What can’t UX research tell you?

Quite a lot, and it’s really important to know the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative research. It cannot predict what people will actually buy once a product is in market. What it can do is explain why customers make the choices they do, what changes those...

Can five people really tell you anything?

Yes, for the thing it is good at. Five participants will give you a strong view of the core usability problems in a flow. Jakob Nielsen’s work is the usual citation, and our own experience across hundreds of sessions a year matches it. The same three or four...

Should we start with a big study or something smaller?

Smaller, almost always. We usually recommend starting with a small qualitative study and expanding only where the findings show that more digging will add value. Each phase stands on its own, so you get something usable at the end of the first round rather than...

What heuristics are used for UX audits?

We have developed 50 heuristics covering Learnability and affordance, Accessibility and inclusion, UI design, Responsiveness, Navigation and feedback, Value proposition, Comprehension and trust. These heuristics result from combining Nielsen’s 10 usability principles,...