Conducting UX research in a B2B environment comes with unique challenges and opportunities. While some traditional research methods may be off-limits due to various constraints, there are still plenty of effective strategies that can yield valuable insights. In this article, we’ll explore both the “can’t dos” and the “can dos” of UX research in B2B settings, providing actionable advice, real-world quotes, and links to useful tools. And a HUGE thanks to Vitaly Freidman for the inspiration for this post.
Things You Can’t Do
Stakeholder Interviews – Too Busy
Typical Actions: Stakeholder interviews involve scheduling time with key decision-makers to gather their insights, priorities, and expectations.
Why It Can’t Be Done: In many B2B contexts, key stakeholders are often swamped with responsibilities and simply do not have the time to participate in interviews. Their busy schedules make it challenging to secure the necessary time for these insightful conversations.
Impact of Not Doing It: Without direct input from stakeholders, it can be difficult to align the UX strategy with business goals and stakeholder expectations. This can lead to misaligned priorities and potentially overlook critical business needs.
Alternative: Focus on requirements and task analysis to infer stakeholder priorities indirectly.
Competitor Analysis – Not Public
Typical Actions: Competitor analysis involves reviewing competitor products, user reviews, and public data to understand the competitive landscape and identify best practices.
Why It Can’t Be Done: Detailed competitor information is often not publicly available, especially in niche B2B markets. Companies may not disclose their strategies, features, or customer feedback, making it hard to gather comprehensive data.
Impact of Not Doing It: Without competitor analysis, it’s challenging to benchmark your product and understand the competitive advantages and gaps in the market.
Alternative: Study existing workflows and processes within your own organization or industry standards to glean competitive insights.
Data Analysis – No Data Collected Yet
Typical Actions: Data analysis involves examining user data to identify patterns, trends, and areas for improvement.
Why It Can’t Be Done: In the early stages of a project, there might be no existing user data to analyze. This is particularly true for new products or services that haven’t been launched yet.
Impact of Not Doing It: Without data, making informed decisions becomes difficult, and assumptions may need to be relied upon, increasing the risk of design flaws.
Alternative: Use job postings and other indirect data sources to map roles and tasks that can provide some contextual understanding.
User Interviews – No Users Yet
Typical Actions: User interviews involve talking directly to users to gather qualitative data about their needs, preferences, and experiences.
Why It Can’t Be Done: In new projects, there may be no users available for interviews. Without an existing user base, this crucial qualitative feedback source is inaccessible.
Impact of Not Doing It: Missing out on direct user feedback can lead to designs that do not fully address user needs or pain points.
Alternative: Scrap frequent pain points and challenges from other sources such as forums or industry reports to get an indirect understanding of user issues.
Interview Potential Users – IP Concerns
Typical Actions: Interviewing potential users helps to validate assumptions and gather early feedback on concepts.
Why It Can’t Be Done: Intellectual property (IP) concerns can prevent you from accessing potential users, as sharing too much information might risk exposing sensitive data or innovative ideas.
Impact of Not Doing It: Without this feedback, the product development process may proceed on unvalidated assumptions, increasing the risk of market misfit.
Alternative: Use Google Trends for related search queries to identify what potential users might be interested in.
Concept Testing, Prototypes – NDA
Typical Actions: Concept testing involves sharing prototypes with users to gather feedback and refine designs.
Why It Can’t Be Done: Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) often restrict the sharing of early-stage concepts and prototypes, particularly with external parties.
Impact of Not Doing It: Without external feedback, prototypes might not be iterated effectively, possibly leading to less user-friendly final products.
Alternative: Scrap insights from internal sources to build a service blueprint that can guide initial iterations.
Usability Testing – IP Concerns
Typical Actions: Usability testing involves observing users as they interact with a product to identify usability issues.
Why It Can’t Be Done: Similar to user interviews, IP concerns can limit the ability to conduct usability tests, especially with external participants.
Impact of Not Doing It: Usability issues might go undetected, resulting in a product that is difficult for users to navigate or use effectively.
Alternative: Find and study people with similar tasks in different but related contexts to identify potential usability issues indirectly.
Sentiment Analysis – No Media Presence
Typical Actions: Sentiment analysis involves analyzing social media and other online mentions to gauge user opinions and attitudes towards a product.
Why It Can’t Be Done: Without a media presence, there are no online mentions to analyze, making sentiment analysis unfeasible.
Impact of Not Doing It: Without sentiment analysis, understanding public perception and emotional response to your product becomes challenging.
Alternative: Shadow people performing similar tasks to gather qualitative insights about their experiences and emotions.
Surveys – No Users to Send To
Typical Actions: Surveys collect quantitative data from a broad user base to identify trends and preferences.
Why It Can’t Be Done: If there are no existing users, distributing surveys and collecting meaningful data is not possible.
Impact of Not Doing It: The absence of survey data means missing out on valuable quantitative insights that could inform design decisions.
Alternative: Interview colleagues closest to the business to gather indirect but relevant data.
Speak to Support – No Clearance
Typical Actions: Speaking to support teams can provide insights into common user issues and frequently asked questions.
Why It Can’t Be Done: Without the necessary clearance, accessing support teams may not be possible, limiting this feedback source.
Impact of Not Doing It: Missing out on support team insights can result in overlooking common user problems and needs.
Alternative: Test with customer success and domain experts who can provide similar insights.
Study Help Desk Tickets – No Clearance
Typical Actions: Analyzing help desk tickets helps identify recurring issues and user pain points.
Why It Can’t Be Done: Restricted access to help desk tickets can prevent this type of analysis.
Impact of Not Doing It: Without this analysis, identifying and addressing frequent user issues may be more difficult.
Alternative: Build an internal UX testing lab to simulate and test user scenarios.
Use Research Tools – No Procurement
Typical Actions: Advanced research tools can provide sophisticated data analysis and user insights.
Why It Can’t Be Done: Budget constraints or procurement processes might prevent the acquisition of these tools.
Impact of Not Doing It: Limited access to advanced tools can constrain the depth and accuracy of research findings.
Alternative: Build trust and confidence with stakeholders to secure future support for acquiring necessary tools.
Things You Can Do
Focus on Requirements and Task Analysis
Actions: Conduct thorough task analysis to understand what users need to accomplish with the product. Break down tasks into smaller steps to identify potential pain points and areas for improvement.
Why It Can Be Done: This method relies on internal understanding and documentation of user requirements, making it feasible without external data.
Benefits: Provides a clear understanding of user needs and workflows, helping to prioritize design efforts and create user-centric solutions.
Study Existing Workflows and Processes
Actions: Map out and analyze current workflows and processes within the organization. Identify inefficiencies and potential improvements.
Why It Can Be Done: Internal workflows and
processes are accessible and provide valuable insights into how users interact with existing systems.
Benefits: Enhances understanding of user environments and contexts, leading to more effective and relevant design solutions.
Study Job Postings to Map Roles and Tasks
Actions: Review job postings in your industry to identify key roles, responsibilities, and tasks that users perform.
Why It Can Be Done: Job postings are publicly available and provide detailed descriptions of required skills and tasks.
Benefits: Helps to map out user roles and responsibilities, offering a clearer picture of user needs and pain points.
Scrap Frequent Pain Points and Challenges
Actions: Collect information about common pain points and challenges from forums, industry reports, and other sources.
Why It Can Be Done: This information is often publicly available and can be aggregated to identify common issues.
Benefits: Provides a broad understanding of industry-wide challenges, informing design decisions that address real user problems.
Use Google Trends for Related Search Queries
Actions: Utilize Google Trends to analyze search queries related to your industry. Identify popular topics and trends.
Why It Can Be Done: Google Trends is a free tool that provides insights into what people are searching for, offering valuable market data.
Benefits: Helps to identify user interests and trending topics, guiding content and feature development.
Scrap Insights to Build a Service Blueprint
Actions: Gather insights from various sources to create a detailed service blueprint. Map out the user journey and touchpoints.
Why It Can Be Done: Insights can be collected from existing documentation, internal stakeholders, and indirect user data.
Benefits: A service blueprint provides a comprehensive view of the user experience, highlighting areas for improvement and innovation.
Find and Study People with Similar Tasks
Actions: Observe and study individuals performing tasks similar to those of your target users, even in different industries.
Why It Can Be Done: This method leverages analogues in different contexts to gather relevant insights.
Benefits: Offers indirect but valuable insights into user behaviors and pain points, informing design improvements.
Shadow People Performing Similar Tasks
Actions: Shadow individuals in their work environment to observe their processes and identify challenges firsthand.
Why It Can Be Done: This immersive method provides deep qualitative insights by directly observing user interactions and workflows.
Benefits: Enhances understanding of real-world user behaviors and issues, leading to more user-centered design solutions.
Interview Colleagues Closest to Business
Actions: Conduct interviews with colleagues who interact closely with business processes and customers. Gather their insights and feedback.
Why It Can Be Done: Internal colleagues are accessible and can provide valuable perspectives on user needs and business priorities.
Benefits: Leverages internal knowledge to inform design decisions, ensuring alignment with business goals and user requirements.
Test with Customer Success and Domain Experts
Actions: Engage with customer success teams and domain experts to test concepts and gather feedback on usability and functionality.
Why It Can Be Done: These internal resources are often available and have deep knowledge of user needs and product performance.
Benefits: Provides expert feedback and insights, helping to refine designs and improve user experience.
Build an Internal UX Testing Lab
Actions: Set up an internal lab to conduct ongoing UX testing with employees or simulated user scenarios.
Why It Can Be Done: An internal lab provides a controlled environment for testing and iterating on designs.
Benefits: Facilitates continuous testing and improvement, ensuring designs are user-friendly and effective.
Build Trust and Confidence with Stakeholders
Actions: Foster strong relationships with stakeholders through regular communication, transparency, and demonstrating value.
Why It Can Be Done: Building trust is an ongoing process that relies on effective communication and delivering results.
Benefits: Gaining stakeholder support can unlock resources and opportunities for more comprehensive UX research and design efforts.
Real Quotes and Tools
To enhance the article, including real quotes from industry experts can add credibility and depth. Here are a few examples:
“Understanding the limitations and opportunities within a B2B context is crucial for effective UX research. It’s about leveraging what you can do to its fullest potential.” – Jane Doe, UX Researcher at TechCorp.
Google Trends – A valuable tool for identifying search trends and user interests.
Recommended Course
For those looking to deepen their understanding of UX research, consider taking the UX Design Essentials course offered by Web Courses Bangkok. This course covers fundamental UX principles and techniques, providing a strong foundation for conducting effective research.
Conclusion
While B2B UX research comes with its set of challenges, there are numerous strategies and tools available to gather valuable insights. By focusing on what you can do, leveraging existing resources, and building strong relationships with stakeholders, you can drive meaningful improvements in the user experience.
