This happens every day: there is uncertainty about a feature (what it should cover, how it should be implemented, and whether it brings value at all). To move forward, someone wholeheartedly suggests, “Let’s do some research and ask our customers about what they want to make the decision”.

Good idea?

No. And sadly, that misconception of UX research is common.

UX explorations are not meant for customers to tell you what you should do on YOUR product. They are meant to give you enough cues so that YOU know what has to be done.

The Product Death loop

UX Research is often conducted haphazardly by teams who don’t really have a vision nor a clear idea of the value they want to bring to the world. They think gathering customers’ requirements will give them a direction. And of course the interview script includes (very bad) questions such as “what would make you buy our product?” or “how much are you willing to pay for this service?”.

People can not answer these questions (and should not). Because they don’t really know what they want. Because even if they knew it, most of the time they can’t express it clearly. Because more often than not what they want is not what they need. Because they will probably want very different things. And because nothing proves, so far, that they will even buy your product in the end. Cindy Alvarez summed it up a long time ago and every time I do explorations I find her assertions are still true today.

Product Death Loop when you mistake taking user requirements for UX Research

Wrong UX research leads to dilution

Wrong UX research leads to bloatware and product value dilution. And dilution makes it harder to kill a product that will never fully perform. The product is like a zombie: half dead (not the expected success) and half alive (still a few active users care about it). This state can last a very long time and cost a lot of energy (and money). The wreckage of Au Max Pour Moi is a very good example of product dilution (see here the — too numerous — “multiple assets” of the product) and lack of clear vision. It took 3 years and 20 millions of investment to kill a product that never really performed (Fiscal year 2021 yielded a turnover of €840,000 and losses of €13.24 million, the previous fiscal year was just as unbalanced).

Use UX research appropriately

Use UX research to understand context and develop empathy with customers. The healthy way to make decisions about your product should look like this :

• first, forge a strong product vision. To do this, you are encouraged to talk to customers to understand their problems, not to take their requirements or sell your solution.
• develop a fine understanding of your customers’ psychological needs and aspirations. Build a valuable product core that fulfills these psychological hooks.
• pursue interviews and immersions to understand the context better than anyone else. Pick up on weak signals to nurture your intuition about the direction to take.
• own your product by making your own choices based on all these insights and put the core value for the customer first and foremost. Stay focused on crafting that core value until you’re sure of what it is (don’t disperse yourself).
• let customers do their job: validate your choices with their money by buying your product

All along the Product development, when talking to users, consider that

• “yes” means “no”
• “maybe” means “no”
• “here is my credit card number” means “yes”

And remember that UX Explorations are not meant for customers to tell you what to do or to reassure management. They’re supposed to give you enough guidance to decide which direction to take. The decisions remain yours.