Find your hidden killer features, they may be vital to your user adoption strategy

By Frank Spillers

on June 13, 2019 - 3:11pm
user alarm clock phone
Summary: Killer features are generally understood to be ranked highly on value proposition for users. However, there is a class of features that run under the radar of most sites, apps and experiences. These are features that bring users back, often without their conscious knowledge. They might even seem insignificant, but they provide some value that makes re-visiting worthwhile. Finding these features is an extremely worthwhile pursuit for product managers. 
 

Identifying hidden "killer features"

A "killer feature" is a concept software developers use to describe a high value or money-making aspect of a site, app or experience. Typically, these are either a) identified by experienced UX teams in advance of launch, or b) discovered or appreciated by customers as evidenced through sales, engagement or adoption. 

Market Research and UX Research are the NOT the same-- here are the key differences

By Frank Spillers

on May 21, 2019 - 10:47am
5 users focus group for UX research

Summary: Many organizations and individuals continue to use market research, equating it to, or substituting it for usability research. UX and marketing or brand insights, are completely different and should be considered as such. UX research is behavior-driven, while market research is opinion-driven. Therefore, market research is not appropriate as a way to gain insight into user behavior. 

Use this Persona hack to lift ROI on customer profiles

By Frank Spillers

on April 24, 2019 - 3:40pm
woman taking ask off

Summary: Personas are used routinely in design organizations. Beyond a tool to socialize customer profiles throughout the company, quality persona development is extremely important for bringing high impact results to your design efforts. Functional personas help bring vital empathy and data-based decision-making to teams.  

Personas need to be made functional for better product development. Using associating adjectives to capture role-based activities within a persona, can improve the usefulness and functional benefits of personas. 

Unmasking personas

Persona means "mask" in Latin. Personas are commonly found on the desks of Product Managers, Business Analysts and UX teams. They are considered an essential of UX, but oftentimes their value and utility are often diminished due to a lack of clarity of the functional UX purpose of a persona.

Hiring the right UX designer- avoid these stupid mistakes!

By Frank Spillers

on March 27, 2019 - 1:28pm
Your next UX Designer hire- working

Summary: Hiring UX Designers and UX managers or UX consultants can be difficult especially for product, marketing, engineering or HR folks who are unfamiliar with what a UX designer ought to be doing to generate real value. Know what you are shopping for, so you get what your organization needs! Better yet avoid these mistakes made by those before you. Good UX hiring contributes to reinforcing an Outside-In Design organization.

The 5 User Sample Size myth: How many users should you really test your UX with?

By Frank Spillers

on March 13, 2019 - 9:46am
5 users

Summary: Testing with 5 users has become a commandment in UX research. Worse yet, a sample of 5 has become the rule, for any type of user research (field studies or diary studies). Sample size is a big deal in UX because it impacts your learning and decision-making. Skimp on sample size and you will likely cut yourself short of valuable insights. 

For Usability Testing: If you follow Jakob Nielsen's advice: test with 5 users or less (2 users for low-fidelity prototypes) and do many iterations of testing (at least 3 rounds of testing). Our advice: if you have multiple user segments and you don't have time to play with 3-5 iterations, test with 8-10 users for prototypes, and 15-20 users for finished products. If you can, or need to iterate then a second round of testing should suffice. 

[INFOGRAPHIC] Accelerate your UX Management by repairing these 7 issues

By Frank Spillers

on March 5, 2019 - 10:15am
UX management infographic- 7 fixes

Summary: This infographic summarizes 7 classic mistakes in approaching user experience design and process. The text of the infographic is below the image, with the addition of more summary notes not found in the infographic--look for “Comment” in the text version below for these exclusives. 

[INFOGRAPHIC]: Accelerate your UX Management by repairing these 7 issues

User Experience Management combines organizational dynamics: the right people, in the right role/org chart, doing the right processes and delivering business value through design. 

Repair these 7 issues to accelerate your UX efforts:

1. Seeing UX as just ease of use

Comment: If you just think UX is about ease of use, you’re missing the party over in the Desirability department. 

[WEBINAR + eBook]: The Secrets of how to get the most out of your Diary Studies

By Frank Spillers

on January 25, 2019 - 1:50pm
diary studies- user flips through booklet

Summary: Diary Studies are one of the most under-utilized and least understood UX techniques. Diary Studies are slightly more complicated than user testing and require additional know-how in study design, moderation and deployment. In this webinar and complimentary e-book, you'll learn how to use diary studies like a pro, avoiding the pitfalls inherent in diary studies.

 

Why Diary Studies?