How can you conduct UX research on a tight budget?

An underutilized "hack" for building on a budget is to build something you yourself want. Too many people try to imagine what their customers want. But if you are the customer, you have all that insight in your own head. It's a huge competitive advantage! Remember, the hardest part of product innovation is building something people really want. The best way to build something someone wants is to make something you want to exist in the world. Whether you cash in or not doesn't matter. You can't lose if you built something you wanted to see come into the world.

You will never get the correct answer if you don't ask the right question! When dealing with data, there are a million ways you can spend your time, but you need to know what to look for to find it. So, when dealing with data, start asking questions and looking at the customer journeys and their conversion rates. UX is not about the design, it's about the value differentiator you can bring to your product or service. You can use Google Search Console, Google Analytics, jar, Full Story, MS Clarity, etc., data to build funnels and uncover bottlenecks and underperforming touchpoints. You can use the pirate metrics (Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, Revenue) and work backwards from there.

Start with clarity. What problem are you solving? Too much design is about design and not utility - ask yourself 5 why’s - you hold up to those questions - they will guide you to your next steps….

According to my experience, using existing data is a cost-effective UX research strategy. For example, analyzing user feedback from social media, existing customer surveys, or web analytics can reveal valuable insights. According to a Nielsen Norman Group study, this approach can uncover up to 80% of usability issues. It's about making the most of what you already have, saving both time and money.

A experiência do usuário desempenha um papel fundamental em qualquer produto ou serviço. No entanto, realizar pesquisas de UX pode ser um desafio, especialmente quando os recursos são limitados. Podemos explorar algumas estratégias para conduzir pesquisas com um orçamento apertado, permitindo priorizar a satisfação do cliente sem comprometer muito o orçamento. Podemos definir alguns passos como: Defina objetivos claros, Utilize ferramentas gratuitas, Recrute participantes de forma criativa, Faça testes de usabilidade remoto e colabore com a comunidade. Mesmo com recursos limitados, podemos ter bons resultados com maior satisfação do cliente e sucesso a longo prazo.

Investir em dados atualizados, possibilitando comparativos entre períodos, compilar informações de clientes internos e externos, compreender jornadas e processos percorridos são etapas essenciais para uma compreensão primária e sem custo inicial. Grande parte do que se procura está na observação, escuta e análise aprofundada. Busque primeiro o que já possui e, em seguida, vá atrás do que falta ou precisa ser completado.

Data is a great helper specially to discard hypothesis, when running a tight budget, data can help you narrow down paths that are more promising so you can get good insights in less time and with less volume. Specially if the deadline is really tight it helps set up high level hypothesis with the data and use UX research to really understand the nuisances.

In case of a new project, with a stringent budget, it gets a bit difficult to research at times. However, if there's a possibility, engaging with organizations with connections to your user groups, makes the primary research process faster. This also enables filtering and sorting user base with the help of these organizations. Secondary research and articles often help in preparing before interviews. However, the primary research enables to believe and do the required for a business and product.

Al realizar la investigación de UX, considero necesario la posibilidad de realizar un análisis de sentimientos en los comentarios de clientes o en las interacciones en redes sociales. Esto proporcionará una comprensión más profunda de las emociones asociadas con la experiencia de usuario. También sería bueno explorar la opción de colaborar con departamentos internos para acceder a datos que quizás no estén directamente vinculados a UX, como datos de ventas o de marketing, que pueden arrojar luz sobre el comportamiento del usuario. Por último, agregaría la posibilidad de realizar entrevistas con el equipo de atención al cliente para obtener percepciones cualitativas que complementen los datos cuantitativos existentes.

When it comes to conducting UX research on a tight budget, lean methods are the go-to strategy. These methods are not only cost-effective but also surprisingly effective in testing assumptions and gathering feedback. But there's another trick up our sleeves: leveraging technical tools for synthetic validation. While not perfect, these tools provide a quick and cost-efficient way to gain valuable insights. They offer a first glance into user behavior, helping us understand where improvements may be needed. Even tight budgets can unlock the power of UX research, ensuring our products meet user needs without breaking the bank.

We are a bootstrapped startup so we have to be super scrappy in every approach we take. We spent 15 minutes to essentially copy and paste code from a company called Hotjar into our web app. It essentially lets us see what folks are doing (anonymously) as they use our software. In about 3 days we were able to identify 5 key areas that we needed to improve upon. It set our roadmap for the entire quarter. Cost us $60 and an hour of time each week to review the usage videos. This is in no way an endorsement for Hotjar but more to highlight how you can achieve more with less and don’t have to overthink it.

In my experience, we utilize our existing features to keep UX research costs low. We survey users on our own platform, build hypotheses based off those results, and then test in a small cohort of real users to get instant feedback. We built our product to be as dynamic and malleable as possible to allow us to test new UX and UI without the need of valuable engineering time. Our team has a motion graphics background as well and we’re able to build interactive videos (playables) on our own to enhance the tests even more so. Like effective storytelling, we let our users “show, not tell” us what we need to learn to optimize the experience. The data doesn’t lie and it allows to move fast and keep test costs low.

Start by defining the objectives of the UX research. Once you start defining the objectives, you will then understand the scope of it. You don't need to solve all the problems on day one. Prioritise. Once the objectives and the priorities are set, then start defining the target audience and focus on a small number of deep customer interactions. Ideally, multiple interviews with the same person and usability tests. If possible, go to the environment where the customer is using your product. This will help you to empathize with the customer. Beyond this, there are tools available to help UX designers understand the clicks and usage patterns of the customers, try building a scrappy prototype to see how customers interact with your product.

Completely agree with the examples of simple surveys, Figma for design or interactivity, and workshopping. Research doesn’t always have to be complex. Some of the best insights can be derived from low-fi ways to measure. I continuously push my teams to always have a lane of UXR going. This helps us stay informed on current and future customer requirements, and ensure we’re delivering the best products.

Invite your customers to become part of the UX challenge and compensate them with early access, benefits or others. Creativity is key with low budget

Never forget: a good 1on1 talk can clarify a lot of issues. You can do part of your research talking to people face to face from different backgrounds, listening their opinions with open ears. This way you can get fresh perspectives and understand better what might go on on specific groups of users minds.

A cheap and powerful tactic to understand your customers, test features and "polish" UX aspects is to use your own products as part of the reward to "pay" your customers for the time spent in trying your products. It guarantees two things: you understand better and retain your most loyal customers and you can quickly and faithfully test features.

User experience testing should be put already in quite early development stage, as cost of failure and total cost spent are still at the lower end. Preferred customers are the ones within target market you already built good relations, trust and have good intimacy level.

One thing worth doing early in any UX organization is to develop a Respondent Pool, which consists of your colleagues at work and their family members -- with proper consent. In large 5,000 staff companies, it's a sure way to save costs, as usually research tapping into this pool is good enough to produce useful insights, while in lesser size companies with lesser persona/archetype diversity, it's still useful to develop early hypotheses, as though the bias will be high, we won't be starting at zero.

Uma vez que você consiga colocar sua pesquisa, de forma barata, dentro da jornada do seu cliente, sua amostragem de pessoas respondentes é certa. Fique de olho na base amostral e na relevância estatística para concluir sua pesquisa. Tão importante quanto subir é tirar uma pesquisa do ar para não impactar a jornada dos clientes. Outros ponto de atenção é manter uma base de 'quarentena' que não vai receber novas pesquisas, assim você mantém sua base segura e com pouco impacto.

We've actually used social media to get feedback. It's a system widly available and consumers are happy to provide feedback there. The trick here is to be direct and only ask one point at a time. You can do it in a survey/voting style and make it somewhat fun and/or engaging, where most social media platforms (I e. LinkedIn and Facebook already have voting tools built in for free).

Consider using an agency here. Recruiting is a time-killer! If timely results matter to your stakeholders ask them for the additional budget to outsource this task and continue to work on other things in parallel. With the right agency, it is money very well spent.

Smart recruit will be having greater benefit as it will help us to benchmark better because of high accuracy and help us to cut down the noises which may come in data. Product being selected for the test should have right audience as well as right environmental benefits to generate high quality information in lesser cost

Reclutar de manera inteligente implica aprovechar las redes de co-working para atraer profesionales de distintas industrias. Este enfoque no solo diversifica tu grupo de participantes, sino que también aporta perspectivas valiosas y una visión más holística a la investigación. Adicionalmente, considerar el uso de herramientas de automatización para filtrar participantes según criterios específicos es una opción viable. Este método no solo agiliza el proceso de reclutamiento, sino que también garantiza la selección precisa de participantes alineados con los objetivos de la investigación. Este enfoque eficiente asegura una ejecución efectiva de la estrategia de reclutamiento.

In those cases, I like to use Pareto principles (80-20) and find the most "valuable" user segments. In terms of User Testing, many articles say 5 quality interviews are enough. Putting together 5 well-suited colleagues or friends might not be as hard as you think.

Uma coisa muito útil no recrutamento de UX é utilizar sua atual base de clientes. Você pode colocar pesquisas dentro da jornada digital para os clientes, falar com clientes mais próximos (muito útil com clientes PJ). Caso tenha que ir ao mar aberto para recrutar, vouchers de app de deliverys tem um ótimo custo benefício como atrativo aos entrevistados.

Start by clearly defining your research goals and prioritizing key objectives. Leverage affordable online survey tools and recruit participants from your existing user base or through social media channels. Optimize resources by conducting remote usability testing using platforms that offer cost-effective options. Utilize free or low-cost analytics tools to gather quantitative data on user behavior. Prioritize essential qualitative insights by conducting in-depth interviews with a smaller but representative sample. Emphasizing the quality of data collected, thoughtful participant selection, and streamlined methodologies allows for effective UX research even when resources are limited.

For qualitative research with 6-8 participants you start to find patterns. So you don't need to spend time or money recruiting many people. Be smart in the recruitment brief so that you make sure to cover all genders, age ranges, and depending on your focus, defining the markets/ regions. Specific questions before agreeing to interview the candidate are also key to avoid recruiting people that might not be in line to what you are looking for, for instance if the person have used x/y/z service or brand in the past 3-6 months.

One of my favorite mantras here is “direction not perfection” as we won’t have the scale to get it right. And if your team is using agile methodology you can iterate as you learn. To that end, having users as part of the agile process can be a great way to get that feedback. Invite them to a sprint review, or do a secondary, more public review with them to get feedback. This has the added bonus of the whole team hearing the feedback firsthand.

It may not be possible to look for quality UX with a limited budget. It may be possible to direct the employees in the organization to the issue for a limited time, but this will not be sustainable. It does not matter whether it is B2B or B2C, it is important for a sustainable product or project to include UX costs in the project from the customer's perspective during the product planning phase.

En investigaciones UX con presupuesto limitado, es vital centrarse en la calidad de datos. Es importante explorar estas técnicas: Desde el inicio del proceso UX, es viable realizar pruebas de accesibilidad. Esto fortalece la inclusividad de la investigación y contribuye a un diseño centrado en el usuario. Aplicar técnicas de análisis heurístico para identificar posibles problemas de usabilidad de manera eficiente. Implementar la técnica de "Card Sorting" para comprender cómo los usuarios organizan la información. Este enfoque mejora la arquitectura de la información del producto. Invertir tiempo en preparar el equipo de investigación para que todos comprendan los objetivos y métodos para optimizar la calidad de la recopilación de datos.

Be Simple . That's how it works. Focus on what you expect out of a UI . The simpler your UI looks and behaves , the algorithm to handle it will have so many more layers , routes in your UX. Instead of relying on google data , try reading your current existing users. Then study behavior of users of your competition. Make a comparative analysis on excel sheet. Be objective. That will give you sufficient base knowledge and information to feed. Extrapolate what you have collated to atleast 5 more segments of users (use hypothetical realistic situations). You will have enough representative data analytics begin with.

Existens algumas abordagens específicas para focarmos na qualidade em pesquisas como entender profundamente o público-alvo ao investir tempo para garantir que os participantes da pesquisa representem de maneira fiel os usuários reais. Utilize perfis de usuário detalhados e crie personas específicas para orientar o recrutamento. Utilize cenários realistas ao planejar tarefas, optando por situações realistas que reflitam o uso no dia a dia do produto/serviço. Isso proporciona insights mais autênticos sobre a UX em condições práticas, contribuindo para a qualidade dos dados coletados. Mesmo com um número menor de participantes, a profundidade da análise de usabilidade pode revelar insights valiosos.

Quality trumps quantity, especially with budget constraints. We focus on reliable and relevant data, using triangulation and validation to ensure accuracy. Techniques like personas, journey maps, and user stories help synthesize findings into actionable insights. Affinity diagrams aid in organizing data effectively. This quality-centric approach ensures our UX research, despite limited resources, leads to valuable, user-focused product enhancements.

"What?! You're unsure about the quality of your design so you need to test it?" ~ ex Boss Getting permission to do UX research is hard, and getting one for iterating research is even harder. The UX team first needs to sell this idea to the board of stakeholders, who despite having the best intentions for their products, might be pressed hard by their investors to launch. They might also not understand that designers produce good works through repetitive hypothesis generation and tests, instead of just whipping off our magic wand and producing a conversion-inducing super delightful design. Framing the activities as part of risk mitigation, being data-driven, and starting light (e.g. internal UT) usually works the best.

Doing UX research on a tight budget means its even more important to prepare and frame your research brief well - there's nothing worse than getting to the end of a research project and realising you havent been asking just the right questions and need to do it all over again. One way to prepare well is to spend a bit of time up front with some users to shape your research. Start wide with a handful of qualitative interviews to understand what users currently do and most importantly why they do it. Ask open, general questions about what users did the last time they completed a similar journey or experience. Then synthesise these outputs into themes and you have a solid foundation to build your more detailed research on.

This is a huge challenge as there's often commercial pressures to deliver innovation fast. Resist this pressure and iterate (ideally with users / consumers in the room) a few times before you start committing to an idea.

Sometimes, it is good to go for acceptable speed first. In some situations it is good to use your creative instinct and launch on a hypothesis that is based on your experience. Your experience and creative instinct matter. When launching a product with diligent research or based on your experience as a professional, they are both hypotheses in different states of maturity. You still need to get the work out there, see how the audience reacts and interacts, and iterate accordingly. Only when your product is live will you truly know how the audience reacts to it. Sometimes the fastest way to satisfaction is to launch an acceptable solution ASAP and engage and iterate together with the audience.

La iteración y el aprendizaje continuo son esenciales en la investigación UX, mejorando el producto y optimizando eficientemente recursos limitados. Comparto una perspectiva adicional: Retroalimentación estratégica: al recibir comentarios y datos de investigación, se debe cerrar el ciclo de retroalimentación estratégica. Esto implica implementar cambios en tu producto y en medir el impacto de esas modificaciones. Planificación estratégica para futuras investigaciones: utiliza los aprendizajes de tu investigación actual para una planificación estratégica de futuros proyectos. Prioriza las preguntas y objetivos de investigación según las lecciones aprendidas. Esto optimiza y crea un flujo coherente de mejora continua preservando recursos.

Integrar el modelo de Nonaka y Takeuchi en la investigación de UX, específicamente el proceso de socialización, enriquece enormemente la metodología iterativa. Esta fase, donde se comparte conocimiento tácito entre miembros del equipo, es clave para una comprensión profunda del usuario. En UX, esto se manifiesta en sesiones de intercambio de experiencias y percepciones, permitiendo que el conocimiento intuitivo y no estructurado se vuelva explícito y utilizable. Antes de cada ciclo de investigación, el equipo puede realizar reuniones informales para compartir observaciones, lo que ayuda a enfocar la investigación y enriquecer la comprensión colectiva del comportamiento del usuario.

You haven't started until you've shipped. Iterate with your customers in real-time. V1.0, V2.0, V2.1, V2.2, V3.0. Start with an MVP for which subsequent versions are presented as upgrades, with additional features... But the MVP MUST WORK! "If you can't ship it, you shouldn't sell it."

Don’t be afraid to hop on phone calls or online meetings with several of your customers that are strong users of your product. Be transparent and tell them what you are trying to accomplish and evaluate. Let them test and give you feedback directly. This can help you iterate much faster than trying to digest data from user metrics, surveys, etc. Human emotions and feelings such as excitement, satisfaction, frustration, confusion, etc are often lost when analyzing hard data, but can be extremely helpful in understanding their needs and their feelings about what you are building.

Consumer centric design and trials with continuous feedback are the best ‘Beta’ not perfect launches. Open communication channels with users envokes co-creation, which in the long term adds value to all.

Tema adicional: Accesibilidad y eficiencia en presupuesto: En el contexto de optimizar la investigación de UX con un presupuesto ajustado, es esencial abordar la accesibilidad de manera estratégica. Al considerar las necesidades de usuarios con discapacidades, no solo mejoramos su experiencia, sino que también optimizamos la usabilidad para todos los usuarios, alineándose con la eficiencia presupuestaria. Asegurar un diseño inclusivo desde el principio no solo cumple con estándares éticos, sino que también evita costos adicionales de ajustes posteriores. Este enfoque proactivo en la accesibilidad se convierte así en una inversión inteligente para garantizar una experiencia de usuario de alta calidad sin comprometer los recursos limitados.

Use AI with JTBD style research 1. Identify Key Jobs: Use AI to analyze customer feedback and online reviews, pinpointing the main tasks users hire your product for. 2. Segment Users: Apply AI algorithms to categorize users by behavior or needs, focusing your research. 3. Online Surveys: Conduct surveys with tools like Google Forms. Use AI to analyze responses for patterns and insights. 4. Prototype Testing: Use low-cost prototyping tools. Gather feedback through remote usability testing platforms. 5. Data Analytics: Leverage AI-driven analytics to understand user behavior on your website or app. 6. Iterate Quickly: Use feedback to make rapid iterations, constantly refining the UX.

Organize a competition where volunteers contribute and you provide a (small) award. This is a bit like crowdsourcing but then not for money but for time and feedback.

For some directional UX research — either new to get started or to corroborate/refute existing research — go ask for 5 volunteers (that match or are close to your segment of interest) from other tenants in your office building. Take some morning pastries/coffee. We’ve done this at several companies. Works every time!

Conducting UX research on a tight budget is indeed challenging but absolutely possible. Here are some other strategies to consider: Remote Usability Testing: Opt for remote usability tests instead of in-person sessions. Collaborate and Network: Seek partnerships with local universities or bootcamps where students might conduct research as part of their coursework. Also, networking with other UX professionals can lead to shared resources and insights. Synthesize and Share Findings Efficiently: Ensure that the results of research are clearly documented and easily shared with stakeholders to maximize the impact of your findings and avoid redundant future research.

In my experience, improving the user experience can be done from within the customer space. Make early releases of your design available to your customers and collect data as often as you can.

To conduct cost-effective UX research one needs to follow below points: 1. Prioritize online tools for surveys and remote usability testing. 2. Consider in-house testing and DIY analytics to save costs. 3. Utilize social media and community engagement for qualitative insights. 4. Explore affordable card sorting tools and low-fidelity prototyping. 5. Tap into existing literature and open-source UX resources. 6. Opt for guerrilla testing in public spaces for quick feedback. 7. Recruit participants through internal networks and alternative methods. 8. Collaborate with other departments to share insights and resources. 9. Leverage free analytics tools and open-source collaboration. 10. Keep a lean approach, focusing on essential research needs.

Conducting UX research on a tight budget can be achieved through methods like remote usability testing, leveraging online surveys, and utilizing free analytics tools, do a click rate test through a small online ad campaign

Be sure you know what questions to ask. Be aware of your own experiential bias... all biases. Goal fulfillment biases are dangerous. Think of it as taking your blood pressure over and over until you get the reading you're hoping for.