Featured tip: 5 sure ways to identify a product's real audience
The first step to a solution that works is knowing who will use it. Basis Speech 101 taught us a couple of key points that we must also acknowledge when designing to enhance the user experience: (a) before you address your audience, know to whom you are speaking, (b) effective communication is not measured by the speaker, but by the audience. So with that said, here are five sure ways to know who you're addressing and how to do meet their needs.
Utilize the marketing team. Most often our only interaction with marketing is that they hand down to UX a description of the target market. It is really no fun to try to get the target market redefined, so don't be afraid to approach them with your concerns before they sign off on the project. Don't be afraid to discuss with them your concerns from a user experience perspective. Be willing to work with them and give them as much information as you know to help them define the right target market the first time.
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Let's face it, it's not always easy to get internal data to support UX efforts to effectively communicate with the audience. But if you can schmooze the right people, getting your hands on any customer feedback will go a long way in enhancing the user experience. Customer feedback can help you to get a better understanding of what the user really wants and doesn't want; what they need and don't need; and most important what they will use or not use. Be a real advocate for your the user and beg, if necessary, for any data logs, call logs, etc. that you can get your hands on.
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You'll need allies. Establish a strong rapport with the support team. They are your company's first line of defense or first positive impression. Support teams hear what the user community really thinks about the company, it's products and sometimes, its employees. This information is often retained for their own quality assurance purposes, but you are most likely going to be able to glean some very valuable insight as to who uses your products and how that product is or is not helping to them from this type of information. The information captured in calls to support centers can also be used to benchmark or validate your designs and even aid in prioritizing when certain features or functions are introduced to the user community.
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Another great ally is the software testing team. I know, you're thinking what an unlikely ally. Software testing teams are in place to ensure the product works "as designed" and are therefore often involved in trial management. Sometimes "as designed" doesn't come close to matching the user's behavior or expectation. When that happens the software testing team can become your most valuable ally in initiating change to the intended design before the final product is released to the user community.
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Don't be afraid to move beyond UX convention. Subscribe to market trend resources such as Experian's Simmons research tool or Forrester's market research reports. There are a number of large marketing firms that offer the type of raw data you will need to discover what the user community is doing, how they are doing it, where they're doing it and maybe you'll even discover some level of why they do what they do. Using a research tool can offer you the freedom to customize reports to fit your unique product or situation and can also be used to compliment efforts with your marketing team to identify the product's target market.
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Other tips you can use
How to identify the real issues
Often UX is engaged to "fix the problem." Sometimes the problem identified is really just a symptom of the real problem. As a sample, let's assume you, the UX professional has been engaged to figure out a solution as to why web users are browsing your retail site, even placing items in the shopping cart, but never completing the purchase. The project, as stated, "get people to complete the purchase process." The only way to get users to complete a purchase is to first figure out what's causing them to halt the purchase process.
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How to prevent your solutions from becoming phase II fodder
How often have you done the research and offered a viable solution, only to hear something like "well, we'll consider that for phase II development"? Why does that happen? You didn't sell it well enough. Yes, we as UX professionals also have to be willing to put on a sales hat. UX is not an easy discipline to swallow for those who are not sold on the value we bring to the table. We must be diligent to always be willing to champion the cause to bring UX to the forefront of any development project. Here's a few steps you can take to better sell the solution in the current development phase.
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