How can designers build a product through a growth approach? The quick answer is to identify user problems and business goals, define success metrics, form hypotheses, and validate them in a cost-effective way using an iterative process.
In this article, we’re going to discuss how to:
How to identify user problems
How to identify business goals
How to define success metrics
How to form a hypothesis
How to use iterative process during UX/UI design
Identifying user problems by observing
When you really think about user problems, that’s the place where every product owner should begin. Figure out what problem your user is looking to solve. The only reason they’re attempting to use the product is due to something happening in their life that makes this event something important. Oftentimes, that’s the first place you want to look.
The best way to see what problem you’re solving is to get down and talk to them. Let’s say you haven’t built the product yet, and you’re trying to figure out what problem to solve. You have to talk to people. Using an IDEO example, find an opportunity to interview them. Watch them as they use their mobile device for a day or two. Look at how they interact with products. Look at how they go to solve their problems. The tabs they open, etc. Even looking at what they do and don’t do. This is a great way to identify the problem.
You can also talk to people about their day to day activities. Look at some of the problems they’re solving on a daily basis. What was their day like? what was the first thing they did in the morning, how their day at work, what product did they use? Examining and observing what they did in every particular moment.
Identify your business goals
Have you identified your business goals? Perhaps you’re looking to create a revenue-generating product that opens the door to more products. Or, you’re looking to get millennials to buy your services, and you need a modern way to connect with them. Reasons like this are business goals that are based on strategic decisions. Perhaps you want to reach a new demographic or solve an entirely new problem. The best products are built with this thinking. You can also think numerically — “We want to serve 5 million more users this year.” From that, you’ll have to discuss the best way to solve that business problem. You’re trying to align this with user problems. Even further, think about the amount of revenue you’d like to generate and users you’d like to reach. This informs what we work on.
Defining success metrics
How many users do you want to attract, and from where? What are your KPIs? You want to look at returning users — are they coming back? Are they referring to their friends? Are you looking at the amount of revenue you’re generating? Also, are you looking at where your customers are coming from? Do we want to get 15 users from Facebook, do we want to get some from the App store and from word of mouth.
Form a hypothesis
Based on everything we know, now we have to form a hypothesis about how we’re going to complete our job. You’re now saying “We believe that users would like X so that they can achieve Y.” You’re looking at users. We believe that if users had the opportunity to do X, then they would do X so that they could achieve Y. We believe that because, based on our research, it shows that users would be willing to do this in order to obtain that.
Iterative process
Once you start validating your hypotheses, then you validate. Testing, trying new ways. You can divide up a group of users and experiment on them.
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