Summary
Demand for UX has increased at the same unprecedented rate as digital adoption, however, investment in UX is lagging, leaving teams without the resources, processes and exec-level buy-in to deliver the digital experiences their customers want. In this session, UserZoom reveals findings from its annual State of UX report, identifying what’s getting in the way of UX teams becoming a critical part of decision-making, how to overcome these challenges and make a demonstrably positive impact on business performance.
Key Insights
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Only about 55-60% of organizations have a consistent and embedded UX research process.
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Many product decisions are made without involvement of user insights, relying instead on assumptions.
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A top challenge in UX research is securing executive buy-in, often due to unclear success metrics.
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User experience metrics that go beyond site analytics exist but are underutilized.
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Measuring competitors’ user flows can provide valuable benchmarks for product improvements, as shown in the insurance form case.
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Demand for UX research is increasing significantly, with 70% of organizations feeling more pressure post-pandemic.
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UX researcher hiring is lagging behind design hiring by 34%, despite rising research demand.
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Design teams are increasingly democratizing some research tasks, but need training and standardized processes.
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Top obstacles for UX research are time constraints, budget limits, and recruiting suitable participants.
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Most research focuses on usability testing and validation, with less emphasis on strategic or discovery research.
Notable Quotes
"For many organisations, research is really not embedded completely and consistently into the development process."
"A huge proportion of decisions are being made without any user insights – based on assumptions."
"Executive buy-in is critical to success but remains a significant challenge for most in the industry."
"Identifying the right success metrics is a major problem because execs often don’t know what to ask for."
"The beauty of having metrics is you can track, measure, benchmark, and see if you’re making progress over time."
"Demand for user research is really increasing – we hear about 70% growth, fueled by digital disruption and the pandemic."
"Design hiring outpaces research hiring by 34%, which creates real capacity challenges."
"Democratization means more designers doing research, but you need to equip and educate them properly."
"The need for speed means research has to fit into tight sprints and deadlines with standardized tools and methods."
"UX research is a journey, not a simple flick of a switch – every challenge you face, someone else has been through."
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