Client A: Software as a Service (SaaS) Startup*

I was the Project and Research Lead on this three-month engagement, part of a two-person strategy team building the Client’s brand value proposition and messaging strategy. We collaborated with a half dozen architects, designers, and developers from the Client’s web design agency so that our insights could seamlessly inform the new site redesign. We needed to move quickly, as the Client was at a crucial point in their growth and was trying to secure more venture capital in Silicon Valley and beyond. Telling their story clearly to potential users and investors was critical.

The software itself had the power and sophistication to make end users’ jobs easier and more effective, but telling that story could be challenging. Their market was complex, with multiple stakeholders involved in adopting, deploying, and using the product.

Below is an example artifact from my research:

Methods Used

• Competitive analysis of websites and messaging
• Interviews
• Field research (I conducted ethnographic observation with end users and their bosses)
• Online user study (I designed and moderated online discussion activities using FocusVision’s Revelation tool, interacting with users in real time)
• Secondary qualitative/quantitative research (the timeframe and budget was tight, so I tracked down industry studies that could enrich our findings with additional survey data on the user base)

Learnings

One of my favorite parts of this project was moderating the online user study. I felt humbled to converse with participants as they shared their daily struggles and deepest inspirations on the job. When they told me why they do what they do, and what keeps them going on the toughest days, it provided rich examples of what resonates with them emotionally.

My team used collaborative work sessions and Post-It exercises to find patterns and narrative themes in what we observed users thinking, feeling, and doing. I drafted these into insights, which we in turn distilled into actionable strategies. The web team joined us at the Client presentation, and the strategies set the tone for the new brand proposition, content strategy, and UX. The Client loved them all. They quickly leveraged them to complete a successful multi-million dollar Series A funding round.

Personally, this research taught me a lot about enterprise software users and the unique challenges they face in getting the right tools to do their jobs. First: Even if they can pick tools, the deployment is usually outside their control; their bosses need to be able to understand its value, too. Second: Competitors spend a lot of time designing and marketing based on features that are ultimately table stakes, rattling off the same old benefits and schmaltzy platitudes. The users helped us see that the features were a means to an end for them. What matters most to these users is automating low-value tasks to free themselves up to connect emotionally with the humans they feel called to serve.

 

Client B: Large specialty physician society with >50,000 members*

As the society’s sole UX researcher, by interest and necessity I had built good working relationships with my colleagues in other departments. Staff from both membership service and the society’s museum informed me that within a few days, we had a rare visit from a group of 20 residents touring the museum. This was especially exciting because while residents were the future of the society’s membership, little was known about them. They were notoriously busy and hard to reach. Now, we had 30 minutes (total) with a huge group of them.

How might one researcher seize this chance to learn more about the next generation of the profession, and on short notice? By creating an ad hoc research team, that’s how.

Methods Used

Interviews: I wrote an interview guide and led a brief training meeting with about a dozen colleagues from across the organization. Most had never done any kind of interviewing before, let alone UX research, so I gave them a crash course on the basics of facilitating a small group interview. We paired them up so that one staffer would lead the discussion with around 4-5 students or program directors, while the other person took notes. When our 30 minute slot arrived on visit day, the pairs ran with it, stayed on time, and came away energized and informed. 

Journey mapping: I held a separate journey mapping workshop with the ad hoc researchers to teach them the method and build a quick version of a resident journey based on what we gathered. It was especially challenging for me to lead this because I was new to medical associations, and my primary understanding of medical residency had come from binge-watching the sitcom Scrubs. As it turns out, my colleagues felt similarly because they tended to work with more established members, rather than residents. 

I encouraged them to let go of making a complete or 100% accurate map on the first pass — none of us had the knowledge base to do that. But together, we had just enough to make a large wall-sized journey map that others could react to. 

Validation: Over the next three months, I presented the map to staff, member leaders and regular members wherever possible: at the board meeting, staff meetings, the big annual meeting. I posted it on the wall in my department to stimulate curiosity from those who hadn’t participated. We gave subject matter experts sticky notes and encouraged them to mark up their input and corrections. What’s missing? What should be changed? They helped fill in those gaps and describe nuances.

Learnings and Results

• All staff got to build empathy for the experiences of residents and the program directors who support them.
• Staff learned new skills and got to participate in UX research for the first time.
• We realized how little we knew of the training phase all our physician members had to go through. Our journey map showed exactly where those gaps were, and provided a conversational artifact others could build on.
• Residencies may come in different sizes and settings, but there’s a universal cadence to the workload, exams, and major milestones all residents experience.
• Program directors were stretched thin in overseeing everything from recruitment to their residents’ mental and financial wellbeing. They had specific, urgent needs for which no outside person or group was currently offering solutions; by serving them better, we could build support for membership retention down the road.
• Based on the needs our study uncovered, the society created a brand-new department of three staff to focus solely on outreach to residents and their program directors. (It even included some of our ad hoc facilitator alumni.)
• Additionally, our communications team shifted their timing and content strategy to better align with the cadences of residency life. 
• Post-residency member retention had been a persistent challenge, and this project began the process of unpacking the real causes. This and subsequent studies led to the design and launch of a new membership product to mitigate such attrition and grow membership further.

* Identifying details have been removed to preserve confidentiality. Please contact me with any questions.