If you are using UX research for prototype testing or A/B testing, it’s already too late
A casual discussion with a friend about how research is usually implemented in companies (and projects) led me to write this today. I see companies allocating UX research usually within the Design Teams, and sometimes only activated to test prototypes and coordinate A/B testing. Actually, if research is engaging only in these final phases, it’s too late – when research can contribute so much more to projects, ideas, and business goals.
Research Deserves a Seat at the Start
Over the past few years, I’ve noticed a trend of labeling research as either generative or evaluative (mostly for testing). While that framework can be helpful, it often limits how people see research’s role. Research can – and should – be involved much earlier. It can drive innovation, uncover opportunities, validate assumptions, and connect user needs with business strategy. When research is brought in only to test a nearly finished prototype, it’s just being used to check boxes, not to shape direction.
A Look Back: Research in the Early Days of UX
Fifteen years ago, research was often handled by information architects. It was deeply embedded in the process—from mapping business goals and identifying user needs, to structuring the overall system before design began.
It wasn’t just about usability testing; it was about building the right thing, not just building the thing right.
The Real Value of Early UX Research
Research can better impact your business when acting earlier in the process, together with business and POs: to map opportunities, check early on if there is a real audience for your product/idea/feature/service/innovation and bring metrics that connects with ROI. It can bridge different departments and act throughout an ongoing Agile process to bring answers to questions from users’ perspective, leaving the prototype testing (and A/B testing) for tuning the system to business goals, from a user-centered point of view.
When integrated from the start, UX research can:
-
Identify unmet needs and market gaps
-
Test early-stage concepts before significant investment
-
Align user needs with business goals and product strategy
-
Inform how teams structure and deliver the experience
-
Support ongoing Agile sprints with user-driven insights
-
Help forecast ROI through user-centered metrics
A Lesson from Startups: It’s Not Just About Testing
I remember when UX mentoring for startups at Google’s accelerate program in 2015-2016, that a reasonable part of the selected startups to receive grants, had products fully based on their own perspective and assumptions, without knowing if there was an audience for the service, or if the product would make sense to consumers, how difficult could be to interact with the system… expecting mentoring to test their prototypes, when what they needed was to go back to earlier stages and research about users, if anyone actually needed the product, understand how their product is part of a pervasive interaction flow, and how to best set an information structure, before prototyping.
After the experience, I published a paper (HCII 2015) about UX for startups with my friends and co-mentors Luiz Agner and Adriana Chammas
The Bottom Line
UX research is not just a final-stage activity. Its true power lies in shaping ideas from the very beginning—well before the first wireframe or line of code is written.
If you want to build products that truly resonate with users and deliver business value, don’t wait to “test.” Start by understanding.
📝 Bonus Resource
2015 may seem to bring old ideas, but there is still some valid knowledge there (the paper is still often downloaded today): Startup Rio: User Experience for Startups