Exploratory Research

Why should you use this template?

“Everything is made up, and the points don’t matter” – goes the saying from the popular comedy skit show Whose Line Is It Anyways? The same is true in the world of design, but the one true metric that does matter: user engagement.

We’re all looking to jump start user engagement for our products in one way or another, and that starts with coming up with new ideas. Whether you have a laundry list of potential concepts on the table, or need some inspiration for new ideas, this template will work for you.

Free responses are great for opening up the problem space here and understanding what hidden needs your participants might reveal. When you’ve taken in all the data you can there, switch to focused quantitative questions to validate the ideas you already have drawn up.

 

Testing Outcomes

• Develop new ideas for your products and business
• Validate your existing ideas with user data
• Gather support for your teams ideas through user feedback

 

Organization Benefits

• Validating data can be used as back-up as you take your ideas up the line and attempt to influence your business
• New concepts can be explored with confidence when backed with user data from your ideal target audience

 

Test Questions

1. How satisfied were you with your last mobile banking experience?
   Likert Scale
   Starting off with a quantitative question in this survey allows participants to recall their experiences before you ask them to describe the finer details.
2. What was most satisfying?
   Free Response
   These next two questions are great for understanding what needs participants have that aren’t being met yet.
3. What was most difficult?
   Free Response
   This second free response can both be used to discover new spaces for product ideas, or validate the user pain points you are addressing with an existing idea.
4. How interested would you be in a product that solves this need?
   Numerical Scale
   Once you have your ideas in mind, describe them as simply as possible for your test participants and send them out for feedback. Numerical scales are a great way of getting gut reactions to your new concepts.
5. How often would you use this tool?
   Likert Scale
   When you’re ready to move past gut reactions, get into more specifics of your new idea by asking questions to valid its usage.

 

Additional Questions

• How satisfied were you with your mobile banking app the last time you used it?
• What were the easiest and most satisfying parts of using your mobile banking app?
• What were the challenging and most difficult parts of using your mobile banking app?
• How often do you take this action on this tool?
• What is one thing you would change about this product?
• How often do you have trouble when using this product?
• How interested would you be in using a product that does this?
• How often would you use this type of product?