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User research at Beta

What is expected from a User Researcher in Beta

During the Beta / Live phases, the product is closer to its final form, and the focus is on refining and optimising the user experience.

The aim of user research in the beta phase is to:

  • test the developing service with likely users to make sure it meets their needs
  • understand and resolve usability issues

The scope of the research in this phase is widened, and must consider all the ways that users interact with it (including all tools, transactions, support and offline steps).

Within the beta phase, researchers will work with a broad range of users, including:

  • those with limited digital access and confidence
  • people with a range of visual, hearing, motor and cognitive impairments
  • people who use assistive technologies like screen readers or speech recognition software - you can do this once you start working with production code

During the beta phase, typical user research activities might include:

  • doing face-to-face and remote usability tests to find usability and accessibility issues
  • commissioning an accessibility audit to uncover accessibility issues and get recommended fixes
  • running private or public beta tests of the end-to-end service with real users, including support options
  • reviewing web analytics and back-office data to measure service performance
  • analysing support tickets to identify problems users have with your service
  • using surveys or follow-up interviews to collect detailed feedback from service users

From these activities you’ll typically learn:

  • more about how different kinds of users experience your services
  • the usability and accessibility issues you need to fix
  • ways to improve your service

You’ll have done enough research when you have good evidence that your service works well for users and meets their needs, including those with support and access needs.

Sources

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