Curiosity Tank

View Original

28 Ways to Articulate and Demonstrate UXR Strategic Value

michele ronsen

Looking for ways to articulate and demonstrate user research strategic value? Here are 28 different approaches.

It’s paramount to emphasize how the work directly contributes to the org’s success during the initial intake process and to reinforce these outcomes in both the share-outs and archives.

Contributes to Strategic Goals​

  1. Align with Business Objectives: Clearly link UXR activities to the org’s overarching business goals and objectives.

  2. Guide Product Roadmaps: Use insights to inform and prioritize the product roadmap.

  3. Inform Marketing Strategies: Leverage UXR to refine marketing efforts.

  4. Support Expansion: Use research for successful new market entries.

  5. Enhance XFN Collaboration: Act as a bridge between departments with user insights.

  6. Validate New Concepts: Validate new ideas early in the dev process.

  7. Drive User-Led Innovation: Promote a user-led approach to innovation.

  8. Inform Content Strategy: Use learning to inform a content strategy that meets user needs.

  9. Future-Proof the Business: Anticipate future user needs and trends through forward-looking research.

  10. Foster Customer-Centricity: Promote a customer-centric product and service design approach.

Enhances the User Experience​

  1. Enhance UX: Show how research leads to more intuitive and delightful products.

  2. Increase Market Fit: Ensure proposed solutions align with market demands through research.

  3. Enable Personalization: Drive personalized experiences to increase engagement.

  4. Optimize User Journeys: Improve user journeys based on findings.

  5. Improve Onboarding Experiences: Use research to enhance user onboarding.

  6. Build Brand Loyalty: Ensure continuous meeting and exceeding of user expectations.

  7. Enhance Accessibility: Improve product and service accessibility.

  8. Catalyze Organizational Learning: Share user insights across teams to enhance knowledge.

Drives Tangible Business Benefits​

  1. Quantify Impact: Quantify the impact of UXR on business metrics.

  2. Improve Customer Retention: Use research to identify and solve pain points that drive retention.

  3. Reduce Dev Costs: Identify issues early to avoid costly revisions.

  4. Facilitate Agile Development: Integrate research into agile cycles for quick, iterative feedback.

  5. Strengthen Competitive Advantage: Differentiate offerings through deep user understanding.

  6. Reduce Risk: Make data-driven decisions to reduce failure risks.

  7. Optimize Performance/Conversion: Apply findings to improve conversion rates.

  8. Reduce Customer Support $$: Address usability issues and FAQs to lower support costs.

  9. Empower Product Teams: Equip teams with insights for informed decisions.

  10. Cultivate Customer Advocacy: Meet user expectations for increased advocacy and referrals.

Categorizing the contributions of UXR in these ways allows orgs to see the multifaceted value that a user research team brings, from aligning with strategic goals and enhancing the user experience, to driving direct business benefits. Pick and choose your metrics!

Upcoming Events​

​From Data to Difference: Purpose-Driven User Research​

If you're interested in broadening your user research skills or seeking job opportunities in social impact, this event is for you. Whether you're considering how to align your personal values with your research role or thinking about transitioning into the purpose-driven, social impact, or non-profit sectors, we've created this gathering with your goals in mind.

"From Data to Difference: Purpose-Driven User Research" isn't just an event; it's a networking opportunity for people eager to explore, learn more, and engage with like-minded researchers in this meaningful domain.

Please join us on April 2nd at 4pm PT and recorded. Join us live, or not. Discounts are available for those impacted from the layoffs. Register and learn more here.

​UXR Fundamentals: Interactive workshop with tools, templates and Q&A​

Despite what many might think, getting to the heart of user experiences isn’t easy. It’s a cerebral adventure that requires preparation, innovative methods, artful interviewing skills, sharp analysis, and empathy.

This two-part workshop will show you the massive difference between customer and sales calls versus proper user research (ahem, PMs and Designers!), teach attendees about the primary tools and processes trained professional researchers employ, and why. We’ll also discuss what goes into effective research plans, why plans are critical, the key to crafting research questions that unearth meaningful insights, and much more.

This workshop uses a combination of engaging lectures. and interactive in-class exercises. Ample time for Q&As is incorporated and questions are strongly encouraged.

Michele taught this workshop at General Assembly over 50 times!

Please join us on April 9th/10th! Registrants can attend live or watch the recorded replay. All registrants will receive the recorded replay, whether attending live or not, as well as some Curiosity Tank "Ask Like A Pro" resources. Discounts are available for those impacted from the layoffs. Register and learn more here.

Speak up, get involved, and share the love!

And that’s a wrap!

We try to alternate between a theme and UX/UXR jobs, events, classes, articles, and other happenings every few weeks. Thank you for all of the feedback. Feedback is a gift, and we continue to receive very actionable input on how to make Fuel Your Curiosity more meaningful to you.

What do you think? We're constantly iterating and would love to hear your input.​

Stay curious,

- Michele and the Curiosity Tank team

PS: How do you demonstrate user research strategic value? Reply here and share your thoughts with us!