forget about carrying around filming gear, extra batteries and Mr Tappy; with Lookback running on your laptop, you’re ready to go. By using this tool we have been able to interview and observe our users while letting them interact with prototypes. Colleagues and project stakeholders are able to join a session, take notes or chat with the researchers. Best of all, all sessions are recorded and you’re able to capture particular moments of interest in highlights which can be shared anywhere.
Documenting: Confluence
At Picnic, many of the teams already use Confluence for their documentation. So for me, it only made sense to make use of the same tool. But actually, over time, I’ve been growing quite fond of it. Because of its simple formatting and strong integrations with other tools, it’s easy to create beautiful and rich documentation pages which look consistent on any platform.
👆 All of these recommendations are purely based on my own experience and are not sponsored whatsoever. For a more complete overview of tools with many alternatives, check Alexis Gerome’s list.
Finding out what’s best for you
While it may seem like a lot, your team is likely to use a number of these tools already, or alternatives to them. Also, compared to the traditional research kit (containing cameras, cables, spare batteries, notebooks) it’s a nice extra that all these tools conveniently fit into your laptop.
Are you on a budget? Then I’ve got some great news! All of the tools mentioned above contain free tiers or trial versions which can definitely get you started on conducting some free rounds of remote research activities, so no more excuses. 😉
That’s it! These are the tools we use at Picnic to arrange our remote user research practice. Since your needs may be a bit different, don’t worry to deviate and combine the tools that suit your situation best. Although it may cost you some time, it’s quite satisfying to have everything up and running smoothly in the end.
Next up in our series on remote user research is more on how to recruiting the right people for your UX Research study — and how to make sure they come prepared. Click here to continue reading.
