In the rapidly evolving landscape of technology and consumer preferences, the mantra for success is simple yet profound—understand your user. In this article, we’ll embark on a journey through the nuanced discipline of user research, an indispensable tool in the arsenal of modern product managers. By delving into its strategic applications, methodologies, and the untapped potential it holds for product development, the aim is to not only enlighten but also inspire a new wave of innovation centered around user-centricity.
The Essence of User Research in Product Management
User research serves as the compass guiding product managers through the complex maze of market demands, technological advancements, and evolving user expectations. It’s about asking the right questions, actively listening, and translating insights into actionable strategies that resonate with users.
Defining User Research
- Purpose-Driven Exploration: At its core, user research is a systematic study aimed at understanding user behaviors, needs, and motivations through observation techniques, task analysis, and other feedback methodologies.
- A Dynamic Toolkit: From surveys and interviews to usability tests and analytics, the repertoire of tools available to conduct user research is both diverse and dynamic, each serving different stages of product development.
Why It’s Indispensable
- Bridging the Gap: User research helps in bridging the gap between user needs and the product features designed to meet those needs.
- Risk Mitigation: By validating assumptions early and often, it significantly reduces the risks associated with product development.
Striving for a User-centric Product Design
User-centric design isn’t just a buzzword; it’s the lifeline of a product. Embedding user research into the design process paves the way for creating products that users love and advocate for.
Involving Users Early On
- Encouraging participation from real users during the initial design phase can unearth invaluable insights that can shape the direction of the product.
- Techniques such as persona development and user journey mapping offer a lens into the users’ world, helping in crafting experiences that are not just usable but delightful.
Iterative Design and Validation
- Rapid Prototyping: Prototypes act as a tangible medium for testing ideas in the real world, facilitating immediate feedback that can be looped back into the design process.
- A/B Testing: This comparative study helps in understanding user preferences better, allowing product managers to make data-informed decisions.
Harnessing Data with Advanced Analytics
In the age of big data, analytics offer a goldmine of insights. Leveraging analytics within user research can reveal patterns and trends that might be invisible to the naked eye.
Behavioral Analytics
- Tools like heatmaps and session recordings offer a window into how users interact with your product, highlighting what works and what doesn’t.
- Engagement metrics and conversion rates can guide in fine-tuning the product to better meet user expectations.
The Human Factor: Empathy in User Research
Beyond numbers and data, user research is fundamentally about understanding the human behind the user. Cultivating empathy is crucial for translating insights into meaningful product improvements.
Storytelling as a Tool
- User stories and testimonials can provide a powerful medium for communicating the user’s perspective, ensuring that the product team is aligned with the user’s voice.
- Incorporating user feedback loops throughout the product lifecycle keeps the user’s voice alive in every discussion and decision.
Navigating Challenges and Pitfalls
While user research offers a path to creating successful products, it’s fraught with challenges ranging from biases in data to the tyranny of the vocal minority. A balanced approach that triangulates data from multiple sources and remains attentive to the silent majority is essential.
My personal experience
While I have had some awesome experiences throughout my career doing user research as a Product Manager, one of these experiences stands out and has had a profound impact on how I have designed, developed and launched products thereafter.
When working at Samsclub.com (Walmart’s Wholesale warehouse division), back in 2012, I was asked to lead a greenfield Product (a set of tools) to help business customers place their orders in no time. For the uninitiated, let me explain why this was so important. Samsclub is a wholesale retailer and primary customers are large families or small and medium businesses. A large portion of the customer base is small and medium businesses who used to spend a significant amount of time placing their store pickup orders online (Also called “Club Pickup” now, and “Click-n-pull” back then). A large portion of this business was contributed by “Fax-n-pull” (As the name suggests you scribble your order away on a piece of paper and fax it to your nearest Club. The club makes the order ready and then calls you so you could come in and pick up).
Fax-n-pull was a significantly under optimized process, because picking was manual, inventory was manually updated only after the order was rung up at the POS when the customer came to pick up the orders etc. But it also had advantages such as the club being able to provide a more personalized service to each member, since they knew them personally and also the kind of products they preferred. This also allowed them to easily replace items with substitutes (e.g another brand but same item, or same item another SKU). Most of these customers (we called them “members”, because you need to buy an annual membership to purchase at SamsClubs) were wary of our online platform Samsclub.com and avoided placing Click-n-Pull orders. But managing Click-n-Pull orders was operationally more efficient for our business (Because there were digital orders and picking, pick route planning, dispensing and inventory management were all digitized). We embarked on a journey to understand the pain points of our customers.
We formed a cross functional team – 3 Product Managers (Including me), 3 members of the design team and 4 members of the operations team. An external research team was also hired. Most of us were based in Bentonville AR, or the Bay area (Sunnyvale), except the members of the research team (3 of them). We split ourselves into 3 teams and visited multiple small and large business customers in different markets – Dallas, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Detroit etc. Each team visited 2-3 markets and interviewed 8-10 customers respectively. This was a 3+ week exercise to just understand customer pain points. All the teams gathered back and documented invaluable insights.
There was a common theme.
“We do not like to place orders online, because it takes hours to create an order and by the time we are ready to place an order some items are out of stock”
To shed some context here, these orders are usually large and could have between 40-100 items. In some cases, certain businesses could even have more than 150 items in an order. The ordering process took time online, because each time customers wanted to place an order, they would need to find the product (search for it) and then add it to cart. Imagine someone trying to do this for 100+ items. Some customers complained they took 2+ hours to place orders online and would never move away from “Fax ordering” ever.
This research provided us with significant insights to build the next coolest Product at Walmart. We built an ML based predictive engine (Called easy reorder) that would show you the top 199 most desired items you would likely add to your cart on any given day. It was curated by recency, frequency and seasonality of shopping. All you had to do was enter quantities and place orders with a couple of clicks. Eventually in about an year this capability started contributing ~40% of Samsclub.com GMV (So much for “We shall never move away from ‘Fax ordering’! :)).
Conclusion: Towards a More User-centric Future
User research is more than a set of techniques; it’s a mindset that places the user at the heart of product development. For product managers, mastering this art form is not just beneficial but essential in the quest to create products that not only meet but exceed user expectations. By fostering a culture of curiosity, empathy, and continuous learning, we can unlock new dimensions of innovation that are genuinely user-inspired.
In the end, the products we create are not just a reflection of our technological prowess but a testament to our commitment to understanding and serving the user. Let this be the guiding star as we navigate the exciting yet challenging journey of product management.
