Skip main navigation

What user needs are not

In this step, we go into user needs in more detail.

User needs are tricky to define – sometimes it’s easier to explain what something is by saying what it’s not!

A user need is not:

  • a solution – this is the product or service that will be built to meet the need giving users only what they ask for (like new ways to fill in a form)
  • what we, as the people who work on a product or a service, want to get users to do (like read and understand a piece of guidance)
  • an optional extra

User needs or government needs?

In the previous step, we explained user needs in a government context. There is an important distinction here between user needs in the context of government and the needs of government itself.

User researchers work with their team to understand and explore what their users need and how a product or service can be built to meet them. There are also organisational goals and policies to consider, which are frequently referred to as government or business needs.

However, because of this, user researchers in government often hear people say that we’re only interested in the needs of the end user (the public) and that we ‘do not care’ about the needs of government. This is not true, and it stems from a misunderstanding of what government needs actually are.

To give some examples (out of many more possibilities!), a government ‘needs’:

  • to know who is entering the country
  • to be able to collect the correct amount of tax revenue
  • to know how many people work in different industries
  • to make and implement laws
  • to know that people who drive different vehicles have had the appropriate training and meet the expected standard

However, these are government goals or policies – or, to think about it another way, what the government ‘wants’ to do. Based on a number of factors, a government can choose its rate for taxation or its criteria for training and standards when it comes to driving a vehicle, but it then requires a product or service that allows it to interact with users (the public) to do this.

Users have needs in relation to these government goals and policies. They need these services to work as expected; they need to be able to find all relevant information easily; and they need to know what to do if something does not work for them. This can include using an offline alternative, such as completing a paper form or a face-to-face meeting, if digital services are not an option.

It is our job as user researchers to make sure our products and services help people to achieve the right outcome for them in the context of a policy.

Many different factors will influence the shaping of a product or service, including user needs and government or business goals and policies. Your job as a user researcher is to make sure the team can understand and advocate for what users need as a vital part of the overall picture.

Wants or needs?

In step 1.4, we learned that user research is much more than simply asking users what they want. There are a number of reasons for this, but the main reason is that wants and needs are not the same thing.

Wants are things people say they want. Needs are the things driving what they say.

Even if a user says they want something, they may not be aware of their own needs or motivations.

For example, anyone who has spent time with young children knows that children often only want to eat cake or ice cream, but they need to eat more fruit and vegetables. They – and, let’s be honest, adults too! – want to eat cake and ice cream because sweet treats are tasty and make them happy, but they might not understand that only eating sweets would be bad for their health and that they also need to eat healthy things.

In the previous step, we said that user needs in a government context are quite often people needing to do things they do not want to do.

An entrepreneur might want to start a business and earn lots of money, but in order to do so in the UK, they need to make sure they have a license to conduct business in whatever sector and they pay the correct taxes. They may not want to, but the government has made it a legal requirement, and therefore they need to.

In this example, user researchers probe the want – starting a business – to find the need behind it – getting a license and paying taxes – to help teams working in government to build effective services to meet those needs and help users achieve their outcomes.

In the digital world, we can think of wants and needs in the same way. A business owner might commission a web designer to build them a website and say that they want the main colour of the website to be orange. The web developer might then discover that what the business owner’s want actually comes from the “need” for their website to feel warm and welcoming to encourage customers. Orange may or may not be the best colour for that – if it clashes with the business logo or their products, then it would not look welcoming or engaging.

In government digital and data, the principle is the same. Users – people interacting with the government – might “want” certain features or to be able to complete a task in a certain way, but it is the responsibility of the teams designing these services to discover their fundamental user needs and design services that meet them.

Task

Think about your daily routine, or tasks or activities that you do frequently. Are they things you want to do or things you need to do?

Write some down to demonstrate the differences between wants and needs and share with your fellow learners in the comments.

This article is from the free online

Introduction to User Research

Created by
FutureLearn - Learning For Life

Reach your personal and professional goals

Unlock access to hundreds of expert online courses and degrees from top universities and educators to gain accredited qualifications and professional CV-building certificates.

Join over 18 million learners to launch, switch or build upon your career, all at your own pace, across a wide range of topic areas.

Start Learning now