Starting Your Research with Analytics
It can be challenging to know where to start with UX research objectives and questions. Our clients often have a LOT of questions they want to explore, and it's hard to fit everything into a productive 60min interview. So, if they have reliable analytics, we start by digging into what we can learn from that source to inform more manageable research objectives.
Whether you're just getting started or looking to refine your approach, leveraging both usage analytics and user research can elevate research, strategy and design. By combining these two sources of data, product and design teams can gain deeper insights into user behavior, improve their products, and create exceptional user experiences.
Starting your research with Analytics
How Usage Analytics Can Inform and Guide UX Research Efforts
Impact of Analytics on Research Planning & Findings
Usage analytics involve tracking and analyzing how users interact with your product. This data can include metrics like page views, navigation paths, time spent on various tasks, conversion rates, and more. By understanding these interactions, you can gain valuable insights into user behaviors, preferences, and pain points.
Including analytics in research planning and findings generation can help:
Identify Patterns: Analytics can reveal patterns and trends in user behavior that might not be immediately apparent through qualitative research methods alone. These patterns can highlight areas of success and opportunities for improvement.
Validate Hypotheses: Use analytics to validate or challenge the assumptions and hypotheses generated to inform qualitative research AND as a result of that same research. This iterative process ensures that your design decisions are based on solid evidence.
Uncover Objective Insights: Usage analytics provide hard data on what users are actually doing, which complements the subjective insights from qualitative research. This blend of data helps create a comprehensive picture of the user experience.
Why Use Analytics in UX Research?
Usage analytics are like a treasure map. They help you identify where to dig deeper in your research to uncover valuable insights. Here are a few ways analytics can inform your research efforts:
Identify Pain Points: Analytics can highlight where users are struggling. High drop-off rates on a particular page or low engagement with a feature can signal areas that need attention. A round usability testing focusing on the issues you found in analytics can clarify why users are struggling and offer clarity on how to address the issue.
Validate Hypotheses: If you have a hypothesis about user behavior, analytics can be a reliable source to help you confirm or refute it with real data. Exploratory interviews or usability testing can then provide color as to the why behind the analytics.
Prioritize Research Efforts: Not all user issues are created equal. Analytics can help you prioritize which problems to tackle first based on their impact on the user experience and, by extension, your business.
Track Progress: After implementing changes, you can use analytics to measure if those changes had the desired effect, allowing for continuous improvement.
Real-World Examples
Let’s take a look at a couple of real-world examples to illustrate the power of usage analytics in guiding UX research:
E-commerce Site: An e-commerce site notices a high abandonment rate on the checkout page. Usage analytics reveal that users are dropping off at the payment information step. By conducting usability tests, the team discovers that the payment form is too complicated. Simplifying the form leads to a significant increase in completed purchases.
SaaS Product: A SaaS company uses analytics to track feature usage. They find that a new feature is rarely used despite being prominently displayed. Through user interviews, they learn that users don't understand the feature's value. The team then adds an onboarding tutorial, which boosts feature adoption and user satisfaction.
Usage analytics and qualitative research findings are more powerful together. By integrating the two, you can gain a deeper understanding of your users, inform more useful research efforts, validate your design decisions, and continuously improve your product.
If you're having trouble aligning your research planning or findings with your analytics, we can help! Don't hesitate to get in touch.