Many products fail because they don’t solve a real user problem. Without understanding the user, you aren’t practicing UX; you’re subjectively designing features. To put it simply, without the user, there is no UX. It’s just X. There is more to UX than just the user.
UX is at the center of technology, business, and the user. UX can’t exist without the company, at least not as a career. Knowing the business objectives behind a feature is incredibly important. A SWOT analysis gives you a detailed insight into a company and its position in the market.
Strengths
Internal factors that positively impact the company include knowledge, brand reputation, intellectual property, etc.
Weaknesses
Internal factors negatively impacting the company include low funding, poor product quality, bad customer service, etc.
Opportunities
External factors that could positively impact the company include acquiring competitors, strong market growth predictions, and an international presence.
Threats
External factors that can negatively impact the company include government regulations, new competitors, economic downturns, etc.
Using Spotify as an example, imagine that your SWOT analysis taught you that the podcast market is growing, which is a business opportunity. Later, when you find user pain points, you discover users are frustrated with using competitors’ apps to listen to podcasts. You’ve just found an opportunity worth pursuing.
There are two ways to approach your SWOT analysis.
Either fill in the 4 SWOT categories by doing in-depth research online and creating it from scratch yourself or google the company’s name followed by “SWOT” to find analyses already conducted.
A SWOT analysis will give you a high-level idea of where the company is headed internally and externally.
While just a SWOT analysis alone will not help you identify a precise problem to solve, it will provide you with valuable context. Performing a SWOT analysis gives you detailed insight into the company you’re targeting and its position in the market.
Use a SWOT analysis to:
- Understand the business context of a company or product.
- Identify gaps in the market and potential problems to solve.
- Uncover market trends that can help you develop your product definition.
- Understand your company’s internal weaknesses and external threats and how to turn them into opportunities.
Resources
Take a deep dive into SWOT analysis with Interaction Design Foundation’s course Design Thinking: The Ultimate Guide