How to conduct effective user research sessions

How to conduct effective user research sessions

Introduction

Whatever your goal, research is an important step at the beginning and throughout any design process. A user research session can be a user interview, usability testing or task analysis. The meetings can be face to face (moderated) or prompted and recorded separately (unmoderated) using a platform like usertesting.com.

User research allows us to gather and explore new opportunities, validate assumptions, and confirm that our design concepts can be understood in a way that meets the user’s needs.

To carry out a successful user research session, it’s crucial to select the right target audience and invite them in a professional way while considering the use of their data and consent. The most valuable participants are the brand-loyal, current customers. A minimum of 5 participants is enough to get a general consensus on key issues or drivers. Be sure to record the session and create a summary while feedback is fresh in your mind.

Section 1: Unmoderated sessions

Conducting user testing with real customers can be a challenging task. Access to customers can be limited, and recruiting them for testing can be time-consuming and may involve overcoming various hurdles within the business. A tool like usertesting.com can help you to quickly recruit participants for user testing, while rewarding them for taking part. The platform allows you to reach a range of participants from different demographics, locations, and device types, and you can get feedback the same day.

Find out more about usertesting.com.

Part 1: Creating your target audience

Helpful tools: Sales data, Google Analytics, Hotjar, usertesting.com

Usertesting.com provides the ability to recruit participants based on predefined demographics rather than using a company database. This is particularly helpful when there’s a limited timeframe or you’re creating a series of iterations.

target audiences

Take into account demographic data that closely aligns to your customers or persona. For instance, sales data might show that first time buyers tend to be women aged 30 to 65, and because the brand is based in the United Kingdom, you should target those. Cross check with Google Analytics data for the particular part of the website or feature you’re testing.

Aim to get a minimum of 5 participants. It’s at around this number that feedback starts to overlap, and you can get a general consensus on key usability findings.

Find out more about targeting an audience.

Part 2: Setting up a test

If you decide to set up an activity in usertesting.com, you’ll notice that there’s a lot of choice in the type of test you can create.

You can provide an image, prototype, website or app. Build or invite your audience and then include a range of prompts or questions.

Section 2: Moderated sessions

Moderated user sessions can be done in-person or remotely and provide an opportunity for more in-depth feedback and insights into the user’s experience. The moderator observes the participant’s interactions with the activity and records the participant’s feedback, observations and any issues encountered.

user session process

(source: softwaretestinghelp)

Part 1: Finding your target audience

Helpful tools: Sales data, Google Analytics, Hotjar

The ideal participants depend on what you already know about the user and should reflect your target audience or persona of the project.

By asking around you may find out that there’s already a group of customers that are frequently contacted. The marketing team might have reached out to them in the past for a survey or a brand alignment activity. The sales team might have been in contact with customers who have provided feedback about their online experiences.

In an ideal world, the customer data is grouped into company personas on a CRM, making it easier to request.

When requesting customer data, clearly outline the criteria you need, such as: Age range: 30 to 65, number of purchases: 1, purchase method: online, gender: female, location: United Kingdom.

Recruit as many people as you have time for but aim for a minimum of 5 participants.

Part 2: Recruiting participants

Helpful tools: Word, Outlook

I’d suggest the below email message. Use it as a template and change if necessary.

Dear NAME

I’ve been working on a project to improve a website feature for BRAND and would appreciate your feedback.

This will just be a 20 min video call to find out what you think and to learn more about your experiences.

Would you be happy to participate next week?

Kind regards

YOUR NAME

It can be sent to participants through Outlook via Mail Merge in Microsoft Word and will use your email signature. It’s likely that you’ve already been provided with a spreadsheet of data, it’s also a lot easier to send bulk mail this way.

Ideally you need to ensure that they can take part using a desktop computer. If they’re using a device, it tends to be more problematic because they’re less likely to be able to see what you’re presenting or prototyping.

Find out more about Mail Merge.

2.1: Using incentives

You’ll probably be asked by others in the team if you should offer an incentive. If you have the budget and permission, you could offer an Amazon or wine voucher in the invitation to a few people at a time. However, if you have a group of loyal customers that you can contact, you’ll likely find that they’ll be more than willing to help just to have the chance of doing something different.

2.2: How to manage participants

Helpful tools: Calendly

After a participant has agreed to take part, it’s time to set up the time and date. It’s best to provide them with a choice of dates rather than having a back-and-forth email discussion about it. That’s where the tool Calendly comes in handy. With Calendly you can schedule your availability and share this with the participant so that they have a range of times to choose from. Not only that, but Calendly will also add an email calendar entry with a video call invitation for your chosen communications platform.

Find out more about Calendly.

Part 3: Conducting a moderated session

Helpful tools: Teams

Always keep an eye on the time remaining in the meeting. This will allow you to actively listen and prioritise important questions during the session, then effectively wrap up the meeting in time.

Ideally, have a colleague shadow your call and take notes. It can be difficult to take notes during the meeting when you’re caught up in the moment, having a colleague can help you to not miss any important points.

Probably the most important thing is to record the session. I think the best opportunity to gain permission to record and share the session is during the meeting. This way, you’re not only getting the most current consent, but it tends to be more likely they’ll agree to this formality. However, if they decline, don’t make a big deal out of it – just note take instead.

I recommend using Teams for managing and sharing your recordings. However, it’s important to ask your participants about their preferred platform to avoid any potential issues with screen sharing. When conducting a usability testing session, provide the participant with a link to the website or Figma prototype that you’ll be reviewing, as they’ll need to share their screen during the interaction so you can record them.

3.1: Questions to ask during a session

It’s a good idea to have an idea of the structure of the meeting before the call starts. Not only does this help you to mentally prepare but allows you to gain the most out of the responses in the session.

SCRIPT:

The session can consist of introductions, explaining who you are and what you’re hoping to accomplish. It gives you the opportunity to set expectations, highlight that you would like the participant to feel at ease and they have the freedom to provide any feedback they want, and that there are no right or wrong answers.

Aim to ask questions that won’t lead to just a yes or no answer. For example, rather than saying “Is this easy to use?” say “Tell me about what is and isn’t easy here”.

3.2: What to do during an interview

During an interview, point out that the purpose of the meeting is to have an informal discussion or conversation rather than to put the participant on the spot or make them feel uncomfortable. And this is how you should continue to treat it. You can achieve this by having topic prompts in a script rather than questions. By not having a list of questions to work through, you establish a more natural discussion. However, you can include some key, important questions along the way.

You may notice recurring issues after a few user sessions. By not following a list of questions it allows you to adapt or modify queries each meeting.

3.3: What to do during user testing

For a user testing session, put every effort into allowing the user to solve things themselves in order to discover more about the issue. For instance, participants might come across an error or something surprising which causes them to panic. Don’t jump in and suggest the correct course of action, instead ask ‘what did you expect to happen next?’ or ‘what do you think you should try to do now’. Only at the point that they keep going around in circles or ask for support, help them move on.

3.4: What NOT to do during a session

Section 3: Reporting results

You should now have a nice long recording to refer to when writing up your summary, report or analysis. Be sure to complete the write up while the meeting is still fresh in your mind. Or at the very least, write up detailed notes for later.

research notes

Part 1: Gathering insights from recordings

If you’ve run either a user interview or a usability session, watch back the recording to ensure you gather important insights and ensure you haven’t missed anything. When observing the usability session recording, try to watch for any unusual or unexpected behaviour as they work their way through a task.

Listen carefully to the feedback provided by the participants, and document any relevant observations they make. As they explain their actions while completing a task, evaluate whether their reasoning is logical. Be mindful of instances where their actions do not align with their feedback, and take note of areas where they struggle or try to backtrack during a task.

Ultimately, aim to get a better understanding on how users intended to complete a task, what they find effective, and what may have caused confusion or errors.

Part 2: User session playback

I’ve found that a summary write-up as well as a live play back to key stakeholders to be the most impactful. Instead of your report getting forgotten in their inbox, having a meeting and sharing a few key clips with your team is more powerful and can really generate interest in the frustrations their customers have experienced.

Hopefully the recording can be saved to the cloud and allow you to share it with your peers. Be sure to turn off any expiration dates. This is particularly important because you may want to refer to the recording again for a future project’s kick-off meeting. Again, you can play back the recording to stakeholders, highlighting the main pain points.

Another benefit of recording a session is that you can look back and learn what went well and where you might need to improve. Are there better ways you can ask questions? Did you get the information you needed? Why not? Like with most things, it takes practice.