The banking market has been invaded with so many new products, so if there’s the mission to be remarkable yet functional, let’s review how important it is to do User Research.
No matter which digital market we try to tackle, UX techniques always lead us to understand the user before creating a new solution. Digital Products or Interfaces are meant to solve paints or even create new needs in our potential users.
Currently, the banking market has been invaded with so many new products, so if there's the mission to be remarkable yet functional, let's review how important it is to do User Research.
Warming up with some definitions
User research is the process of gathering data about users and their behavior, needs, and preferences in order to build the design and development of products and services. It is a critical step in the design process, as it helps to ensure that the final product will meet the needs of its intended users.
“..Researchers begin with qualitative measures, to discover users’ needs and motivations. They might later test their results by using quantitative measures..”.
There are several different methods that can be used in user research, including:
User interviews: This involves conducting one-on-one or group conversations with users to gather information about their needs, goals, and pain points.
Surveys: Surveys are a way to collect quantitative data from a large number of users, they can be in form of online or paper questionnaires
Usability testing: This involves observing users as they interact with a product or service, in order to identify any usability issues or areas for improvement.
User testing: This is a form of testing that aims to evaluate a product or service in terms of its ability to meet the needs of its users.
User research can help to identify user needs, validate design decisions, and identify potential problems before they occur. It allows designers, developers, and product managers to make data-driven decisions and create products and services that are tailored to the specific needs of their users.
The Interaction Design Foundation suggests the use of research anytime during the process. They agree that: “researchers begin with qualitative measures, to discover users’ needs and motivations. They might later test their results by using quantitative measures”.
Banking retain can be accomplished through well-done research
Research is the key to retaining users and customers in either the bank sector or any other. Since the market has become more competitive here are some strategies that will be useful to think about when developing a new product:
Understand your customers: Conduct user research to understand your customers’ needs, pain points, and goals. This will help you design a user experience that meets their specific needs and addresses their concerns.
Make it easy to use: Simplify and streamline the user experience by reducing the number of steps required to complete a task, and by providing clear and concise instructions.
Personalize the experience: Use data and analytics to personalize the user experience, such as by recommending products and services based on a customer’s usage history.
Focus on security and trust: Banks handle sensitive financial information, therefore it’s important to make sure customers feel secure with your services. Providing robust security features, such as multi-factor authentication and encryption, and clearly communicating these features to customers can help to instil trust in the user experience.
Provide excellent customer service: Quick and effective customer service is essential for maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty. Providing multiple channels for customers to reach out, such as phone, email, and chat can help to ensure that customers can get the help they need when they need it.
Continuously improve: Continuously gather feedback from customers and use it to improve the user experience. Regularly conduct usability testing and user research to identify areas for improvement and make updates as needed.
By focusing on these strategies, banks can create a user experience that is tailored to the needs of their customers and that helps to build trust and loyalty.
Which research tools can help me to get these strategies done?
The blog article 5 User Research Methods to Design Best Financial Products by UXDA digital agency, believes that these methods will help to accomplish some of the strategies mentioned above.
Ethnographic Research and Interviews: These are qualitative research methods which help to understand the culture and behavior of a particular group of people in a given context. It requires techniques of observation, interaction and in-depth interviews in order to study and identify patterns in users' behaviors, values and beliefs. Data gathering of the physical and social is also part of this research. The collection of data will help to identify opportunity areas of what we will design.
Mapping User Personas: Technique used to create, detailed, fictional representations of the users of a product or service. Followed by research like ethnographic research and end-user interviews, data gathered create fictional characters, known as personas, that represent different segments of users. The creation of the persona includes a name, photo, and a detailed description of their demographics, goals, pain points, and behaviors.
Card sorting: design method used to organize and structure information, content or features in a user interface. The process can be done in two kinds of card sorting: open and closed. In an open card, sorting participants are free to create their own structure that makes sense to them. In a closed, card sorting participants are given a set of predefined categories and they're asked to place the cards into those categories. It can be either digital or physical. Card sorting helps to understand how users think about and organize information, which can lead to a clever interface architecture.
Usability testing: the method used to evaluate the user experience of a product or service by testing it with real users. The goal of usability testing is to identify any issues or problems that users may have when interacting with the product and to gather feedback on how to improve the user experience. During a usability test, participants are asked to complete a set of tasks or goals while interacting with the product or service. The test is typically conducted in a lab setting, with the participant’s actions and feedback being recorded for later analysis. It can be carried out either remotely for users on their own devices, or Lab-based in a controlled environment where participants are observed and actions are recorded. There can be also testing focused on evaluating effectiveness in the users’ environment or A/B testing which compares two versions of the product or service to see which one performs better. The results of the usability testing can be used to identify areas of the product or service that need improvement, and to make changes to the design, content and functionality to improve the user experience.
Ready to launch a new digital product or service?
In this blog, we have just focused on the first steps of the whole development process of user-centred solutions. Research is the first yet crucial step to conceiving new digital products. As the banking market is changeable and demanding, constant updates are a must.
Let's not forget that the whole process of designing a product or service for banking will include more steps that you can read in my blog entree: UX/UI at the core of the financial business.
Which other techniques do you consider effective that we didn't mention here? Let in the comments know!
À bientôt amigos!
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