UX Methods: Overview, Selection and Procedure

1. What does one understand by user experience methods?
2. Avoid failures: Why are UX methods so important?
3. Which UX methods should you know and use?
4. Areas of application: When and in which phase of product development is which UX method suitable?
5. How can companies select the right UX method for themselves?
6. Useful tools to apply UX methods
7. Conclusion

Perhaps the following scenarios are familiar to you: endless feedback loops and debates on new features, euphorically launched campaigns that failed for an unknown reason, or heated arguments between design and product development debating arrangements and wordings...

Afterwards, it was wiser (or not). So what was actually the problem?

I argue that many product developments or optimizations fail because of lack of user research and the lack of the use of appropriate UX methods.

In this post, our guest author and Chief Growth Officer of the UX Agency Userlutions.com
Dennis Fäckeler will guide you through user experience methods. He will look at both great product failures and methods that may have prevented such a failure. You will also learn why, and when you should use UX methods best.

What does one understand by user experience methods?

User experience methods, or UX methods for short, are user research measures that help to investigate and improve the experience, interaction and expectations of your products together with your target groups.

The aim is to create exciting products and experiences.

User experience or user research methods can be used throughout the entire product development process and product lifecycle. Basically, a distinction is made in user research between qualitative and quantitative methods.

Quantitative UX methods provide you with figures, facts and answers to: What? How much? How often? How strong?

Qualitative UX methods provide the why and allow more detailed and realistic insights to be collected with open questions.

By observing and analyzing user behavior, you can find out where difficulties or dissatisfactions occur during the interaction and adjust them accordingly (see also Conversion optimization).

All in all, with the use of user experience methods, you can ensure that your users always have the best possible experience interacting with your offers. Ultimately, they should become enthusiastic customers who are happy to recommend your product or share their experiences.

Avoid failures: Why are UX methods so important?

Imagine you develop a product for months or years, or work on a website relaunch that goes completely wrong. You may already know the 32 million dollar relaunch disaster
of Hertz and Accenture. Here, a relaunch was developed entirely past the target group. The mission at the time was to transform the digital identity. The core of this was to redefine the customer experience on Hertz's digital platforms by developing a market-leading website. But there was no mention of a user focus.

Today, there are countless examples of products that have failed on the market because they were developed far from target groups. Or because a quick internal idea went into development through "Hey, this sounds good!" instead of through validation. Coke II is also part of the history of product failures and I'm sure you can think of a number of websites that have completely abandoned good usability and shopping experiences...

To prevent product ideas and optimizations from failing, you should integrate UX methods into the product development process. Source: museumoffailure.com

But besides FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods), there are also very different examples of product failures from the tech segment.

1. Can you remember Windows 8 and how Microsoft forgot what people actually use a PC for? Hit by the tablet hype, everything was supposed to look like touch, including a confusing interface and more or less good functionality. Thank God Windows 10 corrected a lot of this.
2. Add to this the Apple Watch from 2015, which was supposed to cost a mere 11,000 to 18,000 € in 18-karat gold... and failed miserably. Or the Samsung Galaxy Fold, which would certainly not have survived a diary study because the display would have broken quite quickly.
3. Currently, we have Meta - i.e. the metaverse of Mark Zuckerberg. In addition to the technical and design fails, apparently no one on the product requirements team has yet thought about a few privacy settings and child protection measures if such an "open world" is already being created.

What I want to say: Without examining the User-Experience and the general product acceptance, we inevitably fall into the trap of the company's own glasses. What we find extremely great, our users and potential target groups do not necessarily have to judge as good.

Plus, you're probably familiar with another problem: blindness to operations. Ask your developers about a specific pain point that you found in website or app analysis. The more familiar they are with the application, the less they can grasp the problem. The same applies in design, for product features, etc. The more familiar you are with your product, the harder it is to take a neutral look from the outside or to recognize hurdles. Moreover, you don't necessarily have to correspond to your target group, which makes empathy even more difficult.

One statement has remained in my memory from countless UX tests: "After we had watched four users operate the system, we realized it wasn't the users who were dumb, but that our website was bad." By involving UX methods early on, you therefore ensure various things, such as:

• Avoiding developments past the target group
• Good and easy usability
• General product acceptance
• Early detection of hurdles and problems with interaction
• Generating optimizations that really work
• Safety in critical questions related to improving your products

Which UX methods should you know and use?

If you want to use UX methods, you inevitably enter the field of user research. Here you will stumble upon as many possibilities as methods and questions.

• What data should be considered and how should it be evaluated?
• What methods help you achieve your goals the best?
• Should you start with analytics, set up a poll, or first conduct interviews?

Furthermore, the question of the appropriate target group, valid test setups, hypotheses, questions, etc. also arises.

To minimize complexity, you see proven UX methods divided into 4 quadrants.

On the horizontal x-axis, you see the field Quantitative (with the questions: What? How many? How often?), and the field Qualitative (the why and which solutions). The vertical axis describes the Drive (what users answer) and the Behavior (what users do).

Classification of common UX methods into the fields Qualitative and Quantitative and Drive and Behavior. Source: Userlutions .com

Within these fields, you will find the different methods sorted. This division helps you to recognize more quickly when a method is suitable.

Because some are excellent for understanding the why behind a question more deeply, while other UX methods rather analyze quantitative behavior.

An example: Through interviews (quadrant bottom right), you can dive much deeper into the motives and underlying emotions, values, etc. of people - you get to the bottom of the why (e.g. Why do people use a fitness app and what exactly do they use it for in everyday life?). You can then validate this knowledge quantitatively, for example through an onsite survey or surveys. The most suitable UX methods for your use case essentially depend on the specific question and the goals of your user research.

You can find the detailed description of each method in the next section. There all methods are sorted along the product development and optimization.

Depending on the phase of product development, some UX methods are particularly good for quickly generating insights, while others secure strategic decisions along product development and optimization. 

To meet the various requirements within user research projects, you can also use the so-called mixed methods.

Mixed-methods design refers to an approach that combines qualitative and quantitative methods. The goal is that you can always link the results together so that you receive a as deep understanding as possible about your target group and questions.

Areas of application: When and in which phase of product development is which UX method suitable?

User-centered design process for agile product development and optimization - divided into five phases. Source: Userlutions.com

This question is both simple and complex - because the answer essentially depends on your goals, corporate structures, relevant stakeholders, resources and ways of working.

How does UX testing fit within UX methods?

As you will see below, UX testing integrates within each individual phase of product development. UX testing is your all-purpose weapon and your quick rescue umbrella when questions remain open or internal persuasion needs to be performed. Because UX testing in user research is the systematic analysis of the User Experience (UX). UX testing is therefore one of the essential elements of conversion optimization, along agile product development and within user research. Read more in the OMR article UX-Testing: Importance, Advantages, Methods & Tool Tips.

It is advisable nowadays not to plan complex waterfall projects, but instead to develop and improve products iteratively using User-centered design processes in order to:

• Use resources in a targeted manner and not waste them
• Move target groups to the center of the development process
• Analyze user needs for optimal UX early on

Below you see the phases of product development and recommended UX methods summarized.

Analysis phase - Understanding the context of use and requirements

• Observation: understanding the actual context of use / the way of use
• Focus group: moderated group discussions
• Interviews: to learn individual requirements of the target group
• Diary Studies: Analyzing use in everyday life over a longer period of time
• Surveys: quantitative data collection with e.g. onsite surveys
• Customer Journey Analysis: Analysis of the individual phases customers go through (customer journey)
• Personas: archetypal customer profiles based on quant. and qual. research
• Expert Review / Heuristic Analyses: Expert analysis of applications based on heuristics
• Think Aloud: Method to verbalize the thoughts of the target group during usability and UX analyses
• Eye Tracking: Analysis of the eye movements of users during the interaction with an application
• Cognitive Walkthrough: Expert analysis based on theoretical foundations of cognitive research
• UX Testing & Iteration: existing products or applications can be evaluated and ideas generated through Initial analysis

Concept Phase - Developing First Solutions

• Card Sorting: Analysis and development of navigation structures with users
• Wireframing: basic structure that visualizes the information architecture or the user interface
• Low fidelity prototypes: Interactive presentation of the digital product removed from the future design, focusing on user experience and functionality
• UX Testing & Iteration: UX testing and optimizations along newly designed products or experiences

Visual Design - Implementation along design specifications

• Styleguides: Guidelines that define, specify, and describe a uniform design or a uniform appearance
• A/B Testing: Comparison of two versions of a website, app, or application
• High fidelity prototypes: interactive product presentation, which can be tested optically and functionally close to the end product
• UX Testing & Iteration: UX testing and optimizations along newly designed products or experiences

Implementation & Live Operation - Iterative analyses and optimizations

In principle, all UX methods of the analysis phase can be used in live operation or after implementation to verify your products for success. At the same time, the methods can be used for idea generation and further conversion optimizations.

Especially tools for conversion optimization are often used in the context of A/B testing and thus miss the chance to collect qualitative insights from the target group. Because knowing the why often has a much greater effect on further optimization decisions than optimizing on the basis of sober numbers.

How can companies select the right UX method for themselves?

You have now learned a lot of UX methods, how should you find and select the suitable UX method?

In principle, you can always orient yourself to the phase of the product's development. You should also consider your goals, the project result, your resources and the question.

An example: Suppose you have identified different touchpoints in analytics that leave you with a question mark in terms of performance and conversions. The offer was strictly formulated, and the designs also seemed appealing at first. It would now be far too much effort to get started directly with an eye-tracking and complete customer-journey analysis, recruiting test subjects, developing tests ... you know where I'm going. Much easier, it can be here to use a UX test in combination with a slim survey.

Instead, do you want to scale optimizations and evaluate hypotheses? Then an A/B test could be your tool of choice. However, if you're just starting a new product, or want to dig deeper into the why behind existing usage, deeper analyses like detailed interviews or focus groups are recommended.

Bonus tip for people with little time and resources

Stakeholders who don't yet understand the value of good user research can be harder to convey the benefits. Different questions can arise:

• How should the UX research project fit into the budget?
• Is there enough time internally for user research?
• Is all the effort worthwhile at all?

Sometimes not all stakeholders can be directly convinced of the value and need for UX testing and user research, so you need to be creative. Guerilla Research or unmoderated UX tests are two of these creative methods.

Guerilla Research is a quick, cost-effective option to gather customer insights and understand customer groups and product requirements. It simplifies complex research projects and is generally conducted in public spaces. You reduce elaborate recruitment or planning processes and put your individual research goal in the center to quickly collect insights (e.g. in shopping centers, city centers, places where your target group hangs out).

Unmoderated UX testing can also help you quickly and without big effort, to gather first product feedback. You outsource tests to the screens of your target groups, give concrete or open tasks and just watch what happens.

Useful tools to apply UX methods

UX Testing

Rapidusertests

userfeel

UserTesting

Interviews

Rapidusertests

userfeel

Eye Square

Eye Tracking & Emotion Analysis

Tobii

Eye Square

Shoplupe

A/B Testing

AB Tasty

Kameleoon

VWO Testing

Surveys

LimeSurvey

SurveyMonkey

Typeform

Bonus tip

Hotjar

Ideal for marketing, analysis, UX and CRO teams that want to better understand user behavior and collect their feedback in the next step.

Conclusion

If you want to put your product development or conversion optimization on stable pillars, argue better and validly internally and secure product developments (which saves you time, nerves and resources in the end), then you can't avoid the targeted use of UX methods. Products and marketing measures don't have to fail if you involve your target group better beforehand.

It has proven effective to use the appropriate methods along the 4-field matrix depending on the phase of product development. As already described, it doesn't always have to be the elaborate project that leads you to the desired UX results. In the first step, a slim UX test or an onsite survey can be your way to quickly gather feedback and new ideas. The choice of method ultimately depends on your goal setting.

I would collect quick website feedback with a survey in combination with a UX test. However, if you need deeper input, an interview may be the better way. Therefore, always bring the following questions to mind when choosing:

• Where are you currently in the product development process?
• What do you want to find out?
• What kind of results do you need and how deep do they need to be?
• Which methods (quantitative or qualitative) deliver the most useful results here?

If you consider this approach, then you are a big step further in designing convincing products.