As a product designer, I've learned one crucial thing over the years: user feedback is the black gold of design. Without it, we sail blindly along, guided only by our assumptions and prejudices. But how do we harvest this gold and, above all, turn it into design that shines?
Imagine yourself as an explorer in a dense jungle. Your treasure? The precious nuggets of information that is user feedback. But beware: not all collection methods are created equal. You need to adopt a methodical, balanced approach to get a complete picture of your users' needs and frustrations.
User testing is like having a frank conversation with your best friend. User interviews are an excellent way of gaining a deeper understanding of user behavior and expectations. Whether in person, remotely, or even through short discussions, they offer unique qualitative insights. For example, during a fitness app project, we were convinced that our progress tracking interface was great.
During testing, one user spent five minutes trying to figure out how to add a new session. Painful, but highly instructive. Interviews revealed that poorly chosen wording was at the root of the confusion.
“Always observe a user interacting with your product. You'll learn more in five minutes of observation than in an hour of guesswork.”
Analytics is like being a digital detective. You follow the traces left by your users, deciphering their habits and preferences. Google Analytics, for example, provides key data such as bounce rate, time spent on a page, and navigation paths. But that's not enough. To capture behavioral nuances, use tools like Hotjar, FullStory or Clarity (by Microsoft, which is free). These heatmaps and session recording platforms reveal where users click, where they block, and where they leave. During an e-commerce project, Hotjar highlighted a “dead” zone on our product page, where we thought a key banner would attract clicks.
Between direct and indirect feedback, there's one method I'm particularly fond of: questionnaires. It's like throwing a bottle into the sea, but with a much higher return rate!
Tips for effective questionnaires :
“A good questionnaire is like a conversation: you have to know how to listen as well as how to ask questions.”
The big advantage of questionnaires? They enable you to reach a wide range of users, including those who would never have the time to take part in a full user test.
But beware of bias! The people who respond are often those who have a very positive or very negative opinion.
To find out more, read an article by Nielsen Norman Group: User-Feedback Requests: 5 Guidelines
In-app surveys, such as those offered by Typeform or SurveyMonkey, capture data directly from your active users. They offer an overview of their impressions, while asking targeted questions. A quick poll in a mobile app, for example, can reveal whether a user is satisfied with the purchasing process, or if they're encountering any obstacles.
Now that you've harvested your raw gold, how do you refine it?
This is where the magic happens. You turn insights into concrete improvements.
Let's take an example. While conducting user tests on the redesign of a promotion module in a back office, one of the scenarios was to see if users understood how to limit promotion to certain users. We used a native component of the library on which our design system was based. The feature seemed simple: in a drawer, you just have a field to fill in and enter.
Well, 100% of our users didn't understand what they had to do. They were completely stuck. And the error message didn't help!
The solution?
Never forget: feedback integration is a cyclical process. You collect, you analyze, you implement, then you start again. That's how you fine-tune a product to (near) perfection.
Integrating user feedback is like having a compass in the complex world of product design. It guides you, refocuses you, and prevents you from getting lost in your own preconceived ideas.
Remember:
And above all, never forget: behind every click, every swipe, every piece of data, there's a human being. It's by keeping this in mind that you'll create products that really resonate with your users.
So, ready to dive into the deep end of user feedback?
