User Experience Research
Evaluating User Decision-Making Processes Through UX Research
This prompt helps teams design UX research to evaluate how users make decisions while interacting with a product. It focuses on understanding their thought processes, priorities, and factors influencing choices to improve usability and alignment with user goals.
Responsible:
Product Design
Accountable, Informed or Consulted:
Design, Marketing, Product
THE PREP
Creating effective prompts involves tailoring them with detailed, relevant information and uploading documents that provide the best context. Prompts act as a framework to guide the response, but specificity and customization ensure the most accurate and helpful results. Use these prep tips to get the most out of this prompt:
Define the decisions users are expected to make within the product.
Identify and recruit participants who represent the decision-makers in your target audience.
Prepare prototypes or scenarios that highlight decision points within the user journey.
THE PROMPT
Help design a UX research study to evaluate user decision-making processes for [specific feature, workflow, or product area]. Focus on:
Scenario Design: Creating scenarios that simulate real-world decisions users must make while interacting with the product.
Think-Aloud Protocols: Encouraging participants to verbalize their thought processes as they navigate choices.
Decision Influencers: Investigating what factors, such as design, content, or external pressures, impact their decisions.
Behavioral Metrics: Measuring how long users take to decide, common errors, or patterns in navigation during decision-making.
Improvement Insights: Gathering feedback on how the product can better support or simplify decision-making for users.
Provide recommendations for structuring the study, including tools (e.g., UserTesting, Figma, Dovetail) and methods for analyzing findings. If additional details about the decision-making scenarios or user context are needed, ask clarifying questions to tailor the suggestions.
Bonus Add-On Prompts
Propose methods for testing multiple decision-making pathways to identify the most intuitive flow.
Suggest techniques to explore user confidence levels in their decisions during the study.
Highlight strategies for testing how design elements influence decision outcomes.
Use AI responsibly by verifying its outputs, as it may occasionally generate inaccurate or incomplete information. Treat AI as a tool to support your decision-making, ensuring human oversight and professional judgment for critical or sensitive use cases.
SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE
Focus on specific types of decisions, such as feature selection or workflow customization.
Include testing for external factors, such as time pressure or incomplete information.
Propose methods for validating decisions with follow-up actions, such as success rates or satisfaction scores.
Highlight ways to evaluate decision-making for different user roles or expertise levels.
Add recommendations for integrating decision-making insights into onboarding or guidance tools.
WHEN TO USE
During feature design to ensure users can make informed and confident decisions.
To improve workflows that involve complex or high-stakes choices.
When exploring how design influences user behavior and outcomes.
WHEN NOT TO USE
If the product does not involve decision-making elements.
When focusing solely on visual design without user interaction components.