How to Understand User Needs

While it can be easily believed that customers are the ultimate experts about their own needs, there are ways to gain insights and knowledge that customers may not be aware of or able to articulate directly. While customers are the ultimate source of truth about their needs, product managers can complement this knowledge by employing a combination of research, data analysis, and empathetic understanding to gain a more comprehensive understanding of customer needs and expectations. The goal is not to know more than customers but to use various tools and methods to gain insights that can lead to building better products and delivering exceptional user experiences. ➡️ User Research: Conducting thorough user research, such as interviews, surveys, and observational studies, can reveal underlying needs and pain points that customers may not have fully recognized or articulated. By learning from many users, we gain holistic insights and deeper insights into their motivations and behaviors. ➡️ Data Analysis: Analyzing user data, including behavioral data and usage patterns, can provide valuable insights into customer preferences and pain points. By identifying trends and patterns in the data, product managers can make informed decisions about what features or improvements are most likely to address customer needs effectively. ➡️ Contextual Inquiry: Observing customers in their real-life environment while using the product can uncover valuable insights into their needs and challenges. Contextual inquiry helps product managers understand the context in which customers use the product and how it fits into their daily lives. ➡️ Competitor Analysis: By studying competitors and their products, product managers can identify gaps in the market and potential unmet needs that customers may not even be aware of. Understanding what competitors offer can inspire product improvements and innovation. ➡️ Surfacing Implicit Needs: Sometimes, customers may not be able to express their needs explicitly, but through careful analysis and empathetic understanding, product managers can infer these implicit needs. This requires the ability to interpret feedback, observe behaviors, and understand the context in which customers use the product. ➡️ Iterative Prototyping and Testing: Continuously iterating and testing product prototypes with users allows product managers to gather feedback and refine the product based on real-world usage. Through this iterative process, product managers can uncover deeper customer needs and iteratively improve the product to meet those needs effectively. ➡️ Expertise in the Domain: Product managers, industry thought leaders, academic researchers, and others with deep domain knowledge and expertise can anticipate customer needs based on industry trends, best practices, and a comprehensive understanding of the market. #productinnovation #discovery #productmanagement #productleadership

Your competition is stealing your customers right now because they understand one thing you don't. Understanding your customers fully = building products people actually want to use. That's the goal. To get there, you can either: - Rely on your gut instinct and assumptions. - Actually learn what your customers need, think, and want. Just carry out these daily tasks: 1. Talk to your customers directly -  ↳ Give them easy ways to provide feedback through uninstall surveys, reviews, or customer support channels.  ↳ Reach out to power users and start conversations. Many customers actively want to help improve your product. 2. Make feedback frictionless -  ↳ Customers won't go out of their way to give feedback, so reduce friction with quick surveys after key interactions, in-app prompts for feature requests, open-ended responses in support tickets, and direct access to a real person. 3. Observe how customers actually use your product -  ↳ Data tells a different story than surveys.  ↳ Use analytics to see what features people use most, where they drop off during onboarding, and what actions lead to churn vs. retention. 4. Test and iterate based on customer input -  ↳ When feedback patterns emerge, act on them.  ↳ If feature requests keep coming up, prioritize them.  ↳ If customers are confused about a function, improve the UX. 5. Build relationships with your best customers -  ↳ Your most engaged users can become your best resource.  ↳ Keep in touch with them, get their input on new features, and make them feel heard. I had a user who loved our product so much that they actively shared feedback and even tested features before launch. They'll hop on a Zoom call with just 15 minutes notice. Now all you have to do is commit to customer research, and you'll build products people actually want to use. As you progress, incorporate: - Regular customer interviews - User testing sessions - Data analysis routines It's more effective than building in isolation based on assumptions. ♻️ Repost if you agree ➕ Follow me Blaine Vess for more

The best way to understand your customer is to be their customer first. This will help you identify inefficiencies, and opportunities where your solution could help improve the overall customer experience. This is also the type of research which can help you develop a tailored point of view that will resonate with Senior Executives who are invested in better serving their customers. It shows them you’ve done your homework and can bring immediate value. Finally, it helps you build immediate rapport since you are already a customer of theirs. Here are a 5 examples of how you can do this: 1. Call into their customer service department and see how easy or hard it is to get an issue resolved 2. Sign up for their newsletter and see the quality and quantity of the communications they send out 3. Use their mobile app or visit their online portals to see what the user experience is like 4. Visit their physical or online stores and see how their products are sold. 5. Read what their employees are saying on Glassdoor and identify where the employee experience could be improved Once you’ve done this firsthand research, then it’s time to establish your point of view on how and where you can help. Finally, you need to share it with the leaders who care most. For example: If your POV is related to their online store, the VP of eCommerce would be a prime candidate to hear this message. The more you know about your customers, the more you know how and where you can help them.

I’ve been interviewing a lot of PMs lately, and it’s interesting how many mention user empathy as something important to them. My follow-up question is usually around how they you build user empathy. Most mention talking to users, which is great and necessary, but I’ve noticed that some product folks tend to stop there. Of course, talking to users is critical, but there are so many other ways to deeply understand your users that seem to be getting overlooked: - Dogfooding the product - Running A/B tests (yes, I think being deeply hypothesis-driven and testing can build empathy!) - Reviewing support tickets - Joining online communities where users hang out (or events etc) - Mapping the entire user journey - Deeply understanding both super-happy and churned users - Watching session replays to identify points of friction - Partnering with customer-facing teams (and shadowing them - Using competitors seriously, since these are your users’ real alternatives

People often say what they think they should say. I had a great exchange with 👋 Brandon Spencer, who highlighted the challenges of using qualitative user research. He suggested that qual responses are helpful, but you have to read between the lines more than you do when watching what they do. People often say what they think they should be saying and do what they naturally would. I agree. Based on my digital experiences, there are several reasons for this behavior. People start with what they know or feel, filtered by their long-term memory. Social bias ↳ People often say what they think they should be saying because they want to present themselves positively, especially in social or evaluative situations. Jakob's Law ↳ Users spend most of their time on other sites, meaning they speak to your site/app like the sites they already know. Resolving these issues in UX research requires a multi-faceted approach that considers what users say (user wants) and what they do (user needs) while accounting for biases and user expectations. Here’s how we tackle these issues: 1. Combine qualitative and quantitative research We use Helio to pull qualitative insights to understand the "why" behind user behavior but validate these insights with quantitative data (e.g., structured behavioral questions). This helps to balance what users say with what they do. 2. Test baselines with your competitors Compare your design with common patterns with which users are familiar. Knowing this information reduces cognitive load and makes it easier for users to interact naturally with your site on common tasks. 3. Allow anonymity  Allow users to provide feedback anonymously to reduce the pressure to present themselves positively. Helio automatically does this while still creating targeted audiences. We also don’t do video. This can lead to more honest and authentic responses. 4. Neutral questioning We frame questions to reduce the likelihood of leading or socially desirable answers. For example, ask open-ended questions that don’t imply a “right” answer. 5. Natural settings Engage with users in their natural environment and devices to observe their real behavior and reduce the influence of social bias. Helio is a remote platform, so people can respond wherever they want. The last thing we have found is that by asking more in-depth questions and increasing participants, you can gain stronger insights by cross-referencing data. → Deeper: When users give expected or socially desirable answers, ask follow-up questions to explore their true thoughts and behaviors. → Wider: Expand your sample size (we test with 100 participants) and keep testing regularly. We gather 10,000 customer answers each month, which helps create a broader and more reliable data set. Achieving a more accurate and complete understanding of user behavior is possible, leading to better design decisions. #productdesign #productdiscovery #userresearch #uxresearch

99.9999% of case studies I see don't address: → Empathy Way too much "Next, I did this..." Not enough "Here's why we did this..." A well-placed persona image in your study is not a substitute for genuine user understanding. Some ways you can highlight empathy: → Core Needs: Begin your narrative by highlighting the user's fundamental needs. Make their pain points the core of your story, just as you did with your designs. → Insights: Distill the core needs into your primary insights. Showcase these. They guided your design decisions. Let them guide your case study. → How Might We's: A good way to frame problem-solving based on each insight. These show the uncovered potential. → Outcomes: Shift your focus from solely what you've learned to how your solution positively affected the user. How did it make their life better? Tell the story through the user's eyes, not merely as a designer ticking off a checklist. Empathy should have guided every step of your design process. Let it guide your story, too. #ProductDesign #PortfolioTips

The excruciating mistake I made in my first year as an L7 Product Manager at Google:👇 𝗢𝗯𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗲. Starting with market analysis and competitive matrices is the fastest way to build the wrong thing. Instead, understand your users by: • Shadowing customer support calls (I heard pain points I'd never see in data) • Running weekly user interviews (even if your calendar is packed) • Actually using your product daily (I found 3 critical bugs this way) • Mapping their full journey (not just the happy path) Once you make users your north star, you stop building what looks good in slides. Because PMs who master user empathy outperform strategists every time. 🙌

User research is great, but what if you do not have the time or budget for it........ In an ideal world, you would test and validate every design decision. But, that is not always the reality. Sometimes you do not have the time, access, or budget to run full research studies. So how do you bridge the gap between guessing and making informed decisions? These are some of my favorites: 1️⃣ Analyze drop-off points: Where users abandon a flow tells you a lot. Are they getting stuck on an input field? Hesitating at the payment step? Running into bugs? These patterns reveal key problem areas. 2️⃣ Identify high-friction areas: Where users spend the most time can be good or bad. If a simple action is taking too long, that might signal confusion or inefficiency in the flow. 3️⃣ Watch real user behavior: Tools like Hotjar | by Contentsquare or PostHog let you record user sessions and see how people actually interact with your product. This exposes where users struggle in real time. 4️⃣ Talk to customer support: They hear customer frustrations daily. What are the most common complaints? What issues keep coming up? This feedback is gold for improving UX. 5️⃣ Leverage account managers: They are constantly talking to customers and solving their pain points, often without looping in the product team. Ask them what they are hearing. They will gladly share everything. 6️⃣ Use survey data: A simple Google Forms, Typeform, or Tally survey can collect direct feedback on user experience and pain points. 6️⃣ Reference industry leaders: Look at existing apps or products with similar features to what you are designing. Use them as inspiration to simplify your design decisions. Many foundational patterns have already been solved, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. I have used all of these methods throughout my career, but the trick is knowing when to use each one and when to push for proper user research. This comes with time. That said, not every feature or flow needs research. Some areas of a product are so well understood that testing does not add much value. What unconventional methods have you used to gather user feedback outside of traditional testing? _______ 👋🏻 I’m Wyatt—designer turned founder, building in public & sharing what I learn. Follow for more content like this!

Are you generating enough value for users net of the value to your company? Business value can only be created when you create so much value for users, that you can “tax” that value and take some for yourself as a business. If you don’t create any value for your users, then you can’t create value for your business. Ed Biden explains how to solve this in this week's guest post: Whilst there are many ways to understand what your users will value, two techniques in particular are incredibly valuable, especially if you’re working on a tight timeframe: 1. Jobs To Be Done 2. Customer Journey Mapping 𝟭. 𝗝𝗼𝗯𝘀 𝗧𝗼 𝗕𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝗻𝗲 (𝗝𝗧𝗕𝗗) “People don’t simply buy products or services, they ‘hire’ them to make progress in specific circumstances.”  – Clayton Christensen The core JTBD concept is that rather than buying a product for its features, customers “hire” a product to get a job done for them … and will ”fire” it for a better solution just as quickly. In practice, JTBD provides a series of lenses for understanding what your customers want, what progress looks like, and what they’ll pay for. This is a powerful way of understanding your users, because their needs are stable and it forces you to think from a user-centric point of view. This allows you to think about more radical solutions, and really focus on where you’re creating value. To use Jobs To Be Done to understand your customers, think through five key steps: 1. Use case – what is the outcome that people want? 2. Alternatives – what solutions are people using now? 3. Progress – where are people blocked? What does a better solution look like? 4. Value Proposition – why would they use your product over the alternatives? 5. Price – what would a customer pay for progress against this problem? 𝟮. 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 Customer journey mapping is an effective way to visualize your customer’s experience as they try to reach one of their goals. In basic terms, a customer journey map breaks the user journey down into steps, and then for each step describes what touchpoints the customer has with your product, and how this makes them feel. The touch points are any interaction that the customer has with your company as they go through this flow: • Website and app screens • Notifications and emails • Customer service calls • Account management / sales touch points • Physically interacting with goods (e.g. Amazon), services (e.g. Airbnb) or hardware (e.g. Lime) Users’ feelings can be visualized by noting down: • What they like or feel good about at this step • What they dislike, find frustrating or confusing at this step • How they feel overall By mapping the customer’s subjective experience to the nuts and bolts of what’s going on, and then laying this out in a visual way, you can easily see where you can have the most impact, and align stakeholders on the critical problems to solve.