Process

As a part of the User Insights Program several discovery research projects were conducted. These projects were all interview-based with varying segments of customers depending on the information we were seeking. Each topic covered faced a fork in the road for our product team needing to gain clarity in order to understand how users would expect future functionality to work.

Each project was started with a Research Plan completed collaboratively with the researcher and product manager, including information such as timelines for research, type of research, segment of users to be targeted, script and expected output of research. Using MailChimp to access a list of customers that signed up for the User Insights Program, campaigns would be created and host date/time slots via Calend.ly for customers to participate. Once interviews were conducted, the results were synthesized down into common themes. Along with numerical data, user quotes and recommendations, all information was presented in a PPT presentation where anyone could access assets such as recordings or notes from the interviews.

Delivery

The outcome of each project was a PPT presentation containing distilled information from the research activities. These presentations were detailed, but concise and produced data in an easy to consume format. This information provided stakeholders with details for next steps related to Product Roadmaps, and directly impacted the prioritization of the backlog of work.

Follow Up

User stories for new or additional features we able to be concisely written with user insights in mind to ensure we were releasing functionality that was important to users. As these features went through design, we’d be able to follow up the designs with further testing with the same group and an expanded group of users to make changes as we moved through the design process before development.

Process

Two programs I have had the opportunity to implement are the User Insights Program and the Refresh Program. Each program solved a core business challenge and was implemented, expanded and adopted. Both programs were soft-launched to the business and run through test projects where lessons learned were used to refine the process until the programs became established enough to generate revenue and contribute to the business. Each program had a strategy in place to be successful.

Delivery

The User Insights Program gave a direct line to customers for the Product Team. This gave early insights to influence the roadmap, an outlet to run user testing to inform design decisions and any other research needed to support Product. This eased the burden of customer calls from the Customer Success Managers and supported Product decisions with direct input of what customers wanted to see in new and existing features. The Refresh Program successfully helped customers renew their digital workplaces when new vision, requirements or branding came into play. This gave them a variety of packages to easily choose from which reduced the number of custom SOWs needing to be written by Customer Success Managers. The ease of packages to choose from increased renewal rates amongst existing customers.

Iterations/Follow Up

In the early days of each program, many changes and updates were made to ensure long term success. Both the User Insights Program and Refresh Program successfully operate today within the organization under the guidance of their respective owners.