by Combining the user experience research can prove to be more valuable as it can give you direction about how a product or solution should be designed. UX research is not about markets, trends or demographics. Rather, it looks at what a user feels about a product or service. In the past, UX research made Samsung change their TV design strategy radically. They introduced a minimalistic design that can easily fit in people’s living room. After making the design changes, Samsung had doubled their market share in global TV market.
In today’s time where the competition is so high in each industry, if you fail to provide a high level of usability, the chances are that people will move on to another product.
If you are interested in learning the ecology of UX, then don’t miss our upcoming event – Qual360 Europe 2018. Scott Weiss of Babbel who is one of the keynote speakers at QUAL360 Europe 2018, will be exploring multiple methodologies such panning analytics, surveys, customer service data, usability research, and other methods to understand the user experience.
About Scott Weiss
Scott is a UX design visionary who has led design teams in the US, UK and Germany for more than 20 years. He is currently VP Product Design at Babbel, the world’s leading language-learning app. Read his complete bio here.
“I learnt how to do usability research the hard way. By doing it. And by running my New York agency for 11 years, I became a behavioural scientist.”
At Babbel mostly I talk to people. I look after designers, visual designers, illustrators, the writers etc.
I also run a new innovation software product. Keep the learner foremost in the mind is key
QUAL360 Europe 2018 conference is less than 3 weeks away. Recently, we interviewed Scott to get some insights on his session for QUAL360 Europe. Take a look at what he has to say:
What is your session to be about? And what is the core takeaway message from your session?
Scott: In Yellowstone, wolves are generally scary creatures and so they removed the wolves in Yellowstone. Yellowstone turned into a desert. They put the wolves back and yellow stone reverted back into the forest. It’s an ecology. User Experience is the same thing. As such, my main takeaway will be how small changes to the experience can have a big impact to the numbers.
The relationship between qual and quant is very interesting to explore. I am a qualitative researcher, but it is important to include the quant side.
Why did you choose this topic? Why do you think it is especially important/interesting?
Scott: I find everything about how people learn absolutely fascinating, and my topic allows me to weave all the anecdotes together in one coherent topic.
What are the main challenges facing qualitative research? And how do you think these challenges can be overcome?
Scott: At Babbel – the main challenge is that we are doing such a good job and everyone wants more and more of it and we need to learn how to say no.
The story is that when I joined Babbel all our research was being done by Germans for Germans in Germany. It was no surprise that Babbel sold best in Germany. I moved the office to the USA – it didn’t work here due to the time difference, but what we did learn is that Americans had different types of demand for the product.
Some people want research for all the wrong research. I do not think of qualitative as a validation method as that takes the richness of qualitative away from it. Similarly, I don’t like using qualitative to determine whether to use choice A or choice B – that is when AB testing is more valuable (or unmoderated user testing). Qualitative is so much better when you gain a richness of someone’s response. You want to use qualitative when you want to make something better. You need the qual to understand the why.
Babbel company values: Diversity makes us stronger.
How must qualitative research prepare and innovate for the future?
Scott: We need to be open to trying new technologies. We need to be willing to fail. We need to stop just finding fault and start finding solutions.
What are your expectations for Qual360? And what do you hope to learn?
Scott: I look forward to learning more about the state of the art of the qualitative and who the movers and shakers are in the field!
Be a Part of QUAL360 Europe 2018 and Get Inspired by the Case Studies of Iconic Brands
This year, we’ve brought in speakers from leading brands and innovators like Jaguar, Ericsson, Coco-Cola, Barclaycard, SKY, Kao, Accenture, DeliveryHero, Shell, and many more to ensure you are getting the most up-to-date case studies, best practices and innovative qual technologies. So, what are you waiting for? Register today!
