user research vs service design

The Complete Guide to UX Research Methods

UX research provides invaluable insight into product users and what they need and value. Not only will research reduce the risk of a miscalculated guess, it will uncover new opportunities for innovation.

By Miklos Philips

Miklos is a UX designer, product design strategist, author, and speaker with more than 18 years of experience in the design field.

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“Empathy is at the heart of design. Without the understanding of what others see, feel, and experience, design is a pointless task.” —Tim Brown, CEO of the innovation and design firm IDEO

User experience (UX) design is the process of designing products that are useful, easy to use, and a pleasure to engage. It’s about enhancing the entire experience people have while interacting with a product and making sure they find value, satisfaction, and delight. If a mountain peak represents that goal, employing various types of UX research is the path UX designers use to get to the top of the mountain.

User experience research is one of the most misunderstood yet critical steps in UX design. Sometimes treated as an afterthought or an unaffordable luxury, UX research, and user testing should inform every design decision.

Every product, service, or user interface designers create in the safety and comfort of their workplaces has to survive and prosper in the real world. Countless people will engage our creations in an unpredictable environment over which designers have no control. UX research is the key to grounding ideas in reality and improving the odds of success, but research can be a scary word. It may sound like money we don’t have, time we can’t spare, and expertise we have to seek.

In order to do UX research effectively—to get a clear picture of what users think and why they do what they do—e.g., to “walk a mile in the user’s shoes” as a favorite UX maxim goes, it is essential that user experience designers and product teams conduct user research often and regularly. Contingent upon time, resources, and budget, the deeper they can dive the better.

What Is UX Research?

There is a long, comprehensive list of UX design research methods employed by user researchers , but at its center is the user and how they think and behave —their needs and motivations. Typically, UX research does this through observation techniques, task analysis, and other feedback methodologies.

There are two main types of user research: quantitative (statistics: can be calculated and computed; focuses on numbers and mathematical calculations) and qualitative (insights: concerned with descriptions, which can be observed but cannot be computed).

Quantitative research is primarily exploratory research and is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data or data that can be transformed into usable statistics. Some common data collection methods include various forms of surveys – online surveys , paper surveys , mobile surveys and kiosk surveys , longitudinal studies, website interceptors, online polls, and systematic observations.

This user research method may also include analytics, such as Google Analytics .

Google Analytics is part of a suite of interconnected tools that help interpret data on your site’s visitors including Data Studio , a powerful data-visualization tool, and Google Optimize, for running and analyzing dynamic A/B testing.

Quantitative data from analytics platforms should ideally be balanced with qualitative insights gathered from other UX testing methods , such as focus groups or usability testing. The analytical data will show patterns that may be useful for deciding what assumptions to test further.

Qualitative user research is a direct assessment of behavior based on observation. It’s about understanding people’s beliefs and practices on their terms. It can involve several different methods including contextual observation, ethnographic studies, interviews, field studies, and moderated usability tests.

Jakob Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman Group feels that in the case of UX research, it is better to emphasize insights (qualitative research) and that although quant has some advantages, qualitative research breaks down complicated information so it’s easy to understand, and overall delivers better results more cost effectively—in other words, it is much cheaper to find and fix problems during the design phase before you start to build. Often the most important information is not quantifiable, and he goes on to suggest that “quantitative studies are often too narrow to be useful and are sometimes directly misleading.”

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. William Bruce Cameron

Design research is not typical of traditional science with ethnography being its closest equivalent—effective usability is contextual and depends on a broad understanding of human behavior if it is going to work.

Nevertheless, the types of user research you can or should perform will depend on the type of site, system or app you are developing, your timeline, and your environment.

Top UX Research Methods and When to Use Them

Here are some examples of the types of user research performed at each phase of a project.

Card Sorting : Allows users to group and sort a site’s information into a logical structure that will typically drive navigation and the site’s information architecture. This helps ensure that the site structure matches the way users think.

Contextual Interviews : Enables the observation of users in their natural environment, giving you a better understanding of the way users work.

First Click Testing : A testing method focused on navigation, which can be performed on a functioning website, a prototype, or a wireframe.

Focus Groups : Moderated discussion with a group of users, allowing insight into user attitudes, ideas, and desires.

Heuristic Evaluation/Expert Review : A group of usability experts evaluating a website against a list of established guidelines .

Interviews : One-on-one discussions with users show how a particular user works. They enable you to get detailed information about a user’s attitudes, desires, and experiences.

Parallel Design : A design methodology that involves several designers pursuing the same effort simultaneously but independently, with the intention to combine the best aspects of each for the ultimate solution.

Personas : The creation of a representative user based on available data and user interviews. Though the personal details of the persona may be fictional, the information used to create the user type is not.

Prototyping : Allows the design team to explore ideas before implementing them by creating a mock-up of the site. A prototype can range from a paper mock-up to interactive HTML pages.

Surveys : A series of questions asked to multiple users of your website that help you learn about the people who visit your site.

System Usability Scale (SUS) : SUS is a technology-independent ten-item scale for subjective evaluation of the usability.

Task Analysis : Involves learning about user goals, including what users want to do on your website, and helps you understand the tasks that users will perform on your site.

Usability Testing : Identifies user frustrations and problems with a site through one-on-one sessions where a “real-life” user performs tasks on the site being studied.

Use Cases : Provide a description of how users use a particular feature of your website. They provide a detailed look at how users interact with the site, including the steps users take to accomplish each task.

You can do user research at all stages or whatever stage you are in currently. However, the Nielsen Norman Group advises that most of it be done during the earlier phases when it will have the biggest impact. They also suggest it’s a good idea to save some of your budget for additional research that may become necessary (or helpful) later in the project.

Here is a diagram listing recommended options that can be done as a project moves through the design stages. The process will vary, and may only include a few things on the list during each phase. The most frequently used methods are shown in bold.

Reasons for Doing UX Research

Here are three great reasons for doing user research :

To create a product that is truly relevant to users

• If you don’t have a clear understanding of your users and their mental models, you have no way of knowing whether your design will be relevant. A design that is not relevant to its target audience will never be a success.

To create a product that is easy and pleasurable to use

• A favorite quote from Steve Jobs: “ If the user is having a problem, it’s our problem .” If your user experience is not optimal, chances are that people will move on to another product.

To have the return on investment (ROI) of user experience design validated and be able to show:

• An improvement in performance and credibility
• Increased exposure and sales—growth in customer base
• A reduced burden on resources—more efficient work processes

Aside from the reasons mentioned above, doing user research gives insight into which features to prioritize, and in general, helps develop clarity around a project.

What Results Can I Expect from UX Research?

In the words of Mike Kuniaysky, user research is “ the process of understanding the impact of design on an audience. ”

User research has been essential to the success of behemoths like USAA and Amazon ; Joe Gebbia, CEO of Airbnb is an enthusiastic proponent, testifying that its implementation helped turn things around for the company when it was floundering as an early startup.

Some of the results generated through UX research confirm that improving the usability of a site or app will:

• Increase conversion rates
• Increase sign-ups
• Increase NPS (net promoter score)
• Increase customer satisfaction
• Increase purchase rates
• Boost loyalty to the brand
• Reduce customer service calls

Additionally, and aside from benefiting the overall user experience, the integration of UX research into the development process can:

• Minimize development time
• Reduce production costs
• Uncover valuable insights about your audience
• Give an in-depth view into users’ mental models, pain points, and goals

User research is at the core of every exceptional user experience. As the name suggests, UX is subjective—the experience that a person goes through while using a product. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the needs and goals of potential users, the context, and their tasks which are unique for each product. By selecting appropriate UX research methods and applying them rigorously, designers can shape a product’s design and can come up with products that serve both customers and businesses more effectively.

Further Reading on the Toptal Blog:

• How to Conduct Effective UX Research: A Guide
• The Value of User Research
• UX Research Methods and the Path to User Empathy
• Design Talks: Research in Action with UX Researcher Caitria O'Neill
• Swipe Right: 3 Ways to Boost Safety in Dating App Design
• How to Avoid 5 Types of Cognitive Bias in User Research

Understanding the basics

How do you do user research in ux.

UX research includes two main types: quantitative (statistical data) and qualitative (insights that can be observed but not computed), done through observation techniques, task analysis, and other feedback methodologies. The UX research methods used depend on the type of site, system, or app being developed.

What are UX methods?

There is a long list of methods employed by user research, but at its center is the user and how they think, behave—their needs and motivations. Typically, UX research does this through observation techniques, task analysis, and other UX methodologies.

What is the best research methodology for user experience design?

The type of UX methodology depends on the type of site, system or app being developed, its timeline, and environment. There are 2 main types: quantitative (statistics) and qualitative (insights).

What does a UX researcher do?

A user researcher removes the need for false assumptions and guesswork by using observation techniques, task analysis, and other feedback methodologies to understand a user’s motivation, behavior, and needs.

Why is UX research important?

UX research will help create a product that is relevant to users and is easy and pleasurable to use while boosting a product’s ROI. Aside from these reasons, user research gives insight into which features to prioritize, and in general, helps develop clarity around a project.

• UserResearch

Miklos Philips

London, United Kingdom

Member since May 20, 2016

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What Is User Research, and What Is Its Purpose?

User research, or UX research, is an absolutely vital part of the  user experience design process.

Typically done at the start of a project, it encompasses different types of research methodologies to gather valuable data and feedback. When conducting user research, you’ll engage with and observe your target users, getting to know their needs, behaviors, and pain points in relation to the product or service you’re designing.

Ultimately, user research means the difference between designing based on guesswork and assumptions, and actually creating something that solves a real user problem. In other words: Do not skip the research phase!

If you’re new to user research, fear not. We’re going to explain exactly what UX research is and why it’s so important. We’ll also show you how to plan your user research and introduce you to some key user research methods .

We’ve divided this rather comprehensive guide into the following sections. Feel free to skip ahead using the menu below:

• What is user research?
• What is the purpose of user research?
• How to plan your user research.
• An introduction to different research methods—and when to use them.

Ready? Let’s jump in.

1. What is user research?

User experience research is the systematic investigation of your users in order to gather insights that will inform the design process. With the help of various user research techniques, you’ll set out to understand your users’ needs, attitudes, pain points, and behaviors (processes like task analyses look at how users actually navigate the product experience —not just how they should or how they say they do). 

Typically done at the start of a project—but also extremely valuable throughout—it encompasses different types of research methodology to gather both qualitative and quantitative data in relation to your product or service.

Before we continue, let’s consider the difference between qualitative and quantitative data .

Qualitative vs. Quantitative data: What’s the difference?

Qualitative UX research results in descriptive data which looks more at how people think and feel. It helps to find your users’ opinions, problems, reasons, and motivations. You can learn all about in-depth in this video by professional UX designer Maureen Herben:

Quantitative UX research , on the other hand, generally produces numerical data that can be measured and analyzed, looking more at the statistics. Quantitative data is used to quantify the opinions and behaviors of your users.

User research rarely relies on just one form of data collection and often uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods together to form a bigger picture. The data can be applied to an existing product to gain insight to help improve the product experiences, or it can be applied to an entirely new product or service, providing a baseline for UX, design, and development.

From the data gathered during your user research phase, you should be able to understand the following areas within the context of your product or service:

• Who your users are
• What their needs are
• What they want
• How they currently do things
• How they’d like to do them

As you consider the  why  of user research, remember that it’s easier than you might realize to overlook entire groups of users. It’s important to ensure that you’re conducting inclusive UX research and that starts in the earliest stages!

2. What is the purpose of user research?

The purpose of user research is to put your design project into context. It helps you understand the problem you’re trying to solve; it tells you who your users are, in what context they’ll be using your product or service, and ultimately, what they need from you, the designer! UX research ensures that you are designing with the user in mind, which is key if you want to create a successful product.

Throughout the design process, your UX research will aid you in many ways. It’ll help you identify problems and challenges, validate or invalidate your assumptions, find patterns and commonalities across your target user groups, and shed plenty of light on your users’ needs, goals, and mental models.

Why is this so important? Let’s find out.

Why is it so important to conduct user research?

Without UX research, you are essentially basing your designs on assumptions. If you don’t take the time to engage with real users, it’s virtually impossible to know what needs and pain-points your design should address.

Here’s why conducting user research is absolutely crucial:

User research helps you to design better products!

There’s a misconception that it’s ok to just do a bit of research and testing at the end of your project. The truth is that you need UX research first, followed by usability testing and iteration throughout.

This is because research makes the design better. The end goal is to create products and services that people want to use. The mantra in UX design is that some user research is always better than none .

It’s likely at some point in your UX career that you will come across the first challenge of any UX designer—convincing a client or your team to include user research in a project.

User research keeps user stories at the center of your design process.

All too often, the user research phase is seen as optional or merely “nice-to-have”—but in reality, it’s crucial from both a design and a business perspective. This brings us to our next point…

User research saves time and money!

If you (or your client) decide to skip the research phase altogether, the chances are you’ll end up spending time and money developing a product that, when launched, has loads of usability issues and design flaws, or simply doesn’t meet a real user need. Through UX research, you’ll uncover such issues early on—saving time, money, and lots of frustration!

The research phase ensures you’re designing with real insights and facts — not guesswork! Imagine you release a product that has the potential to fill a gap in the market but, due to a lack of user research, is full of bugs and usability issues. At best, you’ll have a lot of unnecessary work to do to get the product up to scratch. At worst, the brand’s reputation will suffer.

UX research gives the product a competitive edge. Research shows you how your product will perform in a real-world context, highlighting any issues that need to be ironed out before you go ahead and develop it.

User research can be done on a budget

There are ways that you can conduct faster and less costly user research , utilizing Guerrilla research outlined later on in this article (also handy if budget and time are an issue). Even the smallest amount of user research will save time and money in the long run.

The second challenge is how often businesses think they know their users without having done any research. You’ll be surprised at how often a client will tell you that user research is not necessary because they know their users!

In a 2005 survey completed by Bain, a large global management consulting firm, they found some startling results. 80% of businesses thought they knew best about what they were delivering. Only 8% of those businesses’ customers agreed.

The survey may be getting old, but the principle and misperception still persist.

In some cases, businesses genuinely do know their customers and there may be previous data on hand to utilize. However, more often than not, ‘knowing the users’ comes down to personal assumptions and opinions.

“It’s only natural to assume that everyone uses the Web the same way we do, and—like everyone else—we tend to think that our own behavior is much more orderly and sensible than it really is.” (Don’t Make Me Think ‘Revisited’, Steve Krug, 2014.) A must on every UX Designer’s bookshelf!

What we think a user wants is not the same as what a user thinks they want. Without research, we inadvertently make decisions for ourselves instead of for our target audience. To summarize, the purpose of user research is to help us design to fulfill the user’s actual needs, rather than our own assumptions of their needs.

In a nutshell, UX research informs and opens up the realm of design possibilities. It saves time and money, ensures a competitive edge, and helps you to be a more effective, efficient, user-centric designer.

3. How to plan your user research

When planning your user research , it’s good to have a mix of both qualitative and quantitative data to draw from so you don’t run into issues from the value-action gap, which can at times make qualitative data unreliable.

The value-action gap is a well-known psychology principle outlining that people genuinely don’t do what they say they would do, and is commonly referred to as what people say vs. what people do.

More than 60% of participants said they were “likely” or “very likely” to buy a kitchen appliance in the next 3 months. 8 months later, only 12% had. How Customers Think, Gerald Zaltman, 2003

When planning your user research, you need to do more than just User Focus Groups—observation of your users really is the key. You need to watch what your users do.

Part of being a great user researcher is to be an expert at setting up the right questions and getting unbiased answers from your users.

To do this we need to think like the user.

Put yourself in your user’s shoes without your own preconceptions and assumptions on how it should work and what it should be. For this, we need empathy (and good listening skills) allowing you to observe and challenge assumptions of what you already think you know about your users.

Be open to some surprises!

4. When to use different user research methods

There’s a variety of different qualitative and quantitative research methods out there. If you’ve been doing the CareerFoundry UX Design course , you may have already covered some of the list below in your course.

It isn’t an exhaustive list, but covers some of the more popular methods of research. Our student team lead runs through many of them in the video below.

Qualitative Methods:

• Guerrilla testing: Fast and low-cost testing methods such as on-the-street videos, field observations, reviews of paper sketches, or online tools for remote usability testing.
• Interviews: One-on-one interviews that follow a preset selection of questions prompting the user to describe their interactions, thoughts, and feelings in relation to a product or service, or even the environment of the product/service.
• Focus groups: Participatory groups that are led through a discussion and activities to gather data on a particular product or service. If you’ve ever watched Mad Men you’ll be familiar with the Ponds’ cold cream Focus Group !
• Field Studies: Heading into the user’s environment and observing while taking notes (and photographs or videos if possible).
• In-lab testing: Observations of users completing particular tasks in a controlled environment. Users are often asked to describe out loud their actions, thoughts, and feelings and are videoed for later analysis
• Card sorting : Used to help understand Information Architecture and naming conventions better. Can be really handy to sort large amounts of content into logical groupings for users.

Quantitative Methods:

• User surveys: Questionnaires with a structured format, targeting your specific user personas. These can be a great way to get a large amount of data. Surveymonkey is a popular online tool.
• First click testing: A test set up to analyse what a user would click on first in order to complete their intended task. This can be done with paper prototypes, interactive wireframes or an existing website.
• Eye tracking: Measures the gaze of the eye, allowing the observer to ‘see’ what the user sees. This can be an expensive test and heatmapping is a good cheaper alternative.
• Heatmapping: Visual mapping of data showing how users click and scroll through your prototype or website. The most well-known online tool to integrate would be Crazyegg.
• Web analytics: Data that is gathered from a website or prototype it is integrated with, allowing you to see the demographics of users, page views, and funnels of how users move through your site and where they drop off. The most well-known online tool to integrate would be Google Analytics .
• A/B testing: Comparing two versions of a web page to see which one converts users more. This is a great way to test button placements, colors, banners, and other elements in your UI.

Further reading

Now you know what user research is and why it’s so important. If you’re looking for a way to get trained in this particular discipline, there’s good news—owing to demand and popularity, there’s a growing number of UX research bootcamps out there.

If you’d like to learn more about UX research, you may find the following articles useful:

• What Does A UX Researcher Actually Do? The Ultimate Career Guide
• How to Conduct User Research Like a Professional
• How to Build a UX Research Portfolio (Step-by-Step Guide)

User research is the process of understanding the needs, behaviors, and attitudes of users to inform the design and development of products or services. It involves collecting and analyzing data about users through various methods such as surveys, interviews, and usability testing.

2. How to conduct user research?

User research can be conducted through various methods such as surveys, interviews, observations, and usability testing. The method chosen depends on the research goals and the resources available. Typically, user research involves defining research objectives, recruiting participants, creating research protocols, conducting research activities, analyzing data, and reporting findings.

3. Is user research the same as UX?

User research is a part of the broader UX (User Experience) field, but they are not the same. UX encompasses a wide range of activities such as design, testing, and evaluation, while user research specifically focuses on understanding user needs and behaviors to inform UX decisions.

4. What makes good user research?

Good user research is characterized by clear research goals, well-defined research protocols, appropriate sampling methods, unbiased data collection, and rigorous data analysis. It also involves effective communication of research findings to stakeholders, as well as using the findings to inform design and development decisions.

5. Is user research a good career?

User research is a growing field with many opportunities for career growth and development. With the increasing importance of user-centered design, there is a high demand for skilled user researchers in various industries such as tech, healthcare, and finance. A career in user research can be fulfilling for those interested in understanding human behavior and designing products that meet user needs.

6 User Research Methods & When To Use Them

Learn more about 6 common user research methods and how they can be used to strengthen your UX design process.

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User research is the process of understanding user needs and desires through observation and feedback. 

It's one of the most important aspects of UX design, and it's used to inform all aspects of the design process, from initial sketches to the final product. Through user research, we can answer important questions about our design, such as Who are our users? and What do they need?

In this blog post, we will discuss six common user research methods, what they are, when to use them, and some common challenges associated with each one.

Let’s get started …

What is User Research?

Why is user research integral to the ux process, 6 common user research methods, how to get started with user research in ux design projects, key takeaways.

User research is a process of gathering data about users in order to design better products that meet their needs . 

It's used in every part of the design process, from the initial market research and concepting stages, through the final interface design testing and iteration stages.

The goal: to gather data that will allow you to make informed decisions as you create design solutions.

Term Check: User Research vs. UX Research

Depending on what you read, you might come across the terms user research , UX research , or simply design research —all used interchangeably. 

While they all tend to refer to the process of collecting user-centric data, there is some distinction that can be applied:

The term user research is often used when you want to learn more about the target audience for a product or service; who they are, how they think, what their goals are, etc.

UX research , on the other hand, tends to be used when you’re conducting research that focuses on how users interact with a product or service. 

In this article, we’ll be looking at user research holistically, whether specifically talking about the users themselves, or learning more about how they interact with and experience your design work.

User research is an integral part of the design process: it ensures you have enough data and insights to make informed decisions about the design work you produce, reducing the risk of making assumptions and creating something no one truly wants.

Successful UX design requires a deep understanding of the people who will be using your product and how they interact with it. No matter how experienced you are as a designer, there is no way to validate your assumptions about design solutions without data. And the only way to acquire this understanding is by collecting data from the users themselves.

There are a variety of user research methods, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Here are 6 common methodologies that are easy to incorporate into your UX design process.

1. User Interviews

Interviews are a type of user research method in which the researcher talks with participants to collect data. This method is used to gather insights about people's attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and experiences. Interviews are a great way to gather in-depth, qualitative data from users. 

Interviews are best conducted in a live conversation, whether that takes place in person, on a video call, or even on the phone. They can be structured or unstructured, depending on what best fits your research needs:

• Structured interviews follow a set list of questions
• Unstructured interviews are intended for more open-ended conversation

Challenges:

When deciding whether to use interviews as a user research method, it is important to consider the goals of the research, the target audience, and the availability of resources. Interviews are extremely time-consuming, both for the interviewer and the interviewee. However, if the goal of the research is to observe behavior in a natural setting, or if the target audience is not available to participate in interviews, then another user research method may be more appropriate.

Surveys are a user research method in which participants are asked to answer a series of questions, usually about a specific topic. Surveys are well suited for collecting data that can be quantified, but they are not as well suited for collecting qualitative data, since answers are often nuanced and lack appropriate context.

Surveys are best used when …

Since surveys can be easily distributed to a large number of people, they’re often a good choice for gathering information from people who might not be able—or willing—to participate in other types of user research (such as usability testing). 

Since surveys rely on self-reported data, it’s important to avoid phrases or words that might influence the users’ answers. Furthermore, this type of user research often provides data without context, since you aren’t able to follow up and understand some of the nuances of the responses.

3. Focus Groups

Focus groups are a type of user research method in which a group of people are brought together to discuss a product, service, or experience. Focus groups provide an opportunity for users to discuss their experiences and opinions with each other in a guided setting. When done correctly, focus groups can provide valuable insights that can help shape both product design and marketing strategies.

Focus groups are best used when … 

Focus groups can help uncover user needs and perspectives that may not be apparent through individual interviews or surveys.

Tips to make it work:

To get the most out of a focus group, it is important to carefully select participants that are representative of the target audience, as well as those who represent various accessibility needs, which might otherwise be overlooked or receive less consideration. The moderator should also be skilled in leading discussions and facilitating group dynamics to avoid participants from influencing each other.

4. A/B Testing

A/B testing is a user research method in which two versions of a design are created, then tested against each other to determine which is more effective. 

These versions can be identical except for one small change, or they can be completely different. Once the two versions have been created, they are then assigned to users at random. The results of the test are then analyzed to see which version was more successful. 

A/B testing is best used when …

You can incorporate A/B testing at any stage of the design process, but you might find you get the most helpful insights when you’re in a state of refinement, or are at a crossroads and need some data to help you decide which route to take. 

Once you have your design variations ready to test, it’s up to the developers (or an A/B testing software program) to make the test live to users. It’s important to let the test run long enough so that any statistical significance is steady and repeatable. (If the test does not provide statistically significant results, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and try out a different variation.)

5. Card Sorting

Card sorting is a user research method that can be used to help understand how people think about the items in a given category. Card sorting involves providing users with a set of cards, each of which contains an item from the category, and asking them to sort the cards into groups. The groups can be based on any criteria that the users choose, and the sorted cards can then be analyzed to identify patterns in the way that the users think about the items. Card sorting can be used with both small and large sets of items, making it a versatile tool for user research.

Card sorting is best used when …

You are looking for insight into categorical questions like how to structure the information architecture of a website.

For example, if you were designing a website for a library, you might use card sorting to understand how users would expect the website's content to be organized.

Like the other research methods mentioned so far, a successful card sorting exercise requires a significant amount of thought and setup ahead of time. You might use an open sorting session , where the users create their own categories, if you want insight into the grouping logic of your users. In a closed sorting session , the categories are already defined, but it’s up to the participants to decide where to file each card. 

6. Tree Test

Tree testing is a user research method that helps evaluate the findability and usability of website content. It is often used as a follow-up to card sorting, or when there are large amounts of website content, multiple website navigation structures, or changes to an existing website.

To conduct a tree test, participants are asked to find specific items on a website, starting from the home page. They are not told what the navigation options are, but are given hints if they get stuck. This helps researchers understand how users find and interact with the website content.

Tree testing is best used when ...

This method is most effective when combined with other user research methods, such as interviews, surveys, and focus groups. This is because it’s really a way to finesse the user’s experience at the end of the design process, rather than a method of collecting the preliminary data that’s needed to arrive at this point.

Tree testing can be a challenging method to conduct, as it requires specific instructions and data collection methods for each test. In addition, participants may not use the same navigation paths that you intended, making it difficult to analyze the results. To account for this, it’s important to have a large enough sample size to be able to differentiate between outliers and general trends.

User research is a critical part of any project or product development process. It helps you to understand the needs and expectations of your target users, and ensures that your final product meets their requirements. 

There are many different ways to conduct user research, but the most important thing is to start early and to continually iterate throughout the development process.

For this, you’ll need to make sure that you have enough resources to incorporate the research successfully, which includes:

• A budget that accounts for the various expenses incurred during the research process, whether that’s subscribing to a user research tool or compensating participants for their time.
• An awareness of your own personal biases, and how they might affect the data you collect and the interpretation of results.
• Time for research and analysis , since you might need to adjust the research method, or number of participants, that you were initially planning on including.
• Buy-in from stakeholders , since the results might be jarring and contradict some of the assumptions that the project was built on.

Finally, it is important to be aware of your own personal biases. Despite these challenges, user research is an essential tool for designers, as it provides insights into how people interact with products and what their needs and wants are. 

• User research is essential for designing products that meet the needs of your target audience.
• By understanding your users, you can design better products that meet user needs and improve the overall user experience.
• Getting started with user research can be daunting, but there are a few common methods that are easy to learn and incorporate into your design process.
• By being aware of the challenges involved in conducting user research, you can create a research plan that minimizes potential problems and maximizes the chances of obtaining valuable insights.
• Once you have collected your data, it is important to analyze and interpret it so that you can use it to improve your product or design process. 
• User research can be challenging, but by following best practices and being prepared for common challenges, you can conduct successful user research studies that will help you create better products.

To learn more about establishing a UX design practice rooted in research and user-centered data, check out UX Academy Foundations , an introductory course that teaches design fundamentals with practical, hands-on projects and 1:1 mentorship with a professional designer.

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Introduction to service design

Last updated

13 April 2023

Reviewed by

Miroslav Damyanov

With products and services ever-evolving, businesses must innovate to keep up with trends. Service design simplifies this process. 

Do you want to create a better experience for your team and customers? Keep reading.

All your service design research in one place

Surface patterns and tie themes together across all your service design research when you analyze it with Dovetail

• What is service design?

Service design involves planning business resources and internal operations to improve customer experience. 

It aims to achieve a cohesive experience flow between the organization and end users. In addition, service design ensures services suit the needs of users and customers better. 

This process considers all the touch points of the user journey map. Whether it’s a new or existing product, service design focuses on what customers need at each stage of service delivery. 

Service design does the following for an organization:

Improves efficiency and effectiveness of existing services

Identifies new value to add to a service

Creates unique user experiences

Provides direction for achieving goals

• UX vs. service design

Service designers analyze the tangible and intangible components to understand how an organization works. This creates a holistic experience for users and customers.

Another significant difference is that the critical components of UX design are usability and ease of navigation. Service design elements are infrastructure and operational model design. 

• A brief history of service design

Lynn Shostack first introduced service design in 1982. She proposed that companies should understand how internal processes interact with each other. Initially, service design was considered a marketing topic and mostly referred to customer support. 

Over the years, scholars began building on Shostack’s idea that companies need to design services like products. 

In 2002, Prof. Dr. Michael Erhoff initiated a department at Koln International School of Design, which provided service design education. 

Due to technological changes, service design has evolved alongside other disciplines. In today's world, almost every company offers a form of service design. 

• Benefits of service design

Service design is a holistic approach with endless benefits to service providers and customers. Here are some of the benefits: 

Foster departmental collaborations

Service design optimizes internal processes by fostering collaboration. 

Traditionally, most companies have departments that don’t communicate. Service design breaks down these organizational silos by visualizing information flows and ensuring collaboration is a key company value. 

This encourages employees to work in alignment to improve service delivery.

Exposes misalignment in organizations

Service design enables organizations to devise working solutions. It focuses on uncovering procedures within internal processes that could be detrimental to the organization’s productivity. 

Eliminates redundant processes

Service design pinpoints duplicate processes and unearths ways to mitigate wasted efforts by identifying ideas that drain resources or don’t work. Eliminating redundancies reduces operational costs and improves efficiency. 

Ensures the delivery of value to the customer

Service design considers the customer's experience and pain points during the early stages of service development. This helps organizations prioritize initiatives in a user-centric manner, creating a seamless customer experience. 

• Components of service design

The components of service design are:

People: This encompasses anyone who creates or uses the services, including customers, employees, or partners.

Processes: These are the procedures relevant to workflows, such as making a transaction or hiring employees.

Props: These supportive elements help you provide the service, and they can be physical or digital:

Physical artifacts can be a storefront or conference room.

Digital artifacts include social media, websites, and blogs.

• The five principles of service design

Incorporating an effective service design into an organization's system can be challenging, but these principles can help:

1. User-centric

For a business to be successful, it must design its services around its users. 

To understand what your users want, ask them about their thoughts, feelings, and goals when using your service. This can help your company improve an existing service or generate ideas for a new one. 

2. Co-creative

While developing service design, involve stakeholders in the process. Co-creation allows you to share different perspectives on the services you’re developing. 

3. Sequencing

Visualize services as sequences in a customer's journey . Every customer follows three distinct sequences: Pre-service, during service, and after service. Sequencing determines the lead time of a project. 

4. Evidencing

Evidencing involves helping team members understand what stage the customer is in, so they can get the best service. 

When dealing with a large or complicated project, it can be challenging for team members to focus on all the details. Visual aids such as images and graphs can improve the service design, and customers will be satisfied with the end product. 

5. Holistic

A holistic service considers every aspect of the user journey. Therefore, your company should design services to address stakeholder needs. A service designer should consider all the experiences and journeys of different users. 

• How to do service design best

Here are some of the best approaches to service design: 

Step 1: Clarify the brand's vision 

First, clearly understand the brand's vision and decide how the service fits the company's strategy. Next, consider a service design that supports your vision or end goals. 

Step 2: Fully understand customer needs

Before launching a new service or improving an existing one, thoroughly analyze your customer's needs. 

Customer-oriented organizations tend to be more productive. Therefore, a customer's needs should be a top priority when approaching service design. Create a customer feedback system to get insights and stay updated on customer needs. 

Some of the questions you can ask yourselves are:

What are their challenges?

What are their hopes and dreams?

Does your service reflect their needs, such as affordability, convenience, or quality?

Step 3: Invite new ideas

Generating new ideas is a vital part of service design. Brainstorming is an effective tool during design ideation, allowing team members to get ideas out in the open. Conduct workshops and let the participants discuss service design ideas. 

Here are some brainstorming tips to ensure a successful workshop:

Allocate equal time to each participant and allow them to pitch their ideas. 

Write down all the service design ideas and discuss them.  

Step 4: Prototype and test service ideas

Prototyping creates a vision of a service concept. Co-create with stakeholders to incorporate all the factors relevant to service delivery. 

To prototype: 

Create mockups of a service design that closely resembles what you want to offer.

Eliminate service design ideas that do not add value to the users and customers.

Determine the processes and steps users must follow when interacting with the service.

Test the service idea. 

Step 5: Implement and gather feedback

Once you’ve decided on the best service design prototype, roll out your service design.

Service design is a cyclic process that requires regular feedback and service improvements. Evaluate customers' experiences by conducting surveys that examine the ease of use.

From here, you should develop performance metrics to gauge the success of service delivery. It’s also vital to use agile development methodology to stay on top of trends to consistently deliver what your customers need.

This approach focuses on adaptability, flexibility, collaboration, and efficient workflows.

What are four examples of service design?

Here are four examples of service design: 

Customer service systems

Patient care systems

Airport check-ins

Online shopping processes

What disciplines comprise service design?

Ethnography

Interaction design

Process design

Information and management sciences design

What is the role of a service designer?

A service designer is responsible for improving user experience by observing various touchpoints and identifying challenges in the system.

What is good service design?

A good service design is holistic, user-centric, collaborative, and properly sequenced. It should meet customer needs while remaining sustainable for the service provider.

What is CX versus service design?

Customer experience (CX) aims to increase overall customer satisfaction, while service design aims to improve service quality and the interaction between employees and customers.

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Service Design

What is service design.

Service design is a process where designers create sustainable solutions and optimal experiences for both customers in unique contexts and any service providers involved. Designers break services into sections and adapt fine-tuned solutions to suit all users’ needs in context—based on actors, location and other factors.

“When you have two coffee shops right next to each other, and each sells the exact same coffee at the exact same price, service design is what makes you walk into one and not the other.” — 31Volts Service Design Studio

See how effective service design can result in more delightful experiences.

• Transcript loading…

Service Design is about Designing for the Biggest Picture

Users don’t access brands in a vacuum, but within complex chains of interactions. For example, a car is a product, but in service design terms it’s a tool when an elderly customer wants to book an Uber ride to visit a friend in hospital. There’s much to consider in such contexts. This user might be accessing Uber on a smartphone, which she’s still learning to use. Perhaps she’s infirm, too, lives in an assisted living facility and must inform the driver about her specific needs. Also, she’s not the only user involved here. Other users are any service providers attached to her user experience. For example, the driver that customer books also uses Uber—but experiences a different aspect of it. To cater to various users’ and customers’ contexts as a designer, you must understand these sorts of relations between service receivers and service providers and the far-reaching aspects of their contexts from start to finish. Only then can you ideate towards solutions for these users’/customers’ specific ecosystems while you ensure brands can deliver on expectations optimally and sustainably .

In service design, you work within a broad scope including user experience (UX) design and customer experience (CX) design . To design for everyone concerned, you must appreciate the macro- and micro-level factors that affect their realities.

A service design experience often involves multiple channels, contexts and products.

Marc Stickdorn and Jakob Schneider, authors of This is Service Design Thinking , identify five key principles—for service design to be:

User-centered – Use qualitative research to design focusing on all users.

Co-creative – Include all relevant stakeholders in the design process.

Sequencing – Break a complex service into separate processes and user journey sections.

Evidencing – Envision service experiences to make them tangible for users to understand and trust brands.

Holistic – Design for all touchpoints throughout experiences, across networks of users and interactions.

Designers increasingly work more around services than around physical products—e.g., SaaS (software as a service). Meanwhile, with advances in digital technology continually redefining what users can expect whenever they proceed towards goals, brands focus on maximizing convenience and removing barriers for their users . A digital example is Square, which unbundles point-of-sale systems from cash registers and rebundles smartphones as potential point-of-sale systems.

How to Do Service Design Best

First, identify these vital parts of any service encounter:

Actors (e.g., employees delivering the service)

Location (e.g., a virtual environment where customers receive the service)

Props (e.g., objects used during service delivery)

Associates (other organizations involved in providing the service – e.g., logistics)

Processes (e.g., workflows used to deliver the service)

You’ll need to define problems, iterate and address all dimensions of the customers’, users’ and business needs best in a holistic design . To begin, you must empathize with all relevant users/customers. These are some of the most common tools:

Customer journey maps (to find the customers’ touchpoints, barriers and critical moments)

Personas (to help envision target users)

Service blueprints (elevated forms of customer journey maps that help reveal the full spectrum of situations where users/customers can interact with brands)

You should use these to help leverage insights to account for such vital areas as accessibility and customer reengagement.

Service blueprints are an important tool in the service design process.

Do Service Design for the Complete Experience

Remember to design for the complete experience. That means you should accommodate your users’/customers’ environment/s and the various barriers, motivations and feelings they’ll have. Here are some core considerations:

Understand your brand’s purpose, the demand for it and the ability of all associated service providers to deliver on promises.

The customers’ needs come ahead of the brand’s internal ones .

Focus on delivering unified and efficient services holistically —as opposed to taking a component-by-component approach.

Include input from users .

Streamline work processes to maximize efficiency .

Co-creation sessions are vital to prototyping .

Eliminate anything (e.g., features, work processes) that fails to add value for customers.

Use agile development to adapt to ever-changing customer needs.

Service design applies both to not-so-tangible areas (e.g., riders buying a single Uber trip) and tangible ones (e.g., iPhone owners visiting Apple Store for assistance/repairs). Overall, service design is a conversation where you should leave your users and customers satisfied at all touchpoints, delighted to have encountered your brand.

Learn More about Service Design

Learn all about service design by taking our course: Service Design: How to Design Integrated Service Experiences .

Read this insightful piece, Service Design: What Is It, What Does It Involve, And Should You Care?

Discover more about service blueprinting in Service Design 101

Read this eye-opening piece exploring Service Design Thinking

Examine Uber’s service design in Uber Service Design Teardown

Questions related to Service Design

A service design diagram is a visual representation of the overall structure and components of a service, including the interactions between different elements. It provides an overview of the service and helps stakeholders understand how different parts of the service fit together. It may include information such as user interfaces, system components, data flows, and more.

Actors/Roles: Entities bringing the experience to the customer.

Information Flow: Details of data shared, required, or used.

Interactions: Between people, systems, and services.

Devices & Channels: Tools and mediums of communication.

The diagram is essential for understanding the current state of a service, emphasizing the intricacies and interdependencies, guiding service blueprint creation, and identifying potential breakpoints or areas for enhancement.

In the context of service design, frontstage refers to the actions performed by employees that are visible to the customer. It includes interactions such as customer service, product demonstrations, and any other activities that customers can directly observe.

On the other hand, backstage actions are performed by employees that are not visible to the customer. These actions support the service delivery and may include tasks such as inventory management, quality control, and other behind-the-scenes operations.

Good service design is a holistic approach that prioritizes every user interaction, both in digital and real-life contexts. Jonas Piet, Director and Service Design Lead at Inwithforward shares the example of Kudoz, a learning platform to demonstrate backstage service design.

While the digital platform is a crucial component, the user's journey begins long before they interact with the app. It might start with discovering the service at a community event or through a promotional video. Service designers ensure that every touchpoint, from community events to the digital interface, provides a coherent and positive experience. They focus on the intricate details, be it designing the role of an 'Experience Curator', crafting a compelling story, or ensuring safety checks. In essence, good service design intertwines various interactions, ensuring they align perfectly.

Discover the principles of human-centered design through Interaction Design Foundation's in-depth courses: Design for the 21st Century with Don Norman offers a contemporary perspective on design thinking, while Design for a Better World with Don Norman emphasizes designing for positive global impact. To deepen your understanding, Don Norman's seminal book, " Design for a Better World: Meaningful, Sustainable, Humanity Centered ," from MIT Press, is an invaluable resource.

Developing service design begins with 

In-depth user research, often ethnographic field studies, forming personas and journey maps. 

Engage stakeholders early and consistently. 

Utilize tools like the business model and value proposition canvases for a strategic foundation. 

Transition from journey maps to service blueprints, mapping out the entire service ecosystem. 

Embrace prototyping, iteratively refining with stakeholder input. 

Thoroughly test prototypes, launch the finalized service, and continuously measure its impact. 

Learn more from the video below:

Service design starts by understanding all pieces of an activity, centered on a user's need. 

It involves figuring out systems from the ground up to support the experience, considering digital, physical, and social contexts. In-depth user research, stakeholder engagement, and aligning organizational resources, user needs, and outcomes are vital. 

Service design, as discussed in our video, encompasses both the visible interactions a customer experiences and the underlying processes staff engage with. It deals with a complex web of interconnectivity, from front-end interactions to back-end systems and distribution. However, the challenge isn't just about designing services. The organizational culture must be receptive. Even if service designers identify areas of improvement, if the organization isn't prepared or faces legislative and technological barriers, change becomes arduous. Despite having dedicated individuals wanting change, they can often be constrained by larger, intricate issues. Service design requires a holistic approach, and while it can pinpoint problems, actual implementation might be held back by factors beyond the design realm.

UX (User Experience) design centers on the digital experience of users, focusing on specific touchpoints (which are often screen-based interactions). CX (Customer Experience) is broader, encompassing every touchpoint a customer has with a brand, from digital to in-store. 

Service design has the highest scope of the three concepts, factoring in business processes, systems, and other back-end elements that the customer does not interact with. While UX zooms in on digital interactions, service design steps back, integrating everything for a seamless journey. All three disciplines aim to enhance the user's or customer's experience but operate at different scales and depths.

Absolutely! As businesses increasingly recognize the value of delivering exceptional customer experiences, service design has become a pivotal discipline. It ensures seamless and holistic services that cater to both customer needs and business goals.

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The demand for professionals with expertise in service design is growing across various industries, from tech to hospitality. In order to stay competitive and satisfy the current demand, many individuals are looking to improve their skills. For those keen on mastering this domain, Interaction Design Foundation's course on Service Design provides an in-depth understanding and hands-on learning. It's a great way to get started or deepen your expertise!

Answer a Short Quiz to Earn a Gift

What is the primary goal of service design?

• To create visually appealing service interfaces
• To ensure financial growth for service providers
• To optimize experiences for both customers and service providers

Which principle of service design involves breaking complex services into manageable parts?

• Co-creative

Which tool is an elevated form of a customer journey map to reveal a full spectrum of user interactions with a brand?

• Service blueprints
• User scenarios

What should designers focus on for a complete service experience?

• They should concentrate solely on the technological aspects.
• They should prioritize brand needs over customer needs.
• They should understand and accommodate user environments and barriers.

What is an intended outcome of employing service design in business practices?

• To decrease the overall user base to manage expectations better
• To increase service complexity to enhance user engagement
• To leave users satisfied at all touchpoints with the brand

Better luck next time!

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Literature on Service Design

Here’s the entire UX literature on Service Design by the Interaction Design Foundation, collated in one place:

Learn more about Service Design

Take a deep dive into Service Design with our course Service Design: How to Design Integrated Service Experiences .

Services are everywhere! When you get a new passport, order a pizza or make a reservation on AirBnB, you're engaging with services. How those services are designed is crucial to whether they provide a pleasant experience or an exasperating one. The experience of a service is essential to its success or failure no matter if your goal is to gain and retain customers for your app or to design an efficient waiting system for a doctor’s office.

In a service design process, you use an in-depth understanding of the business and its customers to ensure that all the touchpoints of your service are perfect and, just as importantly, that your organization can deliver a great service experience every time . It’s not just about designing the customer interactions; you also need to design the entire ecosystem surrounding those interactions.

In this course, you’ll learn how to go through a robust service design process and which methods to use at each step along the way. You’ll also learn how to create a service design culture in your organization and set up a service design team . We’ll provide you with lots of case studies to learn from as well as interviews with top designers in the field. For each practical method, you’ll get downloadable templates that guide you on how to use the methods in your own work.

This course contains a series of practical exercises that build on one another to create a complete service design project . The exercises are optional, but you’ll get invaluable hands-on experience with the methods you encounter in this course if you complete them, because they will teach you to take your first steps as a service designer. What’s equally important is that you can use your work as a case study for your portfolio to showcase your abilities to future employers! A portfolio is essential if you want to step into or move ahead in a career in service design.

Your primary instructor in the course is Frank Spillers . Frank is CXO of award-winning design agency Experience Dynamics and a service design expert who has consulted with companies all over the world. Much of the written learning material also comes from John Zimmerman and Jodi Forlizzi , both Professors in Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University and highly influential in establishing design research as we know it today.

You’ll earn a verifiable and industry-trusted Course Certificate once you complete the course. You can highlight it on your resume, CV, LinkedIn profile or on your website.

All open-source articles on Service Design

The principles of service design thinking - building better services.

• 1.3k shares
• 10 mths ago

Service Design - Design is Not Just for Products

The Moment of Truth: Build Desirable Relationships with Users and Customers

Product-Service Hybrids – When Products and Services Become One

• 3 years ago

10 Ideas to Help You Sell UX Work

Making sense of new UX words: A first dictionary for UX Ecosystem Design

• 8 years ago

Understand the Service Design Process

• 2 years ago

Keep These Goals in Mind to Create Successful Service Designs

Learn the Language of Service Design

Top Service Blueprint Templates

Enhance UX: Top Insights from an IxDF Design Course

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CX vs UX vs Service Design – Difference Explained 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Terms like Customer Experience, User Experience, and Service Designs are often used interchangeably leading to confusion. This is why we have created this article packed with everything that you need to know about the distinct characteristics of each of those terms.

Knowing the nuances of the terms User Experience, Customer Experience, and Service Design can help you massively in navigating the intricacies of designing digital products. Each of those design principles is quintessential for the creation of functional products that can meet and exceed user expectations.

However, all three bear similarities and distinct characteristics. Throwing light on those nuances can help UX professionals better understand their importance and how they coexist in the design ecosystem.

What is User Experience (UX)?

User Experience or UX is a term that refers to the overall experience that a user of a digital product has while using that product. In particular, user experience revolves around the interaction of the user with a system and expresses the degree to which this interaction is pleasurable and seamless.

A product or service that has been built based on UX design principles and has the user at the core of any design decisions strives to create a meaningful and seamless experience ensuring that users’ needs are always met. Getting to this state encompasses understanding human behavior and incorporating user feedback at every step of the user journey.

What is Service Design?

Service Design revolves around looking at the entire service experience and finding ways to improve this experience while streamlining the operations behind it. It is worth noting at this stage that service design goes beyond the interaction of the user with a system or a product and arches over the user’s end-to-end journey while using a service.

Service design is all about analyzing the processes and the systems involved in a service and finding ways to optimize them, ensuring a consistent user experience end-to-end. Service design is a holistic approach that strives to create innovative and streamlined processes that promise a stress-free and seamless user experience.

What is Customer Experience (CX)?

Customer Experience is all about optimizing the touchpoints that the customer has with a product while discovering, buying and using it. Customer experience looks at the customer journey from awareness to the post-sale experience and strives to optimize every touchpoint throughout this experience.

Crafting a stellar customer experience involves understanding and analyzing consumer insights as well as market trends and aligning the messaging and offers on the various channels to serve these. A successful customer experience strategy can help organizations build trust and loyalty having customers coming back for more!

CX vs UX vs Service Design

Now that we have defined each of those approaches, let’s try to pinpoint the distinct characteristics and differences that they present.

1) CX vs UX

Although customer experience (CX) and user experience are two closely related terms, they have one main differentiator.

The main difference between those two approaches is that customer experience looks at optimizing the end-to-end journey that a customer has with a brand, arching over all the different interactions coming from various channels, while UX laser focuses on the user interaction with a service or a product.

Learn more about the difference between customer and user experience research in this detailed comparison: CX vs. UX research .

2) Service Design vs UX

Service design and UX are two terms that although connected should not be confused. Service design adopts a comprehensive approach looking at the entire service experience including operations and processes, overarching different systems.

On the other hand, UX is a subset of service design focusing on the interaction of the user with a particular system, and looking at optimizing the user experience solely there! In an ideal world, UX complements service design every step of the way.

3) Service Design vs CX

Service design and CX are also connected, however, those two holistic approaches have different focuses. As discussed earlier, service design looks at optimizing the processes and systems that underline the user journey.

On the other hand, customer experience focuses on the overall customer journey and how the different touchpoints within this journey could be optimized. Hence, service design is a component of CX .

4) CX vs UX vs Service Design

Cx vs ux vs service design benefits.

Customer Experience, User Experience, and Service Design all offer unique advantages, however, they are all pivotal for the overall success of the organization.

Let’s see the importance of each approach, its distinct advantages, and which professionals can benefit from adopting them:

Customer Experience (CX):

Investing in CX can have a multitude of benefits for an organization. The quintessential importance of CX is that it strengthens long-term relationships with customers building a loyal customer base that trusts the brand and will always return for more. Among the multitude of benefits that CX can have for a business is the organic growth of the business through positive word of mouth and increased customer retention.

A successful CX strategy can also act as a sustainable competitive advantage in an increasingly competitive market flooded with digital products and digital solutions. While CX is beneficial for the whole organization, professionals in the marketing and sales departments can most harness its power as it can have a direct impact on the overall brand image and consequently on sales.

By conducting customer experience research teams can point out areas of CX that need improvement and fine-tune those for better experience. Online CX research tools offer tons of functionalities like customer surveys, interviews , and journey mapping , all designed to help you better understand how customers perceive and use your product.

User Experience (UX):

A well-crafted UX strategy is pivotal for the overall positive user experience within the context of a particular product. Among other benefits, a successful UX strategy can lead to greater user satisfaction boosting the adoption of a product. UX strategies can have a positive impact on the usability of a product leading to better conversion rates.

Again, good UX benefits the entire business, however, mostly UX professionals, designers, and developers can benefit from a robust UX strategy in their effort to create products that are in line with user expectations. To optimize the UX of the products they conduct UX research, incorporating methods like usability tests , interviews , focus groups , card sorting and tree testing .

To conduct all UX research in one place we recommend using a robust UX research tool like UXtweak . It offers all the functionalities you need to empathize with your users, understand their needs and pain points, as well as specific aspects of their interaction with your product.

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Service Design:

Lastly, Service Design is pivotal for the creation of a seamless service ecosystem. A well-crafted service design strategy can help the business look at processes holistically and streamline those, improving in this way the different touchpoints with the user.

Service design can have a host of advantages for the whole business as a successfully implemented service design strategy can lead to increased operational efficiency with seamless processes that delight the customer. Service design is particularly beneficial for businesses in the healthcare and fintech industries where services are complicated, and ensuring their efficiency is of major importance.

CX vs UX vs Service Design Use Cases

Fully grasping the nuances of those terms can be challenging. Here are some example use cases to help you further understand the nuances of those terms.

1. The E-commerce Platform Scenario and Customer Experience:

Let’s explore the role of customer experience in an e-commerce platform. The customer experience in this scenario arches over the initial website navigation, the cart, checkout, and payment touchpoints as well as any follow-up, post-purchase emails, or updates for similar products that the customer might be interested in.

From this example, it becomes evident that CX encompasses all those touchpoints and customer interactions transcending processes and channels. CX is all about crafting positive interactions with the customers every step of the way with personalized content, leading to an overall positive brand perception.

2. The E-commerce Platform Scenario and User Experience:

Using the same scenario of the e-commerce platform, let’s now focus on the role of UX. In this case study, UX laser focuses on the website and its usability, and in particular – the checkout process.

The user might find the payment and checkout process frustrating, lengthy, or clunky so the role of UX optimization is to smooth out those interactions and create a pleasurable and seamless payment process.

UX is all about enhancing user satisfaction and reducing user frustration with a system. In this case – the website and the checkout process.

3. The E-commerce Platform Scenario and Service Design:

Now let’s explore the role of service design within the same scenario. The leadership team of this e-commerce platform wants to improve some of the systems that underline the operations of the platform.

They decided to focus on adding more payment methods for the customers at the final checkout, including Paypal and ApplePay to streamline the payment process, as well as enhance its security. Through meticulous service design, the team anticipates not only a smoother transaction process but also the potential for increased sales volume.

Foster collaboration between CX, UX, and Service Design teams. While each discipline has its focus, overlap and collaboration can lead to more holistic and effective solutions. Encourage regular meetings and knowledge-sharing sessions to leverage the power of each discipline.

What are the next steps?

All three design approaches with their unique characteristics can bring different advantages to the business. CX can help a brand build trust and loyalty whereas UX can lead to greater user adoption and retention. Finally, service design can promise a cohesive experience through efficient and streamlined processes that delight the customers and keep them coming back for more.

To make sure all three aspects are on point and provide the best experiences, you need to research your users and their needs as well as continuously collect their feedback. And for this, you’ll need a good research tool.

UXtweak is here to help you optimize the UX of your product, conduct user research , send out customer surveys and so much more! Register for your free account and give a try to our all-in-one UX research tool!

FAQ: CX vs. UX vs. Service Design

User Experience (UX) focuses on the interaction between a user and a product, ensuring it is seamless and intuitive. Customer Experience (CX) encompasses all interactions a customer has with a company across multiple touchpoints, aiming to create positive perceptions and satisfaction. Service design is broader, involving the holistic design and optimization of services to meet customer needs and improve their experiences.

CX describes all interactions a customer has with a company across multiple touchpoints, including the product itself, therefore encompasses UX as one of its disciplines.

Elena is a T-shaped UX Researcher with a varied cross-industry marketing background. She holds a BA in English as SLA, a Master of Science in Management and a professional UX Design Diploma. She leverages her marketing background to bridge the gap between users and products, ensuring digital products meet user needs while hitting business goals. Her career highlights include helping Talanta, an educational start-up to scale into a global remote-first edtech SaaS business and becoming a guest lecturer at the University of Brighton International College.

UXtweak is buzzing with expert UX research, making thousands of products more user friendly every day

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Are user research and UX research the same thing?

User research and UX research: interchangeable terms or two different disciplines? Explore how the two differ and where they overlap in this guide.

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The terms “user research” and “UX research” tend to be used interchangeably—but are they really the same thing? Does it even matter?

If you’re a user or UX researcher, you may be curious about any differences between the two terms, and what that might mean in relation to your role. Perhaps you’re considering a career in user/UX research and want to get clarification before you start any kind of training.

Either way, the topic of user research vs. UX research is increasingly garnering attention in the field. But is it just semantics or are there meaningful distinctions to be made? Let’s find out.

[GET CERTIFIED IN USER RESEARCH]

Before we try to answer this question, let’s go right back to basics with a definition of each term.

User research is the process of studying your target users. Target users are the people whose needs and preferences you want to understand and ultimately meet. The purpose of user research is to deeply understand your target users’ behaviours, emotions, needs, motivations, goals, and frustrations within a given context—for example, within the context of trying to eat healthily or maintain a sustainable fitness regime.

UX research, or user experience research, can also be defined as the study of target users. And, just like user research, UX research seeks to establish a deep understanding of the target users’ goals, behaviours, feelings, needs, and pain-points. We can expand on this definition slightly, though, to add that UX research focuses particularly on the users’ experience with a specific product or service—be it an existing product or service, or one that’s about to be designed.

Based on those definitions, we can draw the initial conclusion that UX research is simply a more specific subset of user research.

But does that hold true in practice? Let’s dive a little deeper. 

UX research vs. user research: similarities and overlap

We’ve established that both UX research and user research are concerned with the study of target users. And, given that the terms are mostly used interchangeably, it’s no surprise that there’s plenty of overlap between the two. 

Here’s what UX research and user research have in common:

• They both focus on understanding target users. The ultimate goal of both user research and UX research is to gain insight into how and why target users behave, think, and feel a certain way, and to uncover their goals, desires, preferences, and challenges in relation to a particular task or context.
• User research and UX research follow the same high-level process of identifying and recruiting target users (or people who represent the target user group), selecting an appropriate research method, analysing and interpreting research data , and translating it into actionable insights.
• They each rely on both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Whether you call it user research or UX research, the research methods available remain largely the same—surveys and questionnaires, user behaviour analysis, interviews, ethnographic studies, and focus groups (to name a few). You can learn more about quantitative vs. qualitative research here .
• User research and UX research involve similar tools. There’s considerable overlap between the tools required for user and UX research . Both make use of survey tools, remote interview and video conferencing software, diary study tools, analytics tools, and project management, collaboration, and presentation platforms.
• They are both bound by research ethics. User research and UX research involve studying, interacting with, and gathering data on real people—and that requires careful consideration of, and adherence to, user research ethics . 

Based on that list, it’s hard to imagine how any distinction can possibly be drawn between the two. But some people do indeed consider them slightly different disciplines based on some subtle nuances. Let’s explore those now.

User research vs. UX research: some subtle differences between the two

If you zoom in very closely on what user research and UX research entail—and consider the finer details of when, how, and why they’re carried out—you can find some subtle differences between the two. 

Here’s how you might distinguish between user research and UX research:

• Breadth and scope of focus: User research, by definition, is the broad study of target users. It’s not necessarily done within the context of product design; it might relate to market research, for example. UX research, on the other hand, is firmly embedded in the UX design process . It’s carried out with the goal of improving a user’s experience with a specific product or service. In that sense, user research is more holistic and all-encompassing, while UX research is much narrower in focus.
• Nature of research activities: This difference in scope and focus filters through to the nature of the research carried out. Because it’s a broader field, user research can involve studies that are not directly related to a specific product or service. For example, a user researcher may conduct a study to learn more about how people of different age groups use social media. With UX research, on the other hand, research activities focus on learning about the target users in relation to a specific product. This usually involves having the user interact directly with the product (or service, or a prototype thereof), or running an activity that gives you insight into how they want a particular product to function—for example, conducting a card sorting exercise to help you determine the best information architecture for your website.
• Use of insights and findings: User research, in its broadest form, is not necessarily used to inform the design and direction of a product. It can do that, but it may also be used to devise effective marketing strategies, to improve customer service, to develop a strong brand, or to identify important market trends. UX research, however, is almost always used to gain valuable insights that can inform the strategy, design, and evolution of a specific product, service, or user experience.
• Expertise: UX research and user research require almost identical skill sets, with one key difference. By definition, user researchers don’t necessarily have to be experts in user experience (UX) design and all its underlying principles. However, you wouldn’t land a job as a UX researcher without some prior knowledge of UX.

It’s important to note that these potential differences are not always evident or even relevant in practice. There are plenty of user researchers who work in UX; the terms, and job titles, are used interchangeably 99% of the time.

On that note, it’s worth exploring what happens when you look for “user researcher” and “UX researcher” jobs. This gives us great insight into how employers define and use the two job titles, and whether or not there’s a difference in terms of tasks and responsibilities. So let’s do that!

User researcher vs. UX researcher job titles: do employers distinguish between the two roles?

We’ve outlined some theoretical differences between user research and UX research. But do these subtle nuances have any real-world implications?

To see whether or not there’s a tangible, practical difference between the two, we ran a little experiment. We searched for both “user researcher” and “UX researcher” jobs online and compared the results. Here’s what happened.

• On Indeed , a search for “user researcher” jobs in the United States returned just over 600 results. A search for “UX researcher” jobs returned just over 300 results. On LinkedIn, the results were about the same, with around 250 jobs for each.
• When searching for “user researcher” jobs on Indeed, the large majority of the jobs shown were for the following roles: user experience researcher, UX researcher, senior user researcher, usability researcher, design researcher, and staff researcher.
• When searching for “UX researcher” jobs on Indeed, the majority of the jobs shown were for the following job titles: UX researcher, user experience researcher, usability researcher, senior UX researcher, and UX researcher and designer.

It would seem that it makes no difference if you search for user researcher or UX researcher roles: you’ll ultimately get the same mixture of job titles in the results.

So how about salary? Interestingly, the Indeed salary portal makes no distinction between “UX researcher” and “user researcher”. Search for both “user researcher” and “UX researcher” salaries and you won’t get a single salary figure. Instead, you’ll be shown salary data for a variety of job titles such as user experience researcher and user experience designer. 

The closest match, in this case, is “user experience researcher” (which is just the UX researcher job title written out in full). If you’re interested, the average salary for this role is $124,000 in the United States (based on data collected by Indeed ).

And what if we compare UX researcher job descriptions to user researcher roles? This should give us some insight into whether or not employers actually distinguish between the two in terms of function, tasks, and responsibilities. 

Here are the job descriptions we compared:

• Trust and Safety User Researcher at TikTok, described as follows: “ In this role, you will play an integral part in providing hands-on experience and proficiency in managing tracking surveys and quantitative research. You will conduct in-depth data analyses, develop and implement quantitative research methods, and track user sentiments to inform our business decisions.”
• Lead User Researcher at Kooth, a digital mental health and wellbeing company, described as follows: “ As the Lead User Researcher, you will be responsible for conducting research and utilising mixed methodologies to gather insights on user needs, behaviours, and motivations. You will use this information to inform and improve the product design and user experience of our service, as well as contribute to the experience strategy.”
• UX Researcher, Pixel, at Google, described as follows: “As a User Experience Researcher (UXR), you’ll help your team of UXers, product managers, and engineers understand user needs. You’ll work with stakeholders across functions and levels and have impact at all stages of product development. You’ll play a critical role in creating useful, usable, and delightful products.”
• UX Researcher, Qualitative, at Meta, described as follows: “Our UX Research team is designing for the global diversity of human needs, which requires us to deeply understand the behaviours of the people behind them. Our researchers tackle some of the most complex challenges to gain deeper insights into how people interact with each other and the world around them, and work collaboratively to contribute new ideas to products that impact the experiences of billions of people on a global scale.”

[GET CERTIFIED IN UX]

And here’s what we found. 

There are many common threads between the roles in terms of tasks and responsibilities:

• Both the user researcher and UX researcher roles emphasise a user-centric approach.
• All roles involve conducting user research in the form of surveys, interviews, and usability testing.
• Every role includes analysing data to inform decision-making.
• All roles require cross-functional collaboration with product managers, designers, engineers, and/or business stakeholders.

As well as one notable difference: the user researcher roles have a strong strategic focus, emphasising the importance of aligning research outcomes with business goals. While all job descriptions involve conducting user research, the UX researcher roles are notably more hands-on with research execution.

Does this mean that employers view user researchers and UX researchers as two different roles?

Possibly, and not necessarily. The difference between the UX researcher and user researcher roles we’ve studied (and bear in mind, it’s a very small sample!) may be down to differences in how each company and team is set up, as well as their general focus, rather than any major fundamental differences between the user researcher and UX researcher job titles.

Ultimately, it’s important to evaluate each job ad in relation to the context: the company posting it, the seniority level of the role, and the size and structure of the wider team.

Generally speaking, though, user researchers and UX researchers are viewed as one and the same. Whether advertising for a UX researcher, a user researcher, or some other variation on the job title: employers appear to require the same skills, methodologies, and mindset.

UX research vs. user research: the final verdict

We’ve outlined all the ways in which user research and UX research are identical, and pointed out some differences. 

So what’s the verdict? Is it necessary to distinguish between the two, or can we accept that the terms are interchangeable despite some subtle nuances? 

In the end, it really boils down to context. In essence, user researchers and UX researchers do the same thing. They conduct research to build a deep understanding of their target users.

In a UX and design context, these insights are used to make smart design decisions that will improve the user’s experience of a given product. Outside of UX, user research can play a critical role in informing business strategies and improving marketing efforts. These differences may or may not come into play depending on the company and the team into which the researcher is hired.

For all intents and purposes, we expect that the terms will continue to be used interchangeably. Distinctions can be drawn upon closer inspection, but ultimately, these differences have little to no impact in terms of the skills you’ll need to learn, the qualifications you’ll need to obtain, and the roles you can apply for. 

Planning a career in user or UX research? Here’s how to get started

Whether you want to focus on user research for UX and product design, or build a research career in another domain—you’ll need to master the art and science of conducting user research. This includes:

• Learning how to apply both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies , from user surveys and user interviews to focus groups, diary studies, and more. 
• Developing strong data analysis skills in order to extract meaningful insights from your research that can be used to inform actions and decisions. 
• Understanding the importance of user research ethics to protect the safety and well-being of your research participants. 
• Building proficiency in user research tools —from interview and transcription software to analytics tools, survey tools, and more. 
• Honing essential soft skills such as collaboration, communication, presentation, problem-solving, and critical thinking.

If you’re new to user research (or want to consolidate and verify your existing research skills), consider a formal user research qualification. This will ensure that you cover all essential ground, teach you how to apply your research skills in a real-world context, and equip you with both a credible certification and a professional research portfolio—allowing you to demonstrate what you’re capable of and confidently apply for user research (and UX research) roles. 

Want to learn more about UX and user research in the meantime? Check out these posts:

• 3 Real-world research case studies from Airbnb, Spotify, and Google—and what we can learn from them
• What exactly does a UX researcher do?
• The importance of user research in UX design

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4 June 2024

Blog User research in government

https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/2019/01/29/why-user-researchers-and-service-designers-should-be-best-friends/

Why user researchers and service designers should be best friends

The Government Digital Service (GDS) has a long history of interaction design and user research working together. But service design is a bit newer to GDS, so we wanted to talk about what service designers do and what works well when we collaborate.

We worked together for more than a year on 3 different projects, most recently on the team developing the step by step navigation design pattern on GOV.UK .

We know what user researchers do - after all, that’s our job - but what do service designers do?

Service designers are interested in what users are trying to do, the service scope, service systems and processes, and the structure of the organisations that deliver them and user journeys through a service.

How do service designers work?

Service designers tend to work by looking at the wider picture, thinking about how to connect things (products, people, parts of the organisation) and spot opportunities to make things better. They also:

• make diagrams to understand and explain how things work now or how they should work in the future
• make prototypes to explore ideas
• are good at designing and facilitating workshops
• look at the bigger picture and connect the dots
• design service patterns
• like research! Not only user research, but it could also be exploring service processes or metrics, desk or tech research.

Service designers tend to have a strong user research background. If they’ve studied service design or worked in an agency they’ll have experience doing all the user research for projects, as well as the design work. But it’s not necessarily right for them to be doing all this by themselves.

And it's not a good idea for designers to research and test their own work. User research is a full-time job, especially when working in agile. User researchers are objective and impartial which is important when looking for what does and does not work.

The great thing is that we’re both interested in a lot of the same things and have complementary skills. So we should definitely be friends.

Working together

As there’s an overlap between some of the things service designers and user researchers do, it means working well together requires good communication and collaboration. This also means finding out how to best work together.

So we crowdsourced from other service designers and user researchers to put together our list of 5 things we do well together.

1. Defining research questions

The scope of research is very much tied to the scope of the service or product or piece of work we are doing. So defining together what questions we want to ask is really great to help figure out what we want to learn from research. The same is true when the work is scoping or rescoping a service.

We make a good combination here: service designers help keep the big picture in mind and user researchers make sure the goals of the research are pragmatic – and we are asking things that can be answered.

We’re also pretty good at keeping each other in check if one of us starts fixating too much on one thing.

2. Designing research methods and tools

This is great when we’re figuring out how best to get the insights we’re looking for. User researchers will lead here, but service designers are excellent collaborators - particularly when designing the best tools for research.

Service designers are often particularly good at making those tools work well and look good, which can come in handy - because if you give someone something well designed to engage with they take it more seriously.

Above is an example of a research tool designed by a user researcher and designer on GOV.UK. It’s a 5-day diary – a form of cultural probe – to help us learn about the day to day experience of content designers in departments who publish to GOV.UK.

Through working together on it, the diary went from a list of questions in a Google document that users might have forgotten to fill in, to something they got really excited about doing.

3. Talking to users and analysis

While user researchers take the lead on conducting research, service designers want to be there too – to meet users, listen to them talking about their experiences and increase their understanding of the problem space.

From a user researcher’s perspective, it’s great having another reflective person to help extract findings from the research and build up that holistic picture of the thing you’re researching.

It also helps service designers participate more fully in the research analysis, as they might see things from a different angle to a user researcher, which can lead to better insights. It also saves time communicating the findings back to design as they were there when the research took place.

We use journey maps to spot the problems and areas to focus on. Building these together is a good way to explore and gain a shared understanding of the problem space. Working in this way also gives us a stronger voice with stakeholders and teams when scoping and prioritising work.

4. Communicating findings

Ultimately research findings must be made actionable for other stakeholders – both inside and outside of the team. This is something that’s easier to communicate when pairing.

Service designers are good at visualising things. User researchers are good at pulling out the key findings to focus on and telling the story. When we work together designers can help visually communicate our message, bringing clarity and presenting it in an engaging way that leads to action.

We’ve also found that within a team structure, having 2 voices instead of one is particularly powerful. If you’ve both been part of the research and analysis you know what needs to be prioritised - and can jointly champion this.

User journeys, process diagrams, service blueprints… in other words, mapping. We’re good at doing this together as we’re both interested in figuring out how things work and how it impacts on the user experience.

And the overlap of our interests is particularly apparent in things like user journeys.

They cover 2 main things:

• the user’s experience from their perspective
• and the things going on behind the scenes to deliver that experience - that is, how the service and all the other bits and pieces work.

In a discovery, we look at these 2 things - but while some might be focusing on the user’s experience, we’re focused on the structure of the service that supports it and the journey map is where those insights come together.

Learning to work together

Given the number of overlapping roles that user researchers and service designers can have, it can take a while to get into a rhythm as a pair. This will vary depending on your experience, team context and personalities. As with the rest of your team, figuring out how you work together and deciding who will lead pieces of work will not come instantly.

However, whilst we’ve definitely had our moments at the start, we’ve built up a working relationship that has helped support each other to do some really good work.

We know that great things happen when service designers and user researchers work together at GDS - we'd love to hear about your experiences in the comments. Subscribe to this blog.

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Georgina Guthrie

May 15, 2024

From the second a customer sets eyes on a brand, they begin what’s known as a ‘user journey’. It might not be a particularly long journey, or one with a happy end — but whether they buy, pass, cheer, or complain after that initial ‘hello’, it’s a journey nonetheless. 

In the world of product management , knowing the journey your users go on when they interact with your brand gives you the competitive advantage. Why? Because knowing where your potential customers are, what they’re doing, and how they’re feeling means you can tailor your touchpoints to mirror their state of mind and intent. 

It’s the difference between someone with a microphone yelling their offering in a stranger’s face and an empathetic salesperson who’s done their research sitting down with a customer to hear about their needs and then offering a tailored solution to match their goals. Who do you think will have more success? 

Let’s dive into the world of user journey maps. 

What is a journey map?

A journey map (aka a ‘user journey map’ or ‘ customer journey map ’), is a visual representation of the steps a customer takes while engaging with a company. That could be buying a product, visiting a site, liking a TikTok post — anything. 

As with all journeys, there is an endpoint (usually a sale, but not always), that is reached via a series of steps. Both of these are called ‘conversions’, and they fall into two distinct categories:

• Macroconversions are the primary goals of your website or app. It’s usually a sale, but it could also be a donation, signing up, contacting the sales team, getting a quote, and so on. 
• Microconversions are small, positive interactions that lead towards a macroconversion. Or not. 

Ultimately, a user journey map gives you insight into your customers’ movements as they move from one stage to another. 

As you can probably imagine, this isn’t a straightforward path — users abandon carts, shop around, sign up before making a purchase, and so on — and that’s fine. This is what the journey map is all about. Showing businesses where their touchpoints are, plus how smooth the journey is as a whole.

The key stages of the user journey

Typically, it’s split up into several key stages that represent different points of interaction or decision-making. While not every user journey will be the same, here’s a breakdown of the main stages. 

1. Awareness

Maybe it was a banner ad, word of mouth, or a photo on social media, or stumbling onto your website — at some point, the prospective user has noticed you. This is where it all begins. The focus here is on first impressions and sparking interest.

2. Consideration

At this stage, potential customers are aware of your brand and start considering it as an option. They compare your offerings with competitors, which usually involves reading reviews and delving deeper into your story to understand what you offer. Content that educates and informs tends to be influential here, along with genuine testimonials. 

3. Acquisition

This is when you achieve your conversion. The customer has decided to purchase or engage with your product or service. Your focus here is on making the buying process as smooth as possible so you don’t lose customers due to frustrations or complications.

We’ve all experienced a bad company that’s overzealous when it comes to getting you on board but totally disinterested once they’ve got your cash. This is what you want to avoid. Once your customer has made a purchase, it’s your job to give them the support they need post-sale. This stage is about keeping satisfaction high and helping with any issues.

If customers are happy with their purchase and the support you offer, they move into the loyalty zone. Loyal customers are often repeat shoppers — which means you don’t need to spend as much on new customer acquisition. Loyalty programs and ongoing engagement are important strategies here. 

6. Advocacy

Want to keep marketing costs even lower? Turn loyal customers into brand advocates. These folks don’t just repurchase — they actively promote your brand through word of mouth, social media, and other channels. It’s a powerful form of marketing as it is driven by genuine customer satisfaction and trust. Allowing for reviews on your site is a great way to provide a platform for your happy shoppers to preach your offering from the rooftops.

User journey examples

Let’s take a look at how various user journeys play out in the real world with some fictional examples. 

Example 1: Jane, the online shopper

Let’s take a look at your average online retailer. This journey map starts from the moment a potential customer first hears about the brand and extends right the way through to the post-purchase experience.

Jane, our fictional customer, discovers the online store through a social media ad featuring a summer sale. She clicks through because the ad captures her interest with the kind of dress she’s been looking for, coupled with a promising discount.

Intrigued by the offerings, Jane browses through various product categories. She reads product descriptions, checks customer reviews, and compares items with her other online go-tos. The website offers helpful filters and comparison tools that aid her decision-making process.

3. Decision

After narrowing down her choices, Jane adds a summer dress to her cart. She proceeds to checkout, where the process is streamlined — no unnecessary steps or information required, just simple fields for payment and delivery.

The retailer sends Jane a confirmation email immediately after purchase, followed by a tracking link once the item is shipped. The communication is clear and keeps her well-informed.

After getting her dress, the company invites Jane to join a loyalty program offering points for future discounts. She’s also encouraged to share feedback on her shopping experience.

Satisfied with her purchase and the overall experience, Jane leaves a positive review and recommends the store to her friends. She also follows the brand on social media to catch future deals.

Example 2: Alex, the office worker  

Alex is stressed and busy and is seeking a way to relax from work. He doesn’t have time to go to yoga classes. He wants something more seamless and effort-free, so he considers signing up for a meditation app to add some zen to his day. Here’s his journey. 

Alex hears about a meditation app from a podcast discussing mental health and wellness. The host mentions a free trial, which piques Alex’s interest.

He downloads the app and starts the free trial. The app offers a variety of guided meditation sessions for sleep, anxiety, and focus. Alex explores the offerings to see what suits him best.

Impressed with the quality of the guided sessions and the app’s user-friendly interface, Alex subscribes to the premium version to access more features.

Throughout his subscription, Alex receives personalized session recommendations based on his usage patterns. The app sends gentle reminders and motivational messages to encourage regular practice.

As a subscriber, Alex is invited to exclusive webinars and given early access to new features. He regularly uses the app and starts noticing improvements in his sleep and stress levels.

Alex writes a detailed review about his positive experience with the app on the app store and shares his progress on social media, tagging the app. He recommends the app to friends looking for similar things. Alex has gone from casual shopper to loyal advocate, all thanks to the app’s great offering and well-tailored user journey.

Are journey maps really worth the effort?

Journey maps are incredibly useful for understanding your customers’ experiences. Here’s why they’re worth it.

• Know your customers better: These maps give a clear view of the customer journey, making it easier to see where customers are getting stuck or losing interest. This is something that directly translates into revenue.
• Find and fix problems: Identifying pain points is straightforward with a journey map. Once you know where the issues lie, you can start making targeted improvements to enhance the overall experience.
• Improve teamwork across your company: When everyone can see the customer journey laid out, it’s easier to align your team’s efforts. This helps ensure that everyone, from marketing to product development , is on the same page.
• Make more accurate (and profitable) choices: With a good understanding of the customer journey, decisions become more data-driven. Knowing which touchpoints matter most lets you better allocate resources to improve those key moments. 
• Add empathy to your comms : Data also means you can tailor your communications to match your customer’s mood. Will they be eager to buy, or in the considered and critical research stage? Get under their skin to talk to them in a way that is empathetic to their state of mind.
• Keep improving : Regular updates to your journey maps can help you stay ahead of the curve, adapting to changes in customer behavior and market conditions quickly.

Journey-map variations

Journey maps come in different shapes and sizes and sometimes get mixed up with similar diagrams. Each type serves a specific purpose, so let’s take a closer look at what those are. 

• Current state journey maps: These show you the customer journey as it currently stands, including real-time interactions and emotions at various touch points. Use them to spot immediate areas for improvement. 
• Future state journey maps: Unlike current state maps, these show your ideal future journey. They are strategic , focusing on where you want your customer journey to be (rather than where it is right now).
• Day-in-the-life maps: These offer a broader view of your customer’s daily activities, not limited to interactions with a specific product or service. They help you get to grips with the customer’s overall lifestyle.
• Micro-journey maps: These are focused on a specific interaction or short sequence within the larger customer journey. They’re useful for giving you a detailed look at particular aspects of the customer experience.

Journey map vs. user story map

User story maps are used in Agile development . They help developers organize and prioritize user stories (short, simple descriptions of a feature told from the perspective of the user). While journey maps visualize the end-to-end customer experience, user story maps focus on how features and functions will be developed to meet user needs throughout a project lifecycle .

Journey map vs. experience map

Journey maps focus specifically on the interactions between the customer and a company’s product or service, whereas experience maps cover a wider range of interactions. 

These include the customer’s entire ecosystem and multiple touchpoints that may not involve the company directly. Experience maps offer a broader understanding of the user’s overall experiences and context — ideal for when you need a bird’s-eye view.

Journey map vs. service blueprint

While journey maps are focused on the customer’s external experience, service blueprints delve into the internal operations that facilitate these experiences. Use them when you need operational insights and improvements.

How to create a journey map

First, let’s take a look at the key components that will form the backbone of your map. 

• Personas : It’s tricky to talk to a big faceless mass — but much easier one-on-one, when you can focus on details. A user persona is essentially a fictional representation of your typical customer, and based on real data (demographics, behaviors, goals, etc). Personas help you tailor the journey map to reflect the experiences of entire user segments while staying specific and personal. 
• Timeline : The timeline is the backbone of the journey map. It outlines the stages or phases that a customer goes through as they interact with your product or service. This could range from initial awareness, to post-purchase reviews.
• Touchpoints : These are the points of interaction between the customer and the business. Working out your various touch points helps you understand where customers engage with you, whether online or in real life. 
• Emotions : Charting the customer’s emotions throughout their journey lets you understand their feelings at various stages. This emotional graph helps you locate moments of delight or frustration, guiding improvements to enhance the overall experience.
• Channels : Knowing which channels these interactions take place is also vital. These can include physical locations, digital platforms, or indirect mediums like social media or advertising.
• Pain points and opportunities: Finally, identifying both pain points and opportunities within the journey allows businesses to pinpoint areas needing attention and areas where they can further enhance the customer experience.

Now we know the key terms and phrases, let’s look at the journey.

1. Identify the persona

Start by defining the persona at the heart of your journey map. This is more than just a sketch — it’s a rich, detailed profile built from real user research. Go beyond basic demographics to dive into what really makes your users tick: their motivations, the challenges they face, and their everyday behaviors. This in-depth understanding sets the stage for a journey map that truly reflects the customer experience.

2. Set the scene and expectations

Next, pinpoint the specific scenarios where your persona interacts with your service or product. This could range from their initial discovery of your brand to how they handle a service issue. Alongside this, map out what the persona expects at each step of their journey. These will act as benchmarks, helping you determine whether the journey is hitting the mark or needs further tweaks.

3. Break down the journey stages

Each stage should represent a significant part of the experience, from initial contact through various touchpoints to the final outcome. This might include stages like discovery, research, purchase, and post-purchase support.

 4. Analyze actions, thoughts, and emotions

Hold a magnifying glass up to each stage, and document what the persona does (actions), thinks (thought processes), and feels (emotional response). This detailed analysis helps you understand the context and the emotional journey of the customer, which are essential for helping you identify the good and not-so-good moments.

5. Pinpoint improvement opportunities

Throughout the mapping process, use your new insights to identify where you can improve the customer experience. Look for discrepancies between expected and actual experiences, unnecessary complexities, or emotional dips that could be turned into moments of joy.

6. Tailor the approach for different contexts

Consider how the journey might differ across various contexts, such as B2B vs. B2C or luxury vs. everyday purchases. B2B journeys, for example, might involve longer decision processes and multiple stakeholders, requiring a more detailed analysis at each stage to cater to different influencers within the buying process. In contrast, luxury purchases may focus more on emotional engagement and high-touch interactions at each point.

How to improve a user’s journey: Tips to takeaway 

Improving a user’s journey is key to creating a standout user experience ( UX ). 

Start by really listening to your users through surveys and direct feedback . This insight lets you work out where they’re thrilled and where they’re stumbling, guiding your improvements.

Personalization can transform the UX. Tailoring the experience to fit individual user preferences — from customizing communications to adapting interfaces — makes users feel special and improves engagement.

Simplifying processes is also a big part of the effort. Streamline everything from signing up to checking out to make the user’s path smoother and keep frustrations at bay. And when things do go wrong, good customer support can save the day. Ensuring users can easily get help when they need it, whether through a quick chat with a support bot or a friendly human, keeps the journey on track.

Above all, keep your communication clear. Cut the jargon and make every message straightforward and friendly. Staying up-to-date with tech trends can also give your UX a boost, offering users new and exciting ways to connect with your service.

Diagramming tools were made for user journey mapping

Cacoo was made for product development teams that need to plan, design, and present their user journey.

More than just streamlining the mapping process, diagramming tools boost the accuracy and impact of the maps you create. With template libraries, easy drag-and-drop interfaces, live commenting, and more, Cacoo offers a seamless way to turn that data into a tangible journey. It’s cloud-based, too — so you can create and share with a click. 

No more weird MS formatting, no more muddled version control, no more limited accessibility. It’s the perfect blend of creativity and functionality, helping teams map their user journeys with ease. 

The importance of story mapping in Agile development

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The huge solar storm is keeping power grid and satellite operators on edge

Geoff Brumfiel

Willem Marx

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of solar flares early Saturday afternoon. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says there have been measurable effects and impacts from the geomagnetic storm. Solar Dynamics Observatory hide caption

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of solar flares early Saturday afternoon. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says there have been measurable effects and impacts from the geomagnetic storm.

Planet Earth is getting rocked by the biggest solar storm in decades – and the potential effects have those people in charge of power grids, communications systems and satellites on edge.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says there have been measurable effects and impacts from the geomagnetic storm that has been visible as aurora across vast swathes of the Northern Hemisphere. So far though, NOAA has seen no reports of major damage.

The Picture Show

Photos: see the northern lights from rare, solar storm.

There has been some degradation and loss to communication systems that rely on high-frequency radio waves, NOAA told NPR, as well as some preliminary indications of irregularities in power systems.

"Simply put, the power grid operators have been busy since yesterday working to keep proper, regulated current flowing without disruption," said Shawn Dahl, service coordinator for the Boulder, Co.-based Space Weather Prediction Center at NOAA.

NOAA Issues First Severe Geomagnetic Storm Watch Since 2005

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"Satellite operators are also busy monitoring spacecraft health due to the S1-S2 storm taking place along with the severe-extreme geomagnetic storm that continues even now," Dahl added, saying some GPS systems have struggled to lock locations and offered incorrect positions.

NOAA's GOES-16 satellite captured a flare erupting occurred around 2 p.m. EDT on May 9, 2024.

As NOAA had warned late Friday, the Earth has been experiencing a G5, or "Extreme," geomagnetic storm . It's the first G5 storm to hit the planet since 2003, when a similar event temporarily knocked out power in part of Sweden and damaged electrical transformers in South Africa.

The NOAA center predicted that this current storm could induce auroras visible as far south as Northern California and Alabama.

Extreme (G5) geomagnetic conditions have been observed! pic.twitter.com/qLsC8GbWus — NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (@NWSSWPC) May 10, 2024

Around the world on social media, posters put up photos of bright auroras visible in Russia , Scandinavia , the United Kingdom and continental Europe . Some reported seeing the aurora as far south as Mallorca, Spain .

The source of the solar storm is a cluster of sunspots on the sun's surface that is 17 times the diameter of the Earth. The spots are filled with tangled magnetic fields that can act as slingshots, throwing huge quantities of charged particles towards our planet. These events, known as coronal mass ejections, become more common during the peak of the Sun's 11-year solar cycle.

A powerful solar storm is bringing northern lights to unusual places

Usually, they miss the Earth, but this time, NOAA says several have headed directly toward our planet, and the agency predicted that several waves of flares will continue to slam into the Earth over the next few days.

While the storm has proven to be large, predicting the effects from such incidents can be difficult, Dahl said.

Shocking problems

The most disruptive solar storm ever recorded came in 1859. Known as the "Carrington Event," it generated shimmering auroras that were visible as far south as Mexico and Hawaii. It also fried telegraph systems throughout Europe and North America.

Stronger activity on the sun could bring more displays of the northern lights in 2024

While this geomagnetic storm will not be as strong, the world has grown more reliant on electronics and electrical systems. Depending on the orientation of the storm's magnetic field, it could induce unexpected electrical currents in long-distance power lines — those currents could cause safety systems to flip, triggering temporary power outages in some areas.

my cat just experienced the aurora borealis, one of the world's most radiant natural phenomena... and she doesn't care pic.twitter.com/Ee74FpWHFm — PJ (@kickthepj) May 10, 2024

The storm is also likely to disrupt the ionosphere, a section of Earth's atmosphere filled with charged particles. Some long-distance radio transmissions use the ionosphere to "bounce" signals around the globe, and those signals will likely be disrupted. The particles may also refract and otherwise scramble signals from the global positioning system, according to Rob Steenburgh, a space scientist with NOAA. Those effects can linger for a few days after the storm.

Like Dahl, Steenburgh said it's unclear just how bad the disruptions will be. While we are more dependent than ever on GPS, there are also more satellites in orbit. Moreover, the anomalies from the storm are constantly shifting through the ionosphere like ripples in a pool. "Outages, with any luck, should not be prolonged," Steenburgh said.

What Causes The Northern Lights? Scientists Finally Know For Sure

The radiation from the storm could have other undesirable effects. At high altitudes, it could damage satellites, while at low altitudes, it's likely to increase atmospheric drag, causing some satellites to sink toward the Earth.

The changes to orbits wreak havoc, warns Tuija Pulkkinen, chair of the department of climate and space sciences at the University of Michigan. Since the last solar maximum, companies such as SpaceX have launched thousands of satellites into low Earth orbit. Those satellites will now see their orbits unexpectedly changed.

"There's a lot of companies that haven't seen these kind of space weather effects before," she says.

The International Space Station lies within Earth's magnetosphere, so its astronauts should be mostly protected, Steenburgh says.

In a statement, NASA said that astronauts would not take additional measures to protect themselves. "NASA completed a thorough analysis of recent space weather activity and determined it posed no risk to the crew aboard the International Space Station and no additional precautionary measures are needed," the agency said late Friday.

People visit St Mary's lighthouse in Whitley Bay to see the aurora borealis on Friday in Whitley Bay, England. Ian Forsyth/Getty Images hide caption

People visit St Mary's lighthouse in Whitley Bay to see the aurora borealis on Friday in Whitley Bay, England.

While this storm will undoubtedly keep satellite operators and utilities busy over the next few days, individuals don't really need to do much to get ready.

"As far as what the general public should be doing, hopefully they're not having to do anything," Dahl said. "Weather permitting, they may be visible again tonight." He advised that the largest problem could be a brief blackout, so keeping some flashlights and a radio handy might prove helpful.

I took these photos near Ranfurly in Central Otago, New Zealand. Anyone can use them please spread far and wide. :-) https://t.co/NUWpLiqY2S — Dr Andrew Dickson reform/ACC (@AndrewDickson13) May 10, 2024

And don't forget to go outside and look up, adds Steenburgh. This event's aurora is visible much further south than usual.

A faint aurora can be detected by a modern cell phone camera, he adds, so even if you can't see it with your eyes, try taking a photo of the sky.

The aurora "is really the gift from space weather," he says.

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World Leaders in Research-Based User Experience

Service design: study guide.

January 23, 2022 2022-01-23

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Here’s a list of NN/g’s most useful introductory articles and videos about service design and related topics. Within each section, the resources are in recommended reading order. 

For hands-on training, check out our full-day course on service blueprinting.  

In This Article:

Service design: an overview , service blueprinting.

Service design focuses on how an organization creates and delivers users’ experience. 

Definition :  Service design is the activity of planning and organizing business resources (people, props, and processes) in order to improve (1) directly,  the employees’ experience and (2) indirectly, the customers’ experience.  

There are 3 key components of service design: people, props, and processes. We need to  consider each to deliver the experience we intend. 

• People. This component includes anyone who creates or uses the service, as well as individuals who may be indirectly affected by the service. 
• Props. This component refers to the physical or digital artifacts (including products) that are needed to perform the service successfully. 
• Processes. These are any workflows, procedures, or rituals performed by either the employee or the user throughout a service. 

Each component can be broken down into frontstage and backstage (a key delineation in service design), depending on whether the customers directly interact with it. 

If you’re new to service design, we recommend you explore the following resources in order, from top to bottom. 

A service blueprint  is the primary visual representing service design. 

Definition:  A  service blueprint  is a diagram that visualizes the relationships between different service components — people, props (physical or digital evidence), and processes — that are directly tied to touchpoints in a specific customer journey. 

Think of service blueprints as a part two to  creating customer-journey maps . Blueprinting is an ideal approach for experiences that are omnichannel, involve multiple touchpoints, or require a crossfunctional effort (that is, coordination of multiple departments).

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