The Future of User Research Report
Discover the trends shaping the user research industry in 2024 and beyond.
Maze surveyed over 1,200 product professionals to uncover how product teams conduct research to inform decision-making and build successful products. Learn about the top three trends defining the user research landscape.
With support from experts at
Key trend #1
The demand for user research is growing
62% of respondents say the demand for user research has increased in the past 12 months. A variety of teams are leveraging research to make decisions across the entire product development lifecycle—resulting in positive business outcomes like improved product usability, customer satisfaction, and engagement.
While bandwidth and time constraints remain the main challenge for product teams, 75% of respondents are planning to scale research in the next year by increasing the number of research studies, leveraging AI tools, and providing research training to promote democratization.
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75% of respondents are planning to scale research in the next year by:
Organizations are operating in increasingly uncertain times. I’ve sensed a shift towards more risk-averse attitudes, where organizations feel they need to “get it right” the first time. In this uncertainty, increasing our speed of learning and anticipating the changes that could come will help us be more resilient.
Emma Craig
Head of UX Research at MiroShare
Key trend #2
Research democratization empowers stronger decision-making
Research studies are conducted not only by UX and product researchers but also by product designers (61%), product managers (38%), and marketers (17%). In particular, respondents with a democratized research culture report improved agility, collaboration, and decision-making.
When research is democratized, teams are 2X more likely to make strategic decisions based on user research. With other teams focusing on more tactical research studies, UX researchers have more time to work on strategic projects with greater organizational impact.
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Organizations with a democratized research culture are:
Research democratization has allowed our product partners to make better decisions and build more synergy with our customers. I see PMs and designers fighting for the customer when making decisions, which is exciting. As for me, it’s freed me up to tackle more complex questions at the strategic level. The projects I execute have an impact across the entire organization, which is incredibly motivating.
Morgan Mullen
Lead UX Researcher at User InterviewsShare
Key trend #3
New technology allows product teams to significantly scale research
New technologies, like AI, are reshaping the way we work in countless ways, and user research is no exception. 44% of product teams are already using AI tools like ChatGPT, Miro, and Maze to conduct research, and 31% plan to use AI to scale research next year.
AI tools are helping with the tactical aspects of research, leading to improved team efficiency (56%), increased turnaround time of research projects (50%), and freeing up time for researchers to focus on the human and strategic side of research (35%).
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What benefits have you experienced using AI tools?
Think of AI as an assistant, not a replacement for a skilled researcher. AI can speed up your workflow by processing large amounts of raw data and identifying trends. But it can't replace the contextual knowledge and expertise that allow researchers to connect the dots and uncover meaningful insights and recommendations.
Kate Pazoles
Head of Flex User Research at TwilioShare
Methodology
The report survey was created using Maze and distributed between December 20, 2023 and January 16, 2024. During that time, Maze collected 1,234 responses from a variety of research-focused roles: 43% UX/Product Researchers, 39% UX/UI/Product Designers, 9% Product Managers.
The respondents worked at a mixture of enterprise organizations (60%) and small-medium businesses (40%). Survey respondents were located in multiple regions around the world, including 40% in Europe, 32% in North America, 9% in Asia, and 8% in Latin America.
About Maze
Maze is the user research platform that makes products work for people. Maze empowers any company to build the right products faster by making user insights available at the speed of product development. Built for ease of use, Maze allows designers, product managers, and researchers to collect and share user insights when needed most, putting them at the center of every decision.
Discover the User Research Insights Shaping 2024
Dive deeper into the trends defining the user research landscape in 2024 and beyond.
