How to conduct effective user research for your tech start-up?
Written by Paras Dalal, Product Designer at Probo
Last year has seen Probo grow from a mere hundred to a family of 5 million users. This meant that our tech systems had to adapt, scale, and become robust. We wanted to understand the change in users’ needs, the usability of the app, and how users’ behaviors have been shaped over the course of Probo’s journey.
Insights like these are very hard to collate by virtual or unmoderated user studies. So, the design team has a round table conference, brainstormed ideas, debated, and came to the conclusion of hosting our users for a deep talk.
Preparations
Shortlisting the Interview Script
Our problems revolved around 3 main themes. Hence, to get specific insights we scoped the research into 3 parts:
- Growth — This included user onboarding, education, and user levels.
- Trading — Core issues and usability around placing trades, and portfolio tracking.
- Engagement — We had launched a few initiatives around social and community building on the app. This theme dealt with that.
Recruiting Participants
- Selecting user persona: To get the most from our study, we studied demography and selected participants based on different criteria and their journey on the app. Like old vs new users, pro traders, beginners, and mid-volume traders.
- Data gathering: We took help from the Data team at Probo to help us recruit participants filling certain criteria for example — ‘Users who traded on 1 event and churned out’, ‘Traders who place orders in more than 2 categories and have ROI of more than 50%’ etc.
- User calling: This part entailed calling selected users, understanding their schedule, and convincing them to our study. Honestly, this was one of the most challenging parts owing to the constraints of the location, time, and conveyance et al. So, we created a few WhatsApp messages that we forwarded to every user we called, underlining the agenda, perks, and conveyance arrangements. This motivated the users a good deal.
Setting up the venue for the research study
An important aspect of user study is the environment. Since we had limited space in the co-working area, we scouted for other places which were easily navigable by users, and had proximity to the metro station and other means of conveyance so our users don’t face any difficulties in reaching the venue.
We sponsored the conveyance & meals for all our participants. One of us was allocated the responsibility of keeping in touch with the users until they arrived at our venue.
For recording our study, our in-house production designer, Tapodhan, helped set up the equipment like cameras, laptops, microphones et al. We planned the seating arrangements, interview timings, meals, and delegated responsibilities amongst ourselves beforehand.
Conducting Research Study
The design team was divided into 3 groups on the basis of the themes — Growth, Trading & Engagement. Each chose one or a combination of the following methods to get to the answers or insights:
- One-on-one Interviews
- User Surveys
- Usability Testing
- Focus Group Discussions
One-on-one Interviews
These interviews took up to 40 minutes per participant. We made sure participants have enough time to get comfortable with the questioning.
User Surveys
To understand how our users perceive our brand we conducted a survey having questions related to Probo’s brand identity. We wanted to understand our brand recall value.
Usability Testing
Usability testing refers to evaluating a product flow by testing it with representative users. Typically, during a test, participants try to complete tasks while observers watch, listen, and take notes.
We prepared a list of features that we wanted to test. For each UT, there were 2 people — one who coordinated with the user, asked questions, and gave tasks; the other called observer, who took notes and recorded verbal, and non-verbal feedback.
Focus Group Discussions
This involves gathering participants from similar. backgrounds or experiences together to discuss a specific topic. It is a form of qualitative research where questions are. asked about their perceptions, opinion, or ideas.
We used this method when we wanted to know the pulse of participants regarding an open-ended topic, say, trading in the stock market vs trading on opinions in Probo.
Analysing Results
Affinity mapping
We used a tool, Fig-Jam to group observations from interviews, usability testing, and surveys. It helped us understand the core motivations & frustrations of users’ experiences.
Video Captioning & Shorts
We edited snippets from videos in which users mentioned their motivations or frustrations. These were also shared with the Probo team.
Publishing Results
The results were shared in the form of a presentation across the company. We organized our findings in the same themes — Growth, Engagement, and Trading.
Concluding Thoughts
This study was an eye-opener for all of us. It was full of learning and unforgettable moments with our users. It was the first time we had conducted interviews in an offline setting. We were able to pull it off even though we faced challenges in logistics, recruitment, and stakeholder buy-in.
Tips to smoothly run one-on-one interviews:
- Keep your interview script on paper or in digital format accessible all the time to keep the interviews running smoothly
- The camera setup shouldn’t make the participants nervous. Make sure you let them know that the sessions are recorded and ask for their permission.
- Let the conversation breathe with light, intro questions that help participants ease into the process.
- Keep snacks and water within reach.
- Having a pair of moderators and observers worked really well for us. Highly recommended.
- You do not stick to the order of the questions if they are already answered. Improvise and adapt.
PS: The design team is hiring. Check out our LinkedIn job post or mail your portfolio to design@probo.in
Thank you for reading 👏 Let us know if you liked it. We would love to hear your thoughts and answer any questions.
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