How to design a UX research survey?

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The following is a guest post by Niraj Rajput, cofounder and Head of Engineering at Chisel Labs

Designs are an indispensable part of product development these days and provide an immense competitive advantage in the market.

UX research plays a pivotal role in beefing up the process of design. One of the popular and efficacious methods of conducting research is to design surveys.

Surveys are user research instruments that help you to gather user information based on opinions, thoughts, feedback, and behavior. This method is best suited for companies where user involvement is significant.

UX surveys also prove to be effective when the time is not enough to conduct an in-depth study or observe user behavior.

Surveys in user research are designed to decipher the needs, actions, and motivations of the user. Surveys can also provide a gleam of the market. Surveys can be used both as primary and supplementary methods of conducting user research.

UX surveys can be carried out in several user research projects. They are employed when user participation is required but time does not permit it. UX surveys also help you discover market trends and preferences, competitor activities, and so on.

In the UX survey, after determining the objectives of the user research project, user problems and questions should be selected for generating useful information.

The user feedback outcomes from a UX survey may vary from a simple rating to multiple choice answers or open-ended questions based on which one has to identify key patterns.

A UX researcher can use existing questionnaires while designing a UX survey or create new ones by modifying existing scales that suit the specific requirements of the user research study.

In this blog, we will dwell on the importance of designing surveys. We have keenly whittled down some of our top ways to design a UX research survey.

Keep reading to find out how to design your surveys to gather an in-depth understanding of your audience.

What Is a UX Research Survey?
Why Do You Need To Design Surveys for UX Research?
How to Design a UI /UX Research Survey?
At What Stage the Survey Should Be Designed?
Conclusion

What is a UX research survey?

The user research survey is the ground on which user experience testing starts. It is the first step towards understanding user behavior.

The results of user research surveys are used to build your user personas for user experience design, answer questions like “are people using our website?”, “do users find any issues with our product?” and so on.

Consider user research surveys as a fishing rod that helps you catch fish in deep water where they swim – gain insights into the unknowns of your audience, their interests, and expectations.

UX research survey is the research that helps user experience designers to find preferences, interests, and requirements for their products.

The UX research survey tools are used by designers to capture user feedback about their website or product. Conducting user research surveys involves the collection of data by using different online (online focus groups, user interviews) or offline (mail surveys, phone interviews) channels.

Why do you need to design surveys for UX research?

1. Surveys collect user feedback: user surveys help user experience designers to determine user preferences and user happiness with their website or product.
2. Surveys help to gather both qualitative and quantitative data: user interviews and focus groups help to gather qualitative data, while user surveys can help to gather quantitative data.
3. Surveys are cost-effective: user research surveys can be conducted online which is more cost-effective than conducting user research through focus groups or user interviews.
4. Surveys help in scaling up user research: user experience designers can reach a larger audience with user surveys as compared to user interviews or focus groups.
5. Survey results can be analyzed quickly: survey results can be analyzed easily and quickly as compared to user interview transcripts or focus group transcripts.
6. Survey results can be used for marketing research: survey results can also be used for marketing research, in addition to user experience research.
7. Surveys can validate your hypothesis and boost confidence: user experience designers can use survey results to validate their hypotheses about user needs and preferences. This, in turn, can boost their confidence while designing user interfaces.
8. Help your design team to make information-driven decisions: user experience surveys can help design teams to make decisions quickly and efficiently, by providing them with user feedback in a more organized manner.
9. Helps identify the user needs and preferences: user experience surveys help design teams identify user needs and preferences, which is an important part of designing user-friendly interfaces.
10. Can be used to track user satisfaction over time: user experience surveys can also be used to track user satisfaction over time, by asking users about their satisfaction levels concerning different features of the website or application. This helps design teams to identify problem areas and work on improving them.

How to design a UI /UX research survey?

As of now, we know that surveys can Step Up the process of design however, no planning and wrong set of questions can add absolutely no value to your research.

So how do you design a UI/UX research survey that provides rich user insights without taking too much time and effort?

Below we have compiled our top 7 step by step techniques to design a proper UX/UI survey:

Step 1. Set and Define the Goal of Your Survey Clearly

Before anything else, define the goal of your survey. What are you looking to learn from your users? This will help you determine which questions to ask, and how to structure your survey.

Step 2. Decide on Who to Target

Not all user groups are alike – you need to decide who you’re targeting to tailor your questions appropriately. For example, if you’re designing a survey for a new website, you may want to target first-time visitors or those who have already used the website before.

Step 3. Identify and Note Down Your Target Users

Once you’ve identified your user group, note down the key user demographics for this user group. This will make it easier to tailor your survey questions.

Step 4. Collect Data on User Habits

Before designing your user research survey, try to collect data on what users are doing now, and how they’re solving problems. This information can help you understand user behavior better.

Step 5. Think of the Best Design Format That Fits User Needs

Next, think about which design format will work best for your user research survey? You may want to consider creating a paper prototype or a clickable mock-up of the site before building out any complex surveys with question types like multiple choice/multiple response question types.

Step 6. Ask Relevant Questions

questions are very important while conducting surveys. Keep it to the point when thinking of user research survey questions. Try to avoid asking questions that are too broad, or will take up the user’s valuable time when answering them.

Dos and don’t of asking questions:

1. Prepare a questionnaire and refrain from asking leading questions: In user research surveys, don’t tell the user what to do in a question.
2. Keep questions short and simple: Avoid complex language and long sentences. Keep the user research survey questions open-ended so that users can answer honestly.
3. Try to limit the survey questions to UX and UI: user research surveys should be about user experience and user interface only. Don’t ask for personal information, such as age, income, or occupation.
4. Be flexible with the users while interacting and give them proper time to answer: user research surveys should be fast and user-friendly.
5. Include a ‘No Preference’ option in user research surveys: when there is no clear choice, give the user an option to select ‘No Preference’.
6. Don’t use leading questions: user experience surveys should ask unbiased questions that will get the true user response for each question.
7. Avoid asking multiple-choice questions: instead of giving three or more options to choose from, try to give users an open field where they can type their answers without limits.

Step 8. Use a Tool for Preparing Your Survey

User research surveys should be user-friendly and user-centered.

Step 9. Allow User Research Surveys To Be Filled Out on Mobile

User experience surveys should not only be user-friendly, but accessible by the user as well. If you are surveying people on their laptops or desktop, why would you alienate them by not allowing them to take your survey on their mobile devices?

Step 10. Make User Research Surveys Scannable

User experience surveys should have multiple-choice questions with readable options so that the respondent can scan the options without being overwhelmed.

Step 11. Use Large Clickable Buttons for Users to Answer the Questionnaire

User experience surveys need large clickable buttons that are easily visible to respondents so they can quickly select their answers without

Step 12. Test Your User Research Surveys

It is very important to test your user research surveys before sending them out, so you can get feedback from other people in your organization who aren’t familiar with user-centered design principles. You should try to give clear instructions for taking user research surveys, and remember that few users ever do more than one user research survey in a row because they get annoyed by having to answer similar questions over and over again.

Step 13. Award or Give Some Rewards to the Users Who Took Part in Your Survey

Award or give some rewards to the users who took part in your survey. This could be in the form of a discount on their next purchase, or an entry into a draw to win a prize. You could also publish a list of user research participants on your website or blog, with a link to their profile if they have one. This will help to show your audience that you are actively using user feedback to improve your design

Step 14. Record the Findings and Share With the Design Team

Record the findings and share them with the design team. This will help them to understand the user’s needs and how they can be addressed in future iterations of the design. You may also want to create a presentation or report documenting your survey findings, which can be shared with other stakeholders such as management or investors.

At what stage should the survey be designed?

Now you must be thinking, what should be the ideal stage at which the survey should be designed to get the best yields possible. Unfortunately, there is no definite answer to this question as the right time will vary depending on the product or service you are designing, your user base, and other factors.

However, a good rule of thumb is to survey users as early as possible in the design process – preferably before any designs or prototypes have been created. This will give you a better understanding of user needs and help to ensure that your final product is tailored to meet those needs.

User research and UX research surveys are essential for understanding user needs and preferences. By conducting regular user research, you can ensure that your designs are user-friendly and meet the needs of your target audience.

Well, usually the product surveys are conducted somewhere in between the design and development stages but the UX/UI research surveys are to be designed before the design stage so that the user experience can be designed following the user’s perception.

Conclusion

Surveys can provide in-depth insights into the customer and the product interaction.

If designed dexterously, it can strengthen the design process and provide a potential competitive advantage in overall product development.

User research surveys can simplify user experience design processes and user experiences.

Additionally, user surveys can help you assess the satisfaction level of your current users or customers.

By conducting user surveys, you can gain a deeper understanding of your target audience and how they interact with your product or service.

Niraj is co-founder and Head of Engineering at Chisel Labs, a premiere agile product management software company that brings together roadmapping, team alignment, and customer connection. Niraj is passionate about building scalable infrastructure and systems and he also happens to be a huge fan of Cricket!