Photo by Roberto Nickson: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-holding-tablet-computer-3082341/

“What’s the unique selling point of your product?” A Lead Product Designer asked me, and my weak answer made me realize the value of post-user-testing questions.

Designing for Business-to-Business (B2B) companies has taught me to dabble in a number of fields beyond my job description. When trying to motivate users to buy a product costing $25,000/mo, a basic understanding of user needs is often insufficient.

However, I realized that one data source often yields important insights into user motivations that I’ve ignored: the pre- and post-user testing questions I’ve used for years.

If you’ve been asking pre- or post-user test questions and not reporting your findings, you might be ignoring a goldmine of insights that Product cares about.

To understand why, we first need to talk about strategy.

Understanding Strategy through value

In simple terms, a business strategy will be outside the realm and scope of most designers.

This is where Product teams, C-level executives, and Principal Product Designers/VPs of Design will make decisions. But understanding Strategy is something that you can implement in your designs.

Understanding strategy as a designer often comes down to a single question: “How do we design a good user experience (with a lot of value) that motivates users to pay for this product?”

As designers, we usually don’t want to consider the business side. However, in lean times like we’re in now, one of the ways to not only keep your job (but also offer value) is to understand user motivations around becoming a customer.

Product designers who are willing to learn about how businesses operate and grow can become trusted business partners and work directly with founders to impact revenue.

It’s one of several good ways for design to “get a seat at the table”, command higher rates / salaries, etc. — Neil Reinicker