User experience (UX) specialists lead the charge with customer-centric sites and mobile app designs. Since UX is becoming an integral part of product design, there are shifts in user research and techniques.
Nowadays, modern businesses move past old advertising methods that only know how to scream slogans. Nevertheless, they risk being behind. The issue with this outdated approach is that too many comparable products in the market claim to be the greatest in their respective product categories.
So, in order to survive in a competitive environment, companies have to invest their time in developing the proper strategies for websites, apps, and more.
Well, let’s not waste any more time because, in this article, we will show you the top nine UX research methods for creating more organized web content.
9 UX Research Methods For Organizing Website Content
1. User Interviews
User interviews are popular research methods you can use for gathering information through conversion rates. During user interviews, you can ask typical questions on specific topics and analyze them based on the answers participants will give you.
The type of results you get will depend on how well you ask questions, the form of questions you ask, and the follow-ups you perform. Importantly, experts claim that you should allow your users to speak freely whenever you are narrating an incident. Here are a few things you can do:
- Ask questions that focus mainly on tasks users are trying to complete
- Take advantage of the analysis, get transcripts done and share your findings with the team
- Ensure that your questions don’t only resonate with your product
Nevertheless, it’s important to define your internal assumptions and goals. After all, research should be done together, and asking the right questions help learn more about user behavior.
Therefore, you’ll be able to learn more about what your customers want from you. Furthermore, here are some further UX research questions you can answer:
- Don’t ask users to predict the future: This is a common question and will usually let users use this feature in the future. However, most users won’t pay attention to this question and only say “yes” to make themselves feel better.
- Ask “Why”: asking “why” is one of the most important questions to ask when you want to learn more about your users.
- Avoid asking close-ended questions: Don’t ask questions that involve yes/no responses unless you really need them. Close-ended questions won’t give you too many insights or allow you to understand the entire reason behind the answer.
- Understand user behavior: An excellent question you can ask is to identify how users solved past issues and learn more about their process to observe behaviors further.
- Don’t use opinions: This is a common mistake many people will make. However, avoid it at all costs and don’t ever include your opinion as a question. For example, avoid asking about pain points if the user doesn’t have any.
2. Usability Testing
You must be prepared to conduct usability testing if you want quality UX research. This includes inviting users to test product prototypes. It’s one of the most common tests run by companies that provide UX research services.
In present times, usability testing is a requirement for mobile app and web designers. This involves you watching users interact and navigate through your apps and recording their reactions from the raw data you have for the design team.
Usability testing doesn’t require you to invest thousands of dollars and always have a lab to perform the tests. Especially for MVPs and startups, usability tests can waste resources. You need five people for the test, so you don’t encounter unnecessary issues.
In fact, according to studies, testing with five participants reveals 85% of the issues you have with your product and service.
3. Card Sorting
So, the real question is, what is card sorting? Card sorting is an excellent way of allowing you to understand how people understand information and how they perceive different ideas, and it significantly helps designers structure the information about a product or site.
Card sorting is a powerful research tool that allows you to understand better how people think and how they’ll think of using your product. Nevertheless, it’s a UX research method and helps you uncover the real world of how people think and categorize information.
Furthermore, here are the main ways researchers will use insights from card sorting:
- Learn how people understand ideas, concepts and how they perceive them
- It helps you understand what users can expect from the content
- Creating information architecture (IA) of a site that makes navigation super easy
4. A/B Testing
A/B testing requires you to use third-party software that can separate two web pages, where one page will slightly differ from the other.
However, through A/B testing, you can identify which one is the right fit for you. Nevertheless, through A/B testing, you can identify what kind of adjustments you need to make to your website content and what works best for your target audience.
5. Surveys
Everyone knows what surveys are all about. However, let’s go through a quick reminder. Surveys contain a list of questions that can either be open-ended or close-ended, where you can send them to a target group to receive in-detail topic-specific information.
This UX research method is easy and cheap to import and can successfully be carried out remotely. You only need Google Forms, a contact database, and the questions you wish to ask, and you’re set to go.
6. Field Studies
Field studies are research activities that take place within the user’s environment rather than in an office or lab, so they are an excellent way of uncovering context, constraints, and unknown motivations that affect the overall quality of the user experience.
Furthermore, field studies’ main advantage is observing people in their natural environment, giving your context a glimpse of how your product is used. A field study is increasingly important where users learn more about their needs, collect more extensive information about user stories, and learn more about how users complete tasks.
For instance, during a field study, a researcher will give users real-life scenarios and tasks they need to complete,
7. Guerilla UX Research
Guerilla UX research is another term that is used for low-cost alternatives in UX research. However, there is a difference between the two. In other words, surveys can be useful, and we know that the fastest way to get straight to the point is to ask straightforward questions to people who are using your product the most.
In order to find top-quality data for your UX research, target areas where your audience will be around. Go to areas where you know your audience will spend the most time. In this case, it may be at a cafe, park, or other area.
8. Remote User Interviews
We all know that the world is shifting to a remote presence. Sometimes, this may cause participants to lose and to face conflicts. However, nowadays, you can use online tools such as Zoom, Google Meet, and other apps, for reducing the time it takes to interview many people at once.
Keep in mind that remote interviews might not give you all of the data you are looking for as other user research methods will, but they can come in handy when it comes to uncovering usability issues and analyzing the type of reactions that may occur.
Furthermore, some of the primary advantages of using remote user interviews is that you can focus on the primary issues users are going through and get targeted feedback. This may be an issue when you are dealing with focus groups, but when you deal with individuals, it’s easier since you avoid “Group Thinking.”
9. Analytics
Analytics includes gathering quantitative research methods and falls under this type of category. Especially if you are working on a tight budget, you can consider using Google analytics as a method of collecting quantitative data.
When using analytics tools, you can take answer the following questions:
- What are the most popular features?
- What type of paths do people usually take?
- Why do people leave?
- How long do people stay on a page?
- How long does it take users to complete tasks?
The Final Word
We come to an end for this article. These are our top nine UX research methods for increasing your website content. At the end of the day, no matter what happens, it’s important to know how your audience feels and what to expect from them. If you know more about their interactions, you you’ll know which methods to use for improving your product and services.
Ella Marcotte
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