User Research to Validate Product Ideas Workshop

/Productschool @ProductSchool /ProductmanagementSF

Mike Burk

- 7+ years of Product Management experience at companies like:

ScootMyspaceElectronic ArtsBigCommerence

MEET OUR SPEAKER

www.productschool.com

User Research forProduct ManagersMichael BurkProduct SchoolMarch 8, 2017

About me

Product Team Leader / Company BuilderHeld senior product roles at Scoot Networks,

BigCommerce, Electronic Arts, MySpaceLoves working with startups to build product, design and

engineering teamsAmateur home brewer, BBQer, disc golfer

Overview

What is user research?Types of user researchResearch processFramework for leveraging research in your product

Guiding Question:How do product managers gather user insights and use them

to build successful products?

What is user research & why should you care?

User research focuses on understanding user behaviors, needs, and motivations through observation techniques, task analysis, and other feedback methodologies.

Good research will result in actionable data that leads us to develop testable hypotheses.

As product managers, user research helps us understand whom the product is for and why it's valuable.

User research improves the likelihood of a product satisfying user needs in a way that complements their existing behaviors and

motivations.Source: https://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/user-research.html

Types of user feedback

Source: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux-research-methods/

Where do I start?

Source: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2013/09/5-step-process-conducting-user-research/

Research Process: Objectives

Research needs a goalWhy are you doing research? What are you

trying to learn?Do you need lots of data or a few key

insights?Do you have a hypothesis that can guide

the research, or are you trying to understand unexplained phenomena?

What data do you have already?You may be able to answer your question without

conducting new researchIf you have a hypothesis, how do you validate as

quickly and cheaply as possible?

Research Process: Hypotheses

What do we already know about our users?What assumptions need to be true in order

for our product to be successful?

Developing and testing hypotheses is a key skill for product managers

Research Process: Methods

Source: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux-research-methods/

Research Process: Methods

Depending on your objectives and hypothesis, which method is most effective in achieving your research goals?

Check out usability.gov for a great list of research methods and their pros/cons

With all necessary caveats...If you're trying to validate a hypothesis, use

quantitative.If you need to explore/understand

unexplained user behavior, use qualitative.

Research Process: Conduct

Recruit test subjects:Your usersYour colleaguesYour target customersYour competitors

Execute your research using the predefined method

Research Process: Synthesis

Did we validate or invalidate our hypothesis?

Did we learn anything unexpected?Did we collect actionable or testable data

that can be used to inform product planning & roadmapping?

Now what?

Product managers are constantly responding to two key questions:

What do we build?

In what order?

We need a framework for translating user research into product features and roadmaps.

We can use research to develop user personas and what they need and value in terms of product features.

Product Market Strategy Framework

Step 1: Identify your target user(s)-- e.g. Aspiring product managers, soccer moms, real estate agents

Step 2: Determine differentiating features-- Reasons why someone would use your product instead of competitor-- Things people talk about when asked why they use your product-- Should exceed expectations-- NPS 9-10

Step 3: Determine table stakes features-- Core features that make your product viable-- No credit for having them, but penalty if you don’t-- NPS 7-8

Product Market Strategy Framework (cont)

Step 4: Use your research to identify feature gaps and quality deficiencies

-- Are your differentiating features very high quality (NPS 9+)?-- Are your table stakes features good enough (NPS 7+)?-- How does your product compare to your competitors’?

Step 5: Prioritize based on maximum impact-- Identify the features that are dragging down your user satisfaction.-- The features your users interact with most often comprise the bulk of their opinion & satisfaction. Prioritize them.

Sample: Building the framework

● Organize your differentiating & table stakes features using the results of your user research

● Target 3-5 max in each category

Sample: Determining user satisfaction

● Assign user satisfaction rating (e.g. NPS) to each of your features● Use your research as much as possible, but make informed estimates as needed

Sample: Identifying product opportunities

● Identify feature gaps & quality deficiencies to inform your roadmap● Prioritize features that are used most often

Recap

User research improves our odds of success for building products that meet (or exceed) our customers’ expectations.

The form and method of our research is determined by our goals.

Good research results in actionable data or testable hypotheses.

Understanding the features our customers value most should inform our roadmapping and prioritization processes.

Thank you!

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