The Top 5 Methods of Continuous Discovery & UX Research

RESEARCH
Written By Jeff Humble

See which user research methods make to the top 5 for continuous product discovery.

Reading time: 11 minutes

continuous discovery methods for ux research
 

You are not alone if you struggle to fit research into your design process.

It's challenging to make a case for product discovery or research when timelines are tight. When the timeline is tight, you will hear things like this:

  • "Why don't you copy the competition instead of doing interviews? It’ll be faster."

  • "We don't need to research. Let’s do some brainstorming and roleplay the user."

  • "They're going to love this new feature. My wife tried it and said she would pay for it."

How do you make a research case when your stakeholders want instant results? Don't force a lengthy research phase where it doesn’t belong. Try a Continuous UX Research method instead.

Continuous UX Research is a continuous/agile/weekly mindset applied to user research. It differs from a regular UX research method in that it’s quick, collaborative, and the data is accessible to anyone.

It’s so new that there's not a lot of data on the most used method. So how did I arrive at the top 5? I chose five methods based on the 2021 State of User Research Report and my work teaching UX Research. These methods keep emerging as the best options for multi-disciplinary product discovery teams.

Here are the top 5 methods I recommend: 

1. Customer Interviews

In-depth customer interviews are Continuous UX Research's “keystone habit” and the best place to start a weekly research practice. Keep the conversation exploratory and open-ended by asking about recent customer behaviors and experiences. Ditch the interview script for a product-specific discussion guide you can use weekly. Use open-ended questions to keep the customer talking about their interests. When you hear something interesting, you can guide their answers with more specific questions.

Recruitment will be the most challenging part, so use a tool like Calendly to automate the recruitment. Don’t forget to share the note-taking and the notes with your teammates.

Don’t forget to do a debrief after the interview. Continuous Research requires you to conduct synthesis as you go, so be sure to debrief immediately afterward with your team. Take note of the essential takeaways and move on to the next thing.

The roles of Continuous UX Research including Designers, Researchers, Engineers, and product people

Try to involve everyone on your team in the interview. There should be no spectators. Giving people tasks makes them more vested in the outcomes of the research.

2. Contextual Surveys

Regular, one-off surveys take a lot of time to create, and it’s tempting to squeeze an unreasonable number of questions into a survey when it only happens a few times a year. But longer surveys sent via email aren’t the only way to get customer info. Small, 1-3 question surveys that pop up automatically in your product are a great way to target your surveys to specific parts of the user journey.

Contextual in-app surveys are a great way to get hyper-specific information from targeted personas without blasting your audience with surveys. Contextual surveys are always-on; you can get continuous data by placing them in key parts of your product. There are a million survey tools today, but we like Sprig, Typeform, and Google Surveys for their excellent freemium pricing models.

Keep the surveys brief and adjust them until you get a steady stream of insights every week that you can review with your team.

3. Unmoderated User Tests

Many asynchronous user testing platforms exist to help you run user tests while you sleep. With tools like Usability Hub, Maze, and UserTesting.com, you can manage a variety of methods. Here are the Agile methods that you should consider:

  • Preference Test: See which option a user prefers

  • Five-Second Test: Get first impressions on a visual, interface, or experience

  • Card Sort: See how users would organize information

  • First-Click Test: Assess the effectiveness of your information hierarchy

  • Click Dummy: Test more generally with a prototype to see if a user can complete a task

If budget is a concern, you can use these tools without the user recruitment aspect and use a Slack group or a Facebook group to recruit testers.

4. Desk Research

You don't have to generate custom research data every single week. Sometimes, the data you need already exists. That's where desk research (or secondary research) comes in handy.

There are a variety of places where you can search for existing research. You should start on your company wiki. The front page of Google is also an excellent place to look before you dive into specific sources.

Here are some less obvious sources of secondary research:

Run timeboxed search engine research sessions with your team to make desk research collaborative. Treat the desk research session like a design workshop, and get the whole team doing secondary research.

5. Analytics Review

An analytics review might look like a team meeting to compare the latest changes in metrics. If you can set a regular rhythm to check in on the analytics, you will get a better big-picture view of your product.

Prioritize user behaviors that can inform current product initiatives. Analytics platforms such as Google Analytics, Hotjar, Fullstory, Amplitude, or Mixpanel provide a wealth of UX data available anytime. Product designers should have access to product analytics, and if you don’t...ask for it!

Here’s how to run an analytics review with your team:

  1. Set goals for the meeting beforehand

  2. Present the data to the team

  3. Review the goals

  4. Encourage discussion

  5. Set action items

Check out this quick guide to setting up Google Analytics for UX research.

If you want to go pro, work with a data scientist to help set up a dashboard specific to your team. Google Data Studio is a great tool that you can use to design a quick big-picture view of your team’s relevant analytics.

Once you get a feel for the metrics you want to watch, find a weekly ritual to review the data with your team.

 

Learn More

Get a Free Masterclass in Weekly Research

Watch this 60-minute webinar and learn how to do weekly research with your team.

Did we miss a method? Let us know in the comments if you discover a Continuous Research method that belongs in the top five!

Jeff Humble

Jeff Humble teaches design strategy and innovation at the Fountain Institute. Visit JeffreyHumble.com to learn more about Jeff.

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