How to get started with user research: understanding your supporters and their needs

Many charities rely on assumptions about what their supporters want and need. Perhaps you believe your donors prefer email updates over social media posts, or you think your website navigation is intuitive because it makes sense to your team. But what if you’re wrong? What if small adjustments based on real user insights could dramatically improve engagement, increase donations, or make your volunteer recruitment more effective?

User research is the practice of systematically understanding the needs, behaviours, and motivations of the people who interact with your charity. Yet many organisations in the charity sector lack established research programmes or simply don’t know where to begin.

The good news is that getting started doesn’t require specialist teams, large budgets, or advanced technical knowledge. It simply requires a commitment to listening and learning.

Why user research matters for charities

Understanding your supporters through research rather than assumptions leads to tangible improvements across your organisation. When you know what drives people to donate, volunteer, or engage with your cause, you can create digital experiences, communications, and campaigns that genuinely resonate.

Data-driven decisions consistently outperform gut instinct. Research helps you identify and remove barriers in donation processes, improve volunteer recruitment journeys, and create content that truly speaks to your audience’s motivations. The insights you gain build trust and transparency with supporters because your decisions are rooted in their real needs and feedback.

Most importantly, even modest research efforts can reveal significant opportunities. Small changes informed by user insights often deliver outsized results because they address genuine pain points rather than perceived problems.

What is user research? Understanding the basics

At its core, user research is about understanding the people who interact with your charity. It’s the practice of gathering insights about their needs, behaviours, motivations, and frustrations through various methods of enquiry and observation.

User research typically falls into two categories:

• Qualitative research provides in-depth insights through methods like interviews and observations, helping you understand the ‘why’ behind supporter behaviour.
• Quantitative research delivers numerical data through surveys and analytics, showing you ‘what’ and ‘how much’ in terms of patterns and trends.

The key principle is simple: you’re listening to and learning from real people, not confirming what you already believe. Effective user research requires openness to being surprised by what you discover.

Planning your first user research project

Here’s 5 steps to planning your first user research project:

• Before you begin, establish clear objectives. What specific questions do you need answered? Perhaps you’re unsure why people abandon your donation form halfway through, or you want to understand what motivates volunteers to stay engaged with your organisation. Clear objectives guide every other decision.
• Consider what you currently think you know about your supporters and form hypotheses. What assumptions are you making? Writing these down helps you approach research with appropriate openness and ensures you’re testing beliefs rather than simply confirming them.
• Choose research methods that align with your questions. If you need to understand motivations and feelings, interviews work well. If you want to know whether people can complete a specific task on your website, usability testing is more appropriate. If you need to gauge opinions at scale, surveys are your best bet.
• Identify who you should gather insights from. This might include recent donors, long-term volunteers, website visitors who didn’t convert, or people who signed up for your newsletter. You might also consider beneficiaries of your services or people who’ve stopped engaging with your charity.
• Finally, set realistic expectations. For your first project, small-scale research with 5-8 participants can reveal valuable insights. You don’t need perfect conditions or large samples to get started – you need to begin the practice of listening systematically.

Simple user research methods to get started

User interviews (one-to-one conversations)

Interviews are powerful for understanding the ‘why’ behind supporter behaviour. They work best when you need to explore motivations, experiences, or decision-making processes in depth.

Research by Jakob Nielsen and Tom Landauer shows that testing with just five participants can identify 85% of usability issues in qualitative studies, meaning you don’t need dozens of interviews to gain valuable insights. Prepare open-ended questions that encourage people to share stories and experiences rather than simple yes/no responses. Create a comfortable, conversational environment where participants feel safe being honest.

Free tools like Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams make remote interviews straightforward, though in-person conversations can sometimes feel more natural for participants.

Customer service form analysis

Forms that your service users or supporters complete, for example on a website, can provide a really rich source of insights. Take a sample of recent ones and then analyse them to see if there are things that people are providing feedback on or asking questions about on a regular basis.

An extension of this would be to see what comments you might be receiving on social media that contain useful information.

Frontline internal stakeholders

In a similar vein, consider who within your organisation has regular conversations with service users, supporters and other key audiences, whether that’s on the phone, via an online chat or face-to-face.

These stakeholders can hold a wealth of information and knowledge, so make the most of this by extracting this from them. One simple and free way to do this would be to arrange a session to create a set of Empathy Maps for key audience ‘personas’. This will allow you to capture insights directly from a group of stakeholders, then you can validate these with other research methods to remove any bias or assumption.

Website and behaviour analytics

Analytics show you how supporters actually use your digital platforms, revealing patterns in navigation, popular content, and points where people disengage or abandon processes.

Google Analytics (free) provides comprehensive data about visitor behaviour, traffic sources, and conversion paths. Microsoft Clarity (free) offers heatmaps and session recordings showing exactly how users interact with your pages. Hotjar (free tier available) combines heatmaps, recordings, and feedback tools in one platform.

Look particularly for high drop-off points in donation or sign-up processes, popular content that resonates with your audience, and navigation patterns that reveal how people actually move through your site versus how you expected them to.

Practical tips for getting started

Here’s my top tips when it comes to getting user research off the ground:

• Start small and build momentum. One method with 5-8 participants is far better than no research at all, and it helps you develop skills and confidence before scaling up.
• Use the people you already have access to. Your newsletter subscribers, recent donors, active volunteers, and social media followers are often willing to help when approached thoughtfully. Explain why their input matters and how it will improve your charity’s work.
• Always record sessions (with explicit permission) so you can focus on the conversation rather than frantic note-taking. Video recordings from interviews or usability tests allow you to catch insights you might miss in the moment.
• Take notes throughout your research and look for patterns across multiple participants. One person’s opinion is interesting; three or four people experiencing the same issue is a pattern worth addressing.
• Don’t wait for perfect conditions. Getting started with imperfect research is better than endless planning. You’ll learn by doing, and each project will improve your skills.
• Involve team members in observing sessions when possible. Watching real people interact with your website or hearing their motivations firsthand is far more impactful than reading a summary report. It builds empathy and shared understanding across your team.
• Make interactions conversational and comfortable. People provide better insights when they feel relaxed and valued rather than studied or judged.
• Offer appropriate thanks. This doesn’t always need to be monetary – a heartfelt thank you, updates on how their feedback was used, or a small token of appreciation often suffice.

Making sense of your findings

Don’t wait until all research is complete to start analysing. Organise insights as you go, noting interesting quotes, patterns, or surprises immediately after each session while they’re fresh.

Look for themes that emerge across multiple participants. Individual experiences are valuable context, but patterns indicate more widespread issues or opportunities. Create a simple spreadsheet or document where you can group similar insights together.

Develop straightforward findings reports that include key insights, memorable quotes that illustrate points, and clear recommendations for action. Use screenshots or photos where they help illustrate findings, particularly for usability issues.

Share findings with your broader team in accessible formats. Not everyone needs to read a detailed report – sometimes a presentation or workshop discussing key insights is more effective.

Consider creating simple user personas based on your research – profiles representing typical supporters that help your team keep real people in mind when making decisions. These should be based on actual research patterns, not assumptions.

Free tools for organising and sharing research include Notion, Google Docs and Sheets, and Miro (free tier). These platforms make it easy to collaborate on analysis and share findings across your organisation.

Turning research into action

Research without action wastes everyone’s time. The goal isn’t to produce reports – it’s to improve experiences for your supporters and outcomes for your cause.

Use insights to inform specific decisions about website improvements, communication strategies, or campaign approaches. Prioritise findings based on potential impact and feasibility. Not everything can be addressed immediately, but focus on changes that will meaningfully improve supporter experiences.

Test changes and measure results. User research should be cyclical – implement improvements, then research again to see whether they worked as expected and what new opportunities or issues emerge.

Build research into your planning from the start. Rather than treating it as an occasional project, make it an ongoing practice that informs decisions at every stage. Even quick, informal research is better than none.

Start establishing a rhythm of regular research activities. This might be monthly usability testing, quarterly supporter interviews, or annual surveys. Consistent research helps you stay connected to evolving supporter needs rather than relying on increasingly outdated assumptions.

Key takeaways

In conclusion, user research doesn’t require large budgets, specialist teams, or advanced expertise. What it requires is a commitment to listening systematically to the people who interact with your charity.

Here’s the key takeaways for you to consider:

• Start small with one method and 5-8 participants, using free tools and supporters you already have access to.
• Focus on gathering insights about real needs and behaviours, rather than confirming existing assumptions. Look for patterns across multiple participants and translate findings into concrete actions that improve supporter experiences.
• Remember that even basic research delivers value. Five thoughtful interviews reveal far more than fifty opinions gathered casually. The goal isn’t perfection – it’s systematic listening that grounds your decisions in reality rather than guesswork.
• Make research an ongoing practice rather than a one-off project. Build it into your planning processes, involve your team in observing and analysing insights, and create a culture where user needs drive decisions.
• Most importantly, research should ultimately serve your mission. Better supporter experiences lead to more effective fundraising, stronger volunteer engagement, and ultimately greater impact for the cause you serve. User research is simply the systematic practice of ensuring you’re truly serving the people who make your work possible.

If you’re looking for support in getting a user research programme established, or want a trusted partner to run it for you, then contact us today to learn more.