User-Centred Research

Understand what you need to know before deciding what to do.

You may already have analytics, customer feedback, previous research or strong internal knowledge. Kirmela helps you work out what that evidence tells you, what it doesn’t and what still needs to be understood before an important decision is made.

Talk to Kirmela

When research helps

You can see what people are doing, but not why.

Analytics might show where people leave, fail or ask for help. Research can help reveal what is happening around those behaviours and what is contributing to them.

An important decision is being made on assumptions.

A redesign, new product, service change or investment decision is approaching and there are unanswered questions about what people actually need or experience.

You already have evidence, but the picture is unclear.

Research, feedback, analytics and operational insight may already exist, but they do not yet add up to a confident direction.

How we think

More research isn’t always the answer.

Research should exist because there is something important the organisation needs to understand.

Sometimes that means speaking to people or observing behaviour directly. Sometimes the necessary evidence already exists across analytics, customer feedback, previous studies, support data or internal knowledge.

The question should determine the research, not the other way around.

What we can help you understand

Find the evidence that matters to the decision.

What is actually causing the difficulty?

Understand the needs, behaviours, circumstances and barriers behind what you are seeing.

What matters most before we change this?

Establish what people need, where the existing experience succeeds or fails and what any future direction needs to account for.

Does the proposed change actually work for people?

Test concepts, journeys or existing experiences before committing further time and investment.

Are some people experiencing the journey differently?

Understand accessibility needs, situational barriers and the conditions in which people are actually using the experience.

What does the evidence mean for the decision?

Bring together research and existing evidence so findings lead to a clear implication rather than simply another set of observations.

How the work might take shape

The approach depends on what needs to be understood.

Kirmela may draw on a combination of:

Existing research and evidence review
Customer interviews
Contextual or journey research
Usability testing
Concept and prototype testing
Accessibility-focused research
Behavioural and journey analysis
Analytics, feedback and support evidence
Stakeholder and subject-matter knowledge
Synthesis across multiple sources of evidence

We use the evidence needed to answer the question well enough to support the decision.

What the work should give you

A clearer basis for what happens next.

What we know

The evidence that can be relied on.

What is contributing to the experience

The needs, behaviours, barriers and conditions influencing what is happening.

What remains uncertain

Where evidence is incomplete or a conclusion would be premature.

What the evidence means

The implications for the product, journey or decision being considered.

What should happen next

Where action is justified, where further investigation is worthwhile and where it may not be.

Related expertise

Product Experience Design Strategic Product Design Accessibility

Working with Kirmela

Start with the question that needs answering.

You do not need to know which research method you need. Bring the decision, uncertainty or experience you need to understand.