Exploring the Crucial Role of the UX Discovery Phase and Its Elements
In the UX design process, the preliminary step is UX discovery. This is the crucial phase and the foundation of the entire project. Some still see it as an unnecessary step. This is because they are not aware of its valuable investment in the long run.
The discovery phase helps to reduce potential problems and allows the UX designer to plan the project scope. Moreover, in the project, you will explore the feasibility and gain a deeper understanding of users. In short, this phase is a pathway to identify potential opportunities.
Here in this article, let’s briefly discuss the crucial role of the UX Discovery Phase. This article will give a clear insight into the phase and its elements. Dive into the below section to know its significance and impact on project success.
Contents
- 1 Definition of UX Discovery Phase and Its Significance
- 2 Impact of UX Discovery On Project Success
- 3 What are the strategic discovery deliverables that help in the project’s success?
- 4 Potential Benefits of UX Discovery Phases
- 5 Tips and Tricks for a Successful UX Discovery Process
- 6 Surveys and Findings on UX Discovery
- 7 Final Takeaways
Definition of UX Discovery Phase and Its Significance
The discovery phase is the first step in the UX design project. This primarily includes research, data gathering and wireframing. Implementation of this phase will take your project to the next level. Keep in mind that this phase does not include solutions and hypotheses.
Discoveries are often stated as “product discoveries.” The UX Discovery Phase is crucial to set up the projects on the right track. It will help to tackle and overcome the potential issues. Further, this phase will help to build things properly.
The discovery phase can last from a few days to weeks and vary widely between projects. However, its ultimate goal is to get the customer and the development team together from day one, sharing the same vision and coordinating their steps for the next phase.
Impact of UX Discovery On Project Success
The discovery phase will greatly impact a project’s success. This phase and its multiple elements impact the quality and on-time project delivery.
Let’s check them out in detail.
Research Methodology
There are research methods, for example, impact studies and qualitative user interviews. This can become time-consuming. This is why picking the right methodology for the discovery scope is necessary.
Internal Stakeholder Alignment
It can be difficult to get all the stakeholders together at the same time. Hence, conducting virtual stakeholder sessions to speed up the entire process is better.
User Recruitment
It may take more time to recruit users for testing. For example, if you conduct recruitment for a specialised set of users like families or students, it will take a lot of time.
Data Requirement
Here, the design team has to decide to make a choice. For example, whether they want to use Google Analytics for research or survey data that isn’t ready yet.
To get these activities to process rightly, it is better to hire a professional Melbourne web design company. The right team will carry out the discovery phase efficiently. By considering each element, they will gather the necessary data and information.
What are the strategic discovery deliverables that help in the project’s success?
Here is the strategic discovery deliverable that helps in project success.
- Competitive Audit
A competitive audit will be quite helpful to witness the best result. Research your competitors available in the market. It will help the UX team to identify potential opportunities and pitfalls. Accordingly, they can plan to design.
- Research Deck
This deliverable strategic states detailed user research findings, recommendations and analysis. These essential details will help you to align the stakeholders and make quick and informed decisions. The research deck will assist your development team in mapping their timeline. Overall, it will let the teams accurately scope the rest of the process.
- Feature Priorities
After all the necessary data and evidence is in, the UX team will proceed to identify features. Prioritise the necessary features which support the timeline and budget. You must determine which features are necessary and which to prioritise for the design work.
All these strategic discovery deliverables will let the UX designers demonstrate the next process and steps. Further, it will help to decide on the project with your internal stakeholders. Now, you can start to collaboratively roadmap the project timeline based on the user results and priorities.
Potential Benefits of UX Discovery Phases
After starting the UX discovery process, you will notice an instant return on investment. Here are the benefits of conducting UX research and analysis before the design project.
Enjoy Stronger Marketplace Performance
With the up-front discovery, your project will proceed in the right direction. With deep UX research, you can understand the target user’s requirements. Also, it will keep you ready to face challenges in the future process. Once the team understands and empathises with the necessary specifics, it will result in a valuable product. The project will get appreciation from the right people. Moreover, you will enjoy a stronger and more extensive customer base in the marketplace.
Risk Management
It is important to identify a user-centred solution. It does not matter if you have great content, incredible design work, and high-end technology. You may still end up thinking about what the users actually want. Just developing a product and launching it is not a success. You must know how users are reacting to it. This is where your business needs the UX discovery phase comes as a saviour.
This phase is the ultimate way to mitigate this risk. The risks will automatically degrade when you conduct and prioritise the discovery phase. Moreover, it will let you focus on delivering high-quality tools for the users. Even if you know your users already, user experience research (UXR) will assist in getting clear insight. Your UX team will identify the gaps to solve persistent user problems.
Finally, conducting user research will help the business to invest wisely in the project. It costs 10% or less of the entire design spending. Moreover, it will save you from making potential mistakes.
Optimising Engineering Process
Ultimately, thorough UX discovery ensures a highly optimised engineering process. It will reduce the risk and make the process less expensive.
When you think you already understand your problem and avoid UX discovery, it will lead to costly development. Your design project will be carried out with incorrect assumptions. It may restrict you from solving real problems and lead to missed integration opportunities. You may not understand the custom requirements of your users.
Therefore, it is necessary to start the design project with UX discovery. It will help your UX team get accurate user research and analysis results. With this, you can make an informed UX strategic decision. This strategy will let you solve and face user challenges. It will assist the engineering team in building the right tool for users.
Tips and Tricks for a Successful UX Discovery Process
- The business has to familiarise itself with its project situation and the problem at hand.
- It is necessary to understand the users and their needs. Further, the businesses must move forward to investigate opportunities.
- Try to shape bridges with both internal and external stakeholders. Find associates and partners to support your work within the organisation.
- Try to facilitate a shared vision among the stakeholders. And, always try to gain alignment.
- The most important thing is to discover your target audience and their product requirements.
- Develop personas based on your UX research findings. It will assist in defining your ideal customer profile.
- Identification of your business goals is very crucial. It will help you to accomplish building the right product or service. Do not forget to check that the goals perfectly align with the users’ needs.
- Redirect your business focus to create value for the users. Reduce focus on the money you will make from the product and its features and focus on user preference.
- Your exploratory research methods must include diary studies, user interviews, and field studies. You can conduct this with some representative group of users.
Surveys and Findings on UX Discovery
Research shows that UX practitioners carry discoveries for certain projects. 75% of respondents claimed that their organisation is carrying out discoveries. Of those, only 20% revealed that their organisation conducts discoveries for each project. At the same time, most respondents claim that their organisation roughly carries one discovery phase for every 2–4 projects.
Surveys show that organisations prevent the discovery phase due to a lack of time. The foremost reason for not implementing discoveries in the organisation is time pressure. The secondary reason is the lack of management support. Reports show only 7% of the 69 respondents did not implement the discovery phase due to a lack of resources.
Final Takeaways
UX is fundamental for a successful design product. At the same time, the UX discovery phase is the foundation of UX design. A positive UX leads to higher conversion rates, engagement, and enhanced brand loyalty. The UX discovery phase benefits the business in numerous ways. It will help to develop a product that effectively meets the target market’s needs.
Moreover, it will take time to market and reduce project costs. Hence, today’s businesses that look forward to flourishing in the marketplace must implement the discovery phase. To enjoy a hassle-free UX design with in-detail discovery, hiring a professional team of web developers is highly recommended.Â