Understanding User Insights

Dear Designer,

Maybe you're researching and discovering something important, but you're unsure if it's an insight.

Q: How do I know if I've had an insight?

To answer that, I would like to tell you the story of Archimedes, possibly the greatest scientist of the classical age.

According to the story, a newly-elected general commissioned a gold crown for the temple.

But after the goldsmith made the crown, rumors circulated that it wasn't pure gold but diluted with cheap silver.

So the general ordered Archimedes to figure out if his crown was pure gold...without damaging the crown in any way.

The task stumped brilliant Archimedes.

He tried everything, but he couldn't find the answer.

If the goldsmith was a thief, he was smart because the crown weighed the right amount.

One day, while bathing in a tub, Archimedes had an epiphany.

As he lowered himself into the tub, water seeped out at the same volume as his body.

He realized he could test the crown with a similar amount of gold to see if the goldsmith stole gold for himself.

As the king suspected, if it were part silver, it would displace more water because silver has more volume than gold for the same weight.

He ran into the night completely naked, screaming, “Eureka!” (I have it!)

The spark in UX research

What allowed Archimedes to make that discovery?

Inspiration may seem easy when you have it, but when you need it, it's never there.

If you've ever been stuck on a design problem, you know the feeling that Archimedes had before the tub.

How do you work through a UX problem when you can't see the answer?

The breakthrough is called the "eureka effect" or "Aha! moment."

It's a moment where everything shifts into place and immediately makes sense. It's an instantaneous connection of lots of data to form new meaning.

In UX research, we have a name for that jolt.

It's called a user insight.

And once you have one, there's no going back.

It's a paradigm-shifting discovery that can change your entire organization if you know how to harness the power.

A framework for user insights

“I saw this” + “I know this” = insight

It's a handy way to understand insights.

Let's use it to look at Archimedes' tub example:

I see that an equal volume of water is displaced when I get in the tub (I saw this)

+ I know that silver has more volume than gold per weight (I know this)

= "Eureka! I could put the original amount of gold in a tub and test it against the general's crown" (insight)

This formula is a 1 + 1 = 3 relationship because insights are more than the sum of their parts.

What you saw + know = something completely new.

User Insight example in e-commerce

You can use this in UX research as well. Let's take the common occurrence of an abandoned shopping cart in this new formula.

37% of users abandon their shopping carts (I saw this)

+ I’ve never seen that happen in real life (I know this)

= There must be something seriously wrong with the checkout flow (insight)

This equation format helps you understand insights but isn’t compelling as a final format for sharing insights.

There is a better way.

How to write better user insights

There's not much out there to help you format your insights. There aren't many examples, either.

Everyone talks about presenting insights, but nobody talks about writing an insight.

So, I wrote a complete guide:

How to Write User Research Insights→

It comes with a handy template you can use to get started or even use with your team to get everyone on the same page about user insights.

I hope you find it useful!

-Jeff Humble