Design using Quantitative Data | Improving UX Design
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In the field of UX design, it is often said that qualitative data is more important than quantitative data. This is because qualitative data provides insights into how users feel about a product, while quantitative data only provides cold, hard facts. However, I believe that quantitative data is also important, and here’s why.
Quantitative data can be very helpful in understanding how users interact with a product. For example, if you want to know how many people use a certain feature on your website, you can look at the number of clicks it gets. Quantitative data can also help you understand user behavior patterns and trends over time.
Qualitative data is great for understanding user sentiment, but quantitative data should not be ignored. It can provide valuable insights into how people actually use your product.
Often times this is a very important and missed in corporations. User testing is very important for finding out how we can better an experiance. One of my favorite tests to run is A/B testing. Seeing how moving a button above the fold can actually increase sales. Another test I am going to be doing is introducing a new feature on a page. I will be conducting research on if this feature is useful/ how many people engage with it.
The other big part of qualitative research that Is very helpful is surveys. By understanding the user sentiment with the right questions. Need to ask the right questions though, multiple choice can help. You can reward the subjects for the time and ask questions that can help you plan the application you are building. Here are some example questions that are worth asking:
- understand what {product or app name} does
- I know how to use {product or app name}
- Why did you start using {product or app name}?
- How useful is our product to you?
- Tell us about your experience using {product or app name}?
- How would you rate the user-friendliness of {product or app name} interface?
- Considering that you’ve used our interface extensively, how likely are you to recommend it to your friends and colleagues?
- How would you describe {app or product name} in one or more words?
- If {app or product name} were a car, what car would it be?
- How does {app or product name} compare to other apps you have used?
If needed you can always get more specific depending on what you are looking for. This can really help you improve and find things about your users you may not have known. This should be a big part of the design process in any project. Even an older project can benefit from surveys and A/B testing. I think as a project grows it should keep being examined, building a useful product is the end goal. UX team should help you do this with Quantitative data.
Want to learn more? Check out the Courses at the Interaction Design Foundation
