Introduction

As a product manager, you’re often responsible for making sure your company is building the right products. That means that you need to know how customers think and feel about their products—and more importantly, they want this information. To get it, you can use a variety of qualitative research techniques that help you understand and improve user experiences in both software and hardware products.

Qualitative research techniques

Interviews

Interviews are a great way to learn about needs, priorities, and how people use your product. They can be done in person or remotely via video.

The most important thing to remember when conducting interviews is that they must be structured. That means having specific questions on hand before you start an interview so you don't end up spending time talking through them instead of asking questions. For example: "What do you think would make this feature better?"

This method relies on gathering information from multiple sources (e.g., users, designers) while also trying to understand the motivations behind their actions/decisions so that they can be incorporated into future iterations of the product's features/designs and experiences

Focus groups

Focus groups are a good way to get feedback from customers. They're also an excellent way to learn more about your potential customers and how they interact with your product. The most important thing you need to do before running any focus group is research your target audience, which we'll cover in more detail later on in this article. Once you've done that, it's time for the actual focus group!
Focus groups usually take place at a local cafe or restaurant where everyone can talk comfortably about their experiences with the product or service being tested. There are two ways to run these meetings: face-to-face (where people sit around tables) or remote video conferencing (where people watch each other through an app). Face-to-face meetings tend to be faster than remote ones due mostly because they don't require as much setup time before they start - but both types have advantages over each other depending on what kind of information needs to be captured during each type of meeting

Surveys

 

Surveys are a great way to get quantitative data. You can use surveys to understand user behavior, needs, and wants, as well as customer satisfaction.Surveys can be used in many situations where you need qualitative information about your customer's experiences with your product or service.
For example:
- You might conduct a survey to understand what kinds of things people want from the product before you launch it into production. This will help ensure that the final product meets their expectations for quality and usability when it goes live on shelves at stores around town!
- Another common scenario is when investors want more information before they invest money into a new startup company's venture capital fund and they'll pay handsomely if they believe there's enough potential upside potential here (i.e., "Wow! There are so many ways this could go wrong!"). So instead of just telling them "Yes," let's see how much success we've already had so far with our idea(s), then tell them where things stand right now by sending out an email asking whether anyone else has tried these ideas yet.

Feedback and analytics tools
Feedback and analytics tools allow you to collect qualitative data, quantitative data, and both. This is a powerful feature that makes it possible for you to get a better understanding of your users' needs and wants by using the same toolset. You can use feedback tools as input into your product strategy or as part of a customer journey map.

Feedback tools can be used in many different ways, two broader use cases are as follows:

• Collecting qualitative feedback from customers when they're experiencing problems with their product
• Collecting quantitative data about how satisfied customers are with their experience with your product

While selecting the best tool to gather and analyze customer feedback, one must look into the following criteria for evaluation:
 

1. User Interface (UI):
   Look for product analytics tools that surface important information to help product managers make critical decisions. This includes having a dashboard that is easy to understand, is reliable, and generates scalable data.
    
2. Usability:
   Focus on features that allow all product team members to navigate and efficiently use the features they need. Seldom when a new analytical tool is launched, usability might be a cause of concern, hence teams should use such tools that have been in the market for a long time and are certified.
    
3. Integrations:
   Look for tight integrations with other tools that product development teams use daily. 
    
4. Value for value for money:
   Analytical tools are an investment that the company is making to in turn get better returns, hence teams must compare the prices of options before selecting the tool.

Remote user testing
Remote user testing is the easiest way to get feedback from users. It's also a good way to get feedback from users who are not in your area, or even if you aren't able to make it out to them.Remote user testing is done in real-time or recorded and reviewed later (if necessary). You'll be able to see responses as they occur, which makes it easier for you to evaluate what's going on during the test session.

You can use remote user testing whether or not there is an actual person present at all—you can just type "test" into your email client and send off questions/requests for help as needed! These days most people have access through their phone so this method still works well even if they're not physically around when it happens, and since most people use smartphones these days anyway, it makes sense!

Observations, studies, and ethnography
Observational studies are used to study behavior in natural environments. They can be used to test new products and services, understand how people use existing products or services, or understand how people interact with each other. For example:

1. Observational studies of bicycling are conducted by observing people bicycling around a city or park over time (e.g., every day for a week).
    
2. Observational studies of grocery shopping involve following a shopper as they go from store to store looking at different kinds of groceries (e.g., milk vs juice) while recording their purchases on paper forms; this data is then analyzed by researchers who look at the relationship between what shoppers buy and what kind of stores they shop at within each store visit during the study period; this information helps marketers better understand where customers may be having problems finding what they want when shopping for groceries!
    
3. Product managers, PMs, and product managers can use multiple qualitative research methods to optimize products.

Qualitative research methods are a great way to gather feedback from your users, customers, and internal stakeholders. They also allow you to get a better understanding of what your customers want by asking them questions in depth.
Qualitative research can be conducted using interviews, focus groups, or surveys. You can also use feedback tools like SurveyMonkey or Google Forms to poll your audience on the quality of their experience with specific features or services. Remote user testing allows researchers who aren't physically present at an event such as trade shows or conferences where there's no risk of interrupting participants' workday schedules (or worse: interrupting them while they're sleeping).
Observations are another method that allows qualitative researchers to watch how others interact with products during real-world use scenarios which gives insights into how customers actually use products every day instead of just observing static screens alone (which could potentially lead us down dead ends because we wouldn't know anything about what actually happens once these screens become active). Diary studies allow us access into people's lives without having them tell us directly so it gives us more context around why they do things certain ways rather than just assuming someone might like something based on past experiences alone.

A/B Testing
A/B testing involves splitting your audience/user base into two groups. This can be done by running a 50/50 split test if your user base is currently very small, or by taking a sample size from a larger user base.The two groups then receive two versions of a feature. It could be something as small as a different call to action button color, or it could be a re-ordering of your onboarding sequence.
After a certain amount of time (which will differ depending on the test/product/goal etc) a product manager will look at the data gathered to better understand which version should be rolled out to the entire user base.This is the simplest way of testing, but you might also choose multivariate testing.
The point of running a test is to figure out how best to improve your product. You might come up with a hypothesis for an improvement, or not be able to decide between Button A and Button B. The only way to make an informed, the data-driven decision is through testing.

Tree Testing
Tree testing is a UX research method that allows you to evaluate the hierarchy and findability of topics in a website or app. It's an important step in your research plan. In a tree test, participants are presented with a text-only version of the site's hierarchy and asked to complete a series of tasks. The ultimate goal boils down to answering the question, “Can users find what they are looking for?
It is also called “Revised card sorting”. Tree testing evaluates a hierarchical category structure called the tree. By getting participants to find the location in the tree and asking them where they would click, you can find insights about the order of the topics and the efforts to accomplish a goal

Conclusion

We’ve covered many different qualitative research methods for product managers and PMs, but remember that there are no “best” methods. As we mentioned earlier, the best way to choose which method to use depends on your specific needs and goals. It is important that you do not select just one method of qualitative research and rely on it exclusively because that can lead to biased findings or even worse: faulty conclusions.