User Research on a Lean to Zero Budget – Strategies and Tips

When you think of focus groups, persona development, usability tests, and other forms of user research, you are generally thinking large budgets and a team of usability specialists. However, if you are working for a small company on a lean budget, your avenues to conduct user research are either limited or next to nil. Also, getting buy-in from management may not be easy.

In this case study, we share the creative journey that two technical writers embarked on to conduct user research to shape our content strategy, gain insights into search engine optimization (SEO) without metrics, and enhance the overall user experience for our documentation.