User Research:
User research is a methodic study of target users including their needs and pain points.Therefore, user research is the first step towards designing a succesful product. User research is also used to iterate and refine the product based on user expectations.
User research tools and techniques can be applied to many different aspects of the overall user journey. (Image courtesy of Tomer Maimoni)
User research helps us to validate the hypothesis and identify the user needs and requirements.
Steps involved in conducting user research
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Define the hypothesis you want to validate
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State the objectives you want to achieve
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Choose the most appropriate method to conduct user research depending upon the type of product and kind of market, you are targeting
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Conduct and gather the data
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Analyze the data and draw insights from it.
Commonly used User Research Methods
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Surveys - Surveys are consists of a series of questions that give quantitative information from a large target group of users
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User Interviews - One-on-One discussions with users to gather qualitative information
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Contextual Enquiry - In this method, users are observed as they perform tasks in their own environment
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User Feedback - One can ask users to give their opinion on the product
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A/B Testing - It's a quantitative method that allows you to compare two versions of a product and figure out which one works better
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Heatmaps - Heatmaps allow us to evaluate which parts of the app or website, users engage the most