Most businesses have constraints. Cash on hand can typically solve many of these constraints. A startup is no different from an established business in this sense. Where a startup is different from an established business is that a startup is searching for a repeatable and scalable business model. This can commonly mean that a startup spends more than it takes in, or that it has to use the money it has on hand more carefully because revenue is not yet consistent, predictable, or sufficient. (Let’s not consider businesses that raise large sums of money, they aren’t as common as the media would lead us to believe)
In order to discover a repeatable and scalable business model a startup must identify an opportunity and provide a solution that customers deem valuable. A startup needs to make this discovery before it runs out of money.
There are numerous ways businesses can conduct user research for the purpose of growing or evolving the business. Given a startup’s financial constraints many research tactics can be perceived as too expensive with respect to time or money.
Given a startup’s goals and constraints, here are our recommended user research tactics. Many of the following tactics are passive in nature as they allow the startup to spend more time on other important activities. Much of what follows is directed at software startups.
If a product or service is properly instrumenting user activity it can be a great place to start understanding your users. Analytics data tends to imply the current state of the world. It typically does not explain why certain activities are being performed.
Analytics data can provide insights such as what features are being used most and least, what the user flow is like, timed activities and many more. Analytics become even more powerful when correlated data is identified.
There are many off-the-shelf analytics solutions that are free to use and extremely fast to set up. Once they are implemented, only a small amount of time is needed to create rules in them so as to surface specific insights.
Users provide data to the services they are using. Entering data gives them value from the product but this data can also give the startup insights.
By examining the data your users are entering into your product you can learn about such things as what types of data are entered, trends in the data, and which of your features are most valuable. At the end of the spectrum some companies have notoriously infringed on their users trust.
Setting up data analysis can involve running some queries in the database or even linking the data with your chosen analytics tool. Over the long term the only maintenance required is when new features are implemented that you would like to learn from, or you have new questions you’d like answered.
It is very likely that your target user has traits and qualities that are attractive to other researchers, likely even your competitors. If any research on these user personas has already been done, and is accessible to you, it could be a quick way to gain valuable insights with little effort.
By collecting research that others have already taken the time to put together you can reduce the time it takes to acquire new knowledge about your problem space and your potential customers. However, without being involved with the research, you are trusting that the the work is reliable. Use these studies, but keep a bit of skepticism on hand.
Finding prior research can involve a search online, asking in groups/forums if anyone knows of such information, or reaching out to individuals/experts and asking if they can help. This activity can be done infrequently. Set yourself a calendar reminder to do it on a specific date and get on with your day.
As a founder or product owner you are bound to attract some attention, both from potential customers, and others curious about your venture. Most successful companies have inbound interest due to their marketing efforts. It is your job to distinguish which individuals have insights valuable to your business.
The benefit here is that you can learn from your inbound without having to spend time trying to find people to speak with. Once the lead generation channel is in place, the cost of all inbound afterwards trends dowards with time. These individuals are considered warmer then an individual with no prior interaction with your startup and so they are more open to having a conversation with you.
To get any sort of interest one must perform at least a minimal amount of marketing activities. These can be as simple as posting in a forum “I am building X for Y. If you are interested, I’d love to hear from you”, or you can create a landing page with your contact information and have people follow up from there.
If you are far enough along with your product then any inbound support requests can be a learning opportunity beyond the customer’s initial problem/complaint. As users use a product they typically have questions, especially at first. Good documentation and UX can help alleviate many issues, but they also reduce the opportunity to engage with your customers.
Having customers that are communicating with you reduces your need to reach out to them. You will have to spend less time looking for feedback. Also, these individuals have already bought into your mission and so they’re incentivized to help you succeed. Lastly, since they took the initiative to reach out to you, they are more likely to have longer interactions with you.
Getting customers to report issues and feel comfortable enough to reach out to you involves having clear messaging and the right systems in place. In your product or marketing efforts you can state that you are always open to hearing about any difficulties with your product. Also, within your product you can implement your own communication system, or use an external tool. Common tools are similar to Drift and Intercom.
Surveys and questionnaires are typically a series of questions that can be filled out at one’s leisure without time constraints and without the pressure of someone onlooking. They are quick to setup and easy to disseminate.
Surveys and questionnaires allow you to create the questionnaire once and then have countless individuals respond to it. Surveys do not require ongoing maintenance and only require a review when a specified time has passed or a certain number of responses have been recorded. Even still, it can be done at a time of your choosing. The survey’s respondents also have a similar flexibility and can do so at their leisure. This lack of urgency is a double edged sword as it makes a survey easy to forget, but can also get you responses that you had less of an influence on.
Creating a survey can be very easy. There are plenty of free tools out there such as Google Forms and SurveyMonkey. To get feedback you can contact specific individuals you want feedback from, or get a certain persona to fill it out though posting the survey in a targeted forum or driving Ads to it.
User interviews entail having a direct conversation with a specific person. Since user interviews are a conversation they can be very organic and flexible.
User interviews are extremely beneficial because they allow you to clarify questions, and to ask follow up questions (especially useful for digging deeper). They also allow you to build rapport which you can then rely on in the future. The challenge is getting someone to agree to have a conversation with you in the first place.
An interview script (also known as a field guide) is a predetermined list of questions you would like to ask an interviewee. Once you create the interview script all the following interviews will be guided by this script. Interviewing becomes an easy and repeatable process. Unfortunately, user interviews can be time consuming to coordinate and conduct.
Contextual inquiry is when you go to your users and observe their activities. In the field it can be going to someone’s home, or more easily, going to a public space. Another venue for contextual inquiry can be any public space online such as a forum.
The benefit of contextual inquiry in a public space is that it can happen at a time and place of your choosing. The people and processes that you observe can proceed without your influence.
If in the physical world, choosing a location can be as easy as going to your nearest grocery store, mall, or relevant place of interest. If you wish to implement this online, you can go to public forums, or join closed groups. Implementing this in software can be done using tools like Hotjar and Fullstory.
Speaking with an expert is also known as a “Heuristic Evaluation” or “Expert Review”. Talking to many different users and reviewing a lot of feedback can be time consuming. Speaking with an expert can be a good option to expedite your learning. Doing so does not have to be expensive and is very likely to be time efficient.
At one end of the spectrum you can approach an expert or company and use their professional services. This option is not always available to startups, especially early on before revenue is predictable. An alternative can be to find experts and ask for a conversation or advice. The expert can certainly outline their fee structure if that what it takes, but some don’t consider a short interaction to need a formal paid agreement. Many can view these small interactions is long term relationship building for when you do gain traction. A happy median can also be found where an affordable (token) payment is made.
Experts can be found everywhere. Look for them in organizations you admire, books you’ve read, publications, blogs, and social networks. You can approach anyone. Although you can be ignored or denied, finding the right person at the right time can be a game changer.
Finding people to learn from can be difficult. Most people have a network available to them. This network can be friends, family, and online social communities like Facebook and LinkedIn.
People are more likely to interact with people they know and already have a relationship with. By reaching out to your network first you can increase the quantity of feedback you get since people are more likely to respond. Your network is also more likely to have a deeper conversation with you. The risks of speaking with your network are the same as with strangers. People have the same biases and social norms to adhere to.
To get a hold of your network you can simply call, email, or message them.
Getting more feedback is better than getting less feedback. Some activities you conduct have greater impact and reach. Since time is so precious for a startup, it’s important to notice when certain activities have outsized returns. Look for these opportunities, especially when conducting user research.
To put yourself in a position to have greater reach with your research, in general terms, you create your call to action and put it in a place that will be seen by many people. If you have a large social network you can rely on that. You can also add this CTA to places that receive a lot of eyeballs like Reddit threads, or Quora questions and answers.
A mockup is commonly used for instructional or experimental purposes. It typically comes in the form of a high fidelity or a low fidelity image.
They say “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Mockups give users a more clear understanding of what your startup’s vision or product is. A challenge with this is that users can get caught on the little details that are irrelevant to your purpose of discussion which can distract them and derail the conversation.
Mockups are easily changeable compared to building a working product, prototype, or MVP. It doesn’t take much effort to create and so iterating them can help evolve the vision for future research.
There are numerous methods for conducting user research. None are perfect and some are better than others. No method will get you all the answers. Conducting more research is almost always better than none. Using a few tactics is almost always better then just one. You will never get the full story, but you can get close. Also, the benefits of every research method is also constrained by those performing and analyzing them.
A startup should choose the research methods that are right for them. They should conduct as much user research as they need to feel comfortable with their next big decision and given their constraints.
Is there a particular area or item you feel should be mentioned in this article? Let us know by emailing us at hello@confirmkit.com.
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