Now that we’re in Q4, our team at InterQ, is already planning and strategizing on projects for next year. Our clients are expressing interest in studies that include biometric research and we’ve conducted enough of them over the years that we can attest to their effectiveness! Biometrics, also known as neuromarketing, combines physiological user data with qualitative data (observations and interview questions) that helps us better understand psychological and physiological responses. Incorporating biometrics in UX studies on app designs or websites/software is especially useful, as well as when testing marketing campaigns..
Let’s take a deeper dive into how illuminating biometrics in user study designs can be. Below is just one example of how biometrics can be used to enhance UX studies and improve app design.
Incorporating Biometrics in App Design
Recently our team conducted a study with one of the more popular social media platforms. In that study we used qualitative interviewing and biometrics to see how people reacted and responded to proposed design changes to the app. Our client wanted to know how people would react to a new page they were testing. The company had reams of quantitative data on the page (click-thru rates, page views, etc.), but it wanted a deeper understanding of how users felt and responded to the proposed design changes. The company hired InterQ to design and carry out a biometric and qualitative study.
Our team conducted a series of one-on-one interviews with recruited participants, having them use the app on a phone we provided. The participants were asked to perform specific tasks with the app, such as scrolling through the app’s pages, switching between tabs, and trying to find some articles we prompted them about. As the participants performed these tasks, they were hooked up to biometric monitoring devices. They wore galvanic skin response (GSR) sensors on one index finger with the phone positioned on a stand so their facial expressions could be captured by software that analyzed facial movements and eye tracking. A qualitative researcher sat near them, gathering their real-time feedback, impressions, and the questions that arose as they interacted with the app. The biometric software we used recorded and paired their physiological data with the timing of the researcher’s questions, allowing for more streamlined analysis.
The results were incredibly valuable and useful to the social media company. It now had meaningful visibility into what types of stimulus in the app’s design physiologically frustrated or excited people. The biometric data, in conjunction with the interviews we conducted, gave the client explicit feedback on which parts of the design were user-friendly and which aspects were confusing or less intuitive.
Such consumer insights were more detailed than the quantitative data the company had gathered on its own, and the physiological data was completely new to it. From the biometric data, it learned that some of its designs were really frustrating to users– so much so, that it caused elevated heart rates and confused facial expressions in many participants!
From these new insights, the social media company was able to not only improve upon the design, but also create user experiences that were more pleasant and less taxing.
Consider Biometric Research for your next UX Study
Many companies in the tech space employ in-house UX researchers or outsource UX research, which is great. A word of caution though, UX research alone doesn’t always give designers in-depth data on how users respond to designs. Incorporating biometric research enhances user-research studies by incorporating eye tracking, facial expression analysis, heart-rate data, and a body’s electrical signals. When conducted by experienced researchers, who have experience in combining observation and interviewing with the biometric data, UX teams will gain more accurate insights into how users respond to designs.
