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skype as a research tool

What if your customers live far away from you and

you can’t visit them every couple of weeks? You might

do your start-up thing from a remote forgotten land,

like, say, Poland (oh yes, that’s where we’re based).

It shouldn’t stop you from doing a decent amount of

guerrilla style user research. Make no compromises

when it comes to your product’s user experience.

Just use Skype. People are more willing to talk

via Skype than have a coffee with a stranger. The

awkwardness is kept to a bare minimum and the

interaction feels somehow safer. You can stop it at any

time, easily postpone, follow-up, etc.

Secondly, there’s no distance barrier. It makes the

research even cheaper and eliminates any possible

excuse for not having a conversation with a client.

Finally, you can easily record the conversation with

your user and even see their screen using the “screen

share” option.

46 geT To know your users