For starters there are a number of articles which call out the possiblity of doing User research on a low or non existent budget. A good article to start would be 10 Tips on Doing User Research with No Budget which has provides 10 different ways you can get research data without having to spend any of your budget.
To briefly quote some of the points in the article
- Use existing analytics. If you are redesigning a site or product, review all existing data on traffic patterns, errors, and any survey results since the product’s last launch. Get a sense for what is going right and what is going wrong with the existing product. Don’t expect a single point of contact on the client side to have all the information you need. Do the leg work and pull the data together.
- Add the call center to your list of stakeholders to interview. If your client has a call center, interview the call center employees. Observe the call center at work if you can, even just an hour is great. The call center knows better than anyone else in the business what the user problems and perceptions are. When you interview stakeholders, ask them about analytics. Try to make questions open-ended so the answers can surprise you. Surprise is good.
- Identify key scenarios. Once you’ve reviewed existing analytics and aggregated stakeholder requirements, you can begin to sketch out key user scenarios. Make sure these scenarios come with measures of success so you can plan to gather analytics for the next product launch. UX is cyclical – line up your next success early. Ground scenarios in the return on investment they can demonstrate.
- Mock-up the concept by any means necessary. Sketches, HTML prototypes, iRise, Axure, comps; use whatever works for your timeline and your team to get the concept to a point that it can be shared. It’s better to get user feedback too early than too late.
Another good article to look at the UX Myths article Myth #22: Usability testing is expensive which has this to say about conducting usablity testing
Many organizations still believe usability testing is a luxury that requires an expensively equipped lab and takes weeks to conduct. In fact, usability tests can be both fast and relatively cheap. You don’t need expensive prototypes; low-tech paper prototype tests can also bring valuable results. You don’t need a lot of participants either, even 5 users can be enough to test for specific tasks, and the recruiting can also be done guerilla-style. For many projects, you can even use remote and unmoderated tests.
I also strongly recommend looking at this article about how to conduct UX interviews on a low or non-existent budget to drive a better understanding of users. To quote the article
User interviews are also easy on a project budget. Other methods, like eye-tracking, usability testing, participatory design or even surveys, can use up budget hours. These types of field interviews are best used before a project really begins, but they can also happen during the interaction design phase. The key is to focus on quality over quantity in selecting the right users. One of your team members can conduct three user interviews in the course of a morning or an afternoon, and if you have designed good questions, your data should be easy to read without adding lots of hours of analysis time.
I also recommend looking at Hallway testing as a way to quick user evaluations and get an understanding of the challenges faced by the user base.
I also recommend looking at this question What ways to conduct user research quickly and cheaply are there? for additional inputs
I also recommend looking at this excellent article Five Techniques for Getting Buy-In for Usability Testing. To summarize the article
Start Testing Right Away Start testing. Start doing it right away. We’ve found there isn’t any one experience more beneficial to design teams than running a usability test. I’m still amazed by how quickly development team members recognize the benefits of usability testing once they’ve actually seen it in action.
Debunk the Myth that Usability Testing Is a Big Production One of the biggest obstacles design teams face when trying to sell testing is the perception that usability tests need to be a huge production.
The best way to tackle this resistance is by debunking the myth that testing has to be a big deal. Usability testing isn’t rocket science. The organizations that do the best job of incorporating usability tests into their existing process understand that testing is not a big deal.
The best organizations make usability testing a part of their everyday culture. To convince management that testing doesn’t need to be a huge production, we recommend design teams start simple. You can start by testing 3-5 users and disseminate that information throughout your organization.
Start Testing Early in the Process Many organizations are concerned that testing will disrupt project timelines because it may necessitate major design changes before launch.
However, time and time again, we find that design teams actually save time (and money) when they start testing at the beginning of a project. By finding usability problems very early on, teams prevent themselves from going in the wrong direction, leading to wasted time and resources.
The most successful teams have learned that the best way to create usable designs is to make informed decisions from the beginning of a project. They view testing as a technique to gather information to create great designs in a more timely and efficient way.
Involve Management and Stakeholders To get buy-in from team members and management, it’s essential to keep them involved. On every project, we suggest that stakeholders sit and observe at least one usability test. This will give team members the opportunity to observe first-hand the information gathered from tests.
Identify Your Organization’s Champions and Address Their Needs Finally, one of the best ways to get buy-in is to identify which members of your organization will benefit most from usability tests and recruit them as your Champions, assisting to rally other members of the organization
