Awkward Silences

Jon MacDonald, founder of The Good, shares insights on improving conversion rates through user research. He emphasizes giving customers what they came for, the importance of qualitative data, and the impact of targeted recruiting. Jon also discusses A/B testing, handling data overload, and optimizing e-commerce trends.

When Andrew joined Adobe back in November, he faced an interesting design challenge. How do you manage a vast library of help content, spanning tons of different products in different industries, so that users can easily find what they need to know to fix their problems? Andrew has learned a lot about leveraging the power of community to problem solve, experimenting with different formats to make technical explanations more accessible, and proving the value of great help content. Erin and JH chatted with him about how he positions help content to stakeholders, tackles creating content for products that have evolved from box software to the cloud, and uses research to focus on the right things at the right time. Highlights[1:43] Great product doesn't need as much help content, but people will always need help, and the more powerful your product is, the more help they will need.[8:53] By connecting customers with the right information through communities, they're 3x less likely to reach out to support for help.[10:59] Early engagement = better retention, so Adobe segments out its customers to focus on what gets them started.[13:35] Adobe has segments and chapters to keep everyone on the same page and communicating well.[25:20] People who get value from help content actually end up having a higher lifetime value. It's all about trust and mutual respect.[27:41] How Adobe creates help content for different languages and cultures.[32:09] How Andrew is thinking about simplifying solutions, and making help content work smarter, not harder[37:58] Help content and product can work together to create even better solutions for users.[39:32] Quantitative information can tell you what some of the issues are, while qualitative can help your team dig deeper into why they're there[43:03] Building out recommendations for other things you may be looking for helps your help content build a story for the user. 

Jonathon Hensley spends a lot of time creating strategies for businesses. So Erin and JH chatted with him about what's changed since COVID-19 and why alignment matters more than ever right now.  The takeaway? Everyone needs to be aligned around a common goal. They also need to understand how every project supports that larger goal. In a world that's moving faster than ever, user research is a pivotal part of making sure each effort is serving that goal well.Highlights[7:06] The key to individual alignment is clarity on your goals and purpose, and providing people with the ability to fulfill those things.[10:46] Coming into research with bias or trying to validate an idea you already have can be a sign of misalignment[16:46] Right now, people want something concrete. While making a plan can feel good now, having a strategy and goals you're clearly aligned around is the key to long term, agile success.[25:13] Strategy is equating things to value and sharing values across your organization[30:47] The strategy, not the plan, will keep everyone working towards the same goals[37:52] If you can't afford to fail, research is one of the things that will ensure you don't.

Learn about the difference between being data-informed and data-driven, the importance of putting data in context, building data narratives, and navigating data interpretation in a misinformation age. Hear how Hannah Shamji approaches large amounts of data and works towards unbiased research while staying focused on answering her research questions.

Kate Moran, VP of Research & Content at Nielsen Norman Group, dives into the world of UX benchmarking. She simplifies the process of demonstrating design ROI and highlights its importance for getting stakeholder buy-in. Kate discusses how to choose the right metrics and differentiate between summative and formative studies. She shares real-world case studies, effective strategies for gauging task efficiency, and addresses audience questions on minimizing bias in research. A lively exploration of UX's quantitative side that combines learning with fun!

Sales demos are a great opportunity to get to know your customers. The person on the other end is interested in your product, looking for a solution to a problem, and likely have some pain points with their current solutions. That's why Jane Portman, co-founder of Userlist, uses demos as an opportunity to connect with potential customers, keep pain points top of mind, and learn how to make her product even better.  She chatted with Erin and JH about why she's doing customer research and sales demos at the same time, how constantly talking to customers helps her develop a better product, and how she came up with the podcast name UI Breakfast.  Highlights[2:16] During the MVP phase, all new customers had to go through sales demos to start using Userlist. [4:24] Making early customers go through demos ensured that Userlist's customers were all well informed about the capabilities and what to expect from the product.[5:49] How do you combine meaningful research with sales demos?[8:35] Because Jane and her team are talking to people all the time, they're learning as things change.[11:57] The specific questions Jane asks in her demo calls.[14:40] If something is coming up in calls all the time, you can't forget about it. Since Jane and her co-founder are always hearing about pain points, they can focus on building solutions before logging insights.[20:43] Asking your most active customers for feedback as you go is helpful for product teams who like to stay in touch with customers. [24:03] How do you stay objective when doing research in a demo?About our GuestJane Portman is the CEO & co-founder of Userlist and the host of the UI Breakfast podcast. She's passionate about helping founders connect with their customers and learning more about their stories. Recommended ReadingUser Onboarding: The Ultimate Guide for SaaS FoundersHow to Design and Conduct a Customer Interview

In this podcast, Aazar Shad, Head of Growth at Userpilot, shares how user research methods drive his growth strategy. He emphasizes the importance of connecting with target audience through secondary research, deep diving in user interviews for valuable insights, and using Slack notifications for timely interactions. By asking fewer but impactful questions and involving others in feedback reviews, he identifies trends with less bias, leading to continuous growth for Userpilot.

Learn from directors of user experience and research at a large insurance company about choosing the best ROI-driven research tools. Discover their insights on custom toolsets, streamlining user-centered design processes, and the efficiency gains from using accessible tools for the entire team.

After three failed MVPs, Jonathan Anderson and the team at Candu realized they needed a better strategy for understanding how users interact with their product. So they started doing some user interviews. And they kept doing them. Every day for a year before launching their product. Jonathan chatted with Erin and JH about what he learned from those interviews, how it changed the direction of his company, and how he went from a total newbie to a research pro.Highlights[5:36] Doing one interview a day every day keeps the Candu team curious about what the users have to say, rather than hearing the same things all in one day.[8:29] Jonathan and his team always ask users what they would expect the prototype to do.[11:34] How do you know when you've done enough interviews?[13:31] Creating low-fidelity designs to use, even if it's just drawing within Zoom, is incredibly helpful to Candu's design team.[15:51] After their third failed MVP, Jonathan and his team decided they need to make research a priority to build something truly great.[16:41] Candu built out a panel of trusted partners who gave great feedback and wanted to be a part of building something new. They supplemented this with new people to get great perspectives regularly.[21:55] When Jonathan started, he really didn't know how to do a user interview. Learning to step back from his excitement and be objective was important in evaluating feedback.[23:53] Jonathan shares his secret to identifying good research participants[26:12] Asking people about their process and how they currently solve thier problem can be illuminating, both for your process and finding the right people to interview.[29:02] Research shifted Candu's entire outlook as a company

This week on the pod, Erin and JH talk to Cat Noone, CEO of Stark, a suite of tools designed to help teams ship accessible work. They chatted about how accessibility is constantly evolving, what teams can do to get started, and inclusive design. Highlights[1:50] Accessibility is continually changing and evolving, so it's important to think of it that way.[3:01] Accessibility is a side effect of inclusive design.[12:59] Identify other people in your organization that may be able to work with you on accessibility and create a bridge between teams.[15:08] Accessibility helps everyone, and framing it that way can help teams to understand its importance.[23:09] Ethics change team culture, exposure changes executive's minds, profit and customer loss changes action. [31:11] If you can, speak up about having the tools to do your job well.