Utility – Basic user needs as the basis for a successful user experience

What basic needs do users or customers actually have of a product? What added value does an app or website offer?

These and similar questions are at the heart of utility research and thus focus on the (potential) user, his expectations and requirements. In contrast to other attributes of user experience, such as usability (the simplest possible, intuitive use) or joy of use, utility starts before the actual evaluation of an application.

Why should Utility be considered?

Users will only (repeatedly) use an application if it offers them a corresponding added value. If the added value does not exist from the user's point of view, intuitive usability or interesting content ultimately cannot balance out the need to convince users in the long term and retain them in the product. Utility is therefore a basic requirement and core element of all other UX attributes. For a successful product development or further development, a user-oriented view and needs evaluation must be the focus.  Utility can not only be related to "technical" developments, but has an all-encompassing effect in every area that influences the user experience. Content must therefore be evaluated in terms of user needs, just like the structure of the interfaces.

How can utility be measured and evaluated?

Users find it difficult to give concrete answers to the questions "What basic needs do you have for a particular application" or "What basic need should you have? Although answers are given to such questions, it is questionable to what extent this can generate real added value for product development. This makes the selection of suitable research approaches essential for the identification of user needs.

The less is known about the potential user group, the more qualitative the approach to possible utilities must be. In-depth interviews, ethno studies, elaboration of pain points or persona creation can make the target group more transparent with regard to their basic needs and point out development possibilities.

If user needs are already known, or if concrete offers or service packages exist, quantitative set-ups are a good idea. These allow especially the validation of existing user groups and needs. Kano-analyses, driver analyses, MaxDiff or conjoint analyses (especially in connection with price evaluation) are suitable for this purpose.

Kano-analysis allows to prioritize offered features and characteristics and to divide them into basic features, performance factors, enthusiasm elements and neutral factors. Statements can be made about how relevant a feature is from the user's point of view, and how high the perceived disadvantage would be if this feature were not present.

Driver analyses are used to investigate how strong the influence of certain features is, for example, on the satisfaction of an offer. Various statistical methods are available here, such as bivariate correlations or various regression analyses. Driver analyses make it possible to highlight correlations between satisfaction and individual service components and thus prioritize the most important fields of action.

With the MaxDiff method (Maximum Difference Scaling), the respondent indicates in several consecutive questions which performance is most important or least important to him. Thus, a value is determined for each performance, which includes the significance in relation to the other performances. In contrast to classical rankings, e.g. those determined by means of scales or directly queried, the MaxDiff method enables more selective and differentiated results.

Conjoint analyses are particularly suitable for evaluating different product contents and prices from the customer's perspective. The conjoint analysis enables the evaluation of different combinations of product and price features with regard to their attractiveness and expected market performance. In addition, it can be determined what influence the individual product features have on potential (purchase) decisions.

And if one knows the utilities of the users?

If user needs are known, offers can be developed accordingly. In the course of further developments or relaunches, it is also worth taking a look at the potential user group and their needs. Utilities are not constants, but can change over time, for example due to alternative offers or technical innovations. This makes it necessary to regularly check existing basic knowledge about the target group and to adapt it if necessary.