A multi-award winning BBC journalist who delivers personal, insightful and valuable testing
There are different styles to research and user testing. For me, I very much use my history as a journalist to really get under the skin of customers and stakeholders to dig out detailed insights that point the way to real, meaningful improvements.
- Recruitment of participants
- Development of briefs and scripts
- Stakeholder management
- Remote or in-person interviews
- Insights and analysis reporting
- Multiple tools and techniques
- Strategic insights
- Associated UX deliverables
My Rules for Research
Recruit right
Ideally the people you recruit care enough without a bribe. Also - recruit sceptics who are not brand obsessives.
Define the objectives
How you research is defined by what you want to achieve. Once I know the objectives I can recommend the tools.
Don't lead the witness
I have lost count of the number of times I've seen surveys or programs designed to 'encourage' an outcome. Not today!
No wrong answers
Everyone needs to express themselves freely. This is especially important in workshops where the boss is present.
Integrate to accelerate
Integrating research into your backlog helps ratify decisions made and will guide the roadmap.
Take aim at targets
Good research should be related to KPIs in terms of how it is judged. It's part of your overall strategy.
Remote testing needn't feel remote
It seems a long time ago that most interviews were held in person! I believe in making sure online interviews have the same degree of connection and personal touch that you need to truly find great insights.
Customer insights support data
One of the more interesting aspects of the lockdown has been increased awareness and usage of simple, lean tools in research such as tree jacking that support data analysis from GA and platforms like Content Square.