I feel lucky to have been responsible for the product for such a long period of time. These few years have helped me learn how to incrementally grow a product — it has been a valuable opportunity to understand a product cycle and learn through trial and error. Before diving into any specific task, the following shows some glimpses of the research I have done at different points in time.

Competitor Research

I conduct competitor research regularly to keep my first-hand knowledge of the good and bad experiences provided by rivals up to date. To do a comprehensive competitive analysis, I usually start by collecting a matrix of the main user flows. By gathering the screenshots, I can methodically collect data and avoid missing anything while researching. The matrix keeps track of everything that needs to be compared.

Outsourced Usability Testing

We used to outsource the usability testing for our user research. It was conducted at a third-party venue, and most of the stakeholders spared some time to observe the live-streamed tests. It was quite nice for us to be out of the office, as it helped us get away from our routine — people are more open to new ideas and more likely to think outside the box. In the tests, users shared their experience with our desktop site, followed by qualitative testing on some main user flows. With their eye-tracking technology, we were able to see what they actually focused on while playing the games or going through a promotion.

In House Usability Testing

Later on, our company got a lab and we could invite our players in for user research. The equipment was less advanced compared to the third-party lab, but at least it served as a start to get to know more about our users. We conducted a set of usability tests on our competitors’ sites and asked users to compare them with ours.

As a bonus beyond the intention of the research, we were able to spot some unexpected usability bugs that we needed to improve on. Credit to Steven from our team for documenting it all.