Reflections of a rookie UX Researcher: 4 tips for successful remote user recruitment
What is remote usability testing?
Remote usability testing is a method of user research where users evaluate the product prototype virtually. The facilitator and participants are in two physical locations.
There are two types of remote usability testing: moderated remote testing and unmoderated remote testing. In a moderated remote testing, both the participants and facilitators are in the same virtual space like using a video communication service (e.g. Google meet or Zoom). The facilitator is communicating with the participants on a few tasks, while observing the interaction. On the other hand, in an unmoderated remote testing, the participant will record their interaction with the prototype, and the recording will be reviewed later by the UX researchers.
The start: No usability testing done
I joined the project around the second design sprint and quickly realised that our design process was solely focusing on building the MLP (Minimum Lovable Product). We were building an application for insurance agents. There was no feedback from the users and the designs were created in an echo-chamber where the designs were built on top of previous and each others’ assumptions.
As a fresh UX researcher, I saw the danger of continuing. It is like piling on more Jenga blocks that’s filled with holes, which were represented by all these assumptions. There is a need to fill those holes or the whole design will fall apart due to bad usability.
I knew we needed to find users, ASAP. As a fresh UX researcher, in a newly remote work environment, I had no idea how to look for insurance agents. My introverted self was crippled with fear at the thought of going up to a stranger and asking for help. I did the less fearful thing: reaching out to my friends. Starting with my close friends, I asked around for contacts of their insurance agents.
It’s a good thing that we only needed 5 participants [source] for qualitative usability testing. Having said that, it was still difficult to get 5 participants as there were unforeseen cases of drop-out.
Quest to search for users
So how should we start finding users?
It is interesting how when your career is on the line, you’ll be able to do anything. Here are my 4 rookie tips as a UX Researcher in recruitment for users in remote usability testing:
#1: Be thick-skinned
The first thing I did was to get help from close friends. The next was reaching out to people outside of my comfort zone: my acquaintances. It feels really weird to randomly ask people, but I kept telling myself that the worst thing was that they’ll just say no. And if I ask 5 people, there would be an average of 2 to 3 that will answer me.
It helps that you are fully transparent and respectful. I always like to give them the option for them to reject me so that they don’t feel obliged to respond to my request.
Side tip, don’t keep on asking the same people too many times as it just feels very annoying. Also, I think that it is nice to take some time to treat these kind souls for their time and effort to help me out. I would ask them out for lunch and treat them on another day just to convey my sincere thanks for their help.
#2: Having templates and a process to ease the flow of recruitment
It helps to have processes and templates for a smooth recruitment.
This is my introduction text template to my friends requesting for their insurance agent contact who are my target users:
“Hello [friend’s name]. Hope you are doing well. I’m currently looking for an insurance agent for my work, would you happen to have one? Is it possible to have their contact information? Feel free to reject if you are not comfortable sharing. Thank you!”
When I receive potential users, I usually break the interaction for possible user participants into smaller pieces so as to not bombard them with a super long text.
This is my flowchart process for recruitment of participants:
Similarly, I have an introduction template to potential target users which consists of:
- Introduce myself and my role.
- Who my referee was.
- What’s the purpose of the user interview/ usability test?
- When and how the testing is going to be like.
- The method of the interview.
- Thank them for their time.
An example:
“Hello [Participant name]! I’m Fatin, a UX Researcher from UXStudio.co. I’ve got your contact from [insert referee name]. We are conducting a usability test on our prototype for Insurance Agents. I was wondering whether you’d be interested to have an hour chat with us some time next week? The session will be done over Google Meet. Do let me know if you are interested. Have a nice day!”
Usually after they reply, I would let them know about the compensation fee, the remote interview requirements and any admin back-end information. This is so that I don’t bombard them with too much information before they’ve even agreed to attend. Also, I’ve learnt that being transparent is the foundation of creating trust with these participants that I have never worked with before.
#3: Do my own test run
Use a close friend or family member for my first usability testing. Even though they aren’t my target users, it helps me to familiarise with the user interview flow. This also helps to refine your interview questions.
When we first did our usability testing, we were being ambitious and tried to add as many questions as we could. It is glaringly obvious that the more questions, the longer the interview would be. But when we were crafting the interview, there were so many things we wanted to know. We also underestimated the number of follow-up questions needed to get a better picture of the participants’ answers. If it’s a 60min interview, a good gauge is to plan for 50mins of questions and anticipate a 10 minutes buffer for follow-up questions. 1 page of questions is about 20 minutes, so 50 minutes would be about 2.5 pages.
#4: Be very firm on requirements
One of the things I’ve learnt is that Figma’s prototype view is most suitable for desktop usage. We encountered instances when users last minute told us that they’ll be using their iPad instead of computers. This affects the data collected because when they interact with the prototype, we could not see their reactions. This was a little off-putting for me because I felt like I was talking to a blank screen and I couldn’t properly gauge their emotions.
The environment where the participants are matters. It is best that they have stable internet connection and are in a quiet environment. Cafes, for example, produce ambient sounds that distract from what the users are saying.
If we are too lenient with these requirements, the data collected is not optimal and there is a higher chance of wasting both your and the participants’ time.
Design is about the users
At the end of the day, the best teacher is experience. For me, what helped to get out of my introverted hermit cave was my curiosity about how the designs could better benefit the end-users. It is a huge waste that the efforts of designers are created on an isolated island away from the users. Design is meant to add value to the users.
To get users, I needed to get over my crippling introverted social anxiety. One of my biggest hurdles was to get over the fear of being rejected. Having a safe space to fail helped build my confidence to accept that rejection isn’t such a big deal. The process of researching how to recruit users and building my own templates helped me to focus on the big picture of why I’m recruiting for users instead of focusing on the mystical social implication of being rejected.
