When Are User Experience and User Research Not Important?
Story 1: UX Is Not a Priority?
Our company recently submitted a proposal on how to improve the User Experience (UX) of a specific product. However, at the beginning of the year, the client informed us that the management does not currently see UX improvement as a top priority, and therefore, no budget was approved.
This statement made me reflect: When is UX research truly not important?
My Thoughts
I believe that when a product is developed and gains a certain market share, it has—either consciously or unconsciously—considered the needs and experiences of users in its early strategic phase. This means:
- The product solves a problem for users (which always results from considerations and analyses of user needs).
- Using the product feels better than the previous solution (whether by chance or through targeted research).
- The product’s price is acceptable to users.
The combination of these three factors leads to the success of the product and allows the company to enter its expansion phase.
But then comes the first turning point:
Once a company enters the expansion phase, sales and production become the top priority. UX research, which initially played a key role, is suddenly pushed into the background.
Why does this happen?
Story 2: The Limitations of an Artist
An artist experiments with different styles in the early stages of their career—they must find their own artistic expression while also discovering what aesthetics are accepted by the market.
There is an unspoken truth in artistic circles:
Once a particular style is accepted by the masses, the artist's creative freedom is significantly restricted.
Dealers continuously order artworks in that specific style because it ensures predictable and stable sales.
If the artist decides to follow their inner drive for change and alter their style, they risk losing existing customers—while building a new audience takes time.
My Thoughts:
The same phenomenon occurs with products in the expansion phase.
Once the market has accepted a product and its UX, the safest strategy is to avoid changes.
As long as the UX is not bad enough for customers to abandon the product, improving UX poses more risks than benefits.
Excessive optimization might alienate existing users before new users are acquired.
At this stage, UX research fades into the background.
But when does the next turning point come?
When Does UX Become Important Again?
Porter’s Five Forces model highlights potential competitors and substitute products as constant threats to a company.
If competitors or substitute products:
- Offer a better UX at the same price, or
- Deliver a comparable UX at a lower price,
the company will experience revenue decline or stagnation.
In practice, many companies only start focusing on user needs and UX again at this moment.
At this point, the UX team takes on the role of a fire brigade—not to drive groundbreaking innovation, but to save a burning house.
The reality is: The company notices sales dropping, customers leaving, and revenue shrinking. There is no other choice but to suddenly rediscover UX and user research—not because of strategic foresight, but out of necessity.
This is not strategic UX implementation; it is reactive crisis management.
UX may be overlooked during times of success—but when money gets tight, it is suddenly seen as a last-minute solution.
At this moment, the company does not truly understand the value of UX research—it is merely reacting to market changes and improving user experience as damage control.
Story 3: The "Dimensionality Reduction Strike“
In Liu Cixin’s sci-fi novel The Three-Body Problem, there is a concept called “Dimensionality Reduction Strike”.
The Earth was preparing for a war against an alien civilization with great effort. But the aliens used an unforeseen weapon: they compressed the entire solar system into two dimensions, destroying it completely—without humanity having even the slightest chance of resistance.
This concept can be applied to the business world as well:
The invention of the camera was a Dimensionality Reduction Strike for painters.
The mass production of digital cameras was a Dimensionality Reduction Strike for film camera manufacturers.
My Thoughts
Our first reaction might be: “That’s just technological advancement—what does it have to do with UX?”
This is where we must recognize the true nature of UX research:
“When we talk to users about UX—what are we really asking them?”
If UX research only aims to optimize existing products, then it will always be a tool for keeping up with competitors—but never a driving force for true transformation.
Optimizing UX is not the same as innovation. A film camera manufacturer could perfect the UX of changing a film roll—but would that create a technological revolution?
Regardless of whether we study usage context, emotions, user journeys, benchmarks, or usability testing, we are always exploring a deeper question:
“What problem does the user truly need to solve?”
And these deep needs are the starting point for technological innovation.
UX research is the torch that illuminates these deep needs.
True UX research should help companies identify innovations that could trigger a "Dimensionality Reduction Strike.”
Conclusion
I once watched a documentary about toy design, where a trainer gave the designers two tasks:
- Design a better drinking cup for children.
- The designers created ergonomically improved cups that fit better in children’s hands.
- Find a way for children to transport water from point A to point B.
- This time, the designers presented entirely new solutions: straws, portable water bags, automatic water supply systems.
This example demonstrates the true meaning of UX research and its results:
UX research is not just about making a button more clickable or a cup more ergonomic.
Its real value lies in helping companies understand the user’s fundamental needs—and giving the development team true freedom.
Summary
UX research is not just about optimization. True UX research must explore the deepest user needs—and give developers wings to innovate.
Author: Yue Liu, Spiegel Institut Ingolstadt GmbH
Spiegel Institut supports development through UX and user research.
We don’t stop at the expressed wishes of consumers—we go deeper to understand their true needs.
Our cross-functional teams—consisting of function owners, designers, and user researchers—work closely together to provide our clients with holistic solutions.