How can user testing help you discover new product opportunities?

As a product manager, you don’t have to feel pressured to apply all the feedbacks that the users provide. Take note of them (they’re important), but ensure you go back and have a good look at the feedbacks with your team. If there are feedbacks that can work for the current version you’re about to release, then great, but if you have to shift it to the next version, following the technicalities, impact and other factors, then please do not hesitate to.

Whatever has a beginning has an end (destination). Try to figure where the intended goals are and the scope. From experience it narrows down the focus on the project. Plan your testing to your goal and now your on the right track

“A designer who begins user testing without having a clear goal is like a farmer who heads to the farm for harvest without the necessary tools.” Based on my experience as a designer, nothing beats being adequately prepared for tasks. It is highly difficult to achieve anything without a set goal and an actual plan on how to execute it. How do you set goals before user testing begins? - Identify your target users. - Know and clarify the main reason why the user testing is being carried out. - Have your goals properly defined and prioritized. - Choose a suitable testing method. - Choose the best tools for the method you’ve selected. By doing all these, the proper foundation would be laid for successful user testing.

Go beyond usability. Instead of solely focusing on improving the current product, set broader goals like understanding unmet needs, emerging trends, and pain points not addressed by existing solutions. Define your target audience. Identify who you want to learn from, whether it's existing users, a new market segment, or a combination of both. This helps tailor your testing methods and questions.

Digo que teste de usabilidade, é tudo na vida de um produto. Uma vez, me peguei numa situa??o aplicando um teste de usabilidade para uma nova feature e, de repente, bingo! Durante o teste, descobrimos n?o só como melhorar a novidade, mas também identificamos um problema existente que estava escondido. Foi incrível como essa experiência nos direcionou para algo que ainda n?o tínhamos verificado! Esses testes s?o verdadeiros olhos de águia, revelando tanto os desafios quanto as oportunidades que podem passar despercebidas. Uma verdadeira mina de insights para aprimorar nosso trabalho e tornar a jornada do usuário ainda mais incrível. Ent?o se puder, teste! ????

“A farmer who needs to harvest grains knows the importance of his sickle.” The result you intend to achieve at the end of your user testing determines the tools, methods and steps you take towards that goal. Personally, I have come to see over time that the methods and tools we use for testing can be influenced by some external factors such as time, scope, budget, circumstances and even available resources. An example was during the pandemic. Most of the user testing carried out at that time were online surveys and we know why it had to be so. However, regardless of the factors guiding our user testing decisions, we need to ensure that our results are useful and that they clearly express and reflect the opinions of users.

Go beyond traditional testing. While usability testing is valuable, try methods like ethnographic interviews, card sorting, diary studies, or even brainstorming sessions with users to unearth hidden needs and desires. Embrace open-ended questions. Encourage users to share their frustrations, aspirations, and dream solutions. Tools like surveys with open-ended prompts or video-based interviews can facilitate richer insights.

User testing is considered as one of the best practices before launching your product. There are usually 2 ways how one can validate their product 1. MVP (kinda beta) 2. Prototype Now It depends on what kinda budget our project has, usually given that engineering is considered one of the most expensive resources in a team Let's not look into MVP for now. On other hand a prototype allows you to validate your initial thoughts into action. In this term, design has a very high ROI because it's easier to pivot while you are at this stage. Although I believe it's not necessary to use tools like framer/webflow for prototyping, because these are more like MVP tools, not the prototyping tool. One can use Figma or Protopie for a more quick process.

User testing is the compass guiding us to hidden product treasures. Through it, we uncover insights that are gold mines for new opportunities. Airbnb, for instance, discovered a craving for authentic experiences through user testing, leading to the creation of "Experiences," expanding beyond accommodations. Instagram's success story is tied to continuous user testing. Stories emerged from understanding users' desire for ephemeral content – disappearing act users love. In a nutshell, user testing is the X on the treasure map of product development. It's not just about finding issues; it's about discovering new islands of innovation!

User testing employs methods like interviews and usability testing, facilitated by tools such as UserTesting and UsabilityHub. Virtual or in person user interviews offer qualitative insights, allowing designers to understand user experiences and expectations. Usability testing tools capture interactions and real-time feedback during product exploration. The significance of letting users talk and discover the product independently lies in uncovering authentic reactions, identifying areas of confusion, and discovering unanticipated needs. This comprehensive approach guides informed design decisions, ensuring products align closely with user expectations and provide a satisfying user experience.

Engaging in thorough user research can help in identifying new features that directly address user wants or alleviate pain points. Post-testing, the synthesis of data becomes pivotal, especially when dealing with large datasets from surveys. Employing tools such as affinity maps proves instrumental in organizing and categorizing diverse user responses. This method enables a holistic view of user sentiments and preferences by grouping data into like categories. The real power emerges when searching for shared themes across these categories, paving the way to uncover latent user needs and desires. By backtracking from these commonalities, product teams can strategically derive and implement features that resonate with user expectations.

Look for patterns and themes. Pay attention to recurring frustrations, unmet needs, and unexpected behaviors during user testing. Analyze qualitative data alongside quantitative results to create a holistic picture. Build empathy maps. Visualize user needs, emotions, and pain points to deepen your understanding and generate ideas on how to address them.

Analyzing data from user interviews requires a nuanced approach to distill meaningful insights. Start by transcribing and categorizing responses to identify recurring themes or patterns. However, it's essential to recognize that user statements may not always accurately reflect behavior, and thus, triangulating interview data with other research methods is crucial. Supplement user interviews with quantitative data, usability testing, or analytics to validate or challenge user claims. This triangulation helps in corroborating findings and gaining a more comprehensive and reliable understanding of user needs and behaviors.

Avoid making knee-jerk reactions based on observation or data. Data is part of the story, but not the entire story. And data can tell a different story than is actually the case. Spend a lot of time in this phase.

Think creatively. Brainstorm solutions based on your newfound understanding of user needs and behaviors. Encourage wild ideas and challenge assumptions. Prioritize for feasibility and impact. Evaluate your ideas based on their potential market fit, resource requirements, and alignment with your overall business strategy.

After you have found potential features gleaned from synthesized user research data, the next step involves bringing these ideas into a collaborative brainstorming session with stakeholders. Stakeholders, armed with their unique perspectives and insights, contribute to the critical process of determining which ideas possess the potential to evolve into robust features. The interactive nature of these sessions not only fosters creativity but also ensures that the chosen features align with the overarching goals of the project. This collective decision-making approach adds depth and strategic direction to the development process, transforming user-informed concepts into tangible, impactful features.

Other technique is divergent thinking where is like opening up to lots of different ideas when trying to solve a problem. In user testing, it helps by bringing in many creative solutions, making things more interesting and finding issues we might not have thought about - It's like being open to different opinions and working together to come up with flexible and user-friendly solutions. While divergent thinking can bring valuable insights and creativity to the user testing process, it’s essential to balance it with convergent thinking, where the focus is on narrowing down and refining the most viable solutions for implementation. Combining both approaches ensures a comprehensive and effective user testing strategy.

As a product manager, idea validation is an important process of product development, I like to use the build measure, learn loop here. Testing with users is imperative here, I use a combination of quantitative and qualitative data gathering using surveys and customer interviews, once done. Next build and launch, test for user feedback. Then iterate!

Once potential features have been identified through collaborative brainstorming with stakeholders, the final crucial step involves subjecting these concepts to rigorous testing. Crafting the appropriate stimuli, whether through prototypes or mock-ups, enables a focused assessment of user reactions. By conducting targeted tests with the user base, valuable insights are garnered regarding the resonance and usability of the proposed features. The iterative cycle continues as feedback is assimilated, allowing for necessary adjustments and refinements. This testing phase serves as the litmus test for the practicality and user acceptance of the features, ensuring that the final product aligns seamlessly with user expectations and needs.

Prototypes should have a goal. Everyone must understand the goal, and what success looks like for the prototype. I'm a fan of medium or high-fidelity prototypes. Design (color, size, alignment, grouping, placement, etc) contributes to intuitive design and ultimately the success of a product.

According to me user testing plays a vital role in identifying new product opportunities. It allows companies to observe user interactions, gather direct feedback, and understand user needs and behaviors. This process reveals unmet needs, inspires new features, and helps validate market assumptions. Additionally, it can uncover innovative uses of a product and highlight different market segments. By keeping products aligned with evolving user needs, user testing not only improves current offerings but also identifies potential new market opportunities.

In user testing, several considerations contribute to a thorough and effective evaluation process. First, while data is crucial, trusting your design instincts is equally important. Designers' intuition, honed by experience, can provide valuable insights into user experiences and potential design improvements. Moreover, trying design variations that may need more revision is a valuable strategy. Iterating on different design elements, even if they initially seem risky, provides opportunities to gather real world feedback and refine the product based on actual user interactions.