Many product managers are particularly distressed because the users are clearly on the street or right next to them, but they always feel like they cannot grasp their psychology. Sometimes when we talk about something they like, they don’t like it when it turns out. Sometimes something you think they don’t like suddenly becomes a hot topic one day.According to some product managers, it takes talent to control demand. This kind of talent is more like "enlightenment", and one can always understand the user's psychology with ease and accurately. This is called sense of need.Some product managers believe that user needs must be obtained through large-scale user research. Such an approach would be the domain of engineers, data scientists, and psychologists. We obtain quantitative and qualitative requirements through some inherent and scientific methods.A popular saying in recent years is that product managers should "go with the flow" and just make an MVP and throw it into the market to see the results. The key is to judge the data of user usage of the product, and then get some iterative guidance to slowly evolve. There is a similar way of working in large companies, which is often referred to as growth hacker, using data to guide product design.We can call these three categories the method of enlightenment, the method of application and research, and the method of growth.Are there any advantages or disadvantages among these three methods? Of course. However, if we compare their advantages and disadvantages, we can see what kind of scenarios they are suitable for.First of all, for the enlightenment method, it emphasizes that we must have insight and be able to understand users. If this method is used (as long as the ability is sufficient), the control over demand should be very strong. But relatively speaking, the risk is too great.Think about it, if we imagine ourselves as users, no matter how perfect our imagination is, it may not be what users really think. Not to mention, many products are aimed at countless people, and it is extremely difficult to control their thoughts.In essence, the Enlightenment Method is to judge users based on "our life experience." If we are experts who have been working in the construction industry for 50 years, it may be easy for us to control the needs of users in the construction industry. But if we want to understand the needs of 2D users all at once, perhaps not many people would dare to say that they have ten years of profound experience. So this method is related to our life experience.In addition, as a product designer, there is indeed a kind of sense that is difficult to explain. This sense is called the ability to "quickly convert into a novice user" or "think from the perspective of a novice user" in some companies. This capability may seem simple, but from what I have observed over the years in this industry, there are only a few products that can achieve this. Most product managers can only see the surface and find it difficult to get to the heart of the matter.For young product managers, it is very dangerous to use the enlightenment method to refine requirements. This is also why we often hear that entrepreneurs imitate Jobs' method, come up with new ideas, and say "there must be a demand for this" and "users will definitely like it when it is made", but the final effect is not good.Secondly, user research encompasses many professional and technical methods, most of which already have a mature and systematic knowledge framework. Many of these methods, such as questionnaires and user interviews, have been integrated into companies large and small.For products with a large number of users and complex user groups, user research is definitely an essential tool . In this scenario, it is meaningless to rely solely on product managers or demand analysts to work on it.However, user research also has disadvantages. Quantitative research may have data traps and biases, while qualitative research is actually closely related to the level of the executors and is also prone to biases.Finally, the popularity of concepts such as MVP and growth hacker has its historical context. The rapid iteration of Internet products provides the possibility of rapid testing. Since it can be tested at low cost, what is the point of spending a lot of manpower and material resources on research before designing? Just do it.It is basically a consensus in product design now to continuously discover real needs in the iteration process to optimize the product.For these three methods, you can see this table:If you look at it this way, it will probably be clear - these three methods are not mutually exclusive, but need to be appropriately coordinated.So the most appropriate relationship should be like this:We get some basic ideas through personal experience and judgment, then confirm them with relatively rigorous and thorough research methods, and then test them with MVP, growth hacking and other practical methods, and continue to make judgments based on the results... Over and over again, with demand as the axis, the entire iteration is driven forward.The forms of these three may vary in different products and companies, but all of them are indispensable.For example, I have seen some friends who want to make products in a certain field. They will constantly deduce and ponder the possible needs of users, and spend a long time considering the needs and how to meet them. However, they never did any confirmation or verification. They just used the existing set of things to make a complete product plan and directly handed it over to an outsourced team for development. This is equivalent to using the enlightenment method completely without considering research or iteration.One company didn't do that.They first discovered through their own lives and work and those of some of their friends that everyone had a need for cloud storage (understood the need). Next, instead of designing the product directly, they made an advertising video based on the main features of the product and posted it online, which instantly caused a surge in users (verifying the demand). Finally, they really made the product, and after continuous iterations, it became a huge success (practical needs).This company is the famous Dropbox.Demand mining can follow this path, so what should we do in each step?As for "enlightenment", as mentioned earlier, it is more based on experience. The needs a person can think of and the judgments he can make are directly related to his vision. From this perspective, there is no quick way to success; what is needed is continuous learning and understanding.However, in this process, there are still methods to make preliminary judgments on needs.Enlightenment Method: Preliminary Judgment of NeedsNo matter what method is used to obtain the requirements, they are actually an attribute of the user, and are intended to express a specific thing that the user expects, so there are several principles.First of all, the demand must be certain.Since demand is generated by people, there are indeed many demands that are uncertain, fluctuating, and unpredictable.The most common one is probably human emotion (strictly speaking, human emotions can also be described in terms of physiological and neural mechanisms, but it is still difficult to figure it out), especially love.For example, some friends want to do love training business. He is indeed an expert in love and is familiar with female psychology. This seems to be a good idea. But what specific needs need to be met?Among all the products available in the market that teach people how to chase girls and do PUA, none of them dares to guarantee that they can satisfy a boy’s need to chase a specific girl. Why can't such demand be met? Because this demand itself is uncertain, the target girl's emotions and her state cannot be controlled, and such a demand cannot constitute the feasibility of the product.So we see that most of these products are designed from the perspective of improving boys' charm and social skills. These are controllable and certain needs that can be met.Secondly, the demand must exist objectively.Many friends would emphasize, "I believe this demand definitely exists, and I will make the product even if it goes against the world's will." This is meaningless, because the purpose of making products is to create value for users. If we cannot be sure that users really have such needs and cannot confirm the objective existence of such needs, the result will only be self-satisfaction.There are several situations in which demand cannot be considered to exist objectively.
It's just my own subjective conjecture. It is obtained through one's own reasoning, rather than through personal experience and observation.
It is your own special needs, not the needs of others. Only I expect to use such a product, as I mentioned in the first part of the series.
The phenomenon exists, but the inferred demand is incorrect. There are more and more fat people nowadays, and the demand for fitness and weight loss seems to be increasing year-on-year. However, it is not clear how many of these fat people actually do not need to lose weight.
Sometimes, we spend too little time envisioning needs, which results in us not thinking carefully about whether the needs are objective and real. If we continue to analyze based on a wrong premise, we will naturally reach the wrong conclusion.Finally, demand is the cause and principle behind the phenomenon, not the phenomenon itself. It is meaningless to only meet the user demands (want) shown by the phenomenon. What we need to meet is the user needs (need) behind it.That classic passage can still be mentioned here again.There is a small hotel next to the university, and the owner receives many college couples every night. Everyone can imagine what these college couples are doing here, but because of face, they all say vaguely that they are here to study.The boss saw the phenomenon and found that it was indeed couples who came to study, so he came to the conclusion: he had to better meet their needs for self-study. So they moved the beds out of the hotel rooms, widened and enlarged the desks, and equipped them with high-end desk lamps and chairs, in an attempt to better win over the market of college students who came to study there.What's the result? The hotel soon closed down.Although this is a joke, similar embarrassing stories can still be seen everywhere in real life.The reason Nokia laughed at Apple's iPhone launch was not because they were arrogant, but because they did not understand that user needs were already shifting.Phone calls and text messages, as core functions of feature phones, are just supporting functions on smartphones. In this context, call quality and stability, battery capacity, and even the ability to crack walnuts are not that important.On the surface, mobile phones are still the same mobile phones, but in fact, mobile phones now meet completely different user needs.Let’s take the mobile phone as an example.If there is a brand called Pineapple and it also makes a mobile phone, and its configuration and experience are far superior to Apple, can it replace Apple?We need to know that there is a group of Apple users who buy mobile phones not for the configuration and experience (even if they also get them at the same time), but just to show off their identity and improve their social status. For them, no matter how cost-effective pineapples are, they will not consider them unless pineapples can replace apples and become the standard for the elites.In general, these three conditions must be met before we can talk about needs, find needs, and understand needs.In addition, during the "enlightenment" stage, in addition to repeatedly deducing in one's own mind, we also often use the brainstorming method. You can find friends who understand the background, or product colleagues, to discuss the needs of a specific topic together, and try to enumerate as many fragmented information as possible that needs to be considered.In brainstorming, you may use more popular analytical ideas or tools, such as:
Mind Map
SWOT
Time Deduction
Scenario-based story
6W2H
User Profile
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Among them, the Affinity Diagram may be the most effective presentation method in my opinion. Affinity diagrams may seem high-end, but they are actually the method we usually use to list elements on a whiteboard and discuss their relationships. Affinity means that we organize and summarize according to the similarities of the listed contents in order to form a conclusion.In short, whether it is a personal thought experiment or a group brainstorming, it must be presented visually using paper, pen or whiteboard, otherwise the effect will be greatly reduced.User research method: Testing measures for needsThere are many different user research methods. A summary circulating on the Internet is roughly like this:These methods are both quantitative and qualitative. Some are relatively complex, while others are very simple. So with so many methods, how should we proceed? Which methods should be used where?Let’s get back to the essence of demand exploration. The entire process of demand mining is that we need to gradually control the demand, from "vaguely feeling that there seems to be a demand" to "fully understanding the details of the demand", which is clearly layered.The alternation of the three methods just mentioned is actually the process of "discovering needs", "verifying needs" and "practical needs". We can also have such alternating steps in user research, which is the step of verifying requirements.Observation: Know what you might wantLet’s talk about the first step first.Should we start by sending out questionnaires, conducting interviews, and collecting information everywhere?Of course, but what questions should be used in the questionnaire? What questions should be asked in the interview?For example. We want to make a fitness training product. We realize that with the upgrading of social consumption, the middle class and white-collar workers have a stronger demand for fitness. We believe that there is a huge market in this area. However, if we immediately send out a questionnaire, asking everyone whether they would use such a product or whether they need to exercise, our needs analysis will be meaningless. Since we don't have anything specific to know, getting rough and vague answers is of no value.The first thing we should do is to see how everyone’s fitness needs are currently being met. How many people are in the gym? How do they go to the gym? What are their gym times and routines? Also, how many gyms are there now? How has the market for fitness equipment developed in recent years?To be more detailed, we also need to observe each person's pain points in fitness. Do you often work overtime and are under time pressure? Is it true that many people often fail to persevere? Is their goal to lose weight, get healthier, or build a row of muscles?Observation allows us to know what is happening and what users may want. Then we can carry out further exploration on some points of interest.Some product managers may think that these judgments are very subjective. Wouldn't it be more accurate to put all these possible problems, including the mentioned fitness process, fitness purpose, and pain points, in a questionnaire for everyone to fill out?This idea is too idealistic. First of all, the types of questions in a questionnaire should be as simple as possible. Through observation, you can learn various information related to fitness, and then you can create a questionnaire in the form of multiple-choice questions. If it is an interview, the questions can also be very precise.In other words, the more information you know, the more accurate the questions you can ask. If you observe that there are mainly three reasons why people exercise, and there is almost no fourth one, then the multiple-choice question can have four options. On the contrary, if you don’t observe this information, you may need to ask users to fill in the blanks, or provide many imaginative possibilities, so the choices will be more than four.Second, by observing enough, we can learn which issues we care about. Many problems have already been solved during observation, or we judge that they are not interesting and are not helpful for us to analyze the needs. This can greatly reduce the number of questions in questionnaires and interviews when designing them, saving users time.Each of us has filled out a questionnaire, and some of us have been interviewed or surveyed on the street. Imagine that there is a product that wants you to help fill out a very large questionnaire with 100 questions, including fill-in-the-blank questions and many essay questions, asking you for your opinions on all aspects of a certain matter, or you only need to quickly fill out 10 multiple-choice questions. Which one would you be more willing to accept?There are also various forms of observation. You can observe directly on the streets, or if conditions permit, invite users to an observation room for observation. The specific method to be used depends on the product. For example, if we were to develop a taxi-hailing app, we would observe how users usually hail or call for taxis, so we would not be able to ask them to come indoors. To see how a user usually surfs the Internet and uses a browser , it is more appropriate to observe indoors and take notes on a computer.Using this observation method, we can understand how users currently meet their needs.The demands we meet today are almost all objective, which proves that users in the past had ways to meet these demands. Although the mobile Internet has brought many new products and functions, in essence they are meeting needs that have existed in human society for a long time. Companies like BAT satisfy the needs for information acquisition, consumption, and social interaction respectively, but compared to the clumsy methods of the past, they are more effective, lower cost, and provide a better experience.Some product managers mistakenly believe that demand is created by products. Since there has been no such product before, everyone will like it when it comes out. This obviously doesn't make sense.Therefore, in summary, what we need to do in this step of observation is:
Know how users are currently meeting our needs
Know the entire process and related conditions
Analyze possible problems, pain points, etc. to prepare for the next step
Survey Method: Knowing What You Really WantNext are the well-known survey methods, the most common of which is the questionnaire.In this step, what we need to do is mainly to quantitatively verify the discovered needs.Quantification refers to knowing some quantitative conditions, including but not limited to:
What is the composition of different attributes of target users (male/female, high income/low income, age, etc.)
What is the proportion of users currently using different methods to meet their needs?
What are the most important points that users pay attention to in terms of needs?
What are the areas (pain points) that users are most dissatisfied with?
How many people can accept the new way you imagine to satisfy users?
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These are some of the general aspects, and there will be great differences in specific operations.For the survey method, since most of the data is quantitative, we must always be vigilant about data collection, data processing and data analysis .Taking questionnaire survey as an example, there are some pitfalls to watch out for:1. Be wary of data authenticityIf we observe or interview, we can directly understand the user's current status, and we will focus on certain information when judging it (for example, if someone behaves casually and carelessly, we will not pay too much attention to his opinion). However, with questionnaires, we cannot directly contact the user's survey method, so we don't know which information is relatively true and which is filled in casually.Therefore, whether it is when the data is released or when the conclusion is drawn after the collection, we must consider whether the data is really valid.2. Beware of misleading questionnaire questionsThe creation of questionnaire questions is actually much more complicated than many people imagine. It is not possible to get true answers by simply asking whatever you think of.For example, some scholars have conducted experiments, "If someone commits XXX crime, will you kill him?" and "If someone commits XXX crime, will you agree to sentence him to death?" They seem to be similar questions, but the survey results are completely different, with the results differing by almost 4 times.For example, the results of these two questions, "Everyone says that Trump will be an unreliable president, do you think so?" and "Do you think Trump will be a reliable president or an unreliable president?" are also completely different. The former will have a strong suggestion.The knowledge on how to create questionnaires is already very mature, and there are many courses and books to refer to.3. Be alert to unexpected influencesFor questionnaires distributed in large quantities, even if there is nothing wrong with the questionnaire questions, there may be other unexpected factors that may affect them, such as social and cultural factors.Some questionnaires are about investigating the use of sex toys, but women are generally reluctant to fill them out, which can easily lead to the wrong conclusion that men use sex toys far more than women.Or the person filling out the questionnaire may have other intentions. For example, if some e-commerce platforms send out a questionnaire to ask people what kind of discount they are willing to accept, the conclusion may be that 50% off is acceptable, but in reality people will shop at an average 20% off. They just hope that the results of the questionnaire can influence the e-commerce platform to offer more discounts.In general, what needs to be done in this step is:
Quantitatively check whether users really have needs
Verify whether the conclusions of previous observations and thinking are correct
Ensure the accuracy and authenticity of the investigation
Focus Groups/Interviews: Know why you wantIn the final stage of demand analysis, it is always necessary to meet and chat with users. If a product manager has never spoken a word to his users, it is absolutely impossible for such a product manager to make a good product.By confirming that the needs really exist and which needs are of greatest concern to users, we have actually narrowed the scope of needs to be considered. For those that have been confirmed, we need to shift from broad user research to in-depth user research.The focus group is a multi-person format, which is suitable for us to discuss proposed topics such as needs and functions with some core users. Focus groups require a professional moderator who can effectively guide everyone, ensure that the topic remains within the expected framework, and ensure that everyone's true thoughts are discovered.As for why we don’t use one-on-one interviews directly, it is because we can add another layer of filtering through focus groups. In a focus group setting, we can learn about the similarities and differences between key users. We can continue to discuss any differences, and for points that everyone agrees on, we can continue to explore them in the form of interviews. Otherwise, since the number of interviewees is limited after all, the information we obtain will still be biased.During the focus group or interview process, we should not only repeatedly confirm the other party's needs, but also try our best to discover the essence behind their needs. Just like we have gathered a group of users who want to exercise, we need to understand at this step why they need to exercise, why they have those pain points, etc.In general, it is these three core user research methods that can help us understand needs from rough to fine and from shallow to deep.Regarding methods such as the growth method and MVP, they are already processes in which requirements and design are strongly coupled, so we will discuss them separately later.
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