Why you won't make a great product without listening to your users.

We all know that having a vision is never enough, no matter how great it is. Of course, every business cares about hiring the right people and coming up with the right business and marketing strategy. But what they often miss is the user's input.

Not listening to what your customers have to say will always bite you back. There are plenty of quotes about how critical excellent listening skills are. One of our favorite ones is by Adrian Zumbrunnen, who said, "Good designers are good listeners. They start by understanding, not solving". We would go one step further and apply this sentence to business. Good businessmen are good listeners, and they start by understanding, not solving.

Why is that? Well, primarily because of different types of bias. It's easy to fall into the trap of being overly optimistic about what you or your team has created. But anyone who has ever witnessed any user validation will know how wrong and dangerous this approach is. Without validating your product with users across different stages of its development, you risk not only that the interface will fail, but there is a very big chance that the overall product will turn out to be a fiasco.

This comes down to a simple statement - people don't want your product. They want to solve something. Either conscious or unconscious, they judge your solution by such criteria as the value it brings them, ease of use, or the joy it brings. Think about your favorite websites, apps, or products. Why do you love them so much? Probably not because it had a great ad, but because it makes your life easier or better in some way. And you probably also have those apps that you absolutely hate, like some software you tried but got so frustrated you deleted after some time. Or maybe there was an app you downloaded, used once, and then completely forgot about it. The most likely reason for this poor experience is someone focused only on the business side, omitting the users completely.

Riotters started the rebellion to change the product and company-oriented way of thinking to the customer and human orientation. The main idea is to shift from what we "assume" will be useful to what "in reality" is. Therefore, we do not focus on our vision, needs, and priorities, but we are eager to learn what the actual value means to the customer. For that, we use customer validation to develop an in-depth understanding. Riotters cooperate with companies worldwide, so with effective communication and active listening, we can constantly improve and ensure outstanding UX.

The rebellion we started is to make a huge difference. We want more than just making things pretty. We influence the way people use technology, which has an impact on their everyday lives.