What is the primary purpose of user stories in UX design?

User stories play a crucial role in UX design by centering the focus around the actual experiences and needs of users. The primary purpose of user stories is to encapsulate the most critical user needs that must be resolved, usually framed in a simple and direct manner that highlights what the user wants to achieve and why it matters to them.

By prioritizing user needs, user stories help designers and their teams maintain a user-centered approach throughout the design process. They encourage understanding of the user's perspective and the context in which they will be using the product or service. This ensures that the end results are solutions that enhance user satisfaction and effectively solve real problems users face.

Other options, while relevant in different aspects of product and marketing strategy, do not reflect the fundamental aim of user stories. Technical specifications focus on the functionality and requirements needed for development, stakeholder feedback emphasizes gathering opinions rather than defining user needs, and detailed user profiles for marketing purposes tend to center on demographics and behaviors rather than distilling user needs into actionable insights, which is the essence of user stories.