We Are Not the User: A Fish Finger Case Study
As the user experience research lead at SAP SuccessFactors, I have worked with many product teams over the years. As product people, our goal is to create products that solve an existing problem, are easy to use, and give the user what we call a delightful experience. To achieve that, we need to understand the reality and the needs of the people who are going to use our products. And if we are honest, we have to admit that sometimes we think we know what our end users need. The truth is, we are not our end users. Let me say that again: we are not our end users.
We certainly are experts and have domain knowledge, and sometimes even use the products we are building, but let’s face it, we are not typical, average end users. Let me illustrate what I mean with an example.
(Alt text: Photo 1 shows a white plate with fish fingers. Photo 2 shows a white plate with fish fingers and ketchup)
What you see in the image above are fish fingers. This is one of the most beloved children’s food here in Germany. Unhealthy, I know. My hypothesis is that this is one of the reasons kids love them so much.
If you would ask me as a parent (aka expert) what my daughter’s favorite food is, I would tell you, “it’s fish fingers”.
If you would ask my daughter, she would tell you it’s “ketchup! with fish fingers!” This little detail (the secret sauce) makes a huge difference for her.
By giving my daughter fish fingers when she is hungry, I’d certainly cover one of her needs and she wouldn’t be hungry anymore. By adding ketchup, I go beyond that and make her experience delightful! (At this point I deliberately don’t mention my needs as a parent when it comes to kids’ nutrition, though they are certainly different).
As with the example above, when we build products, we might have assumptions about what our end users need, and that’s perfectly okay. But it’s ultimately the end users themselves who can help us to validate, invalidate, and revisit our assumptions. No one knows better than they what their reality looks like, what they need, and what makes them feel happy. This is why we should always involve them when we want our product development approach to be truly user-centric.
User research helps us product teams to be more user-centric and get closer to users. Learn more about user research:
About the author: Emmanuela Rogdaki is a User Experience Research Manager for SAP SuccessFactors.
