The Power of Asking the Right Questions in User Testing: Why Context Matters
User testing is a cornerstone of effective product design. Whether you're building an app to streamline healthcare administration or developing a complex digital tool, the insights gathered from real users can make or break your product. While general rating questions like, "On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate this feature?" have their place, they often fail to dig deep into the user's genuine experience and needs.
Why Traditional Rating Questions Fall Short
Rating questions are easy to measure and quantify, which makes them appealing at first glance. However, they can be superficial and rarely capture the nuanced feedback essential for product improvement. Users might rate a feature highly simply because they haven't encountered any problems yet—not necessarily because the feature meets all their needs or enhances their workflow.
The Art of Asking Experience-Based Questions
To truly understand the user's needs and identify potential pain points, switch your focus to experience-based questions. These are questions that require the user to discuss a specific previous experience or use case related to your product.
For instance, instead of asking, "How would you rate our onboarding process?", you could ask, "Can you tell me about a time when you felt either completely lost or extremely confident during our onboarding?" This question not only opens the floor for detailed feedback but also helps you validate if the person you're talking to is your ideal user.
Why Experience-Based Questions Are Critical
1. Uncover Deeper Insights
When a user recounts a specific experience, they reveal their thought process, frustrations, and moments of delight. These insights offer a wealth of information that can drive feature development and optimization.
2. Validate the Ideal User
Discussing a real-life experience automatically filters out users who aren't actively engaging with your product. If someone can't recall a specific use case, they're probably not your target user. This filtering is crucial in specialized fields like digital health, where user personas can range from tech-savvy healthcare professionals to administrators overwhelmed by paperwork.
3. Enable Users to Think Critically
Questions that trigger memories compel the user to think critically about their experience. They can't rely on surface-level impressions, and the feedback becomes much more actionable.
How to Frame Experience-Based Questions
1. Be Specific But Open-Ended: Questions should be specific enough to steer the conversation but open-ended enough to invite elaboration.
2. Use Neutral Language: Avoid leading questions that could steer users to give answers they think you want to hear.
3. Encourage Storytelling: Prompt users to share a story, which naturally makes them delve into the hows and whys of their experiences.
Conclusion
Asking the right questions during user testing can drastically alter the trajectory of your product design process. Switching from traditional rating scales to experience-based questions can transform the quality of feedback you receive. In specialized fields like digital health, where the goal is often to make healthcare providers focus less on administrative tasks and more on patient care, the importance of effective user testing cannot be overstated.
By focusing on real-life experiences, you can design products that not only meet but exceed user expectations, driving both adoption and long-term success.
