UX

The Doc is in: a product health Q&A

Martin Sandhu
February 2020

Think for a moment about your digital platform. It’s UI glistens in the sun while the solid musculature of the technology stack underneath makes each screen, each form, each API call ripple with beautifully controlled efficiency and intent. It’s a true work of art. Or... is this ideal a little too far removed from reality? Take a moment to reflect on where you really stand. Are your clicks, shares, and views visual poetry? Do your users sing your praise? Do you still feel that your platform is at peak performance, or is a flashy newcomer outshining you? If you think that your digital product could or should be doing better, it might be time for a product review.

Why should you care?

A product review is an invaluable tool for gaining a comprehensive overview of what is and isn’t working with your product. It’s a process that allows designers to evaluate the extent to which your digital product is achieving its goals, and get to the root of any issues stunting your growth. In essence, how good is your product? Is it living up to your expectations? How could you make it better?

The main goal of a product review is to assess the usability and increase the user engagement of your product. An in-depth product review allows us to create defined goals for improvement, while highlighting where you’re going right. It is the first step in unleashing the full potential of your mobile app, website, or other digital platform. If the plan is to update the platform any time soon, a successful product review will also inform a more focused design phase.

In time, be it through improved conversion rates for an ecommerce website or better user resource management for a CRM, a product review will result in your digital platform gaining stakeholder and investor confidence, and most of all wowing your users. Don’t want to believe everything you read on the internet? Let our previous UX product review work speak for itself.

Does my digital platform need a review?

So how do you know if you need to invest time into a product review? There are several things you can look at to figure this out. The first of these is very straightforward. When was the last time you reviewed your product health and user habits? If you’ve had your platform looked at and polished up two weeks ago, you won’t need to run head first into another one. But if it’s been a while or something you’re yet to do, it’s time for a checkup. (Don’t worry, we won’t tell you off for not brushing up on your retention rates.)

The easiest way to assess your review needs is to have an honest look at the performance of your digital platform. Put simply: are you meeting your goals and your user needs? As long as you know how to assess whether you're meeting your product and user goals, you can tell if you’re forging ahead or just chugging along.

What’s the process like?

Once you’ve decided that it’s time to break out of a cycle of content complacency and pick up some steam, you’re on track to make some real headway.

Our first priority is getting into the nitty gritty of what makes you tick. During an onboarding process we make sure to get to know what functionalities fuel your product, and what goals really drive you. Once we know what you want and what your product needs to do, we can jump right into the fun stuff.

An initial UX breakdown helps us review the user experience of your product by charting out its good and bad points. By evaluating the platform from a user-centric design perspective, we identify what works and which sections could do with some tweaking, either through small changes, or new pieces of functionality.

We also review all the top-level user journeys a user takes within the product (e.g. adding a product to their basket). Assessing these journeys allows us to identify pain points within the user flows of the platform.

In the same vein, a functionality breakdown consists of reviewing the technology behind the product. Our developers make sure the foundations of the platform are sound and check that the technology used is appropriate and up to date for its intended purpose. They also give a solid overview of any new functionalities devised by the designers to make sure they are realistic to build and integrate into the existing system.

At the end of this journey you’ll be equipped with a clear idea of where you are and where you need to go. Even better, we make sure you’ll know not just what you need to do, but how to make it happen.

Is it really worth it?

We’re not saying that a product review is a cure-all for all your digital platform woes. It’s not even a plaster for a finicky functionality that leaves the user's knee scuffed. It’s far more about painting an accurate picture of how everything works, helping you listen out for those whimpers when that knee does get scuffed.

Identifying any pain points is possible because we get so up close and personal with the inner workings of your product. It allows us to create an in-depth report that explains how our findings reflect on your goals and user needs. This full diagnosis of your product health provides an overall review of where you stand, while an outline of suggestions for improvements mean you have defined next steps on how to put all of this newfound knowledge to use.

A product review is an honest and in-depth way of gauging the performance of your digital platform and why it performs as it does. It’s the key to unlocking the potential for further product growth through actionable recommendations to fix issues and increase usability. A product review will map out the path for you - but afterwards it’s still up to you to take that first step. Luckily, we can offer you a helping hand if you get in touch.

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