Using Emotional Insights for Product Breakthroughs

Some practical tips for using emotional insights to find unique product perspectives

In the world of product management, understanding the needs and desires of users is paramount. We can gather these insights in any number of ways, but user research is particularly useful for uncovering golden nuggets of information that we can use to guide product development. A while back, it struck me how much I had been underestimating the weight I could be giving to the emotional aspect of user research.

I was working on a fitness product at the time and had just wrapped up a particularly emotional user interview. We had ended up touching on confidence, body image, and feelings of self-worth. Simple open questions would spin off into them describing moments of vulnerability or elation; and it struck me how much I’d focused on gathering rational feedback, overlooking the more emotional aspects of user experiences and missing opportunities. 

Here are some practical tips for using emotional insights to find unique perspectives and guide the development of successful products.

Understanding the Power of Emotional Insights

The Role of Emotions in User Experience

Emotions play a significant role in shaping users' perceptions, interactions, and opinions when it comes to products. Let’s take a meditation app such as Headspace as an example. When users engage with it, their emotional state plays a crucial role in their ability to relax, focus, and experience the desired benefits. Positive feelings such as calmness and serenity are essential for users to experience a sense of relaxation and well-being during their sessions. 

Research highlights that emotions affect cognitive processes, memory formation, and decision-making. These can, in turn, affect levels of engagement and product satisfaction. By making an effort to capture and analyse customer feelings effectively, product managers can craft experiences that are truly impactful and meaningful.

Leveraging Emotional Design

We can practically apply this with emotional design, which emphasises the role of emotions in product interactions. The key principles recognise that products should not only be functional but also evoke positive responses. By taking the time to understand user reactions, product managers can identify the key emotional drivers that cater to their underlying needs.

For example, fitness apps are likely to evoke feelings of accomplishment, motivation, but also frustration during intense workouts. Product managers should feel empowered to design features and content that evoke specific emotional responses, emphasising the positive and minimising the negative. 

They might introduce features like personalised goal setting, real-time progress tracking, and motivational prompts to keep users engaged and motivated. Our product, for example, investigated ways to provide positive reinforcement through visual cues, such as celebratory animations or encouraging messages when users achieve their fitness milestones, amplifying the emotional satisfaction and fostering a stronger sense of achievement and dedication towards fitness goals.

Identifying Extreme User Emotions

The Spectrum of Emotional Responses

Users may experience a range of emotions when interacting with products; from intense joy and excitement to frustration or disappointment. Pinpointing these highs and lows is best done through user research.

We used observation and usability testing, followed by a contextual interview, to capture and understand these feelings in a practical scenario. Passive observation during first-time use highlighted areas of friction and frustration that soured the onboarding process for them; or big wins celebrated with a cheer.

Techniques for Emotional Elicitation

We can even use some psychology to get the ball rolling. Psychological studies highlight various techniques to elicit emotion effectively. The "critical incident technique" is something we used to follow up our usability testing with. This involves asking users to recall specific situations where their feelings were particularly intense, providing rich insights into their experiences. Similarly, we can use storytelling or visual prompts to help users express their feelings more vividly.

Transforming Insights into Action

Ideation and Concept Development

User feelings serve as a rich source of inspiration during the ideation and concept development stages. By understanding the highs and lows of users, product managers can ideate and prototype solutions that specifically address these triggers.

For example, I was able to take those areas of friction or frustration that I observed during onboarding and work with design to prototype various smoother, more intuitive solutions. This approach fosters empathetic design thinking and results in products that resonate deeply with users.

A/B Testing and Iterative Design

Testing and iterating on product designs based on reactions can highlight further areas for improvement. Take A/B testing as an example. It is possible to present different design variations to users and observe their responses to areas of friction or delight.

This will help your team to refine their solutions iteratively. Taking notable areas, and incorporating them into emotional feedback loops, helps product managers ensure their products consistently deliver emotionally engaging experiences.

To Wrap Up

By empathising with user emotions and embracing them as a valuable source of product insights, we have a huge opportunity to level up our product decision making and delight customers. Tapping into the emotional core of their experiences can unlock new avenues for innovation, differentiating your product in a crowded marketplace and fostering long-term loyalty.