When Users Can’t Use a Prototype — Turning Lemons Into Lemonade

Description: A tray of lemons and glasses of lemonade. Photo by Charity Beth Long on Unsplash.

I recently had a project to test a beautiful, functional prototype with primary users. It was not a fully designed prototype, but it was not a wireframe either. It had placeholder photos and soothing colors that looked modern, usable, and clear at first glance. The team had done their work testing the IA and understanding the main tasks of the users.

So they were expecting this round of UX testing would be a breeze — maybe uncover a secondary link or two that would need to be added. But their hope was that users would be glowing and really, really excited for this prototype. The team felt they had a winner — and the testing would simply uncover minor issues to handle in the visual design phase.

Well, that is not always how it goes in UX research.

Sometimes the sum of the parts is not what the users expect. The team had done a lot of great work on navigation and primary calls to action, but the overall site structure did not match their thought processes.

As the users clicked around, their first impressions quickly turned to frustrations. Some comments we heard:

“I would not expect this to be here.”

“I am not sure what this has to do with the button I clicked.”

“I clicked a link and would expect it to tell me right away what to do next. Why isn’t it?”

After 4 or 5 sessions, it became clear that there were gaps in the prototype. We completed 8 sessions and the trends became clearer: the prototype was not the golden child the team had hoped it would be.

So how do you tell a team that their baby is ugly? Luckily we did not have to. Marketade embraces a model of delivering research via a UX workshop, so the team all watched the videos, aligned on the key issues in an affinity mapping session, and then was able to ideate on quick wins for the current prototype as well as longer-term opportunities for the product road map. (See this article for more on the benefits of holding a UX workshop.) But taking a team through the data and keeping them positive while they are immersed in the problem can be a challenge in a UX workshop.

Here are a few tips we found to help:

1. Remind the team that all data is good data. It can be hard when a team is attached to their designs and ideas and has expectations. This is hard for everyone. But keep reminding the team that there is a huge benefit of learning the hits and misses upfront before things are fully developed and oftentimes launched. In UX design, the early bird really does get the worm.
2. Focus on the fact that iterative design cycles save time and money. A usability test is one data collection point among many (hopefully). And it is not meant to be user validation testing. Iterative design means there is a cycle: design, test, redesign, test, redesign, repeat as often as needed until the team launches a product that, at very least, will meet some of the goals of the primary users. By testing early and testing often, a team can avoid spending time and money on designs that will not work.
3. Point out that UX research provides touchpoints and trends. Looking at trends or a point in the journey can be difficult for some stakeholders who want hard and fast rules or guarantees that something will work or be successful. That can lead to frustration. Make sure each workshop includes actions to take right away as well as longer-term. Guide the team through what to do next with a Who, What, When chart, and capture longer-term issues in a parking lot.
4. Make a case for teams to develop a culture of research. A UX research program can be one of the most important investments for a team to make with their time and resources. But can be easily forgotten if the design culture does not include research. The problem with running one usability test is there will inevitably be more ideas that need to be tested and without a culture of ongoing research, that can be difficult.

Yes, it can be a difficult task to deliver research results that are not what the client team was hoping for. But with a little empathy and understanding, a UX researcher can be a strong ally to help a team turn the insights into opportunities. The magic of UX research is the users have a voice at the table, and that is critical to product success.