A guide to doing user research for beneficial ownership systems

  • Publication date: 24 October 2024
  • Author: Open Ownership

Part one: Why you need to do user research

Why does user research matter?

There are many different people involved in the successful delivery of BO reforms, for example: the businessperson who needs to make a declaration about the ownership of their company; the administrator responsible for reviewing and approving that submission; and an investigator trying to piece together information about the company’s ownership.

All of these people are your users. In order to design a service that works for each of them, you will need to conduct user research. User research is the process of understanding the needs, behaviours, and attitudes of users to inform the design and development of products such as BO registries.

Conducting user research will enable you to build forms that businesses can understand and easily complete, improving your compliance rates and ensuring they submit high-quality data. It will also ensure your administrative colleagues can focus on their main tasks rather than having to find workarounds for difficult-to-use software.

Most importantly, it will help you understand who wants to use beneficial ownership information (BOI) and for what purpose – for instance, corruption investigators, anti-money laundering experts, procurement practitioners, investigative and business journalists, or academics – and how best to get it to them.

Without understanding the needs of all your users and building a service that works to meet these needs, your reforms will fail to meet any of the policy objectives they set out to achieve.

Conducting user research does not just mean testing your fully developed system with users before it goes live. Bringing in users from the outset – long before you even write one line of code – will help you better understand them and ensure you build a system that works properly from the start.

User research does not have to be a burden: in fact, doing it right the first time can save you time and money. It will also ensure that businesses can easily comply with the law and that the correct information, in the correct format, is available to people when they need it.

This guide is your roadmap to doing user research for your BO registers.

Common misconceptions about user research

Misconception: “We already know what we need to build.”

Reality check: A clear plan is important, but it should not be mistaken for understanding user needs and behaviours. Research can validate or challenge assumptions, and it helps ensure that what you intend to build aligns with real-world conditions and actual user requirements.

Misconception: “We already consult with experts and stakeholders, we don’t need to do research with users.”

Reality check: The people involved in expert consultations are not necessarily users, and they are definitely not representative of all users. The aim of consultation is to learn from the expertise of stakeholders or BO register experts, which can be helpful in understanding the subject and avoiding mistakes. However, most of your users will not have this same depth of knowledge, and so their perspective and needs may differ drastically from wider stakeholders. User research with a full range of potential users is the only way to discover what specific users need to do, and why they do it, so that your BO register can meet their specific needs.

Misconception: “Businesses are required to comply with the law and submit BOI, so their user experience with the BO register doesn’t matter.”

Reality check: When forms aren’t usable, compliance rates can suffer, and the data submitted can be poor quality. Unclear language and a lack of hints or instructions can lead to businesses not understanding what information they need to submit. Poor structure might mean they cannot properly represent their ownership chain. If honest businesses submit bad data due to poor form design, it makes it even harder to spot those who are deliberately breaking the rules. Good user research can help you minimise these risks by ensuring you design a usable form with clear language and structure.

Misconception: “We just need to implement the law that has already been passed, it’s too late for user research.”

Reality check: Whilst it’s true that it would be best to conduct user research before or at the same time as legislative drafting in order to ensure user needs are properly represented in law, there is still value in conducting user research after it has passed. It’s never too late.

Misconception: “It’s too expensive; we don’t have the resources.”

Reality check: User research can be tailored to fit any budget and level of resources. It doesn’t require expensive tools or large numbers of participants. Even small-scale research can yield critical insights and create savings in the long run by preventing the development of ineffective features.

Misconception: “It will take too long; we have a strict deadline.”

Reality check: User research can be integrated into tight timelines by employing methods like surveys or short, targeted interviews. Skipping research will make it more likely that your first system will not meet user needs, requiring re-development that will either delay launch or take more time post-launch. Instead, timely insights will guide development, ensuring deadlines are met with a product that resonates with users.

Misconception: “We already test our forms, surely that’s all we need to do.”

Reality check: Testing is vital, but it’s just one part of user research. Discovery research will help you understand behaviours and needs that users themselves may not even be aware of. This can inform the design in ways that simple testing cannot.

Misconception: “Businesses will protest the BO data collection requirement if they are involved early in user research.”

Reality check: Early engagement of a small group of businesses can actually reduce resistance by making them feel heard and included. It will be especially effective if you frame your conversations around collaboration and input for mutual benefit. Even if businesses are unhappy with the law, the BO register should still be easy for them to use, which will lead to improved compliance rates.

Misconception: “We don’t have a framework to conduct user research from scratch.”

Reality check: Your existing structures actually offer a ready-made foundation for user research. In this guide, we will show you how to use stakeholder consultations, user workshops, and training sessions to gather insights. You can leverage these interactions to build a body of knowledge about your users’ needs and behaviours without starting from scratch.

Misconception: “We don’t have anyone trained as a user researcher.”

Reality check: That’s why we wrote this guide. With it, you can do user research yourself.

Next page: Part two: What you need to do and when you need to do it