It is the heart and soul of human-centered design. It’s the tool that helps you peek into the minds of your users, uncover their deepest desires and fears, and build products that truly resonate with them. Let me explain with an example.
In 2005, Cheetos decided to launch a lip balm with a “cheesy” flavor. They assumed that people who loved their cheesy snacks would also want a product that tasted and smelled like cheese and could solve dry lips. But they made a big mistake. They didn’t ask their users if they actually wanted a cheesy lip balm. As a result, the product failed miserably, with bad consumer reviews pouring in and sales figures plummeting.
This failure could have been avoided if Cheetos had conducted UX Research. By talking to their users and understanding their needs and pain points, they could have realized that a cheesy lip balm wasn’t something their customers wanted. UX Research is the process of gathering data on user behaviors, needs, wants, and pain points to identify insights that can be leveraged to make product design decisions.
Conducting UX Research can help you in many ways. For example, it can help you test internal assumptions and ensure that they match the actual motivations and behaviors of your target audience. It can also uncover new opportunities for product features or new products altogether, based on a better understanding of your users.
Furthermore, UX Research can be conducted at any stage of the development process, which means you can collect feedback on early designs and prototypes before they are moved into production. This can help you identify issues early on, when it’s easier and cheaper to fix them. Finally, UX Research can help you understand all the different interactions that a user has with your product and develop a better understanding of their journey.
In conclusion, UX Research is an essential step in the design and development process of any product. By understanding your users’ needs and wants, you can create products that not only look great but are also loved by your customers.
