How To Craft Your Customer Research Plan

Firms looking to improve their existing online experiences or create new Web, mobile, tablet, or kiosk experiences should conduct user research to help them understand user behaviors and motivations, identify where the current experience falls short, and craft an experience that meets and exceeds users' needs and expectations. Research techniques, while plentiful, fall into three key buckets. Exploratory research methods uncover behaviors, emotions, and desire that can seed new concepts. Evolutionary research methods can help define or validate a concept. Evaluative methods help improve existing interfaces. Firms looking for the right research methods should first determine their online experience strategy and then base the methods they choose on where they are in executing the current project as well as their budget and timeline. By leveraging a breadth of techniques, hiring trained user researchers, and appropriately capturing research insights, firms can make the most of their research efforts.