Top 5 reasons you can’t afford to skip user research
“Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.” – Seth Godin, entrepreneur and best-selling author
The best products and apps out there are the ones that solve a real-world problem, meet people’s needs, and are fun or easy to use. And they’re also usually some of the most profitable products… which isn’t a coincidence. These are the apps you use every day, the ones you put on your phone’s home screen, the ones on your work computer that are always open.
Every one of those apps started with a dream, and then worked their way up to the top. So how did they get there? And how can you take your app there? The good news is that there is a way that your app can become someone’s favorite… and that path can start with user research.
User research is the key to really understanding your customers on a deeper level; getting to know their real motivations so you can create an app that keeps them coming back over and over again. Spending time intentionally creating an exceptional user experience is the difference between a failing product and one that helps you rise above your competitors.
Read on for my top 5 reasons why you really can’t afford to skip user research…
1. You could limit your profitability
Time and time again, we’ve seen companies that focus on user experience skyrocket to the top of their fields. Apple is a master at this: think about how easy their products are to set up and use. That pleasant experience means they can sell more products. And they’re not the only ones – UX Designer & Researcher Jared Spool worked with a major retailer on research-driven changes and increased the number of customers purchasing by 45%, generating an extra $15 million in revenue in just the first month!
2. You could be behind your competitors
Even if you think you’re not ready to do user research… your competitors probably are. In 2019, a survey of enterprise experience employees revealed that 65% said there was an increase in demand for UX research in the past 12 months. The demand for user research increases every year, and your competitors are hiring them to improve their own products’ experience. Don’t get left behind.
3. You could be setting your prices too low
Figuring out your monetization strategy can be hard, but setting pricing can be an entirely new conundrum. How do you know if you’re setting the price too high and scaring off customers, or if it’s too low and you’re leaving money on the table? User research can help you answer this question.
Research can also help you raise your prices (and your profitability). Companies that make experience a priority can charge premium prices of up to 16% by understanding and fulfilling customer needs. A great example of this is United Airlines. By using user research insights to increase satisfaction for their most profitable customers, they doubled their number of daily sessions and increased online ticketing by 200%.
4. You could be losing money on development costs
Development is often by far the most expensive part of creating software, and it is usually also the most risky part. User research identifies usability problems early on, before development starts, which can decrease overall development costs and reduce the risk of expensive mistakes. American Airlines saw the benefits in action: when they corrected usability problems during the design phase of their website, they reduced the cost of those fixes by 60-90%.
5. You could be sabotaging your customer retention
You may have already set customer retention goals for your product, and user research can help you to meet or exceed those goals. By understanding what really motivates people to use your software, you can keep them coming back again and again. Nielsen Norman Group tested two navigation schemes on a website and the results were dramatic: they saw an 80% success rate with the navigation scheme structured according to research, vs. only a 9% success rate with the navigation scheme structured according to the development team’s internal thinking. As entrepreneurs, those are the retention numbers of our dreams… and they’re within your grasp through the magic of user research.
Ready to start your user research journey? We’d love to help you succeed! Contact us for a free consultation.
