How to Do UX Research Without Reaching Users
User testing is a crucial tool for most product designers. However, my recent experience shows that sometimes, the team working on an app doesn’t have access to its users due to client restrictions or language barriers. This means that, while the team wants to conduct user testing, they simply can’t. So, how do you deal with it? Is it possible to conduct the testing anyway? In this article, I will explain how to bypass these obstacles. Enjoy your reading!
Table of contents
Why is user testing important?
So, if you don’t have access to users, is user testing still needed? Some might claim that a good design will speak for itself and that using well-established UX practices previously tested by other specialists eliminates the need for testing. However, each platform is unique, and so are its users. What works well for one product may not be ideal for users of different age groups, cultural backgrounds, or those accustomed to different methods of completing tasks based on previous implementations. These factors frequently impact users’ online behavior. Testing is especially important when introducing a new feature that is not yet popular on the market or is unique in some way. While it is sometimes difficult to test without access to users, this is not an excuse to forgo testing altogether.
When do product designers lack access to users?
There are a few instances where product designers frequently do not have access to users for conducting usability testing, and in my experience, I have had to deal with all these cases. The first and most common situation is when the client is unwilling to provide access to users. This often occurs when the company providing product development services is an external vendor, particularly in cases involving a non-disclosure agreement, where the client prefers not to reveal the product team to the users. It can also happen when only certain highly trained individuals, accustomed to the company’s values and consistent tone of voice, are tasked with contacting users.
Another common obstacle is the language barrier, especially when working with international clients whose users predominantly speak a language foreign to the designer. I had the pleasure of working with Arabic clients, whose user base was harder to reach due to the language barrier.
Lastly, a situation all too familiar to product designers is when they are working on a new product, particularly a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), which, despite a long development time, has not yet been released to production. This delay can be due to the large scope required for release, linked to privacy and legal requirements, or the client’s and stakeholders’ decisions.
How to test with limited access to existing users
If we are working on an existing product with a user base, our first step is to discuss all potential ways of accessing users with the client, who frequently acts as the product owner. It is important to practice good communication and understand the full context of the situation by asking why the users cannot be accessed, instead of resigning from testing as soon as the client asks us not to proceed.
It is our job to advocate for the users and educate clients about the importance of good user experience and testing.
If the client indeed has strict restrictions on accessing users, then we have a few options, among many.
One solution is to prepare the product owner or another party on the client’s side, who is qualified to contact users, to facilitate user interviews and usability testing. One helpful element that makes it easier for them is to prepare a prototype in Figma or any other tool, which will allow them to display it to users and observe their interactions, as well as ask questions. Although some clients may be hesitant to take part in the testing process, it is a good practice as it teaches them the importance of UX and testing, and builds their confidence in the design decisions based on the findings. One successful user interview may end up convincing your client to continue and conduct more, or simply invest more in UX.
Our job is, however, not only to convince the client to partake in this endeavor but also to prepare them and make the process as easy as possible. Ways to do this include preparing interview scenarios with predefined questions and onboarding them to a tool that will make transcribing the test session and sharing the conclusions as easy as possible, such as by using AI. Examples of such tools are Happyscribe, Lookback, and Maestra.
Another solution that we at Boldare frequently practice is sharing surveys and satisfaction ratings with users by email or within the interface itself. This eliminates the need for direct contact with users and the formalities involved with face-to-face contact. While language barriers can still be tricky, an effective practice is preparing such surveys in English, then presenting them to the client and requesting translations. Despite the limitations of not being able to receive highly detailed answers, low completion rates, and the need for translations, we can successfully use this method to gather even small incremental feedback during multiple steps of the user’s journey.
Lastly, a tool that requires little to no interaction with users but frequently brings highly valuable feedback is A/B testing. By developing two versions of a feature or interface change, we can use statistics based on user interactions, conversion rates, and drop-off rates to determine which solution is superior.
How to test without any existing users
The following methods are useful in cases of both hardly accessible users and a lack of users altogether in the case of new products not yet in production.
One option for this situation is to conduct guerrilla testing. This is a form of user testing that involves showcasing the design or prototype to the public, including passersby, to gather their feedback. Although the users might not fit your product persona ideally, it is still valuable to hear their thoughts on the usability of the product or the attractiveness of the offer, including the features and cost of using the product.
Another, more effective approach is to target a specific group of users through social media platforms and online forums. Two popular areas that allow us to find specific users matching our future product persona are public Facebook groups and communities on Reddit, which are often characterized by a particular interest or lifestyle. There we can recruit users and conduct a screening to gather more accurate guerrilla testing results.
Alternatively, if the client agrees, one may build a user base of early adopters through marketing before the product is released. Similar to pre-orders for physical products, we can collect user data for a newsletter before the product is ready. We can then utilize these users and invite them for feedback sessions during the ideation process.
If we are restricted from showcasing the designs publicly due to a non-disclosure agreement, an alternative option, depending on the agreement with the client, could be to conduct corridor testing on employees within your organization or your client’s company, preferably those who fit the persona. For example, if we are targeting young online content creators, we could invite marketing staff to take part in our survey or usability test.
At Boldare, we even have a dedicated Slack channel for those who want to help us and become our “corridor testers.”
Lastly, there are also tools such as Userlytics and UserTesting, which offer their own samples of users that fill out surveys and participate in studies. These are alternative methods of utilizing users that can be selected based on a specific set of traits that closely resemble your target user audience. While some products, such as SyntheticUsers, attempt to approach testing in a new and innovative way by replacing users with AI for gaining feedback, these should be approached with caution due to the risk of bias, very general and non-informative feedback, as well as a lack of diversity in users that resemble the particular user base specific to our product.
Conclusions
While a lack of access to users does make UX testing much more difficult, it is not an excuse to omit it. There are numerous methods of gathering feedback from all types of users that do not risk security concerns or infringe on company policies. It is always our duty to validate our hypotheses and use real data over assumptions whenever possible. With even partial testing completed, we can rest assured that we are making the right decisions and satisfying our clients to a higher degree.
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