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Digital Marketing - Study Notes:
The purpose of user research
The integral nature of research to UX work is summed up by this quote from the Nielsen Norman Group, one of the world’s leading authorities on user experience:
“UX without research is not really UX. The user must be represented in the design of a product or service otherwise the design represents only one view.”
What research can deliver
Research can deliver insights on key areas, all of which relate to the design of a website:
- The organization or the business itself
- The business model, based on which the business generates revenue
- The competition
- End users
By the end of this module we’ll have covered each of these in detail.
What needs to be learned
The goals for research can be summarized by asking the following questions:
- Who are our users? The customers, clients, and people who interact with our business.
- What are they trying to do or achieve? Why are they using what we provide for them?
- What problems are we solving for them? Why are they coming to us, specifically? And what are their goals?
We’ll look more closely in a later section at how we can turn these very basic questions into a plan for research activity.
Principles over process
When embarking on research, the shear range of options of techniques available can be overwhelming. We may have a lot of decisions to make about which research methods we use. The important point is to ensure that the research objectives are answered by whatever means are most effective.
One of the fundamental things we need to understand is the difference between qualitative and quantitative research:
- Qualitative: Studies that are qualitative in nature generate data about behaviors or attitudes based on observing them directly.
- Quantitative: In quantitative studies, the data about the behavior or attitudes in question are gathered indirectly.
Rick Monro
Rick Monro is UX Director at Fathom. He has extensive experience in user research, interaction design, user-centered design, and design strategy with private and public sector organisations throughout the UK and Ireland.
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
- Appraise practices for planning UX research
- Critically evaluate the roles of innovation and users in User Experience (UX) research
- Evaluate cognitive biases that can affect research data
Digital Marketing Resources:
Digital Marketing Resources:
Data protection regulations affect almost all aspects of digital marketing. Therefore, DMI has produced a short course on GDPR for all of our students. If you wish to learn more about GDPR, you can do so here:
If you are interested in learning about the principles of UX and the tools or techniques that you can use to develop and refine your user's experience, DMI has produced a short course on the subject for all of our students. You can access this content here:
DMI Short Course: UX Essentials
The following pieces of content from the Digital Marketing Institute's Membership Library have been chosen to offer additional material that you might find interesting or insightful.
You can find more information and content like this on the Digital Marketing Institute's Membership Library
- Walkthrough: Google Optimize for A/B Testing
- Practical Guide: UX Writing for eCommerce Sites
- Walkthrough: Google Analytics
You will not be assessed on this content in your final exam.
