Unlocking the different levels of user needs
Give users what they actually want, not what they say they want. — Kathy Sierra
Good design relies predominantly on something called ‘user needs’. It’s quite a self-explanatory term–making things according to the needs of the users of this creation. I’ve been designing for a few years but only recently had the opportunity to be involved and drive user research studies in depth with lots of interviews and usability tests, and here’s what I’ve learnt about user needs:
Why user needs?
Let’s start with some context-setting. Why should we care about user needs? I know it’s obvious. But even today it gets easily overlooked in many companies and teams.
The importance of the user’s needs can’t be overstated. You’re creating a product to help solve a problem, but you’ll likely miss the mark or even fail if you’re not making it in a way that fits the needs of those who’ll use it. In the past few years, user experience has gained a lot of traction–becoming a whole separate discipline because its practitioners are skilled in an essential aspect of building products. They know how to dig into and find user needs and create solutions that effectively target them.
It’s become a key distinguisher of top companies in every industry. The better they cater to these needs, the more successful the product becomes.
So as designers, how do we make sure we’re doing our duty of finding these needs and catering for them? We start by making sure we talk to and understand our users and confirm that these “needs” they talk about are their real needs that need to be addressed.
It may not be evident at the start, but there are different levels of needs, and it often takes deeper inquiry and multiple methods to get to them all
Level 1: The surface need
I call this the surface need because it comes from a place of impulse–likely the first thing that people have on their mind when they’re asked questions on why they like/dislike something or when they’re asked to think about a problem. I’ve found that often in a moderated environment, people (users) come with solidified opinions or are trying to tell you (interviewer) what they think you’d want to hear. Without opportunities for deep thinking, a question is only answered at face value. At first this can seem to be a good thing but usually isn’t.
In my early days of designing, any feedback or comment given by the user during interviews or usability tests were like gold. I was quick to latch on and take it at face value. I’d think to myself that as users they knew what they were talking about and what they wanted. Confirmation bias would set in and I’d start drawing solutions up in my head and move on to the next question. I realised this flaw with the invaluable experience of delivering features that didn’t turn out as applicable as intended.
While there is value in capturing this sort of need, designing solutions for it might not add any long term value. So dig deeper; there’s always more to uncover.
Level 2: The true need
Taking the conversation a little further is where I’ve usually found nuggets of insight. This deeper need could be locked away behind a persons subconcious and might not come from every person you talk to.That’s the benefit of reaching out to a large number of people, it gives you a greater chance of discovering and unlocking these needs.
At a time that someone mentions a problem or a need, pause and ask them the why’s, how’s and what’s behind that. Understand what the context for their frustration or need is. With empathy and curiosity, you’ll likely steer them to think more deeply about their statements, and they will guide you to what they need.
This skill of asking well timed and well framed questions takes time to develop, I’ve only begun to realise it after maybe 50 user research studies. From time to time, changing the capacity you’re involved in these sessions can also help. As a notetaker/second interviewer, I’ve had opportunities to recognise the moments that a question would have helped dive deeper. Also replaying interviews been equally helpful. Not only to take down notes that I may have missed but to also find opportunities I might have missed in driving a conversation further. So do record and replay sessions whenever possible.
Level 3: The unknown need
Unknown unknowns is just a fancy way of saying what you don’t know, you don’t know and this is where discovery and innovation happens. Steve Jobs famously said that customers don’t know what they want until you show it to them. Ideas that are groundbreaking and disrupt our way of life do so because they give us something we didn’t know we wanted or needed.
“Some people say, “Give the customers what they want.” But that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, “If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, ‘A faster horse!’” People don’t know what they want until you show it to them. That’s why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.” — Steve Jobs
A simple example, in the 90s, nobody would have thought or said their needs for a communication device should include touch screens and cameras and multimedia functions. But now that they’ve got it, they can’t think of life without it.
As the general consumer grows accustomed to a particular product and its way of working, they tend to stop thinking of how differently they could be going about using the product or how better could they be going about performing their tasks. This is their unknown and your opportunity.
The unknown need is a hard one to discover and can be even harder to solve. However, armed with empathy, curiosity, and a dash of visionary thinking, you can find these gaps that exist in people’s lives (or even your own) and design the unexpected.
Knowing that there are different types of needs that we can solve helps us, designers, to create products or features with different levels of impact. Surface needs might give us quick wins or help create MVPs towards a north star.
Creating products that cater to users’ deeper needs can provide us with the edge over competitors, creating loyal customers by making products they love and advocate for. Finding a solution to an unknown need is where innovation lies and therefore the highest of impacts (and risks!).
I’m interested to hear your thoughts on these different levels of user needs and strategies you use to uncover them. Drop in a comment or connect with me on Twitter.
