Can Businesses Outsource User Research?

One of the common mistakes beginner designers and inexperienced product development teams make is to confuse themselves with the end user. They often assume that their user will like what they like, that they both have the same problems and are looking for the same solution. They also assume that the user knows everything that they do — that they have the same technical skills and expertise.

The result? A product that looks perfectly fine for the development team but that the end-user can’t even begin to use. This mistake can often be too costly to fix and cause the product to fail.

The solution? User research.

Understand user experience design before outsourcing it

Development teams don’t always understand user experience, how it fits into the development cycle, or its importance. Before outsourcing UX research, it’s best to understand how it works and the role of UX research in design. 

User experience can make or break your product. It includes everything from making your website load fast to designing a steering column that is comfortable and smooth but also offers proper feedback to a driver. It can be the difference between a product that customers love and recommend to others and something that creates way too many complaints and queries to your customer care department. 

UX starts way before you make your first sketch and continues even after your product reaches the shelves. 

Why should businesses invest in user research?

It gives a better understanding of the user demographic

User research could be the difference between a successful and a failed product. To create a product that your audience will love, you’ll have to first understand them well. Before you start creating the wireframe or even before your team has defined the features, you need to talk to your target audience.

The things you may consider to be a user pain point may not even be a concern for them. Your user base may have an easy workaround for what you perceive to be a bottleneck in their processes. In some instances, the product you’ve invested so many resources into could turn out to be a solution that your users have already implemented.

It helps the team understand user pain points and behavior

With effective user research, your product development team can better understand the user’s perspective. They’ll get a good picture of the difficulties the users face, how they have attempted to resolve them, and how the team can create a valuable product for them.

Otherwise, the team may end up spending a lot of resources perfecting the product only for the users to reject it. DoorDash is a popular example of this. Initially, the team focused on building the perfect product which they imagined would help restaurants and patrons alike. But after they launched, they realized that the restaurants couldn’t find enough drivers.

It can help prevent expensive changes to the product later in its lifecycle

When teams develop products without understanding the users, they’re likely to make decisions by viewing themselves as the end users. They’ll find it difficult to place themselves in the users’ shoes. This can result in costly changes and redesigns further down the line.

The team can offer a better UX with their product.

Expertly planned user research can also help the development team create a seamless user experience for the product. They can ensure that the users will enjoy the product and will find value in it.

The product is likely to have a faster adoption and growth rate

Businesses are more likely to create successful products with this user-centric approach to design. Users are more likely to adopt these products and incorporate them into their workflows. With good user research, organizations can quickly and sustainably grow their user base.

Should you outsource user research?

In most cases, the answer is yes, you should. 

There are many aspects you need to consider when deciding between conducting research in-house or with an external agency or a team. But ultimately, it’s a cost-benefit analysis for your specific situation.

If you already have a dedicated internal team for conducting user research and their expertise is enough, it won’t make sense to go for an external agency. If you don’t have a dedicated budget for user research and if you don’t require in-depth research, you may opt for an in-house approach even without a designated user research team.

However in-house research may not be your best option when you want in-depth information. For that, you need a dedicated research team that has the experience, expertise, as well as necessary tools. If you have a small product team and if you assign research to one or two of your team members, they may not have the bandwidth to get the detail you need.

For startups or small businesses, it may also be too expensive or even unnecessary to maintain an in-house research team. Why invest in building a huge research team for a single project, when you can just outsource it?

When you want a team laser-focused on user research delivering high-quality information for a low cost, an external team will be your best option. But if you’re looking at multiple long-term projects with ongoing research needs, it may be wise to invest in an in-house research team.

Pros and cons of keeping research in-house

There are both pros and cons to having an in-house research team. Let’s have a look at some of them. One of the major pros is that in-house teams often work closely with other departments and have a better product and brand understanding. On the other hand, in-house teams are usually spread too thin to produce high quality research. 

Pros of keeping UI/UX research in-house

• A better understanding of the brand: 

In-house teams are more tightly integrated with the brand and are more familiar with what works with their customer base. They may also have a better understanding of brand identity. 

That said, an external team with a good onboarding process can understand the brand very well. 

• Lower cost (generally)

In some cases, in-house UX personnel can cost less than an external team. That said, sometimes an external team may be cheaper when you consider the salary and benefits of an in-house team. 

Cons of keeping UI/UX research in-house

• Possibility of biased results

In-house teams may hold biases about their user base which may skew the results. 

• Lower quality of results 

Unless there’s a dedicated team for UX research, your in-house personnel may not be able to dedicate enough resources for research resulting in poor quality results.

• Difficult to reach large and diverse users

Once again, without dedicated personnel for UX research, your team may struggle to find a representative sample of users. 

Pros and cons of outsourcing user research

One of the biggest pros of outsourcing user research is that you get to define the deliverables and you can be sure that the team put enough resources to conduct the research. While they tend to be expensive on the short run, in the long run, it may be cheaper to have an external team come in for research when required instead of paying salary and benefits for an in-house team. 

Pros of outsourcing user research

• Less bias

External teams tend to have fewer biases about your users. They’re more likely to make data-centered decisions. 

• High ROI

Internal teams are usually handling multiple things at the same time and UX research may not get the focus it needs. External teams don’t have that problem. 

• Clear processes

UI/UX consultants usually have clear processes for onboarding clients and delivering results. These processes simplify everything for both parties and deliver better results. 

• Clear deliverables

UX consultants work with a clear scope and deliverables. Both the client and the consultant know exactly what they’ll get. 

• Easy access to a diverse audience

User research is a regular process for UX consultants and they know how to reach a diverse audience to quickly conduct surveys and test hypotheses. 

Cons of outsourcing user research

• Higher cost

Getting a dedicated user research team can be an additional expense if you already have an in-house UI/UX team.  

• Less control over the research process

UI/UX consultants usually have their own processes and clients may not have a lot of say over that. That said, most consultants will be more than happy to answer all your questions about their processes.  

What should you consider when you outsource user research?

User research is complicated and you need to find a team that has the experience and expertise to produce meaningful insights for your specific product or solution. Here are some factors you need to consider before choosing a UX research team. 

Check their portfolio, the industry they focus on, their skills, the tools they use, and how they work.

These are the very first steps of hiring an external team for user research.

An experienced team will have a large portfolio of user research they have conducted. It should help you understand the nature of the work they have done and the results and outcomes they have delivered to their clients.

You should also consider the industries and the types of products the team has worked on. If there’s a significant overlap between those and the industry you’re targeting, the team would be able to offer you better insights.

Before hiring a team you should also look at their skill sets and the tools they rely on and check if it’s suitable for the nature of your projects.

Different teams also have different styles of working; some may prefer conducting extensive meetings with you during the process and others may send regular emails instead. Certain external agencies may invite your team to their internal Slack or Microsoft Teams while others may prefer face-to-face meetings. All of these approaches get the job done, but it will be easier for you if they have a similar approach to your team’s.

Consider the cost

There’s no point in beating about the bush about this — have an open discussion on how they charge and how much it will cost you. Some teams may offer packages, some may have a flat rate, while others may have hourly rates.

It’s important to have a clear picture of the costs before you go ahead with a team.

Define the scope clearly

As with the cost, you also need an open discussion on the scope of user research. Depending on the nature of your product, the scope may vary widely and so will the resources the team will have to allocate. Define the size of your audience, their demographics, the information you want to get, as well as the deliverables.

Give the team as much information as possible

One of the reasons why businesses opt for an external user research team is to avoid bias. Research from an internal team may be biased due to what they know about the business.

Businesses may also be hesitant to share confidential information, particularly about any product in the works. But to get good research, the team will need adequate context. You don’t want to end up spending a ton on user research and getting information that you already know. Businesses can use NDAs and other tools to ensure that any information shared will remain confidential. You can also discuss with individuals from the research team if a piece of information is needed for context or if it will bias them. Once you know this, you can decide whether to share it with the rest of them.

Work along with the team and communicate well

To get good results, you need to work with the external team. This doesn’t mean micromanaging their every move. It just means you need to know where the research is at and if it is in the right direction. Another aspect of this is that if you rely solely on reports or other documentation from the research, your team may miss out on additional context. With user research, you want to get granular data – the team should understand their audience instead of just viewing them as numbers. For this, you need to regularly communicate with the research team.

Ready to kickstart your user research?

Conducting user research and getting all the information you need is not easy. LunarLab can help you fast-track your product development with our state-of-the-art research process. We have worked with numerous startups and businesses to conduct user research for a diverse range of products. Our insights have helped organizations drive their product to success and build a large user base in a short time. Whether you’ve decided to keep it in-house or outsource, contact us to get the conversation started.