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Qualitative Research – Using methods such as interviews and ethnographic field studies, you work to get an in-depth understanding of why users do what they do (e.g., why they missed a call to action, why they feel how they do about a website). For example, you can do user interviews with a small number of users and ask open-ended questions to get personal insights into their exercise habits. Another aspect of qualitative research is usability testing, to monitor (e.g.) users' stress responses. You should do qualitative research carefully. As it involves collecting non-numerical data (e.g., opinions, motivations), there's a risk that your personal opinions will influence findings.

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Quantitative Research – Using more structured methods (e.g., surveys, analytics), you gather measurable data about what users do and test assumptions you drew from qualitative research. For example, you can give users an online survey to answer questions about their exercise habits (e.g., "How many hours do you work out per week?"). With this data, you can discover patterns among a large user group. If you have a large enough sample of representative test users, you'll have a more statistically reliable way of assessing the population of target users. Whatever the method, with careful research design you can gather objective data that's unbiased by your presence, personality or assumptions. However, quantitative data alone can't reveal deeper human insights.

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Achieve product-market fit - When you create a product that is built on user research methods, you are in a position to achieve product-market fit. Why? Because you would have researched already on how your product can adapt to the needs of the market. By talking to prospective customers, observing them, and iterating, you will find the right combination to achieve product-market fit.

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Usability & Accessibility - The usability of your product has a direct impact on how users engage with your product and the kind of conversions that it can bring about. With the help of UX research methods, you will be able to understand the various limitations that the product might have and put yourself in a position to increase the user experience.

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Increase your chances for success - When you have an in-depth understanding of your users, you will be able to predict their choices better. The products that you create will be those that are enjoyable for your target market. Thanks to the extensive use of UX research methods, you can identify the early adopters, understand how your product fares in front of your competitors, and even add features that others might have overlooked.

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Reduce unnecessary spending - When you know what your customers want, you won't be working on models that do not give you the best ROI. UX research is a great way for you to have a clear vision of the product. It will prevent you from making mistakes that should have been avoided in the first place. By not doing all of this, you will end up saving your business a lot of time.

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React swiftly to market changes - When you have a firm grip on what your customers want from you, you will be better prepared to face the ever-changing market scenarios. While a pandemic might not be something that could have allowed for any kind of preparation, you will be better positioned to make swifter changes in most situations.

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Faster go-to-market - The UX research phase is usually considered an ornamental addition, but if done right, you will have a much swifter development process. How? Thanks to a clear idea of what you want and the fact that you know a lot about your product, you will be able to avoid a lot of changes to your product.

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Prioritize features - With the help of UX research methodologies such as prioritizing and story mapping, you will know in advance about the kind of functionalities that you plan to employ during each stage of the development process. All of this will reduce the risk involved as well as reduce the cost of your product development.

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Define the pain point - In a UX research plan, the first step is to identify what you would like to do with the research and identify the areas where there are issues. There are different methods to arrive at the pain point. You can check out the data that already exists and see if there is something that puts off your customers or your team members showing up on the first few pages of search results. To speed up the entire process you can utilize a top SERP scraper API that can provide the most relevant and real-time results. Please note that it's unnecessary to browse all the competitor's products.

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Have clear objectives - Once you have identified the pain points, the next step is to think about the objectives for doing the UX research. You need to know what you are doing, why you plan to do that, and what can be expected from the entire process. You must set clear goals as it will help you define the scope of the entire exercise. When you are doing research, you need to be clear about the quantum of work that is expected of you.

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Using the right UX research methods - The kind of UX research method that you choose depends on the goals that you have set for yourself, the design stage that you are currently in, the resources that you have set aside for this, the timeline, and other constraints. For example, if you want to see how a new design is performing, you might want to perform usability tests to see the performance. If you want to know the preferences of your customers about certain features, you can use online surveys. No matter what research method you use, make sure that it helps you reach the objectives that you have set for yourself.

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Add participants - For your UX research plan, you should add information about the participants who are going to be a part of it. You should consider all the other resources that are available at your disposal. When you are selecting participants for the research, make sure that all of them are a part of your customer persona. Otherwise, the results that you get will be inconsistent with what you really should have found.

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Prepare the UX research guide - The next part of this process is to create a guide that can be used for the various UX design research methods that you will employ. It can be used as a guide that will remind the stakeholders about the kind of questions that should be posed and to make sure that everything is on track.

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Determine the timeline - You need to have a clear-cut timeline that will help you estimate the project. It is one of the most important steps in your UX research plan. The stakeholders should know when the project will be underway and at what time the findings can be expected to be shared. It will help you have a handle on the proceedings and prepare for further action.

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Sharing the findings - At this stage, you would have had the findings with you. How do you plan to present the findings to the stakeholders? Do remember that the findings need to be presented to the right people which will help them implement it across the organization.