Charlotta Alexén
Designers at many of Sweden’s best known companies are using Panelista to clearly understand the user needs BEFORE creating something new, and to then create something that actually fulfills the user needs.
In this article we describe how these designers work, and this also happens to be how we work when we develop Panelista.
Designers think of using panels on Panelista as their team gaining the capability to quickly get high-quality feedback from 30-40 users with very little effort. With touchpoints on Panelista they are also able to place questions within prototypes, websites, and apps to evaluate how they perform.
The need for feedback is different at different stages of the design process; first it is important to understand the user needs clearly, then to be able to fulfil them well by testing ideas, designs and prototypes, and last but not least, to evaluate what has been released.
Panelista’s fast feedback loops are a great way to make the design process more user needs-driven and efficient. The people creating things for the users have quick and easy access to the users every single day, and can use our proven method for continuous discovery and user research.
3 keys for a great design process
In UX, Service Design, CX, Design Thinking, Lean UX, and agile frameworks the following three components are essential to maximise the value created by your team.
- Use hypothesis driven design This is mainly a mindset shift, from “we know” to “we will find out”. Think of every idea and design as a hypothesis until it reaches actual users. Create a hypothesis based on the insights you have today, and be open to make changes.
- Do things in small steps Take your hypothesis and figure out the simplest possible way to test it. Sometimes it is better to simply describe something in words, sometimes you need a clickable prototype. It is cheaper and faster to make changes on the whiteboard than in a design or the actual product. And you will be more open to make changes before you have spent lots of time on something.
- Create fast feedback loops Create the capability for your team to quickly create something, test it, and learn. The faster you can go through a feedback loop like this, the more likely it is that you will do it frequently. You will still need to do the creating, but Panelista can help with the testing and continuous learning!
Step by step in Panelista
Designers loop through one or several of these steps when creating something new.
Explore user needs Ask your panel open questions like; “Should we offer a subscription? And if so, what is important for you?".
You will get 30-40 thought-through answers in just a few hours. Then ask follow-up questions in the comments to learn even more, and use highlights in different colors to cluster themes.
Prioritize user needs Ask your panel to prioritize needs with sorting questions like; “Which one of these 4 things is the most important to you? Why?".
The users will sort alternatives that you have defined and explain why they sorted them in that order.
Test ideas Ask your panel for input to test ideas with questions like; “We think that a subscription could work like this, what do you think?".
Get concrete feedback from real users as early as possible!
Test designs Ask your panel to check out a design or prototype by showing it in the video or linking to it together with a question like; “Please sign up for a new subscription in this prototype, what are the best and the worst things about this experience?".
You can also test a prototype by placing a touchpoint question as a link on a view within the prototype itself such as; “You just signed up for a new subscription, what were the best and the worst things about this experience?”.
Evaluate what you have released Ask your panel to try out something that is already available with questions like “Try out our new subscription calculator, what is good and bad (don’t hold back!)?”.
Place a touchpoint in your app or website or email or even in a physical space like a store or bus stop to understand if it is a good experience with questions relevant in that context like; “How easy was it to get started with a subscription?” right after setting up a subscription.
Interview users There will be users who give great answers to the questions where you explore needs and test ideas and designs, and you can easily ask them in the comments if it is OK that you contact them to arrange an interview if you want to dig even deeper, share screens etc. You have their contact info in Panelista which makes it easy to reach out.
Want to bounce ideas? Just drop us a line at coach@panelista.com
