Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Bridging the gap between user research and behaviour
I’m a software designer that helps improve the experience of using digital products. I help companies understand their customers and create solutions that fit their needs.
Understanding customers is critical, because there is a surprisingly significant difference in the way each of us interprets and responds to the world around them. Consequently, the look and feel of an application can make or break it; if a user doesn’t interpret and respond to an interface in the way that is expected, it won’t work as well. Without understanding, I have to make assumptions based on my own life experience, which exposes the risk of error of judgement, known as cognitive bias.
Every human is susceptible to cognitive bias. We naturally fill gaps in our knowledge with assumptions if we don’t have the right information. For example; we might assume that the people we’re designing for understand the technical jargon of our own industry.
To fill the gaps in my customer knowledge, I take time to observe how they use technology, consider the environment they use it in, note their challenges and listen to feedback on design ideas. Interestingly, the insights I gather from observing and speaking to customers don’t always turn out to be accurate. There is a dissonance between what people say they do and what they actually do. This article explores why and how this happens and suggests techniques to mitigate the issue.
How & Why People Don’t Speak Accurately
Subconscious Actions
There is a major gap between what people say and what they do. In research interviews, customers tend to filter their thoughts and rationalise their actions to create seemingly logical explanations. However, their actual behaviour is heavily influenced by subconscious thought processes that favour safety, clarity and habit. People are not aware of their subconscious thought processes, so they apply a legitimate-sounding narrative to their past actions to help make sense of them.
When interacting with an app, most behaviour is driven by subconscious muscle memory, micro-interactions and triggers (like a notification). When asked later, "How did you complete this task?", people struggle to recount the hesitations, disorientation or confusion they experienced; they simply summarise the final outcome.
Nielsen Norman Group proved the role of the subconscious in user behaviour with a study known as The Background Colour Experiment. They interviewed people about a design asking what background colour they preferred. People confidently stated an opinion. However, when their actual behaviour was monitored via usage analytics and eye-tracking, their performance, reading speed and navigation choices often completely contradicted what they claimed.
Bias Blindness
We have a skewed perception of our own behavior; typically, we recall our own actions in a more positive light than reality. If asked to recall personal life events, people tend to remember more positive memories than negative ones, or rate positive personal memories as stronger. Unpleasant memories also tend to fade faster over time than positive ones to help maintain our own psychological well-being.
Culture, Communication & Language
Our cultural background influences the way we communicate with each other. In some cultures, such as British society, people tend to soften criticism and accentuate positive feedback so as not to appear ill-mannered. Speaking with people from different cultural backgrounds can also lead to misunderstanding, as the difference in communication and behavioural style can trigger subconscious emotional responses that inaccurately interpret a message.
Even shared culture and language is prone to misunderstanding. As powerful as language may seem as a communicative tool, interpreting the meaning of a phrase is still dependent on the mood of the conversing parties. Sarcasm, for example, can be missed in transcription, or misinterpreted by somebody in a different mental and emotional state. Education levels also play a part in comprehension; without full knowledge of the meaning of every word in a dictionary, misinterpretation is a risk.