Our research services bring you closer to your end users. We can help you understand their context, goals, tasks, and needs. We will help you identify the right questions to ask, the right research method, and the right people to approach. Our aim is to give you insights you need on your end users to build a successful product!

One of our most popular user research consists of observing targeted users while they work with our client's software application. We recommend observing users in their natural environment in a site visit, because this delivers the richest insight.  As they do their work we interview them on the type of tasks they perform most frequently, the tasks that are most critical, and the aspects of the product that they like or find cumbersome and confusing. We do these sessions both in person and over the Internet using the phone and application sharing technology. Clients observe the sessions and take part in deciding the questions that need to be asked during the sessions.

As a result of observing these sessions our clients come away with a better sense of whether customers are using their product as intended and to its fullest extent. Clients also gain a clearer understanding of the product areas that need refinement as well as a better understanding of those features that users value the most within the current rendition of the product.

As mentioned, may combine these sessions with other research techniques such as in-person or online card sorts, site visits, surveys and focus groups. The specific mix of research techniques vary according to our client's objectives. Here is a fuller description of one of our most popular services -> the usability feedback session.

Part of our offering could include teaming with a partner, such as On Point Research, if there is a need for competitive or market research.

All research activities are designed to produce actionable data that can be applied directly to the product design. For example, before designing an online learning environment for physicians, we did in-depth interviews with doctors to learn how they use the Internet and about their preferred methods for obtaining continuing education credit. Before working on the interface design for a soft phone (a phone that you can control from the computer desktop), we interviewed and observed how dozens of home-based professionals use telecommunications technology to collaborate with co-workers.

Over the years we have been in business we have developed a streamlined process for producing excellent and actionable user research. In a typical engagement we may start by meeting with you to learn about your product, marketplace, competition, and business objectives. We talk with you and with customer-facing staff within your firm to find out how much end-user knowledge already exists within your own organization. In these early user research stages we seek a "lay of the land" in terms of your product's distinct user groups. We then write a research plan which describes the study objectives, methods, time frame, recruiting, and budget.

Outputs from our research depend on your specific needs. These deliverables could include personas/user profiles, a report that includes task analysis (expressed as UML Activity diagrams with accompanying narrative), outline of the various usage scenarios, an analysis of end user issues, identification of missing functionality, user profiles, taxonomies and screen flows that are more intuitive and match end user needs more closely. We can also provide specific feedback on a product concept or feedback on a current product and how it is used, or ideas on how an existing technology product could be made relevant for a new audience