User Experience plays an important role in a company’s life. The research is the lifeline of any User Experience. For Research, choosing the right participants is the most important factor that will contribute to a successful user research study. The first question that pops up in our mind is ‘how many participants will you need for your research?’ Well, there is a debate on how many participants one should choose to include in its user test. The correct answer depends on what you are trying to learn in this research. One should research, usability problems. According to some studies, 5 test participants can now help to uncover 85% of a product’s usability issue. So, you can easily run a study with 5-7 users that will help you to make improvements in your product. This process can go on multiple times. This method is surely cost effective and efficient in nature than running one large study.
Unveiling of the latest trends and opinions will require larger sample of participants as it requires the establishment of quantitative findings so as to present a convincing case to your stakeholders. You can segment your customers in different categories like company size, geographical area, income groups, etc. before recruiting participants based on these qualities so that you can run tests with 5-7 participants for each different segment.
The next major challenge that comes your way is ‘how closely you should study the participants that will match your buyer personas?’ you generally narrow down your participants in the various categories that will fit according to the situations and will become more appropriate in your research. Segmenting on demographic category in which UX practitioner avoids in getting too granular when choosing their participants that will fit many characteristics. The next major question that arises is ‘how to recruit the right participant with User Testing? Well, it is a platform that can be recruited from a panel of over one million users. You can find the target audience for your UX research in just a few clicks.
With User testing, one can even test with your existing customers and audience. The private panel always allows the one to submit the study to the panel, which can help you to outline the detailed and highly targeted feedback.
