When You Can't Reach Your Users: The Power of Proxy Users in UX Research

The Limitations (And How to Work Around Them)

Bias and Misrepresentation

Proxy users bring their own perspectives and biases. They might identify problems that don't actually affect your target users (false positives) or miss issues that real users would encounter (false negatives).

Solution: Always triangulate proxy user insights with other data sources and validate key findings with actual users when possible.

Surface-Level Insights

Proxy users can't replicate the emotional, cognitive, or experiential depth of your actual users. Their insights might lack the nuance that comes from lived experience.

Solution: Use proxy users for initial discovery and obvious usability issues, but rely on actual users for complex workflow validation and emotional response testing.

Internal User Limitations

Employee proxy users might hold back criticism or have unrealistic expectations based on their internal knowledge of system limitations.

Solution: Create safe spaces for honest feedback and consider using newer employees who haven't yet developed internal biases.

Best Practices for Success

1. Be Clear About Your Trade-offs

Understand what you're gaining and losing when you use proxy users. They're not perfect substitutes – they're strategic compromises.

2. Match Proxy Type to Research Goals

Need domain knowledge? Use expert proxies. Want to test basic usability? Similar-characteristic proxies work well. Looking for workflow validation? You probably need actual users.

3. Plan for Validation

Build validation with real users into your research timeline. Use proxy insights to form hypotheses, then test those hypotheses with your actual target audience.

4. Recruit Strategically

The relationship between proxy users and your target audience matters. Closer relationships generally yield better insights.

The Bottom Line

Proxy users aren't a perfect solution – they're a pragmatic one. In an ideal world, we'd always have unlimited access to perfectly representative users. In the real world, we work with constraints: tight timelines, difficult-to-reach populations, and limited budgets.

The key is being strategic about when and how you use proxy users. They're excellent for early-stage discovery, quick validation, and basic usability testing. They're not ideal for complex workflow validation, emotional response testing, or final design validation.

Remember: some user research is better than no user research. When faced with the choice between skipping research entirely or using proxy users, choose the proxies. Just be smart about interpreting and validating their insights.