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HOW TO FAILLESS WITH
USERRESEARCH
FIND PRODUCT MARKET FIT, PRICING VALIDATION,AND DESIGN SATISFACTION
PlaybookUX
Why do you need to fail?
We’ve all heard the saying “90% of startups fail”. It’s a statistic that’s
in the back of every founders mind. We’re here to deliver some good
news: most startups fail from preventable mistakes.
It’s an age old wisdom that “you need to fail to succeed”. However, at
PlaybookUX, we don’t subscribe to that methodology. Why do you
need to fail when you can succeed without failing? Obviously, people
make mistakes but not all pitfalls need to happen for you to succeed.
Adding unnecessary roadblocks to your company’s path does not equal
success.
The biggest and most glaring reason startups fail is because they
didn’t solve the market need. In particular, this is the reason 42% of
startups fail.
How to Fail Less with User Research 1
Reasons For Startups Failing
According to CB insights, here are the 19 reasons startups fail, with 7
being directly attributable to lack of user research. We’ve included
user research questions for each of these reasons at the end of this
eBook.
42% - No market need ** Solvable with user research
29% - Ran out of cash
23% - Not the right team
19% - Get out competed
18% - Pricing, cost issues ** Solvable with user research
17% - User un-friendly product ** Solvable with user research
17% - Product without a business model
14% - Poor marketing ** Solvable with user research
14% - Ignore Customers ** Solvable with user research
13% - Product mistimed
13% - Lose focus
13% - Disharmony among team / investors
10% - Pivot gone bad ** Solvable with user research
9% - Lack passion
8% - No financing / Investor interest
8% - Legal challenges
8% - Didn’t user network
8% - Burn out
7% - Failure to pivot ** Solvable with user research
If you can prevent 7 of these reasons by doing user research, you can
spend your worrying and hopefully you will have less chance of burn
out. If you can solve the market fit issue by user research, you have a
fighting chance to be a part of those 10% of startups that don’t fail.
How to Fail Less with User Research 2
No Need to Fear Feedback
Most founders are averse to hearing negative feedback because they
fear that their concept or idea will fail. It’s hard to receive criticism
about something you are so passionate about. It’s easy to hear how
revolutionary and great your idea is. It gives you validation and keeps
you motivated. However, you don’t need to fear negative feedback. In
order to create a process of repeatable success, you need to actively
seek out constructive criticism from credible people. The most credible
people are your target demographic. Those are the people who will
benefit from your company - whether it be solving a problem, or
making their life a little easier. Remember, the target user wants to
push you in the right direction. If you’re not solving a relevant
problem, they’ll likely mention a problem that is worth pursuing.
I can’t reiterate this enough: the feedback needs to be from credible
people. If your uncle or friend tells you that your idea is great, or that
it sucks, take it with a grain of salt. Assuming they’re not your target
user, their opinion isn’t coming from experience with the problem
you’re trying to solve. Your idea won’t, and shouldn’t, be the perfect
solution for everyone. If it captures a use case for every person, you’re
building a product that’s way too broad and it will be challenging to
make any sort of impact in that market.
How to Fail Less with User Research 3
Speak to the Right People
Once you have narrowed down and found your target customer, it’s
important to speak to multiple people, not just one or two. If you don’t
speak to enough people, you’ll introduce personal bias. They may have
a very specific use case that requires a specific solution that isn’t
relevant to your target demographic. When you receive feedback that
multiple people are having the same problem, then you have a problem
that’s worth solving. The average user experience study includes
speaking to five people. Five people will diagnose the majority of issues
and concerns.
When conducting the user research, it’s important to make sure you’re
not prompting your users to arrive on your solution. As founders, we
are often so passionate about our idea that we want to talk about it to
anyone who will listen. However, when you’re conducting user
research, it’s time to listen. In the first user research session, where
you discuss the user’s problems, share very little information about
your solution. Ask them about their pain points, and how they’re
currently solving that pain point. You don’t want to influence the
outcome of the conversation. However, at the end of the session, you
can describe your solution briefly.
How to Fail Less with User Research 4
Ensure Product Market Fit
When I started PlaybookUX, I performed an initial market research
where I asked founders how they were currently validating their
products and services. I asked about any challenges they were facing
and how they were currently overcome those challenges.
You would be surprised at how helpful participants can be. If you really
listen, they will often give you the blueprint on how to build the ideal
solution. I will never forget, for our initial user research study, we had
a participant unprompted tell us that she wanted a company to use
‘A.I. to extract the meaningful things that were said during a user
research session’. She mentioned that she spent a lot of time
summarizing her user research and wanted some help in that phase of
the process. It was as if I had told her to say that. She was asking for
the exact solution we were building. After a few people had similar
issues, we knew this was a problem that not only myself and my co-
founder were experiencing.
Once you have validated your concept and ensured a product-market
fit, it’s time to create a prototype. If you don’t have a designer, you can
hire one on Upwork or Fiver, or DIY the designs. To do it yourself,
purchase software like Sketch.
After you have your wireframe or prototype ready to go, conduct a
research study. You can conduct either moderated interviews, where
you speak to your users one-on-one or unmoderated sessions, where
you define tasks and have the users walk through them while speaking
their thoughts out loud.
It’s not just enough to ensure that participants have the same problem
you are trying to solve. You also need to make sure the product is
extremely user friendly and intuitive. Customer expectation levels of
user friendliness are higher than ever. They expect to sign into a
product for the first time and intuitively know what to do. No longer
will they sit through a product demo or read any sort of documentation
to get started. Designing a solution that meets their expectations is
difficult. When you encounter a product that appears simple and easy
to use, you should have a huge appreciation for how hard that was to
create.
How to Fail Less with User Research 5
Test Your Pricing Model
While you’re fixing the areas that your product isn’t intuitive, it’s
probably a good time to test your pricing model. By testing your pricing
model, you’ll determine if the value of your solution is worth the price.
If you have multiple pricing tiers, you’ll be able to see if your potential
customers understand the value at each tier.
There are a ton of articles and research on what is the right pricing
model for your business. You can use premium pricing, bundle pricing,
penetration pricing, the list goes on. However, these resources will not
tell you what your customer thinks is the right value for your product
or service offering. Deciding how to price your product can be one of
the most difficult decisions you can make.
How to Fail Less with User Research 6
Test Marketing & Advertising Materials
You can perform the same type of user research on marketing and
advertising materials. Conduct a study on your marketing copy, logo,
branding, emails, advertising creative and more to ensure they
resonate with your target customer. Why waste your marketing
dollars without making sure they are effective? User research should
be a part of your business process.
When you have a new feature idea, design, branding concept anything
really get feedback first to confirm you’re not wasting your time and
money pursuing something your customers don’t care about.
How to Fail Less with User Research 7
Testing Cycle
Once have that precious feedback from credible people, move fast. Fix
the design elements that are confusing your users, update your pricing
model etc. It’s really important to re-test items when you have made
updates.
Here’s the logic behind re-testing. During the first research session,
the user says that they are having a hard time selecting a date and
time to schedule a meeting. After the session, you make changes to the
flow to make it better. However, how do you know that what you
changed is for the better? It could be just as confusing but in a different
way. You need to confirm that your design changes are for the better,
otherwise you’re just making another hypothesis about what users
find intuitive.
How to Fail Less with User Research 8
Market Need Template
42% of startups fail because there is no market need. For this test,
perform a concept / idea test. You can speak to your target
demographic via interviews or unmoderated self-guided tests.
Here are some tasks you can ask:
Problem
How do you currently solve <State Problem>?
What are the challenges with your approach to solving this problem?
How frequently do you have this problem?
How important is it to find a solution to this problem?
If someone were to solve this problem, how would that improve your
life?
How willing are you to pay for a solution to this problem?
What price point would you expect for a solution to this problem?
If you were to design an ideal solution to this problem, even if it’s out
there, please describe what that solution would look like.
Solution
<Describe your company’s solution> . What are your initial thoughts on
this solution?
Does the proposed solution solve your pain points and frustrations?
What questions do you have about this solution?
How much would you pay, if any, for this solution?
How frequently, if at all, would you use this solution?
How would you improve this solution?
How to Fail Less with User Research 9
Pricing Model Template
18% of startups fail because of pricing and cost issues. For this test,
perform a pricing model test. You can speak to your target
demographic via interviews or unmoderated self-guided tests.
Here are some tasks you can ask:
Context:
<Description of what the company sells>
Scroll up and down the page. What are your initial thoughts on this
page?
What do you think of the pricing page layout?
Are the pricing options clear?
Tier 1 Pricing
Now let’s take a look at <Tier Pricing Name>. In your own words, what
value are you getting from this tier?
Which features in this tier are most important to you?
Which features in this tier are least important to you?
Do you feel that the price is accurate? If not, how much would you
expect to pay?
Tier 2 Pricing
Now let’s take a look at <Tier Pricing Name>. In your own words, what
value are you getting from this tier?
Which features in this tier are the most important to you?
Which features in this tier are the least important to you?
Do you feel that the price is accurate? If not, how much would you
expect to pay?
Overall Questions
Do you need more information to make a purchasing decision?
If you were to make a purchase, what plan would you select?
Let’s say you’re ready to purchase. What would you do next?
How to Fail Less with User Research 10
Usability Template
17% of startups fail because their product isn't user friendly. For this
test, perform a Navigation or Usability test. You can speak to your
target demographic via interviews or unmoderated self-guided tests.
Here are some tasks you can ask:
Find <item1>. Speak your thoughts out loud as you look. When you’ve
found <item1> proceed to the next task.
Overall, how did you find this task? 1=Very Difficult to 5=Very Easy.
How would you improve the process of finding <item1>?
Find <item2>. Speak your thoughts out loud as you look around. When
you’ve found <item2> proceed to the next task.
Overall, how did you find this task? 1=Very Difficult to 5=Very Easy.
How would you improve the process of finding <item2>?
Find <item3>. Speak your thoughts out loud as you look. When you’ve
found <item3> proceed to the next task.
Overall, how did you find this task? 1=Very Difficult to 5=Very Easy.
How would you improve the process of finding <item3>?
Find <item4>. Speak your thoughts out loud as you look. When you’ve
found <item4> proceed to the next task.
Overall, how did you find this task? 1=Very Difficult to 5=Very Easy.
How would you improve the process of finding <item4>?
How to Fail Less with User Research 10
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