User Experience Research
Evaluating User Trust and Confidence Through UX Research
This prompt helps teams design a user experience (UX) research study to evaluate how design elements and interactions influence user trust and confidence. It focuses on identifying factors that build or undermine trust, such as clarity, reliability, and perceived security.
Responsible:
Product Design
Accountable, Informed or Consulted:
Design, Product, Strategy, Marketing
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 trust-critical interactions or workflows to be evaluated.
Recruit participants from the target audience, especially those who represent new or skeptical users.
Prepare prototypes, live products, or mock scenarios to simulate trust-related tasks.
THE PROMPT
Help design a UX research study to evaluate user trust and confidence in [specific product, feature, or interaction]. Focus on:
Trust Indicators: Identifying which elements (e.g., visual design, language, interactions) enhance or diminish user trust.
User Perceptions: Exploring how participants perceive the reliability, security, and professionalism of the product.
Scenario Testing: Creating scenarios that test trust-critical interactions, such as data entry, purchases, or error recovery.
Feedback Collection: Using surveys, interviews, or think-aloud protocols to capture qualitative insights into trust dynamics.
Improvement Opportunities: Providing actionable recommendations to strengthen trust, such as enhancing transparency, reducing ambiguity, or reinforcing security.
Provide recommendations for structuring the study, including tools (e.g., UserTesting, Dovetail) and methods for analyzing trust-related feedback. If additional context about the product or user scenarios is needed, ask clarifying questions to refine the suggestions.
Bonus Add-On Prompts
Propose methods to test the impact of design language and tone on user trust.
Suggest techniques for identifying moments where user confidence drops during key workflows.
Highlight strategies to evaluate how security cues, like badges or encryption notices, influence trust.
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 trust dynamics for specific interactions, such as financial transactions or data privacy settings.
Include techniques to assess how users respond to error messages or system failures.
Propose methods for evaluating trust across different cultural or demographic groups.
Highlight ways to combine trust research with usability testing.
Add suggestions for testing visual and textual cues that reinforce credibility.
WHEN TO USE
To understand how design elements influence user trust and confidence.
During the design of sensitive workflows, such as payments or personal data input.
When addressing user concerns about transparency or security.
WHEN NOT TO USE
If trust is not a critical factor in the product’s user experience.
When focusing solely on functionality rather than user perceptions.