You can’t manage what you can’t measure

User research is the basis of the design process. Hitting the road with mere assumptions only gives rise to biased decisions which do not reflect the user’s actual needs and desires. Ultimately, it leads to negative consequences, including low profit.  

Briefly stated, skipping the user research process costs way more than conducting actual research.

This principle is not only applicable to the field of design. Management consultant, Peter Drucker, famously stated:

“You can’t manage what you can’t measure.”

Peter Drucker

User research is the most foundational element of the whole design process. It is also one of the first subjects that companies tend to skip without considering the return of investment and benefits.

Without research, each step of the design process turns into a blind man’s buff games; a series of estimations. When we do not engage the real beneficiary of a product or a service, the end product cannot be user-centered, customer-centered, or human-centered.  

Regarding the cases I have encountered so far, I can state three reasons that companies use as an excuse to abandon research:

• To avoid boring the customer
• To avoid negative feedback
• To avoid spending money

(A simple exercise to emphasize the message of the story: replace “To avoid” with “Fear of.”)

To avoid boring the customer

The first, and probably the most common reason why companies avoid doing research is their fear that asking the users questions might cause problems.

As you can see in many studies on corporate / brand culture perception of companies, executives might be anxious about asking questions to employees. For executives, asking questions to employees about their thoughts, worries, and hopes might remind them how bad the existing corporate culture is and increase the risk of demoralization.

Let’s suppose you were working in a company with an unpleasant culture. Would you be ignorant of it until someone complains?

I assume your response to both of these questions is, “No.” You would be aware of the problems and take the questions as a sign of future betterment.

Additionally, let me ask you another question: If you found an old annoying software that your corporation forced you to use, would it surprise you? The answer is probably ‘No’ again. You would already know it’s annoying and you would keep working while your fists are clenched. If there’s any chance of betterment, it will make you happy. It would even make you more tolerant.

This proves you cannot annoy customers by asking questions that aim to make their life better and easier. This process gives you vital information, earns the trust of the customer by showing them your effort, and gives them a sense of transition into a better experience.

To avoid negative feedback

Humans are masters at avoiding bad news. We skip our annual physical examination because we know our doctor would warn us about our eating habits and lack of exercise. We refuse to watch documentaries because we know that they might shake our political and philosophical beliefs. Secretly, we feel happy and relieved when our boss postpones our annual performance review because we do not want our weaknesses revealed.

Similarly, companies hire us to show them how far away they are from the ideal case; however, they are not prepared to receive the bad news. They worry about personal influences and consequences to their career. So the developers do not want to see how website speed ruins conversion rate. Marketing directors do not want to know that they have been sending a wrong message the whole time. CEOs do not want to know that the company has created a false public image under their direction.

Nobody wants to be the bad guy.

Nobody wants to risk losing their reputation and be embarrassed. We choose to ignore the results even though we know it’s the wrong move. In this situation, denial feels more attractive.

“We already knew this problem, why should we focus on it?” or “Couldn’t you fix it without making a big deal out of it?” These are quite simple demands stated by companies very often.  

As a matter of fact, they’ve already dragged themselves into this unfortunate situation by bypassing essential questions and avoiding unpleasant answers.

Another version of this problem can be found in entrepreneurs who are about to present a new business idea. Adrenaline, passion, determination, and enthusiasm make them blind in such a way that they do not even consider that there might be a problem. They rely on their ideas so much that they don’t want to consider another possibility. They might also feel insulted when we ask their users if the product meets their needs. It is not hard to find examples of startups that failed as a result of starting design and engineering processes without consulting a single potential user.

A good design (solution) arises when it is based on facts (even though these facts are painful); not when it is based on readily accepted assumptions. If you are climbing a mountain, you only put your feet on solid rocks, not on the spots you are thinking or hoping to be stable.

To avoid spending money

Of course, this is the most popular excuse. Sometimes, companies do not want to fund research because they see research as a waste of time and want to spend their precious time and effort on the “real” work. If research is excluded, both money and time would be saved, right?  

We tend to focus only on the facts in sight. This is why the money we own seems more precious than the money we haven’t earned yet. This phenomenon is one of the cognitive biases of the human mind, and it is called the “endowment effect.” Its effect on our cognitive mechanism is such that we hesitate to spend $10 to earn $100.

As the solution makers, we continuously observe the contributions of the insights from valuable user research to the success of companies, products, or services. This is obvious and proven and a case that we take for granted. However, the people who are not aware of the benefits of research as a design step might see it as a waste of time. It is surprisingly hard to break the spell of the “endowment effect.” The case studies showing the practical results of research, endless numbers of experiment reports, and evidence proving that user research increases acquisition… none of these work. Even though the contribution of user research leads to greater success, refusing to spend money on it is a problem of our times.

Behind any well-designed and useful product, there are insights from user research. The companies that understand the essence of design approach research as an intrinsic part of the design process and spend their resources on research gladly.

It is possible for a company to give its customers a truly exceptional user experience if it only overcomes the fear of investing in research. Yes, it has a cost. And yes, it is time-consuming. However, we do not do it for fun. We do it because it creates measurable improvements in almost every project.

The trap of insight addiction

After all these explanations, there are indeed exceptional situations where over-research might be a waste of time.

Wasting too much time on research that does not have a significant impact on the project results is over-research. Diving into neverending user research, including the user in the research process excessively, wasting too much time on analysis of the details of user interaction. These are all possible risks.  

Every data point coming from the user research brings us a little more happiness. However, it is also vitally important to know when to stop. Great user research should be brief, compact, and practical. It should be approached like a rescue operation; we should get in, complete the mission, and leave without a mess.  

There are many creative, cost-efficient, and quick user research options. Finding the right composition of research methods and yielding information in a fast and logical way is the part of the magic that produces properly functioning user research.

However, there is no legitimate reason to get rid of research altogether. It is a fundamental part of the design process.

You will thank yourself

“If only we hadn’t wasted time on working on the problem and relied on our assumptions instead”? Have you ever heard anyone complaining like this?

No, I haven’t heard it either. However, I know too many people confessing their regret because they started production before spending enough time on research. There are far too many stories of failed products and unsuccessful companies.

User research is a make-or-break step of the design process. Even if a service or a product is good enough that it can succeed by itself, user research can make it even better. Research carries it to a superior level.

It’s completely natural to have doubts mentioned earlier. However, success in business requires courage, and courage is what makes you act despite your fears.