Assume Nothing
We’ve all seen that scene. The hero detective is in the interview room with the bad guy. They’re sitting across from each other, scowling. The detective knows he has the right guy, but the evidence is shaky, he needs a confession. Finally, using some interrogation trick, the detective trips him up, and the bad guy confesses, explaining his evil plan.
Happens just like that in real life too, right? Fat chance.
The fact is, TV shows and movies almost never get the interrogation scenes right. Just like any other interview, the suspect can be easily manipulated. It’s why detectives take hundreds of hours of training to learn how to interrogate suspects. I spent 13 years as a cop, and I know I’ve sat across the table from more than one innocent person. I also know, that if I had phrased my questions just so, I could have gotten my confession. It’s why we are taught to assume nothing when we go into “the box” with someone. It may be our bad guy, but it may not be.
The same is true in UX research, assume nothing. You’ve spent years developing your product. You’ve fine tuned and tested every little thing. It works like a charm. Sales are strong after launch, but return rates are high and you see your online reviews start slipping. “What is it?” You scream. Turns out you assumed your customers would know that they needed to remove the plastic film from between the battery and the contact. The one you put there so units would arrive in your customers hand with batteries included. You didn’t tell people that though, and because you did such a great job blending the battery door into the product, the customer assumed they got a broken one.
You assumed the customer would know that it runs on batteries, and they would need to remove the plastic. And, the fact is, most of your customers may have, but are you willing to accept a 20% rate of return?
Good usability testing, done prior to launch, could have caught this. It’s little things like these, these tiny assumptions, that can seriously derail your product. Just like the detective who can’t assume he has the right suspect, you can’t make any assumptions about your customers. Good researchers, good companies, and good detectives all avoid the same thing, assumptions.