UX Research and Market Research: Know The Difference

The product & marketing manager can use UX research facts to create digital marketing strategies to target the right audience and in the right place. Before we jump into the topic, it is crucial to know the difference between UX research and market research.

Difference Between UX research and Market Research

UX research is a study of users that provides critical insights into their behaviors, requirements, and expectations. It helps to answer three main questions: What people need? What do people want? And can they use the product? User experience research is on a much smaller scale. A study from the Nielsen Norman group points to a sample size of five participants uncovering most usability issues. Goals of user research are:

• Evaluate behavioral needs
• Define personas and user journey
• Test designs
• Determine features
• Build information architecture

Read more on UX Research- Everything You Need to know About UX Research

The marketing team's goal is to know and understand the customer so well that the product fits him and sells itself. It is the art and science of identifying, attracting, retaining, and growing customers. To achieve customer value, carrying market research is essential. Market research conducts on a much larger scale than user research to reach statistical significance and gather comprehensive insights. Market research is generally quantitative since you're continually determining conversion rates, market size, market segmentation, number of visitors, etc. The goals of market research are:

• Determine market size
• Understand market trends
• Define pricing
• Test concepts
• Understand products loyalty

Market research uncovers customer segments and customer opinions, whereas UX research focuses on the users' observed behavior. The relationship between the two is complementary means that there should be many opportunities to work closely with marketing people.

Products/services generally go through a life cycle with predictable sales and profits. Research occurs across three phases of product development — pre-design (Introduction), development (growth), and post-development (Maturity). In any stage of product development, motivate all research activities by a specific research goal. Specific research goals focus on

• Defining or refining a problem statement
• Identifying and understanding a target market
• Specifying the scope of initial product releases

The synergy between UX research and digital marketing

Let us go through the research journey for an Online Medical Care App from the introduction phase to the maturity phase.

Pre-Design Stage

In the Introduction or the pre-design phase, the initial research starts with market research. The main goal of the initial investigation is to:

• Validate the business idea and understand the digital health market/industry
• Find out customers' thoughts, needs, and pain points, existing successful health care apps (competitors)
• Market share
• Market opportunities
• Identifying emerging market trends and dynamics

To carry out this research, conduct an extensive survey of a random sample household across the country. The results indicate that 80% of the city dwellers' respondents are open to digital medical care app.

The next step is to conduct one-on-one interviews to dive into what frustrates the individuals with current medical service. You find that they don't want to wait to get doctor's appointments for small diseases like cold, cough, fever, etc. These sessions create persona and customer journey maps, which is user research's goal; that's enough validation to start wireframing.

Once wireframes complete, it is essential to test them via interviews and unmoderated sessions. Through user, research modifies the design until they meet all the requirements of the users. At this stage, it is vital to determine the primary call to action. Digital marketing tools like email signups, free trials, content marketing, social media promotions, paid banner ads, and several other SEO activities help create awareness of the brand. To move through the introduction stage and catalyze growth, identifying a go-to-marketing-led strategy is essential. It requires secure communication and data-sharing between marketing and sales teams—actual demand generation.

Growth Stage

Results post-launch show that people are downloading your app, but few are booking a consultation appointment, resulting in a low conversion rate. At this point, the product is in the growth stage of the development stage.

By this stage, begin building marketing strategies based on consumer experiences with the product, rather than consumer attitudes or behaviors. A/B testing (user research) on to new mock-ups determines which design provides the best medical experience. The test results show that mock-up B is the most successful because of its soothing colors.

Learn more on how to pick the right UX Research strategy for greatest business impact- A Guide to UX Research Strategy

Next, people have complained that they can't find the right doctor because there is no categorization according to the insurance provider. Perform card sorting and make corrections in the product. The results show an increase in the conversion rate. Through your website analytics, it seems that there are high and low seasons of appointments. Therefore launch a user research journal study to observe the behaviors of your participants. As a result, you find that participants book more appointments during flu season.

With the increase in conversion rate, the medical care app is more advanced than competitors. It is in the best position to earn a dominant market share. Thus push more resources into current campaigns. The demand for the product rises, and the marketers' focus is to reap the demand. Promote products and services via:

• Banner ads
• Customer review video feeds
• Blogging
• Informative articles
• PPC campaigns
• Social media optimization through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
• Tailor quotes or case studies to make a persuasive case to that audience

Post-Development Stage

Growth transitions to the Maturity stage because of the rise in sales levels out. In a mature market, the key is to understand the catalysts that lead to the Decline. In a mature market, conduct user research by third parties to suggest where the market heads. That research may include which demographics are likely to drop off first or stay the longest. As a result, it helps to steer marketing campaigns toward higher-value consumers. An NPS score of 50 means the product is hitting it out of the park.

At this point, the medical care app is in the maturity stage. Therefore, conduct a market research survey to current customers asking how you're doing. The maturity phase's length depends on how long-lasting marketing can sustain the product's dominant market position. Implement Highly effective digital marketing strategies to lengthen the maturity period. Differentiate the product on the brand. Create a balance between persuasive vs. descriptive marketing. Identify new demographics and new uses for the product. Focus on the brand yield because a greater focus on influential marketing—campaigns that make an emotional impact appeals to consumers.

Conclusion

In today's hyper-competitive age, the ability to deliver a more meaningful customer experience will be the key differentiator for companies.

It takes expertise and experience to get it right, so vet your app design agency candidates carefully. Fortunately, here at Designial, we deliver on all counts. Get in touch with us today to learn more about how we can help you.