A Guide to Designing the Right Product Through Understanding Your Users Needs

Designing a product is a task that even the largest multinationals with unlimited budgets find challenging. So where does that leave the average SME seeking to create the very best product possible to market with tight budgets and small teams?

Well, the reality is that with the right data and a keen understanding of what your target customers most desire, it’s possible to come up with ideas for something new that will create delight among those who purchase it and reduce wastage by ensuring that you are operating on real-world data rather than a hunch of what you believe people want. 

The Importance Of Understanding User Needs

In order to move from the idea phase to one in which you can confidently manufacture a product in the knowledge that you will make a return on your investment, it’s utterly critical to understand why you’re creating the thing and who your target market is for it.

By utilizing any of the incredible Experience Analytics Tools currently on the market, you can dig deeply into a vast range of data points that will provide you with not only a starting point but also a clear path to continue the project. Before we get too deeply into the how, let’s take a brief look at the why in order to fully appreciate how the effort put in at the start of the task will ultimately convert into sales down the line.

Builds Products That Solve Real Problems

Just as is the case with pretty much all forms of business, be it mining or baking, the core aim is to build a successful business that lasts the course. By knowing who you are catering to, you will get a deeper insight into what they actually need, and therefore, are likely to purchase.

It could be that you are developing a new tool for a mining company that’s made using a new alloy that reduces friction and wear, or it might be a new recipe for a cake that appeals to a younger cohort you wish to attract. The point remains the same: when you understand your potential customers’ needs, you can come up with fresh ideas based on real life that aim to solve real problems or desires.

Reduces Development Risk And Cost

By investing up front into the research phase, you will reduce the overall amount of risk you might face and, therefore, lower the cost.

• Prevents building unwanted features: By validating what a user actually wants rather than what you think they might want at the start, you will minimize the risk of unwanted and potentially costly features that will never be used.
• Minimizes expensive redesigns: It’s incredibly expensive to create a new product, and although redesigns are an inevitable part of the process, you can make the redesigns less costly by having a hyper-focused approach to the undertaking.
• Improves resource allocation: If you know in advance what your customers want, there is no need to invest in resources that will have zero impact on the final outcome. I.e., you only need to invest in the resources you know that you’ll need.
• Shortens development cycles: Through clearer requirements and reduced back-and-forth, you will shorten the development cycle and be able to bring a higher-quality product to market faster (which can often be the difference between making money and losing it if you’re in a high-competition industry).

Key Research Methods For Understanding Users

So now that you know the why, let’s move on to the how. The good news is that there are myriad tools at your disposal that make it possible to drill down into a huge range of data points. 

Qualitative Research (The “Why”)

When it comes to research, you first need to understand why your customer might need the product you plan to create. You can achieve this via a selection of techniques:

• Interviews
• Filed studies
• Diary studies
• Usability testing

All of these options will give a great insight into the motivations, emotions, and context of what your target market actually needs and/ or wants.

Quantitative Research (The “What”)

By using a range of qualitative research methods, you will be in a position to gain an understanding of the patterns that emerge from the research, and that will hopefully quantify potential opportunities. This can be achieved using the following techniques:

• Surveys
• Heatmaps
• Analytics data
• Behavioral funnels

Core Methods to Uncover Real User Needs

Note: mileage may vary depending on industry, but this gives you a rough rule of thumb to work with.

Turning Insights Into Actionable Product Decisions

Now that we’ve gathered a raft of valuable data to use, how do we actually put it to use? It’s important to use all of your collected insights to reap the rewards of the hard work required to gain them; otherwise, you’re back at step one again. Fortunately, there are standard methods that, when combined, ought to come together to help you end up with a viable product that you can bring to market and be sure that it will sell.

• User personas: The humble user persona has been around for decades (possibly centuries), and is used to help develop personas of those who your research has told you need your product. It might be that of a busy professional who is short on time but needs to get a lot of work done in a small amount of time. 
• User journey mapping: This step allows you to visualize the complete path a user will take, from your first interaction to the final outcome. This will help to identify any areas of concern that you can remedy before pushing something to market that is unfinished and might hit your brand reputation.
• Prioritizing features based on user needs: Using frameworks like MoSCoW (Must/Should/Could/Won’t), you can really streamline the entire process from start to end.

It’s fair to say that creating a new product is a monumental undertaking, and from the ideation phase to the manufacturer, numerous challenges must be overcome. But, by really getting to know your end user, you can reduce the friction and make it more likely to end up with a product that will delight those who your research has told you will buy it.