How to

Build Products
Users Love

6 EXPERT INTERVIEWS INSIDE

Introduction 03

The Basics of User Testing 04

How to Avoid Bias in User Testing?

Why User Testing Is a Marathon, not a Sprint

Lets Talk About Products 08

What Makes a Product Stick?

Designing Experiences

What You Need to Know Before Getting Started 10

Finding the Right Participants

Different Methods: an Overview

Best Practices 13

Interviews 15

Amanda Richardson, HotelTonight

Callie Wheeler, Prezi
Justin Gallagher, Trello
Leif Singer, Automattic
Thomas Schranz, Blossom
Milo Lali, Typeform

Takeaways 39

2 How to Build Products Users Love

Continuous User Testing for Your
Product Development Workflow

These days its pretty easy to make new products - there are a lot of
frameworks and tools out there - but its still really hard to make a great Aaron Walter
product, a product that people can understand and use, a product that VP of Design Education at
makes people feel good. InVisionApp and author of the book
Designing For Emotion.

Its every companys dream to develop the better. Gathering customer feedback prior
products that are loved by its users and enjoy a to launching the product publicly has immediate
wide-spread acclaim. But how do you plan for benefits. It increases the chances of the
a successful product with an outstanding user product appealing to the target audience and it
experience? How do you make sure a product can pinpoint product-inherent deficiencies
does not only satisfy a real need, but yields joy in later stages.
when using it?

In this eBook, were first taking a look at what

We believe user testing can improve products user testing is. Why are companies concerned
and generate ideas in every step of the product to design experiences and not products? What
development process. By asking your users are different ways of user testing? And what are
what problems they are facing and what needs some best practices of it? Lets get started!
they are having you are getting one step closer
to designing a product that is widely loved.

User testing means gathering feedback from

customers with the goal of incorporating it into
product development. The earlier this happens,

3 How to Build Products Users Love

The Basics of User Testing
User testing can have a variety of functions. Customers who are happy with a companys
According to Experience UX, user testing should product are more likely to continue buying its
determine how easy to use and enjoyable a products in the future.
product is. Hotel Tonight, for example, brings
in users before developing product ideas. The With an enjoyable product, users can focus
company asks their target group what needs on accomplishing their goals. Take project
they are facing. User testing can be used in management systems such as Trello for
every development stage, even before having example. It helps users to get a good overview
a concrete idea for a product. of their planned and active tasks. It allows to
see deadlines and to collaborate with others on
If user testing is conducted in a later product specific jobs. It tries to help users to be better
stage some questions to consider are: How is at their jobs and offers a great user experience.
the user interacting with the product? Which
issues do occur? What can be done to improve What happens when user testing is neglected
the user experience? is that the created products dont really solve
existing problems. This can cause frustration in
Usability testing shows you if something is usable. customers and also can give the competition
Beta testing shows you if people will actually use it. the upper hand.

Rachel Decker
UX Researcher at HubSpot

Companies turn to user testing when they want

to know if they are solving real problems or if
new features are a worthwhile effort. Some
issues only come up when external users test
the product. Therefore it is important to get
qualitative feedback from users.

Depending on the test users reaction, the

project team might implement a functionality
over another. While not a new practice, user
testing has evolved over time, and will certainly
continue to do so as new technologies emerge.

User testing can be a solution for minimizing

risks, but it also plays a role in brand loyalty.

4 How to Build Products Users Love

How to Avoid Bias in User Testing?

When you decide to conduct user testing for another step in the right direction. After all, the
a new or existing product you are searching goal is to get feedback as if the product was
for honest, non-biased answers and results. used by someone from the intended audience.
But how do you ensure your testers are not Asking the questions in a logical order also
prejudiced? helps, as it affects the way users answer.

When conducting user testing there are many When rushing user testing, there are some
tips on how to avoid bias. These range from factors that could influence the user in a
balancing open (e.g.: How would you improve negative way. For example, the user might
the feature X?) and closed questions (e.g.: experience performance anxiety, could
Are you planning to use feature X to achieve compare themselves with other participants
goal Y?) to avoiding words that express or even start competing with them. On top
an emotion. Its not mandatory for people of everything, the user might end up with the
providing feedback to have back-end or design impression that the whole thing resembles an
knowledge. But the testing group should intelligence test.
consist of people who might use the product
regularly. Jared Spool, an American researcher and
expert in usability, software and design recalled
What can be done to avoid availability bias? seeing a tester cry during a user test, proof that
Here are just a few examples. When mentioning testing under pressure has undesirable results
words such as happy, like or dislike in most of the time. Some of the things that can
the surveys accompanying the tests (e.g.: be done for successful testing include:
Do you like the way this functionality was
implemented?), product developers guide Picking someone with experience that makes
users in a way that suggests the most likely them a relevant participant
answer. Testers will get the impression that a Explaining to the user what the test is about
certain answer is the correct answer. When
Making sure that the user is familiar with the
the wording is chosen suggestively, there is a
product
risk that users will tend to a certain answer.
Instructing observers on how to behave during
the test
To get the most out of user testing, companies
need to keep it simple and prepare thoughtful Ensuring that the user and the observers
questions. Users should not feel obliged to arent biased against one another
provide an answer if they dont understand the Pilot-testing the tasks, to confirm that the
question. tasks can be completed

Encouraging participants to share their The above list is a set of best practices that can
experiences when using an application is help avoid bias when doing hallway testing.

5 How to Build Products Users Love

Why User Testing Is a
Marathon, Not a Sprint

User testing can save companies a lot of

headaches. Getting actual customer feedback
prior to releasing websites or digital products
can improve the chances of a mass adoption
later on. Companies who are open to user
testing often realize soon enough that user
tests are worth the investment.

Much like a marathon, user testing requires

everyone involved to be consistent over
a long period of time. Product managers
are recommended to gather feedback for
everything, starting from mockups and
prototypes to the minimum viable product.

By bringing users in and observing them while

using the product in an unscripted scenario,
companies can get a better picture of the
problems users encounter. The next step then
is to filter the feedback and integrate it into
product development and R&D.

6 How to Build Products Users Love

 Companies who are open to user
testing realize soon enough that
if planned correctly, user tests
are worth every penny.

7 How to Build Products Users Love

 Lets Talk About Products

When designing products with the user in mind, you are one step closer to building a successful
product. After all, you want users not only to find a solution to their needs, but also a positive
association with your brand. That is where the consumer adoption process comes, in which a user
becomes a loyal customer.

What Makes a Product Stick?

The consumer adoption process consists of When users have decided to adopt a product,
five clearly defined stages that a user needs to companies should push further to retain these
go through before they are acquired customers. customers and make sure they remain loyal.
These are: Heres where customer retention comes into
play. Since retention is costlier than acquisition,
Awareness
theres even more reason to release only digital
Interest
products that have passed user testing.
Evaluation
Trial
Adoption/Rejection

The consumer adoption process is constant,

Nathan Chandra, co-founder and COO of
WeLink, points out. Marketing tools may
change, the way consumers discover products
may change, and consumer behaviors may
change, but the 5 stages that make up the
consumer adoption process will always remain
the same.

8 How to Build Products Users Love

Designing Experiences

Companies nowadays are focused on designing boarding. Riding is step number eight in trying
experiences, rather than just products. to make that. [...] There are a million things that
add up to your experience. The truth is you
Nicolas Duval, Product Designer at BlaBlaCar, have to design all those things if you want to be
the worlds leading platform for ridesharing successful. So its just a small mind change but
services, encourages companies to stop it certainly makes a lot of difference in what we
designing interfaces and start designing end up doing.
experiences.
Notice how these ideas are as valid now as
David M. Kelley, founder of design firm IDEO they were 15 years ago, when Kelley, much
and professor at Stanford University, pointed like Duval, encouraged putting aside product
out in one of his lectures how complex the whole design and letting experience design shine.
process of designing experiences can be:

So in designing taking the train, its not about

designing the train set or the interior or the
uniforms. Its about designing the experience
of taking the train. So there are all these steps.
When you start thinking that way, you think
in this case there are 10 steps, you have to
think about learning about the train schedule;
you have to think about planning; you have to
think about starting, entering, ticketing, waiting,

9 How to Build Products Users Love

What You Need to Know Before Getting Started
Finding the Right Participants
Finding the right participants for user testing
can be a challenge. You dont necessarily want
the fan boys who are already in love with your
product, but you also dont want people to
whom your product is not relevant (think: an
Airbnb for an 85-year-old woman who hasnt
left her town in the last decade). To get a clear
image of who should and who shouldnt take
part in user testing, one idea might be to create
user personas and to search for tester diversity.
Some of the basic filters that could be used for
refining the ideal users are:

Country
Age
Gender The Nielsen Norman Group determined that
Socio-economic status testing with five users helps identify the same
number of usability issues as when asking more
Granted, this is only a very rough categorization, participants. If youre looking for an exact figure,
but companies can go through their buyer you should increase the number of testers until
personas in order to find relevant testers. the feedback coming from the group does not
provide new insights. Finding an ideal number of
Finding people for user testing might be users helps companies approach user testings
challenging, but there are plenty of options, maximum benefit-cost ratio.
actually. Some of the places to recruit testers are:
The Nielson Norman Group also gives
Amazons Mechanical Turk recommendations about the number of tester for
Panel agencies such as Op4G specific tests. These are:
Market research recruiters such as Plaza
Research. Quantitative studies require a minimum of 20
Own websites and web apps, where users users
could be intercepted through pop-ups Card sorting needs at least 15 users
Specialized testing platforms such as Eyetracking tests should involve 39 users for
usertesting.com and testbirds.com stable heatmaps

10 How to Build Products Users Love

Different Methods: an Overview

Depending on what you want to test, your interface. The 10 usability heuristics for UI
methods of doing user testing might change. design enunciated in 1994 by Jakob Nielsen
Here is an overview about different methods: are still used as a standard for assessing the
aforementioned criteria.
Hallway testing involves selecting people
at random in a neutral space. By doing so, This particular method is more adequate
designers can identify problems which stand in for content-heavy websites and complex
the way of a good user experience. applications that require a professionals
opinion. Among the aspects that can be
A StackExchange member suggested that assessed in this situation are information
coffee houses would make the perfect place for architecture, navigation design, page layout
approaching potential users. The argument was and search page. The conclusion should be
that people are more relaxed when spending gathered in an educational presentation that
leisure time, and hence, are more open to talk. outlines the problematic areas and the ones
Adding a small reward can incentivize them. The that could use some improvements.
StackExchange user recommended Rocket
Science Made Easy by Steve Krug, a DIY guide Automated expert review also relies on
for finding and fixing usability problems. experts, but also uses automatic programming.
In this scenario, artificial intelligence programs
Remote usability testing is preferred in or other surrogate users are given access to
scenarios where observers, developers and rules and heuristics. These outline the ideal
testers all live in different countries. Not way the digital product should work. Even
using a specialized lab for user testing helps though the results are more consistent and are
cut down costs and logistics. This can be obtained more rapidly, this method is not ideal.
separated into synchronous and asynchronous Automated expert review ensures the products
methodologies. well-functioning, but doesnt guarantee a great
experience.
In an unmoderated remote usability test
conducted by Tom Tullis, SVP of User Insight at A/B testing or split testing is a method
Fidelity Investments, the goal was to compare commonly used in marketing and web
two Apollo space program websites, one hosted development. Two features that are identical
by NASA and the other one on Wikipedia. Users except for a single small detail that could
could only analyze one of them and determine influence user behaviour are tested against
on which of them information was easier to find. each other to see which one leads to the most
favorable outcome.
Expert review, as the name implies, uses
experts in the field to test usability, efficiency The differences can be as small as a single
and effectiveness of a digital products word or as large as an entire website sections

11 How to Build Products Users Love

with FAQs, statistics and social proof. At least that was the case with Kiva, a non-profit organization
that enables people to lend money to low-income entrepreneurs. An information box that was
added at the bottom of a landing page caused an increase in donations by 11.5%.

User Testing
Involves Benefits Disadvantages
Method

Hallway Testing Selecting people at Cheap Cannot be performed

random in a neutral Quick internally because of
space Helps identify the project designer
roadblocks in the early and developers bias
stages of design

Remote Usability Observers, developers Cuts down costs and Lacks the immediacy
Testing and testers who live in logistics and sense of
different parts of the presence found in
world other methods.
Reduced control over
the environment
Cultural and linguistic
barriers make the
process more difficult

Expert Review Experts in the field Can be used on Time-consuming

to test the usability, content-heavy Costly
efficiency and websites and web
effectiveness of the apps
digital products UI
and UX

Automated Programs that are Quicker than most Doesnt ensure a good
Expert Review given the rules for other methods experience
good design and More consistent
heuristics

A/B Testing Comparing two Easy implementation Inefficient data

features that are Easy test design collection
identical except for a Flexibility in defining Limited number of
single small detail variable values recipes
Easy to analyze May not cover the
entire experience

12 How to Build Products Users Love

Best Practices
You are considering user testing for your new
Typeforms founders are focused on UX. The
or existing product. Here are some steps you
entire product development process focuses a
could take and questions to think about:
lot on providing as good of an experience as
possible. Testers are brought in to assess the
Decide whether only a feature or the entire
product should be tested. Opt for the usability of prototypes. The process continues
former if its a complex product with a lot of with people from outside the company via
features. remote testing.
Create user personas and find testers
Trello took a wide approach to receiving and
List the activities that make the subject of integrating feedback, both from developers
the test
and non-tech people. Seeing both sides of the
Approach the ideal users coin helps get a different angle when building
Involve the right stakeholders popular products.

Run the test, collect the results, implement

the feedback HotelTonight uses multiple methods for
gathering feedback from users. There are users
coming in, surveys sent out, reviews posted on
We talked to 6 industry experts and here is, in a
app stores. Everythings correlated with Net
nutshell, insights into how they are conducting
Promoter Score, to determine the loyalty of the
user testing. For more information check out
customers post-testing.
their interviews in the second part of the book.

Automattic first tests their Wordpress.com

features internally, but relies on different teams
than the ones that created them. Observing
users while experiencing the product is
essential, and should be preferred to remote
testing whenever possible.

Prezi believes in integrating user testing in all

of the stages of product development. Thus,
users are shown mockups, prototypes and
products that are almost ready to be launched.

More details on how the aforementioned

companies perform user testing are available
in the following six interviews.

13 How to Build Products Users Love

 Since the experience is more
important than the product
itself, user testing is anything
but mandatory.

14 How to Build Products Users Love

Work on a
product you
love or for a
user base
that you love.
Amanda Richardson
VP of Product
at HotelTonight

Building Successful Products by

Testing Ideas Before Turning them
into Solutions
1. As a VP of Product, what are the top three that it depends on the stage of the product and
indicators to monitor in order to know whether on your goals. It also depends on what you are
your product is on the right track? trying to achieve. In general, what I look for is
a conversion metric. For HotelTonight, its the
Amanda Richardson: There is more than one number of rooms booked, for Prezi that was a
possible answer to this question. I would say presentation actually being shown. The second

15 How to Build Products Users Love

thing that I care about is the Net Promoter non-users. We bring them in, understand how
Score or some kind of customer feedback they travel and why they travel. I think meeting
metric. The third one would be the repeat rates people in person is really important. We ask
- youve figured out how to book a hotel room, friends and family, we post on Craigslist, but
but you hated it and decided never to do that theres no easy solution.
again or you will continue booking hotel rooms
through the same service. The best experience 3. Do you believe that there is something like an
would be someone using the product/service overly saturated market or do you think that if the
over and over again. These would be the big product is good enough, the competition doesnt
3 that matter, but it depends on the product matter that much? For example, Slack became
and the context of the situation to know exactly huge in a saturated market (where already a lot of
what indicators drive your business. chat messengers for businesses existed), but do
you think that there can be another Slack now
2. At which stage of product development would being even better than Slack?
you start with user tests?
The best example here is cellphones. Im old
It depends on what you mean by user test. I enough to recall the first cellphones. If you
would say you should always be talking to remember the Nokia phone, you could teletype
users and these discussions should lead you on it. Nokia and Ericsson focused their KPIs
to the ideas you want to test or the solution on how quickly users could send a text with
you think you have figured out. Ideally, you that kind of typing. Then the Blackberry came
start talking to users before you even have out and Nokia said that it would never work
the idea. You should start by understanding because you needed to use two hands, it was
the user because this way you avoid trying much slower, users got all these different keys,
to solve problems that arent real. Too many plus they had to look down while writing.
people have ideas that are seeking problems
rather than looking at the problem and coming
up with a solution. Even at HotelTonight we
sometimes solve things that arent problems.
For example, we created a feature around
how you could favorite your hotels and have
You should first talk to
a watchlist of your favorite hotels. Its a nice users before coming up
feature thats beautiful and elegant, but there
are very few people in the world who look at a
with a solution to their
hotel and then decide to travel as opposed to problem.
people who decide to travel and then choose
the hotel. This is why I think you should first Actually, it wasnt about speed, it was easier
talk to users before coming up with a solution to use, so it was quicker. Then, everybody
to their problem. believed the market was done, they had the
Blackberry, but then the iPhone came out.
We also run user tests on a weekly basis, Some people think the Google Pixel is the
without having something specific to test. We iPhone killer. Therefore, I dont think a market
just want to talk. The big challenge is talking to is ever saturated - the more players you have

16 How to Build Products Users Love

on the market, the harder you have to work to One of the ways people talk about products is
differentiate. You need to have something really within 3 categories: Vitamin, Painkiller or Drug.
amazing to win; having something thats just a Vitamins are nice, they make you feel better and
little bit better will not be enough. you should use it, but its not really a problem.

For me, the product strategy is to figure out the Painkillers, on the other hand, are things that
particular use case or slice of market that you solve real, painful problems. So you dont want
are going to take on and focus on that. Take to be a vitamin, you want to be a painkiller. But
for example the product story around Microsoft what you really want is to be a Drug - people
Powerpoint. MS Word had a very large market are addicted, they cant stop. Drugs are more
share and they actually bought Powerpoint. powerful, people are more attached to them,
PPT said Were gonna solve this problem for and these are the things people cant get
one slice. For one year, they focused only on enough of. Drugs solve problems you didnt
Sales People. After they optimized the product even know you had.
for them, they would fix it for lawyers. So today
we just keep addressing different slices of the 5. In your opinion, what role does user testing play
market. in creating innovative products?

Today, if I was going after Slack for example, I think user testing depends on the phase of
I would pick large enterprises, or distributed the product. You should talk to users really
teams, or people who have to do a lot of early on to figure out their problem. Then you
video calls. Once youve got the majority of try to figure out if your solution really fixes their
the market with a certain feature, move to the problem and after that user testing can be
next one. With HotelTonight, everybody said used to refine your product and make sure its
that there were already huge players on the usable. Still, nothing takes the place of putting
market, Booking.com and Expedia which have the product out there and getting the real,
huge market share. Why would you bother authentic feedback from the market.
going after that?, they asked. I told them we
are doing last minute very well and now were There are many ways to get feedback from
growing triple digits because we are focusing strangers: we have users coming in and
on doing one thing really, really well. offering feedback, we send surveys, we do
Net Promoter Score, I read every appstore
4. You are VP of Product for HotelTonight, but of review, etc. Sometimes its really hard to read
course you are using many other products as a because some comments are really mean, but
consumer. What makes a great product for you? thats actually great because if you screwed
something up then you should fix it.
A great product for me is one that solves a big
and painful problem. Amazing products solve
big and painful problems in an engaging and
elegant way.

17 How to Build Products Users Love

6. How do you perform user testing at HotelTonight
and what process do you use for implementing
About Amanda Richardson
user feedback to perfect the product?
Amanda Richardson currently serves
as Vice President of Product at
For instance, if I got feedback from my mom
HotelTonight. Amanda oversees product
whos very nice but never travels, is over 70,
strategy, product management, design
doesnt use a smartphone and stays with
and user research. She is responsible
friends when traveling, I wouldnt consider
for the consumer mobile apps on iOS,
her my target market for HotelTonight so its
Android and mobile web, as well as HTx,
not her feedback that has high priority. If in a
the web-based tool for hotel revenue
couple of years from now we get big enough
managers.
to solve these problems for everybody or there
is an older demographic that becomes our
Amanda has more than 10 years of
target market, this is the point when we have
senior leadership experience in product
to listen to that feedback. I align feedback with
management in companies including
use cases and target market and whether the
Snagajob and Eclipsys. Prior to joining
feedback is a new request or it is something
HotelTonight, Amanda served as Head
thats broken. The latter has to be addressed
of Product at Prezi.
immediately. You prioritize bugs over general
feedback from the target market, then the rest
Twitter
goes to the archives.
Linkedin
Facebook
7. Anything else you can share with our readers
about what you have learned along the way as VP
of Product?

I think the best advice I could give people who About HotelTonight
want to build products is: work on a product
HotelTonight is the worlds first made-
you love or for a user base that you love. You
for-mobile hotel booking app. Famous
may not be the user, but if you have a passion
for giving users the ability to book a
for helping certain people out, that will really
hotel in less than ten seconds and four
do the trick. The days are long, there is a ton
taps, HotelTonight offers the best pricing
of negative feedback coming in, its a tough
for last minute deals at top hotels vetted
job - a lot of people dont necessarily like us
personally by HotelTonight staff.
(unhappy users are always out there). Working
on a product you are passionate about will
make it easier to get out of bed in the morning
and it will keep you working hard. When you do
win however, it wont be about a number, it will
be about making a meaningful change in the
world.

18 How to Build Products Users Love

 Do you have
time to build
the wrong
thing?
Callie Wheeler
Product Manager
at Prezi

Triggering Delight through

Continuous User Experience Research
1. From your perspective and experience, whats the sign a deal, to benefit themselves in some way.
most important aspect to consider when building Thats the motivation for our users who make
successful products and why? presentations. Its not a choice between making
a presentation in a slide-based tool or in a prezi,
Callie Wheeler: The most important thing to but about how that person shines, how they can
consider is a users motivation. Everything we advance themselves in their career, or make that
do comes down to what defines us as human sale, etc.
beings, so its important to start from the point
of what motivates the user to think of doing 2. How do you create delightful web experiences?
something in the first place. If something
doesnt really motivate a person, then its I started in user experience with a background in
not resonating with their needs. Successful Anthropology because I like to see how people
products are continuously used because they interact with the world around them and I think
cater to users needs. For example, nobody just its really important that a product understands
wakes up in the morning and wants to make the context of the world that it exists in.
a presentation. They want to make a point, to

19 How to Build Products Users Love

On the topic of delight: people talk a lot about there are tons of slide-based presentation tools
delight as adding easter eggs, pretty colors, out there but that doesnt necessarily mean that
beautiful illustrations, copywriting and so on. the users motivation to stand out out or to be
I think delight is when the user asks himself: seen as cutting edge or to have a conversation
Wouldnt it be cool if it could do that? and then and be seen as a flexible presenter, are addressed
they try to do it and it works. A great example by the other slide-based tools. Standing out
of this is Google Maps because you think: is all about finding that motivation that isnt
Wouldnt it be cool if I could save a location really addressed by those many competitors
so I can find myself later in the future? Oh, I can and digging deep into what that is, why its
do that! Wouldnt it be great if I could mark that there and how to support it. I think its always
location because its my parked car or my friends intimidating to see how others are continuously
house. Oh, I can do that!. Another example is adding features. It makes you think that if you
when I want to figure out what the fastest way dont have those features, your product is not
is. Is it walking? Then Ill walk. Even if I search good enough. However, if you are zeroing in on
for car directions, it will tell me that the walking the right motivation, it wont matter if you dont
directions are faster if they are faster. I have a have all of those features. Prezi doesnt have all
long list of things like this in Google Maps, and I of the features that the competition does but
think this brings delight to the product. Maybe I its compelling because it addresses a deeper
didnt even articulate to myself that I wanted to motivation of people to stand out and advance
do something, but when the product anticipates themselves.
that Id like to do something and makes that
possible for me, thats what I consider delight. 4. When Prezi was launched, many people used
PowerPoint for creating their presentations. What
The icing on the cake is your brands personality. tactic did you adopt to differentiate Prezi from this
I think delight is when it works the way you big competitor and get people to use/ try out your
wished it would work, before you even knew product?
you wished that. The question is: how do you
make that happen? To understand how the user The first step was: this is a completely
is thinking, you need to spend time with them different tool than anybody had ever seen
while they are using the product. Go with people before! It was probably 10 years ahead of its
on their daily commute with Google Maps, for time. Touchscreens werent really a thing so it
example. A lot of people building products think leveraged future technology in that sense and
they dont have time to do that, but my question got people excited about what the future could
to them is Do you have time to build the wrong look like in terms of presentations.
thing? As a user experience person, I strongly
advocate going outside and spending the day The other thing that differentiated Prezi was the
with people. If you cant spend the day, spend an freemium model which allowed anyone to sign
hour and if you cant do that pick up the phone. up, create a presentation and give us feedback.
You will uncover things that will be surprising. We had a large number of students signing up
and I think that this helped grow the awareness.
3. How can a startup stand out in a very competitive As the students graduated and started working,
market, and compete with long-standing companies they brought the product with them and
which maybe invest large sums of money into convinced their managers that this tool could
marketing and sales? set them apart from their competition.

I think this all goes back to the motivation of the We are not only differentiating ourselves from
user that you are trying to reach. For example: our competition, we are also helping our users

20 How to Build Products Users Love

differentiate themselves from their competition. and depending upon the team, we may even
People are motivated by the outcome of their make a prototype. Then, well spend time with
presentations. If they are putting people to sleep, 3-5 users or potential users and try to tweak
they are not doing what they meant to be doing. it based on the feedback we get. As we go
The differentiator is that our users feel much through that process well get to a point where
more engaging. They can have a conversation roadblocks for the user appear less and less.
with their audience much more interactively This is when we try to build the first iteration of
than they could with a slide-based presentation. the product. We will release an alpha version or
It really comes down to this spatial thinking that release a version to a certain group of people
really differentiates us from turning pages in a and then do another round of user testing. Now
book or projecting sheets of paper on a wall. that it is integrated with the product and in a new
Humans think in spatial relationships and this is context, you can use it on your actual desktop
why Prezi resonated as a spatial medium for a while other things are happening and you can
lot of people to communicate in a way that was see how it interacts with the whole ecosystem.
similar to the way that they think. From there, well see where we can improve
it. Well look at usage data and ask questions
5. What role does product user testing play when about the patterns that emerge. These things
it comes to improving your product and making it inform our backlog, so its a big full circle. This
stick? is a great example of how big data (usage data)
can complement your thick data (observational
We perform user testing at all stages of the data) of user testing.
product development process. Sometimes,
we are in a very early stage and have some 6. What are the methods youd recommend for user
mockups, we sometimes bring people into the testing/user experience research?
office, etc. During interviews and user tests,
well observe some patterns and start to identify My favorite methods are diary studies which
things that may not exist yet. This is how the allow researchers to see peoples behavior in
future is born. Once we have those feature ideas the wild. We can follow a group of people,
or problem ideas, well try to learn more about ask them to send us pictures or screenshots
those problem areas through more interviews. from their phone. Everyday, we will require a
response to a small questionnaire depending
on the intensity of the subject matter. We collect
moments of peoples daily lives. For example, I
studied social shopping a couple of years ago.

Successful products As part of that, we studied a group of women for

a couple of weeks. It wasnt specifically about
are continuously used their shopping habits, but more about what
they were doing on their mobile device: some
because they cater to were working professionals, some were moms,
some were students, etc. In the end, we started
users needs. seeing patterns in the way they were curating
things, asking for feedback from friends and the
User testing comes when we start trying to games they were playing - that was important
figure out a solution. Well whiteboard it and then information for the shopping app we developed.
create some rough wireframes. After that, well Therefore, it was important that we used diary
put it in a tool like Invision or create a mockup studies before even building the app so that we

21 How to Build Products Users Love

knew exactly what people were already doing
on their devices and how we could fit into that About Callie Wheeler
context. Callie is a UX flavored Product Manager
currently working at Prezi in Budapest.
My colleague also started creating love/ breakup Having spent the last 5 years in San
letters. Users could choose which of the two Francisco working for various tech
letters they would write to our product. Framing companies and startups as a UX
the feedback in that way gives the feeling of a Researcher and Product Manager, she
personal connection. Its easy to talk about a has honed her skills in making things
product from a distance but when you frame happen. As a researcher at social
it like a relationship its easier to see where shopping site ModCloth and Bay Area
peoples needs werent being met and where Rapid Transit (BART), Callie utilized a
they got really excited so you start to learn about broad range of techniques to provide
the arch of the relationship and you start to see insight and feedback on strategy and
where the real pain points are. This is another product direction from name to value
fun and interesting way to receive feedback. proposition. As a product manager Callie
has worked on acquisition, conversion,
Another thing I like to do is card sorting. Maybe network effects, mobile apps and more.
you are trying to name a product or identify
which parts of your product are most important. Linkedin
With this method you can get the participant Facebook
to interact with your content. I find that they
are more engaged and much more inclined to
give you real/genuine feedback when they are
focused on a task that makes them consider About Prezi
their values.
Prezi is the presentation platform that
helps you connect more powerfully
Recruiting users is also a difficult topic. The most
with your audience and customers.
interesting thing that I discovered lately is that if
Unlike slides, Prezis single, interactive
you need people to talk about various products
canvas encourages conversation and
and you dont have a huge budget to recruit
collaboration, making your overall
them, you can always go to the mall. Chances
presentation more engaging, persuasive,
are, there is a store in the mall that caters closely
and memorable. Prezis latest offering,
to a group of people in your target market. Stand
Prezi Business, moves Prezi into the
there, be polite, offer an incentive. Thats a really
modern workplace by meeting the needs
great way of getting people to offer you insights.
of todays agile companies. Founded in
You can also do snowball recruiting. These are
2009, and with offices in San Francisco,
the methods that I like the most.
Budapest and Mexico City, Prezi now
fosters a community of over 75 million
users and over 260 million prezis around
the world. Its investors include Accel
Partners, Spectrum Equity and TED
conferences. For more information,
please visit www.prezi.com.

22 How to Build Products Users Love

As youre building
a product and
experimenting
with it, its really
important to
respect your
existing users.
Justin Gallagher
VP of Product
at Trello

The Road from Good Ideas to Useful

Products is Paved with User Feedback
1.Could you give us some insights from back in the bouncing around internally for a while. Basically,
day when you came up with the idea behind Trello? we felt like it was too hard to get everybody at
Trello has been around for a couple of years now the company on the same page. After a couple
and wed like to know what you thought about user of years, we got to the point where Trello was
feedback then. growing really quickly and we decided to split it
out to be its own company.
Justin Gallagher: I started working at Fog Creek
Software about six and a half years ago. I was We worked on it in private beta for about nine
lucky enough to be one of the first people to months -- from January to September 2011.
work on what turned into Trello. We had the idea We only had a handful of users then and we

23 How to Build Products Users Love

tried to stay in pretty close contact with them Back at Fog Creek, we had these things called
throughout. The original group was mostly Creek Weeks. You could take a week per year off
comprised of people we knew -- friends of ours to work on anything. The only rule was that on
at Stack Overflow, family, other people we knew Friday, you had to show the rest of the company
in the industry. what you worked on that week.

In the early days, we were trying to figure out So myself and Bobby Grace, took a joint Creek
what the product even was. We experimented Week and came up with what was essentially
a lot. We changed things, tried removing some a clickable prototype. It was an HTML and
things we already had. Sometimes we would JavaScript app. It had no database, all of the
get rid of a feature as an experiment but nobody data was hardcoded, and just had a few jQuery
would even notice. That was a pretty good events on there. No fancy front-end frameworks
indication that people didnt use that feature. or anything. But we had something we could
show to people and we could explain to them
Other times, things were different. I distinctly how we imagined it would work. That was
remember when we changed the activity feed in valuable and we were able to do that much
the sidebar of the board. As soon as we made quicker than we could have done it if we waited
that change, we got a bunch of emails from our for a fully functioning app.
users. Even with that small number of users we
had then. I think that you can show people stuff at any
They told us that they really relied on it. That stage. You can have a conversation: If I solve
was obviously a good indicator that they were this problem for you in this way, would that be
actually using that aspect of Trello. They noticed valuable? Would you use it? Why not? But,
very quickly that it had changed and that helped you should realize that when youre doing that,
us understand more about the value Trello was its very easy for two people to think theyre on
providing for them. the same page about something when theyre
actually not. Ive seen this again and again, as
This is the kind of thing you can still do in the weve worked together as a team, and Ive seen
early stages, when you have a pre-release it talking to users, in all kinds of communications
product. However, its hard to do the same kind really. Youre using the same words and you think
of experimentation later when you have paying youre saying the same thing, but both people
users, users relying on your product for their have different pictures in their mind about what
day to day work. As youre building a product the actual solution might look like. So I think that
and experimenting with it, its really important to by showing things in higher fidelity, you reduce
respect your existing users. the chances for misunderstandings. A sketch is
better than just words, a wireframe is better than
2. What do you think about showing potential a sketch, a prototype is better than a wireframe,
customers a prototype for a product? I mean, and an actual app of some sort is better than a
sketches, mockups, low-fi wireframes do you prototype.
think they can provide valuable feedback for a
product they might be willing to use later on? Still, you have to balance that clarity with the
effort involved. If it takes you several months
I think you can do it, but you just have to be to come up with an app, youd probably want
aware of what youre doing and watch out for to have some kind of direction before that,
certain pitfalls. The way we started Trello was some kind of an idea if this thing is even useful
that we built a clickable prototype very quickly. or interesting to anybody out there. That is

24 How to Build Products Users Love

balancing the efforts you put in with the certainty want to limit it to only developers. We knew that
of feedback youre gonna get. If you just show when we would launched it, the first people who
someone a sketch and ask: Hey, what do you would sign up would be the Fog Creek fans, and
think about this? you will get some feedback that meant mostly developers. We knew that if
but you should be aware that even though they we listened only to that feedback, wed end up
said its a good idea, it doesnt necessarily mean with a tool that was really great for developers,
that theyre going to use what you build for them. probably, but maybe at the expense of other
users. We wanted to build a horizontal tool that
Details are essential. Look at Trello. Its not the could be used by anyone collaborating on any
first app in the world to do what it does. But, I kind of project. There was valuable feedback
think the way its executed and the details we from developers that applied to all users and we
put into it are what differentiate it. Most of that accidentally ignored it because we took things
stuff is not included in the wireframe or in the too far. We realized that and developed better
sketch, and I think this can make the difference ways to get feedback from a cross-section of
between a product that exists and a couple of users.
people use it and a product that many people
really love. Now, we have lots and lots of users, so we get a
lot of feedback, both form developers and non-
developers and its super-valuable. We still have
to be aware, as we get a lot of feature requests
from people who are having very specific pain-

By showing things in points or problems, that many of these uses

have used other apps and theyre suggesting
higher fidelity, you solutions that theyre familiar with from those
products. The thing with Trello is that were not
reduce the chances for trying to compete on a feature over feature level;
we have a vision of the product and its a very
misunderstandings. simple, flexible tool that has pieces you can
combine in different ways to manage software
3. On your blog there was a post stating that, in development, marketing, an editorial calendar,
the early days, you overlooked feedback from the or plan a birthday party, track a sales pipeline,
developers, designers and tech people. How has this and so on.
changed now that Trello has become a global tool?
That feature request feedback is important and
We DID kind of overlook feedback, particularly valuable. But we need to do the hard work of
developer feedback back in the day, and that digging into it, understand the root issue there,
was semi-intentional. As I said in that blog and coming up with something that solves
post, we most likely took things a bit too far. that problem, but hopefully also solves related
Traditionally, Fog Creek made tools for software problems that other users are having.
developers. We built up an audience developers
who were fans of the company, its founders, and So thats how we are doing things now, we get
its products. plenty of feedback in many ways. When we
think about implementing a new feature, we
With Trello, we were purposefully trying to build sometimes handpick a group of users and show
a tool for a broader group of people. That group them what we want to do and get feedback
certainly included developers but we just didnt on that. Sometimes, we ship new things to a

25 How to Build Products Users Love

percentage of people to have them try things product, with this concept of boards and lists
out, other times well just do user interviews with and cards. Their spatial arrangement, and how
relevant groups. theyre positioned relative to each other is a
really important part of the product. Its how the
4. How do you see cultural diversity when it product helps deliver a sense of perspective.
comes to developing a product such as Trello or
implementing new features? Do you take diversity While that works well on a computer screen,
and the different accessibility into account? be it a 13 or a 30 one. When you get down
to a phone screen thats 4 or 5 inches, thats a
These aspects are important; as I said earlier, we harder thing to do. This is a nut we havent quite
imagine Trello as a broadly horizontal tool that is cracked yet. We are still working on this and
easy to use by pretty much anybody working on thinking about how to do things really well.
something with other people. We are, therefore,
careful to make sure that Trello is accessible to People use phones and computers in different
everyone. manners. A Trello board can remain open on a
computer screen while youre doing something
For a long time weve had a color blind mode else, whereas a phone is an entirely different
that adds a pattern to the colored labels in story. Maybe youre in a line, or bored, or want
Trello. This helps people who have difficulty to quickly capture a new idea, or want to check
differentiating certain colors use labels to add on a notification you just got. Also it depends on
data to their cards. Also, our iOS app takes each platform because how users interact with
advantage of the accessibility capabilities in their devices and what they feel is useful and
iOS. Were not perfect at this by any stretch, but valuable to do with Trello is different platform to
its something we feel is important, and were platform.
always looking for ways to do better.
The most recent platform we got on to is Slack,
5. Could you share some insights as to the challenges with a Slack app, and thats a whole different
of developing a multi-platform? concept there. Its a conversational interface,
mostly text-based, very real-time. Its a new
Its certainly challenging, especially when you challenge.
think that a few years back, if you could develop
a web app, that was a really good start. With
the addition of modern frameworks, you could
build this app on your own, or with a friend, or
whatever. This lowered the barrier to creating a
product, as people were able to build their own
web apps much more quickly than in the past. Even though they
You can still do this, but nowadays, I think
said its a good idea,
peoples expectations are much higher. They
do expect you to have a mobile app too. You
it doesnt necessarily
can wrap a web app and make do, I dont think mean that theyre going
it provides as good an experience. We dont
use this approach. All our apps are native, for a to use what you build
better, smoother experience.
On the other hand, Trello is a very visual
for them.

26 How to Build Products Users Love

6. Any interesting things you could tell us about the
Slack bot? About Justin Gallagher
Justin Gallagher helped design and build
The way I used to think about it was that we the first version of Trello and launched
were building a Trello integration for Slack. the product at TechCrunch Disrupt in
Luckily, smart people on our team convinced 2011. He now heads up the Product and
me that was totally wrong. The better way to Design teams at Trello. Justin previously
think of it is that Slack represents a platform like worked as a designer and iOS developer
iOS or Android and were building an app for at Fog Creek Software, and as a data
that platform. analyst and manager at Deloitte Financial
Advisory Services.
We had to think about what people are doing
there. Whats their use case? What theyre doing Linkedin
in relation to Trello and how we can provide things Twitter
of value for them? We found out that people are
sharing links to Trello boards and cards in Slack.
That included pointing out to some cards Hey,
I am working on this thing or on that one so
we built a bot that provides a lot of contextually
relevant info from Trello and displays it in Slack
About Trello
feed, which is nice. Trusted by millions, Trello is a visual
collaboration tool that creates a shared
This increases efficiency. We also took perspective on any project. Trellos
advantage of the buttons Slack enabled you to boards, lists and cards enable you to
add and weve got people that can do things organize and prioritize
on Trello cards from within Slack (add a label, your personal and work life in a fun,
change a due date, stuff like that). Again, thats flexible, and rewarding way.
really useful, you can have a conversation with
someone and make changes in real time, and
everyone involved can see that. Basically, you
keep working and its very seamless. I wasnt
thinking about this initially, but luckily my team
changed that.

You dont have to clone your whole product and

you dont have to do anything particularly; you
have to analyze what people do and how they
might use your app seamlessly on that platform
in a way that fits within their existing workflow.

27 How to Build Products Users Love

 It doesnt matter how big you are, some
user testing is better than none. Start
somehow and dont expect to get it
perfect at first. Get into the habit of
understanding your users. Sadly, many
companies dont invest enough time
here, possibly because theyre scared of
negative feedback - it always hurts when
someone destroys your idea.

28 How to Build Products Users Love

It doesnt matter
how big you are, a
little user testing
is better than
none.
Leif Singer
Engagement Wrangler
at Automattic

Building a Great Product is an Art, and

its Highly Linked to the Company Culture
1. Automattic has created an ecosystem that has On the other hand, we do user interviews to
Wordpress at its core. Could you give us some understand our users goals better. Most users
insights on how you perform user testing? dont want to build a site or a blog, they want
to grow their personal brand or put their coffee
Leif Singer: On the one hand, we try everything shop on the map. We sometimes go to the users
ourselves internally because a product may office/shop and build the website together to get
have very different variations. At first, you build a better idea of what it actually means to them.
a product for yourself, but at some point, you
will build products for other users. At this point, Then when it comes to quality assurance, we have
you will have to learn from others using your dedicated teams that look at different aspects
product and especially from those who fail using of the product development process and these
your product so that you can learn more from teams arent the same as those that developed
the experience. Given that we are fully remote, it in the first place. We have a certain team that
we use services that allow us to ask users to test looks at copywriting, a team that looks at the
the very generic parts that dont really require user flows and tries to break them, and so on. We
domain expertise. get feedback from those teams and then fix any
issues before we ship something to actual users.

29 How to Build Products Users Love

2. Youve told us that your work mainly focuses on them: are they startups that need a landing page
the user onboarding for WordPress. Whats your or writers that need an authors site or a fashion
overall strategy for onboarding new users? How blog? These choices will influence what themes
do you handle the topic of segmentation and how users will see and what site layout suggestions
does that reflect the onboarding experience of your they will receive - one looks like a gallery, one
users? looks like a blogpost, one looks like a landing
page, etc. But we dont ask them, we let them
Generally speaking, we are very influenced by choose for themselves. After they gave us all the
the book Badass: Making Users Awesome by information we will generate their website in the
Kathy Sierra and believe we will be successful background. Therefore, even from the get-go
when our users are successful. When WordPress the user will receive an initial website layout that
helps them reach their goals, they will use it will correspond to their needs. They can then
more, recommend it to their friends, and so on. personalize it as they wish.

3. Does the user onboarding process provide data

that is used to optimize the product?

In my ideal world, the All the information that we collect about users
and their wants is used to improve their website.

interface guides the Additionally, we also look to more aggregate

trends that will help us improve everything else.
user to produce the best We look at how users are customizing their
websites, what kinds of verticals they choose, or
work they can. whether their theme choice has an influence on
retention in the coming days and weeks. These
On the tactical side, onboarding could mean are the elements we usually analyse.
different things. We try, for example, to make
flows simpler - we try to make doing the right When it comes to user feedback, our support
thing obvious or even natural. In my ideal world, teams are super important for that. They are
the interface guides the user to produce the best the first people that get in touch with the users
work they can, gently nudging them into the when they have a problem. We have livechat,
direction of what we think are good practices. we have email support, and internally, to help
information diffuse between teams, we use a
One thing were working on right now is trying WordPress theme called P2 which basically
to automatically notice if users have not turns a WordPress theme into a sort of internal
configured certain elements that we consider Twitter. Thats how we let other teams know
crucial. And then well try to guide them with what we are doing. We ping other teams through
the help of interactive tours where we dont just our post and they let us know if they identify a
tell users what to do, but take them through the problem when it comes to onboarding and so
experience. In the end, they have to do it all on on. I remembered that when I joined Automattic
themselves, teaching them the interface along I was intimidated by the P2 because there are
the way. a lot of posts and a lot of blogs but in the end
I discovered its really useful and much more
For segmentation, we use a couple of manageable than it initially seemed.
dimensions. When users sign up or create a new
blog/website, were asking for information about

30 How to Build Products Users Love

4. Looking back at your experience as a Product place. If you could do this with colleagues in a
Manager in software companies, what are three meeting that would open up a whole other level
important learnings that you would share with our of collaborative remote working opportunities.
readers? Before I tried VR I thought thats just a fancy tech
bubble but now that Ive tried it I think it has real
I worked at different scales, from a 5-person potential to change something fundamental.
team to a 500-person company, which is very
different. So what I discovered is that at first 6. Whats your opinion on remote user testing and
you have to ignore the numbers and focus on what are some good practices that make it work?
qualitative insights. You need to understand
what your users want to achieve. Then when I think this depends very heavily on the product
you grow larger, you dont want to ignore that, that youre creating. If you are targeting a very
but when youre a little larger you should start specific niche like factory floor managers that
caring about the numbers too. This doesnt use some sort of device you are developing,
mean you have to follow the numbers blindly then remote testing will be very difficult, and
though. At Automattic, we like to say we are sometimes even impossible. You can test
not data-driven, but data-informed. If you only general things like logging in and so on, but the
look at the numbers and not at the qualitative more specific things you will have to experience
data you may miss a couple of things you would first-hand in the factory and you cant do those
really want to know. remotely. A large part of research is seeing
users experiencing your product, looking at
And finally it doesnt matter how big you are, their faces, hearing the confusion in their voices.
some user testing is better than none. Start People who do user testing at Automattic will
somehow and dont expect to get it perfect at CC other teams when they identify something
first. Get into the habit of understanding your that may concern them or that they may be able
users. Sadly, many companies dont invest to improve.
enough time here, possibly because theyre
scared of negative feedback - it always hurts
when someone destroys your idea.

5. Youve once mentioned that the future of work

will be distributed. Do you still believe that? If yes, At first, you have to
what arguments would you bring that support
remote work?
ignore the numbers and
focus on qualitative
Yes, I do believe that. The two main arguments
for me are: the access to talent (focusing on a insights.
specific location will really hurt your ability to
grow your team) and the quality of life - remote 7. Last, if you were to think about building a product
work offers great flexibility especially if you that users will love, where would you start and
have a family. My opinion is that there will not why?
be fewer remote positions in the mid-term. In
the long term, who knows what will happen. There are frameworks like Lean Startup or Jobs
Theres also VR and Im super curious where To Be Done that will help you build a great
that will go in the future. When you put on those product, but they will only get you that far. I
goggles they take you to a completely different think a large part of it is still more of an art than

31 How to Build Products Users Love

a science. Because of this, the most important
thing is having a culture of fast iterations: talk About Leif Singer
to users, try to understand what they need, Leif works on making WordPress.com
build something, and test whether your product easier to use for new users. He has been
addresses these needs. Learn and build, learn a startup co-founder, a Web developer, a
and build. The faster you can go through this product manager, has a PhD in computer
cycle, the higher your chances become that science, did academic research on how
youre building something that people will software developers collaborate, plays a
actually need and love. One big challenge is to bunch of instruments, and is passionate
integrate this into a companys culture and not about building Web products.
lose it when the company grows.
Linkedin
Do you also need to look at the competition? Twitter
Facebook
Sometimes it can make sense to look at accepted
practices, learn from them, and realize you dont
need to reinvent the wheel when creating your
product. For example, both Facebook and
GitHub saw that Slacks reactions worked well, About Automattic
so they introduced something similar and now
have a better product for it. But obsessing over Automattic wants to make the web
what your competition is doing isnt healthy. So a better place. Their family includes
on the one hand you want to use what others Jetpack, WooCommerce, Longreads,
have learned, but on the other hand you want to WordPress.com, and more. With
innovate. I think you need to treat competition WordPress.com, users can create
like another but potentially very emotional data beautiful websites and blogs for free and
point that you need to be very careful with, as enhance those sites with our premium
its easy to overreact to it. services. A fully distributed company,
Automattic has over 506 staff in more
than 50 countries.

32 How to Build Products Users Love

Empathy is
key to building
great products
that have good
retention rates.
Thomas Schranz
Founder & CEO
at Blossom

Great Products Turn Users into Better

Versions of Themselves
1. What do you think makes a successful product itself. It is everything that is directly and indirectly
nowadays? related to its use. Its raison detre is to transform
you into something that you didnt think was
The way I think about products is very much achievable. If your product can create this
inspired by Kathy Sierra. In the sense that a great experience, then it is magical.
product enables you to become a better version
of yourself. Id call that successful.

For example if you think of cameras whether they 2. How does one know when the right time for
are digital or analogue, in a sense their job is to launching a software product is and how can one
help you capture moments. Yet, when you look make sure that one doesnt miss it?
at most instruction manuals, they read more like
a technical documentation about the cameras One way to think of timing a product release is to
functionality than what it could be: a handbook remind yourself that whatever your vision of the
that makes you a better photographer. product is today, it will rarely be the initial version
that you go to market with.
A great product is more than just the product

33 How to Build Products Users Love

The iPhone, for example, was a pretty impressive Even for advanced users, your product might
product when it got released. Yet it did not come be difficult to relate to if they are in a different
with a front facing camera, nor with a GPS context than you. Just think of all the different
module, nor with support for 3G. ways people use Yelp, Excel and Instagram.

At the time, Apple definitely had a better version Empathy is key to building great products that
of the iPhone in mind already. Yet, they chose to have good retention rates. User testing is a great
release a reasonable package that they could get way to gain insight into what kind of expectations
into the hands of their customers. your users might have.

If you can ship a viable subset of the product you 4. What are the methods youd recommend for user
envisioned weeks, months or even years earlier testing?
than the whole thing, it can make a lot of sense
to do so since you get a chance to learn through There are so many different methods of user
feedback and public attention in the meantime. testing depending on what you want to find out,
You might even win some customers and that it is difficult for me to recommend a specific
partners along the way. Maybe it even enables one. As a general advice Id say it helps to have
you to envision a better future product than what a good understanding of the part of the customer
you see right now. journey and the level of abstraction you want to
gain insight on.

User testing looks quite different if you want to

figure out whether your product use case makes
User testing is a great sense compared to whether you want to make
sure the wording and position of a button is
way to gain insight understandable.

into what kind of Designed for use by Lukas Mathis is a great

expectations your users book that covers various ways to do user testing
and the kind of insights this helps you gather.
might have.
3. What role does user testing play when it comes to
customer retention?
About Thomas Schranz
Observing how people interact with your Thomas Schranz is Co-founder and CEO
product can be eye-opening. For example, it of Blossom, a project management and
can be difficult to empathize with users who are quality assurance tool used by software
unfamiliar with your product when you are the companies like Twitter, Drive Now, Netflix
person who spent the last few months and years and NASA. He also runs Lemmings
designing it. I/O which is the worlds first incubator
focused on Facebook Messenger
It is difficult to get into a beginners mindset. Yet, applications.
most of your users will spend their initial phase
of interacting with your product while being Linkedin Twitter Facebook
unfamiliar with how you designed it and why you
did it in this specific way.

34 How to Build Products Users Love

In the end, its all
about how the
product manifests
in the wild.
Milo Lali
Head of Product
at Typeform

Starting with a Problem is

Not the Only Way to Succeed
1. Where does innovation come into play in the context of expect for us to continue. For our retention,
of customer retention? Are customers more likely this is crucial because they saw what we can do
to stay with a brand if theres a slow development once so they expect it now.
of reliable products or if the brand innovates
permanently without thinking of the consequences? 2. If you were to start the company tomorrow, what
approach would you follow?
Milo Lali: It highly depends on the company
and on customers expectations. Weve always Let me tell you the story of Typeform so that you
attracted people who wanted something different know how everything started. Typeform wasnt
and we didnt want the idea behind Typeform to planned to be an alternative solution to forms.
be connected to that of a regular form builder or It was actually a project that our founders did
form tool. Im not referring only to early adopters for a company thats in the bathroom business
since weve passed that stage already. People and that wanted a solution in their showrooms
like the idea that its something completely to engage people and gather their feedback and
different. For our customers specifically, its not get them onto a mailing list. So they created
only that they are used to us experimenting with something that wasnt even Typeform in the
things and bringing something new, they kind beginning. It was an interactive UI that worked

35 How to Build Products Users Love

in the showrooms by displaying one question at
a time which felt like a conversation. This was
a successful project and soon they realised

Functionality is what
that this was something that could work in
many other places. Consequently, they started
iterating a bit, creating different versions,
bringing in more people and making it work on
a user can achieve
any type of screen. People liked it. This is when
our founders realised that they had something
and design is how and
bigger than what they were trying to build initially. maybe why.
People usually start by focusing on fixing one 4. What do you think are some good examples of UX?
particular problem. It would seem obvious:
forms were outdated, difficult to fill out, UIs were The market decides. Its not something that
boring, had no good completion rate. Trying to people can define or say Aha, I like this because
solve this would seem logical. But that is not how the UX is good. Its a feeling you have after
it happened. It came out from a totally different using a product that makes you feel good. You
situation and was then transferred to solving feel that things are flowing the way they should
another problem. This is the potential learning for be. To measure that is impossible. The main way
someone starting from a problem. Its a good way to see if its working is by showing it to people. In
to start but I would suggest to zoom out and see the end, it depends on the situation that the user
if there is something more universal that can be is in, the market segment, the type of use, how
built, whether it can tackle more markets, whether they are using it... In the end, its all about how it
it can do more things or do the same things for manifests in the wild.
more people if presented in a different way. This
is the way that non-planned innovation happens. 5. Whats the most important aspect that should
be taken into account when building a successful
3. User experience design is a crucial element software product and why?
that determines the success or failure of a
software product. However, some companies are I think its about forgetting the fact that its
still confused on how to take advantage of user software - code, features - and remember you
experience for onboarding users for example. What are actually working with people. These people
would you say user experience is and is NOT? are creating relationships within the company,
thinking about the people you are helping. In
Ideally, you design a product that doesnt even general, its not about functionality or code, its
need onboarding. The truth is that, in the world about zooming out and seeing what people want
of complex products, onboarding is something to achieve and making their lives easier. This
that you cant really avoid. If I can say what should be everyones focus within the company.
User Experience is NOT, its not a set of visual
features or flows or properties. UX is a process 6. How do you conduct user testing at Typeform?
that needs to be applied in everything you do And if you could change anything regarding the way
inside and around product development. Its a in which user testing is being carried out nowadays,
way to do things and not just a set of rules that what would that be and why?
one needs to follow. Its a process of listening
to your customers, testing things out, iterating, We are lucky to have founders that are very UX
experimenting, failing, learning and then focused. In the beginning everything was very
repeating the cycle. top-down, so nothing passed into production

36 How to Build Products Users Love

before any of the founders had a look at it have more functionality but people dont know
with a very critical UX eye. Nowadays, we are why they should use your product, then thats
implementing a bottoms-up approach in product a problem. When you have less functionality
teams that are cross-functional in our company you can improve it. If peoples problems are not
and focused on the user journey. Those teams being met, thats an entirely different issue.
consist of product, engineering, QA, UX and
UI people. UX is not a separate department,
we now have people working directly with
developers and product teams, thus making it
part of the product development process.
If I could improve one
In terms of process, we try to do it at all levels.
It looks more or less like this: if were designing
thing about user testing,
something really complex we start with a small it would be doing more
group focused on building a prototype; we then
show the prototype to people from outside in-person testing.
the company via remote testing. People are
aware that it is a prototype. Then we do an 8. Back in the days companies would have their
internal group to test the quality and we start own special people working in special places and
to get some quantitative data as well. We build pushing ideas and products down the pipeline to
something that is more advanced than the passive consumers. Nowadays, ideas are flowing
prototype, release it to our employees (around back up the pipeline from consumers to creators.
50 users that are very critical) and we get some Would you say that this is whats triggering the
qualitative feedback from them. The next stage actual boom in innovative products?
will be Invite only when we throw that new
improvement into the wild in a controlled way. Definitely. The departure from top-down
We choose the users we want to participate and management and the acceptance of agile
we contact them. This time its not a prototype organizations that are living organisms formed
so people look at it more critically. This are from autonomous well-resourced sub-
different levels of feedback that we obtain. organisms is whats driving this revolution. Its
the direct implication of the decision makers
If I could improve one thing about user testing, that are not at the top management, but within
it would be doing more in-person testing. This the teams that are creating the solutions. The
is considered generally expensive and not done role of the CEO is to give direction and space for
enough but its something I feel we can do more teams to experiment.
of. Another thing would be to create a more
holistic strategy around user testing. We use customer feedback in many ways.
We use it to look at bugs - a really important
7. When building a product, what is more important, feedback loop - if something is not working for
design or functionality? users this is our top priority. In case of asking
for more feedback, we have 1 million users
These terms are more and more being used and mostly everyone has ideas. We have to
together and even interchangeably. For me, make many people happy and very few people
functionality is what a user can achieve and unhappy. The idea of making everyone happy is
design is how and maybe why. If we define it like probably unreachable, but we use the 80-20 rule
that, I would choose design as a priority. If you and it works pretty well. Losing some of your

37 How to Build Products Users Love

user base because you cant make them happy
is not the worst thing. About Milo Lali
Milo Lali is Head of Product at
9. How do you create a product that would disrupt Typeform, making sure the bar is set
the industry and create new use cases? Whats the high to achieve the grand vision of
process to be followed here? making things more human by creating
extraordinary tools for user interaction.
As Ive mentioned in our story it wasnt really After releasing a form building tool
intentional for Typeform, so this is definitely just which triggered a reaction this doesnt
one way to do it. Forms have been around since feel like a form from most users, the
forever, but in this kind of approach no one came challenge was to evolve the product,
up with this type of solution, or maybe they did scale the team and keep innovating in
but they didnt make it to market. Its also about parallel. Milo took Typeforms product
timing and about a bit of luck, so you never management from a small development
really know. Starting with a problem is definitely team working directly with founders to a
a good start but its not the only way to succeed. structured organisation of fast-delivering,
cross-functional metric-driven teams.
Before Typeform, he founded a few
startups, 2 of them he has taken to an
exit. He also worked as an intrapreneur,
inspiring and managing innovation in
bigger companies.

Linkedin
Twitter
Facebook

About Typeform
Typeform is a web-based platform for
interacting with humans. It enables
you to create anything from engaging,
interactive, and conversational online
forms to surveys, and much more.

38 How to Build Products Users Love

Takeaways

Getting feedback from users could happen even want to collect qualitative feedback for improving
before having an idea for the next product. This user experience and general feel of the product.
can be done by bringing in a target group in
order to learn about problems users are facing.
By doing so, product managers avoid to solve During testing it is important to avoid biased
problems that dont even exist. languages and to install a positive testing
environment, in which participants feel
A product that provides a remarkable user comfortable enough to express their opinion.
experience helps companies differentiate
themselves from the competition. In turn, these User testing after all is a marathon. Testing should
products lead to repeat usage, increased brand be deeply integrated into the development
loyalty, and a lower risk of failing in a busy process and repeated - in various forms - in
market. different project stages.

There are numerous ways of conducting user It is not a solution for every problem, but it can
testing throughout each product development bring us closer to build products users love.
stage: personal or remote, individual or group
testing, online or offline. However, you probably

Its not enough that we build products that function, that are
understandable and usable, we also need to build products that bring joy
Don Norman
Director of The Design Lab at
and excitement, pleasure and fun, and yes, beauty to peoples lives. University of California, San Diego

39 How to Build Products Users Love

Get Your Demo: How You Can Use
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Show, dont tell

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40 How to Build Products Users Love

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41 How to Build Products Users Love