(Usability) Users Are Not Always Right – A Product Manager’s Perspective

15 Jan 2014

Welcome to another post from our UI for product managers series. This time we will take a closer look at the ideas you can collect from your users and try to see the impact on the usability of your product.

Users are often very vocal, meaning that they can produce a lot ideas in a very short period of time, which might seem good, but just because users want something does not mean you should hop on the feature train. They also want your product to be free, but that might not be best choice if you want to stay in business.

sketch-04 — Try to observe the user and see where the real problem lies

The truth is: if you implement all of their ideas at once then you will be left with a huge configurable system that nobody, except for a few power users, wants to touch with a ten foot pole.

The trouble with getting usable input from real users is that their ideas are mostly connected to their previous experiences (due to their mental models which have developed over time) and they cannot give you any solid advice on how to make a better product than the one they are using today. Hence the solutions they offer are often not the best for both you as a product manager and your business. At some points even the product`s usability might take a step back.

In order to get a better system without sacrificing user experience you need to apply the following ways of listening to your users:

Try to understand the problem or theme behind a user’s request. If the user is upset because something does not work right or well enough then they will tell you how it should work. You need to find out why they need a certain functionality instead of what they want exactly. What kind of a problem are they trying to solve?

Nearly all feature requests are based on a specific problem. Once you identify the problem, you will have a clear view on what should be improved. If you understand the request then you will be able to both adjust your product and the business model behind it.

Do not ask people what they would like to get. People just do not know what they need. And they tend to have different ideas which often clash with each other. Not to mention that they will try to give you the most logical answer which they think is right or something that they think you want to hear. While the idea might be logical, it is often unusable for your product.

Ask them how they work and what kind of challenges they actually have in their daily life. Then you can solve these challenges with appropriate business models behind the user interface.

Observe how users use the system or product in real life – we often call it usability or user testing. Try to see where they fail in their real life tasks. Observation is a powerful tool when trying find solutions for problems or figuring out a new product or service.

You should make every single session count. It won’t be long when you will start to see patterns and are able to identify the source of the problem along with a way of fixing or improving it. Try to understand how and where users fail or stumble upon a potential deal breaker.

If you follow these 3 simple guidelines and do your best to get inside the head of your customers then you will be able to more easily convert their ideas into profitable features that yield real business value.

And if you looking for a kickass user interface design and usability team to help you out then just give us a call.

Here are some of our other post from the Product Manager´s Perspecive series in case you missed them when they originally came out: