How do you ensure your users get the best value from your product?

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Many farmers love the idea of digital products and software helping to make their job easier and assist with retrieving key data and insights. However, these technologies are only valuable when they’re consistently and accurately utilising them.

For example, the agtech app, MyHERD helps dairy farmers record their herd and interpret data for more effective decision-making. However, it requires regular manual inputs from farmers for the technology to be truly beneficial. The key challenge users face with this type of application is staying on top of data input. If farmers don’t form good habits and aren’t vigilant with entering data, the app won’t provide value to them.

How do we help users form better habits with agritech products and ensure they keep engaging?

It’s a tricky question because every situation is different; however, here are some considerations that could help.

Discover how you can integrate the use of technology into their daily lives.

Learning how technology can be integrated into your users’ daily lives puts them at the forefront of your digital solution. Get to know your users by being a fly on the wall and observing them without influencing their actions to spot opportunities. The importance of getting to know your users is not to be underestimated. It can provide a wealth of information that you can utilise to help differentiate and tailor your product to their needs.

Often agritech applications are used in the field with various external factors to consider, such as weather conditions, internet connection, and what’s happening around them. Pay attention to how much time your user has to record data before they move on to the next animal. Input design should allow the most important information to be entered as efficiently as possible.

There are several benefits for user observations, including:

• Validating your product design and if it’s meeting your user’s needs and expectations.
• Discovering if your users engage with your product as intended.
• Identifying opportunities for improvement, signs of frustration, confusion, or if the task is quick and easy to implement.
• Getting a genuine understanding of your user’s habits and picking up on overlooked details.
  

Learn more about the User Observation method and what the process involves.

Remind users with prompts.

Send reminders to users to complete missing data entries. Having prompts like this can ensure they are maximising the value of your digital product. 

It’s helpful to tailor reminders to your user. For example, if they usually carry out their tasks in the afternoon, then there’s no point in setting the prompts for the morning. The ability for users to set reminders that work with their schedule will create a more customised approach.

User prompts are a great way to encourage better habits with technology, leading to the product adding more value to the user and keeping them engaged.

Tap into automation.

Think about whether there are ways to automate tasks for your digital solution. If your product’s success solely depends on how users use your product, then you can cross into risky territory. Users need to be vigilant with data input to get the best value from your product. 

Are there any manual inputs that can be collected via hardware? For example, instead of weighing an animal and then manually inputting the weight, you could integrate with electronic scales that can send the data straight to the animal’s profile. Alternatively, instead of a user needing to go outside and record the rain gauge, you could integrate it with a weather monitoring station that will automatically take rainfall data and send it to your product. This approach will ensure you are shifting the focus from being a product-focused company to a solution-focused company.

Your product should make the lives of your users easier.

To ensure your users get the best value from your agritech solution, you should consider how you can integrate technology into their daily lives by incorporating prompts and exploring automation. These are just a few ways to help users form healthy habits with your technology.

It’s important to remember that your product should enable your users to complete their jobs more efficiently. If it requires the same effort that users already put in, chances are they’ll not want to adopt or migrate to your platform to get the job done.

To learn more about how UX plays a vital role in agriculture, check out this article.