UX research articles

Practical approaches to run cheap and effective research into what your users are really doing.

Why you should combine session recordings and user testing to understand user behaviour

Using both of these methods will help you learn about realities and motivations as well as the details of any issues.

Photo by Marcos Luiz on Unsplash

5 key questions to ask clients when starting a new project

If you get answers to these five things from new clients then you should have enough information to get started on researching and designing.

The challenge of interviewing experts and how a funnel can help

How the realities of interviewing senior people means you have to step away from the ideal of having a natural conversation.

Photo by Denisse Leon on Unsplash

Do you really need to record customer interviews?

Why I’ve stopped bothering to record my user and customer interviews (and what I do instead).

Photo by Milkovi on Unsplash

Using sentiment analysis to turn rambling survey answers into useful results

My process for getting actionable insights out of reams of responses from in-depth surveys.

Get actionable data from Google Analytics to help you design

The four key things I look at in Google Analytics to help me make decisions about improving a website’s UX design.

Build your own website dashboard for free – tracking a user journey over time

I explain the benefits of tracking conversion funnels in your own dashboard and give a step by step guide to how I do this.

How many steps should be in a user flow?

The four things to consider when defining how long to make your user journeys and what to put in them.

Your website’s persona – how to quickly find out with Google Analytics data

A handy technique for user-centred design when there’s no budget for full user research: cheaply understand who your primary user is with analytics data.

The Forum in Rome

Work out how your current website performs before designing a new one (aka why study history)

I dig into a common question that clients ask: how can studying the past help us design the future.

An evidence-based framework for redesigning any website

My framework to make your redesign a success. It tells you how to work in an ordered, evidence-based way, so your new design is backed up with reasoning, not guesswork.

Photo by Jo Szczepanska on Unsplash.

Why you should be evidence-based when designing (and less data-driven)

Here’s how and why you should be properly evidence-based in your design process (not just claim to be). As well as a look at the limitations of being solely data-driven.

How to watch and analyse session recordings to gain powerful insights

There’s lots of software available for gathering session recordings of what users do on your website—here are six things you can discover by watching them back.

Photo by Jerry Kiesewetter on Unsplash

How to write remote user testing tasks (that don’t bias your results)

I take you through the wording of five common remote user testing tasks, that won’t adversely influence your users and harm your results.

Hannah Olinger on Unsplash

How to write a user testing report (that people will actually read)

Here’s what you should include in a comprehensive yet light user testing report, that is easy for clients and team members to consume.

Small to medium sized websites shouldn’t bother with A/B testing

Where I explain why A/B testing is probably not right for your small website and why it’s probably better to focus your efforts elsewhere.

Mistakes to avoid when doing phone interviews with users and customers

I recently had a bad experience as a user being interviewed. It made me appreciate the simple things you can do to make this experience run smoothly.

How to do quick guerrilla user tests on your own

Here’s how I carry out an end-to-end guerrilla user test when working on my own, in under half a day. Includes preparation time, running the test, and (importantly) analysing the results.

Copying, stealing, and inspiration: how to do competitor research properly

I break down my process for doing UX competitor analysis right, honed over a few years of providing this service to clients.

8 tips for running effective remote user tests

My top advice for running unmodertated remote user tests so you get great results—based on over six years of experience. Also features my recommendation for the best tool for the job.

A guide to my full evidence-based UX design process

A step-by-step guide to my process and the tools I use at different stages when running evidence-based UX design projects for clients.