How User Research Can Help Transform Tech Products from MEH to Must Haves
As tech and digitalization accelerate growth in almost every sector, consumers are increasingly revealing a healthy appetite for products that they not only need but also compliment their experiences and lifestyles.
In short, it is no longer enough to tell consumers “You need this product” Consumers must feel, “I need this product in my life” How then can brands and businesses transform consumers ‘desire for their products and services from “Meh” to “Must Have”
User research is about studying target users of a product or service in order to understand their needs, pain points and identify how a certain product is likely to benefit them. From the findings of user research, product developers are able to better ideate and create products that actually benefit intended users or customers.
One of the most applicable uses of user research is in app/tech product development, or digital services like digital platforms or E-Commerce website. It’s fairly straight forward matter to sell a customer ice-cream in a shop. It is however a whole different ice bucket of fish in getting a consumer to buy ice cream via an app.
While the desire to buy ice cream may be the same for both the physical and the digital customer, how they go about the process of selecting their desired flavor, the personalized engagement, experience of both the product and service delivery, the purchase journey to savoring sweet satisfaction are all important points of impact that could mean sweet success or a cold death for your ice-cream business.
Other reasons why user research is even more critical today is that user research can reduce the time it takes you to actually create a product. By incorporating research in the initial stages of your product design, you will quickly be able to tell what areas to prioritize in your design work development and what needs to be discarded. Obviously, this can have huge financial cost and resource saving implications on your budget.
The second reason why user research should be part of your product design cycle is that user feedback can act as a fortune teller’s crystal ball, pointing you to potential kinks and bottlenecks that could potentially sink or save your product down the line. User research also has the added benefit of giving you a pulse into how your product may likely perform in market.
While qualitative aspects of user research give deep understanding into user’s needs, tastes, preferences attitudes and behaviors. The quantitative aspects can be beneficial in estimating the size of your potential user population as well as measuring valuable data like how often users are likely to use the product/service or in the case of ice-cream measure how sweet spots are likely to resonate with specific target customer audience.
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