Why user research should be part of your design process

If you design digital products and services, you have to carry out user research. It’s as simple as that. But integrating this into a website development process can be a long and bumpy road. It can be particularly difficult for larger companies to establish a user-centred workflow. Our job at Valsplat is to kick-start or speed up this process. We get users involved.

Albert Heijn is our country’s largest supermarket chain. We work regularly with their online teams and their design partner, Handmade. Over the last few years, we have optimised an efficient workflow tailored to their specific needs. By continuously supporting them with research and expertise, we help Albert Heijn to create digital products that are clear, useful and fun to use.

So, how did we get there? Let’s explore why you should embed user research into your design process.

6 reasons to embrace continuous research

Research should be part of your routine at any stage of development. You shouldn’t wait until feedback is desperately needed; you should plan ahead. For Albert Heijn, we carry out a user test in our lab every month, come what may. Here are six reasons why you should establish a regular user testing routine:

1. A lot of design requires a lot of testing
   At large companies, the need for user input is significant. Design and development are ongoing processes. The online teams at Albert Heijn work in short sprints and come up with new ideas or designs roughly every other week. By sticking to a strict research schedule, all teams can be sure their work will eventually be included in a user test.
2. Continuous research fits an iterative workflow
   If something doesn’t work the first time, you can design a better version and try again in the next round of testing. Conducting research on a regular basis helps to see if you’re on the right track. Whether it’s about finding out whether a new product meets existing user needs, or about validating that users no longer face certain usability issues, user testing shows you the way forward.
3. You’ll maintain a fresh perspective
   User research keeps the members of the project team in touch with the people they’re creating things for. They get a fresh perspective on their work on a regular basis. This is important, as becoming too familiar with a product can lead to blind spots.
   We often see designers, product owners, developers and stakeholders bringing their own ideas and assumptions to the table, resulting in endless discussions. Testing early and often can prevent this, and it can save a lot of time and money.
4. It forces you to finalise things
   Having fixed dates for user tests means designers have additional deadlines. This is a good thing, as it forces them to make design decisions. Whether these decisions are right or wrong doesn’t even matter that much; we’ll find out as we go along.
5. It supports experience-centred design
   A user test isn’t about finding out whether or not your users like your designs. It’s about finding out how people experience your product, and whether it adds value to their personal lives. Conducting user research forces designers to think about flows and customer journeys rather than individual screens.
6. Planning ahead is practical
   We can book our labs, recruit participants in good time, and ensure that we assign the right team to the task. Our UX specialists working on the project should be familiar with the clients’ products, project team, customers and business objectives. This will undoubtedly benefit the research and its outcomes.

3 things to keep in mind

Now that we know why regular user testing is a good idea, let’s take a look at the conditions for integrating it effectively into your workflow. Based on our experience with Albert Heijn, here are three things we think are important:

Be flexible

We carry out user research on virtually everything the teams at Albert Heijn come up with: websites, apps and services, at different stages of development. Research approaches include usability testing, expert reviews, online surveys, card sorting and concept testing. Choosing the right method is important. The best approach depends mainly on the research questions that need answering. It can vary each time.

The fact that we plan ahead doesn’t mean we know exactly what we’ll be testing for the rest of the year. For each user test, we decide on the subject, scope, method and participant recruitment just a week or two in advance.

Apart from structured, planned user testing, it should still be possible to carry out research on the fly. You don’t always need to recruit participants or have a lab setting. We often visit a nearby Albert Heijn supermarket to do some guerrilla usability testing.

Move fast

Acting quickly is important when embedding user research into a design process. After each user test, the project team should be able to get on with their work straight away. There’s no need to wait for a report or a presentation at some point in the future, when everyone has already started working on other things. We debrief the project team immediately after each test, and send them a report with findings and recommendations the very next day.

Keep an eye on the bigger picture

Inspired by the team at Gov​.uk, we have our own section of wall at the Albert Heijn office in Zaandam for collecting and displaying UX-related insights. This way, all the teams can keep up to date with the outcomes of each user test. Putting findings and recommendations up for everyone to see is a great way of keeping customers front of mind. The schedule for the user tests is also displayed on the wall, and teams can sign their projects up for the next one.

Because research = design

With the redesign of ah​.nl in 2014, Albert Heijn aimed to create a simplified, omnichannel experience, with a strong focus on mobile devices. Many design decisions were based on user insights gathered through various forms of user testing. To this day, this remains how we help Albert Heijn deliver first-class user experiences to its customers.

Design and user research should be an integrated practice. You need to involve users continuously throughout your design and development process, and place them at the heart of your organisation. It’s great that large companies like Albert Heijn recognise this. We love helping them get even better at it.