How many features have you launched because "everyone does it" or because "it looked nice in the mockup"? And how many actually impacted your revenue?
User Research is the antidote to assumptions. It's a scientific approach that consists of understanding the motivations, behaviors and frustrations of your users to design products they will actually want to use. It's not magic, it's empathy structured by data.
In this guide, we break down the User Research methods we apply at Welyft to turn "opinions" into action plans.
Why is UX Research important?
Investing in user research reduces the risk of a product failing. Specifically, it allows you to:
- Reduce development costs: It costs 100 times less to fix an error on a prototype than to recode a feature in production.
- Increase adoption: By solving real problems (Pain Points), you create immediate perceived value.
- Defuse internal conflicts: User data (verbatims, videos) ends subjective debates in meetings.
What's the difference between User Research and CRO?
There's often confusion. CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) and User Research both aim to improve performance, but from different angles.
CRO (The What and the Where)
It uses Quantitative Data (Analytics, A/B Testing) to identify performance issues.
Example: "The conversion rate drops by 20% on the Cart page."
User Research (The Why)
It uses Qualitative Data to explain the root causes.
Example: "Users abandon their cart because they can't find information about return fees."
The two disciplines are inseparable: CRO tells you where to look, User Research tells you what to fix. This is the synergy we apply in our CRO agency engagements.
How do you do UX Research?
You don't need a lab to get started. Here are three accessible methods to kick off a research approach.
1. Moderated User Tests (The Gold Standard)
Nothing replaces direct observation. The principle: recruit 5 to 8 users representative of your target audience and ask them to complete specific tasks on your site (e.g., "Find a gift for Mother's Day with a budget of €50").
What you will discover:
- Invisible usability bugs.
- Wording misunderstandings.
- The gaps between the imagined journey and the actual journey.
2. Feedback Analysis (VoC - Voice of Customer)
Your users are already talking to you, you just need to listen.
- NPS (Net Promoter Score): To measure overall loyalty.
- CSAT (Customer Satisfaction): To assess a specific interaction (e.g., after a chat with support).
- CES (Customer Effort Score): Crucial in UX. "Did you find it easy to complete this action?". If the effort is high, the friction is critical.
Expert tip: Don't just look at the score, read the verbatims. That's where the gold is hidden.
3. Behavioral Audit (Heatmaps & Session Recording)
Sometimes, what users say differs from what they do. Tools like Hotjar or ContentSquare let you see the unfiltered reality.
- Heatmaps: To see if your CTAs are seen and clicked.
- Session Replay: To detect "Rage Clicks" (frustration clicks on a non-clickable element).
Integration into Design Thinking
User Research is not an isolated step; it is the engine of the design process, often illustrated by the "Double Diamond" model.
It comes into play in the first phase (Divergence / Discovery) to open up the field of possibilities, and in the testing phase (Convergence) to validate the solution before development.
Empathy is a competitive advantage
In a saturated digital world, the winners are those who best understand their customers. User Research makes it possible to shift from a "Product Centric" culture (here are our features) to a "User Centric" culture (here's how we solve your problems).
Do you want to launch your first user tests but lack the time or method to recruit the right profiles?
👉 Discover our User Research support offer and let our experts lead the investigation for you.
