USER RESEARCH AND SERVICE DESIGN
Research doesn’t lie
How to tell your client their product or service needs work
When we do user research on an existing product or service, it is highly likely that the findings will show at least some user dissatisfaction with the service and will uncover a range of pain points that users encounter when interacting with the service.
That’s what we’re there for, right? To find out exactly what frustrates and delights users, so that we can identify opportunities for improving their experience and help the organisation to better their objectives.
In my experience, the users that have bothered to give you their time through either attending an interview or participating in a survey, are usually keen to point out the flaws in a product/service but are generally measured and willing to give you the positive feedback too. And that’s our job as researchers, to conduct structured conversations and create well-crafted surveys in order to glean authentic user insights whether they be good, bad or ugly.
But sometimes the findings are overwhelmingly bleak… And where these results were not necessarily expected or where the results may be subject to negative scrutiny (whether it be external or internal to the organisation) there’s a good chance that the news won’t be received graciously.
So, how do we as researchers balance our ethical responsibility to present unbiased findings with the desire to maintain a positive relationship with the client?
Firstly, it’s not personal
The research has found that users are very dissatisfied with the product or service, but there are a myriad of factors that may be contributing to this. User dissatisfaction cannot be blamed on an individual or even a team; services and systems are more complex than that. This is why we employ methods that enable deep understanding of the entire ecosystem, application and landscape, not just parts of it in isolation. There may be opportunities for individuals and teams to enhance their contribution to the effective delivery of services, but these form part of the overall strategy to improve the product or service, and should be presented as just that, opportunities.
Don’t sugarcoat it, but pitch the opportunities as ways to demonstrate your clients are leaders in transformational change. Get them excited about the future.
The most important step toward change has already been taken — they hired you
Generally, if an organisation has commissioned a user research project, they are interested in doing better. The work you have done to gather user insights and identify the key pain points and opportunities is the first and arguably the most important step towards a better service and an improved experience for users. While the results of the research project may not paint the most positive picture in terms of current user experience, it offers a clear road to improvement and ultimate success.
Positive user engagement — users are already happier than before because we asked them what they thought
A huge and unfortunately all too common mistake that organisations make is to fail to engage with their users when either designing a new product/service or changing an existing service. This is often the root cause of the user dissatisfaction you have uncovered in your research. Through commissioning the user research project, the organisation has made a crucial step towards rectifying this. The simple act of asking users what they think builds trust and strengthens the service provider/client relationship. The key is to ensure that what you’ve heard from users is presented to the organisation in a compelling way to enable the feedback to be addressed through service improvement.
But, don’t rest on your laurels. You’ve just set a countdown timer. Asking users what they think, then doing nothing about it is worse than not asking in the first place.
They now have all the evidence they need to drive change
Robust user research is hard to argue with. If the picture is bleak, it gives the client the evidence they need to present the case for change to decision-makers. Ensuring that your findings and analysis are compelling (i.e. derived from both qualitative and quantitative research activities) and are supported by clear, actionable recommendations, will assist them to turn the research results into a positive change program with real benefits.
I find providing the future-state design principles and a light-weight benefits valuation can significantly help sell the message. ‘It’s all about future-value people, we can’t afford not to do anything.’
Photo by Rodolfo Clix from Pexels
