When to Listen and When to Watch
Teams should be user-focused in their work and a part of the requirements is for them to listen to users. Yet, when building great products, it is sometimes better to watch what users do rather than listening to what they ask us to build
Misconceptions about Design Research
When crafting a user-centered design for a product, research is a vital prerequisite and knowing when to watch vs listen is key. We need it to understand the users and what their needs are, not just what they say they want – it is the key to being strategic and methodical in our approach to product design and development. It helps us to understand the behaviors and motivations of users, which, in turn, guide the action of the team.
Qualitative research such as user interviews and even qual/quant techniques such as user surveys and polls are common tools used for this research. It is essential to observe them to better understand their behaviors, thinking, and motivations. Popular tools such as UserTesting, HotJar, and Qualaroo are commonly used to gain these insights. It is research often conducted by UX researchers, designers, or Product Managers. For organizations that do not value or prioritize this sort of research however, assumptions and insights about the market are often conveyed from leadership down to the team.
Pay Attention to Behavior and Actions
For teams that are entrusted to perform this sort of research, simplicity is key. What’s important is not how flashy the design but how usable a product is for the user. Would we rather opt for a beautiful, complex design or something simple and more usable? According to Jakob Nielsen, the first rule of usability is, “Don’t Listen to Users.” That advice would no doubt be shocking or controversial to some. If we don’t listen to the users, how can we be better sure that we’re addressing their pain points?
The Nielsen Norman Group co-founder isn’t really opposed to listening to the user by itself. It is about how we listen. This sentiment is shared by Khosla Ventures’ Irene Au. Rather than just doing what users said they want, we should watch to know what they REALLY want. Yes, users may like the idea of having a dazzling design. But will they find it usable in the long run? We can know this better by watching them perform actions.
Nielsen used the example of the drop-down menu to drive home this point. While it might be exciting for the user, they may find it less usable compared to a standard UI. Drop-down menus may be confusing or accidentally take users to unplanned areas. For this reason, simply asking users what they think of a solution for a UI should be, is not an ideal approach. It is better to have them interact with or use the design and then observe the ease of use for the desired purpose.
We Should Still Listen
Design thinking and problem-solving need to be applied. We have to first empathize with the user and seek to understand their motivations and habits. Asking users how we can help achieve their goals can then follow after having an idea of what they are trying to do. In another sense, we do not go out asking what users think of a design before they actually use it. We do that only after watching them perform tasks.
The reality is that users often can’t describe their behavior accurately. It is not unusual to find someone that tells you today that they’d do something a certain way say something different the next time you get to ask again. This goes to show that while users might attempt to predict their future behavior we should not give too much weight to what they say if any.
There is also a tendency for users to say what they thought we are expecting. And if we are asking what they thought in a group setting, such as a focus group, they are more likely to say what is socially acceptable even if untrue. Even after performing tasks involving a design, users have been found to not be able to report their behavior accurately afterward. They leave out some details that they didn’t notice but that are relevant. This further highlights the need for observation.
Design Thinking Critical
When it comes to creating a design that resonates with the user, design thinking should come first. This user-centered, problem-solving approach is vital for tackling problems effectively. It helps to understand users or customers, test assumptions, and properly redefine problems to come out with something innovative and highly usable.
Design thinking requires us to be able to empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and iterate. And within that loop, the right time to listen to users is at the beginning, discussing the problem, with moderated, problem-centric interviews. Then we prototype a solution and watch them interact, looking for behavioral queues about issues with the design that we can fix. This is a rational approach to designing to solve user problems, which elevates the design to a matter of strategy rather than tactics.
And this is not just how we solve user problems – it’s also how we achieve our own business goals. If a user is succeeding and finding value in the product, they’ll be more engaged which in turn drives the success of the business.
