Nothing like your users? Read this

Pssst: this article which has been written on the back of our alignment webinar series, and you can watch all the episodes here or sign up to the next one.

Being unlike users is the biggest problem in tech.

The biggest problem in product is that you're not like your users. Entrepreneur and Y-combinator founder Paul Graham says you should "build something you yourself want" for the best chances of start-up success. But we can't all have that luxury: Brian Chesky, Airbnb founder, in apparent dialogue with his old advisor, said "I can't just keep building products for 41-year old founders."

That's why we ran a webinar about it with some of the best experts in the field. Here's what they said:

Speaking to four incredible experts during our webinar helped us clarify some things. Read what they said below:

watch all the episodes here

1. People don’t want a job, they want to feel fulfilled, valued, and be affluent?

Sabrina Duda , the Principal UX Researcher at the Stepstone Group, quoted the famous axiom of the jobs-to-be-done [JTBD] theory during her talk: “people don’t want quarter inch drill bits, they want quarter-inch holes”.

Working at the Stepstone Group, Sabrina manages UX research for brands including TotalJobs, where she uses the JTBD framework.

So, what are the jobs of jobs? To feel valued; finance a lifestyle; to improve work-life balance; and more. Their model also included diverging “jobs” between browsers and applicants.?

Sabrina gave her reasons for focusing on JTBD: “What I personally find very attractive [about the JTBD framework], is that it’s not just functional jobs but so-called ‘emotional jobs’. High level jobs like ‘be happy in life’, through to ‘micro jobs’ like preparing for a job interview.”

2. McDonalds China has a more visually busy website than McDonalds in Germany because it’s a "high context culture"

Carolina Freire , Localization Program Manager at Uber, talked about a framework for categorizing users in a big picture sense. Some cultures are “low-context” and others are “high-context”, she argued.

This dichotomy is useful because it can spell major differences in terms of the communication style a given national culture is likely to prefer.??

“Low-context” and “high-context” are anthropological terms first floated by Edward T Hall in 1959. They describe how they receive and process information: among many other differences, high-context cultures prefer noisier visual design.?

One brand which seems like it's got this right is Mcdonald's – check out the diversion in design style between the Chinese and US websites below.

?3. The biggest tip from Uber’s program manager was to test more

Carolina Fierie also gave three tips she’d learned at Uber for work which were extremely valuable. The first one was to test more.

“The first thing is test,” said Carolina. “Test, test, test. Test your product, your website, your campaign, not only for language quality, but functionality, but also for cultural relevance. Do UX research, LQA testing, and ask your user whether things like icons colours and photos resonate with them.”

The other two tips were first, “have your localization program managers focus on markets rather than [just] language to bring an element of culture into the mix”. Second, “get inputs and insights from your regional teams whenever you develop or name new products and features.”?

How GAT clients test strategically in local markets

?4. Testing for discovery is helping major software businesses drive everything from sign-up flow completion and deliver more users

On testing, Global App Testing’s very own Artem Bobrovskiy talked about how major software businesses are using “discovery testing” with GAT to help them deliver superior signup outcomes.?

He talked about two GAT clients using a test-first global strategy right now. The first, using functional and UX testing to boost their sign-up flow by 10% via a mix of functional feedback and UX recommendations.

(This is one of the most common ways of using app testing – check out our recent case study on a payments client which increased their checkout completion by 12%.

The second client undertook a competitor review process, in order to understand their local product experience vs their competitors'. E

5. The biggest mistake you’re making in your UX research is that you’re not clearly defining users

Olga Safonova ? , Senior Product Manager at Workday, told viewers three things they might be doing wrong in their UX research. Her first suggestion was “a lack of a unified and transparent definition of who the users are”.

Olga suggested that a well-defined user is a good health check for a product team in general.

“When different departments align on this definition and this understanding – or point to a single source of truth – that’s actually a good sign of efficient communication across the organization,” she said.

In questions, Artem added some context around the best ways to form consensus on who your users are. "There is a very helpful definition of what a target market is for a product," said Artem. "It's a combination of the target user and a job [...] it's important to recognize not just demographic characteristics of the users, but the job that they have when they pursue your product or they hire product."

6. ?Content is exploding, so ensure that your translation suppliers embody new media as well as local expertise

Simon Hodgkins, CMO of Vistatec, was asked how you can get the most out of suppliers in the content and localization space.?

“You’ve really got to get down to the different content types,” argued Simon. “Whether it’s written word or audio or video, whether it’s YouTube shorts; Instagram reels; AI-generated content; user generated content; repurposed content… you have a lot of new create creative [in today’s content landscape] coming from every direction.”?

For any of those content types, argued Simon, “you have to have trust. Because if people don’t understand it, they won’t use it. And if they won’t use it, they probably won’t recommend it.”?

Think about testing your product

If you're curious about what product testing could mean for you, check out our website where you can speak to a member of our team.