Welcome to the October issue of the UX Crucible and this month I want to talk about Benchmarking and Comparison.
 
We have recently completed a number of comparison projects and find ourselves once again being asked to compare one proposition to that of a basket of competitors. I use the word ‘proposition’ because in every case these projects have required insight about the UX or usability issues present in the existing interface and also a more strategic requirement to help drive transformational change. We have used quantitative and qualitative methodologies to generate this insight and whilst I think both have added value, it is the qualitative insight that has provoked the most reaction.
 
For the UX issues it is fairly straight forward and the question we answer can be framed as “is the proposition doing the things it is designed to do well enough?”. Straight forward task and scenario based user research sessions will flush this out as I am sure many of you will know. For the more transformational change, we need to answer a different question or series of questions concerned with positioning, competitive environment, strategy and execution.
 
We have been using qualitative research to answer these questions also, but using exploratory research where we allow the user to define the first third of the session. Recruitment of participants is key as we need to bring people into the research who have a genuine need now and so can show us how they behave when interacting with the internet via websites and apps. By gathering insight about the features and functions that add value to their goals we have been able to inform the transformation strategy the organisation is considering. If you would like to know more do get in touch.

Thanks for reading
Paul