Insights Unlocked

Welcome to Insights Unlocked, a new podcast from UserTesting. If you’ve listened to and followed our past shows, the Human Insights Podcast and UXpeditious, you will also love Insights Unlocked.Each episode brings you quick, insightful stories and interviews on how successful digital products and experiences are built and delivered through customer insights–from concept through execution.Every Monday we deliver you a 25-minute conversation packed with smart insights and ideas from innovative thinkers, leaders and practitioners across the digital experience industry. Hear how brands like IKEA, Grammarly, Atlassian and Capital One among others are tackling experience research challenges. 

Jonathan Alloy is Vice President of Customer Experience and Innovation Consulting at Publicis Sapient; he's a transformative, innovative, and inclusive business and technology leader with both corporate and academic experience on his resume. In this episode Jonathan shares several tactical steps design, product and CX leaders can take to thoughtfully and effectively scale UX.  

Tomer Sharon is the Co-founder and Chief Experience Officer of anywell. He’s had many professional achievements and worked in spirited companies like Google and WeWork. In this episode, we’re going to talk about one of his biggest contributions to user research, Atomic Research–a method of managing qualitative research knowledge in a more dynamic way. It helps teams across organizations share important findings quickly and across silos.

In this episode, Andy and Janelle recap the past season of the Human Insight Podcast.Thank you to all the listeners of the podcast, wherever you may be. And thank you to all the guests for making time for us and sharing their stories.

You will hear from C. Todd Lombardo, author of several books including Product Roadmaps Relaunched; Silicon Valley Product Group’s Christian Idiodi; Product School’s Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia, Harvard Business School’s Julia B. Austin, Radhika Dutt, author of Radical Product Thinking; Teresa Torres, author of Continuous Discover Habits, Ignition’s Karthik Suresh, and IDEO’s Iain Roberts. How the role of product management evolving How the product leader’s role has changed Key skills product managers need to be successful 3 fundamental characteristics that makes a great product manager What makes a great product team Three pillars of radical product thinking What is continuous discovery Why customer feedback is critically important to your success Key elements for a successful product launch How do you include execs in a design sprint How do you know when you have good product market fit The seven diseases of  of product strategy & development The future of product

What is Human Insight? What can you do with human insight? And how do you get started gathering human insight? Those are the big three questions the Center for Human Insight, presented by UserTesting, hopes to answer. “People tend to think of user tests as being something just tied to usability when in fact it's a way to get broad feedback on anything that you need to get reactions to or input on in real time,” said Michael Mace, VP of the Center for Human Insight. “And the range of things you can do with it, the range of things you can learn are just amazing. We want to bring that to life for everybody so that they see what you can do.”Mace along with Michael Domanic, Head of Solutions Partners at UserTesting; and Sean Treiser, Insights Strategist at UserTesting, were guests on this week’s episode of the Human Insight Podcast. In their conversation, they also discussed:  What is the Center for Human Insight Who is the center’s target audience How does someone submit an article or tip for gathering feedback to the center Links from the showCenter for Human InsightEmailing the center: centerforhumaninsight@usertesting.com

Customer onboarding is critical to the success of a business not just in activation, but in the long-term retention of those users.Typically, we think of the example of when we sign up a new customer and then onboard them on our product or service. But onboarding is more than that. You’ll need to re-onboard a once-every-few-months user every time they log on. And you’ll need to successfully onboard a customer every time you release a new product feature. “If you don't,” says Pulkit Agrawal, cofounder and CEO of Chameleon, “that feature won't get adoption activation, retention, and won’t be part of the reason why customers stick around.”Chameleon helps companies build better onboarding experiences. Agrawal was this week’s guest on the Human Insights Podcast, joining co-hosts Andy MacMillan and Janelle Estes. “User onboarding, while it's typically considered at the start of the product journey, really applies across the product lifecycle as you build functionality,” Agrawal said. “And in the world of product-led today, where really the companies that have the best products and the most usage in engagement are the ones that win, it's really vital that companies have a method, a process, a system and tooling to continue to onboard users onto features and continue to drive engagement adoption.”Listen to the episode and learn more about:  Why companies should focus on the why and not just the how with onboarding The importance of onboarding, especially in a usage-based pricing model How a friction log can help improve your customers’ onboarding experiences

Welcome to our second annual roundup of book recommendations from guests on the Human Insight Podcast. It is a good mix of books, covering creativity, money, innovation and product development. There is even a children’s book recommendation, as well as one for a newsletter.  Brave New Work by Aaron Dignan Gerrard: My Autobiography by Steven Gerrard Nudge: The Final Edition by Richard H. Thaler Jonathan Livingston Seagull: The Complete Edition by Richard Bach Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making by Tony Fadell The Gruffalo in Scots by Julia Donaldson The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by Dalai Lama The Marginalian by Maria Popova Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brené Brown The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness by Morgan Housel Birdgirl By Mya-Rose Craig End of Bias: A Beginning by Jessica Nordell Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky Permanent Record by Edward Snowden The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you by Rob Fitzpatrick Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace by Gordon MacKenzie The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing by Benjamin Graham Lean Enterprise: How High Performance Organizations Innovate at Scale by Jez Humble Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships by Marshall Rosenberg And don’t forget, our own User Tested and The Digital Experience Company.

Timothy Embretson is Global Vice President of Experience Design and Karolina Boremalm is Global Head of Design Operations at Ingka Group, IKEA’s largest retailer. In this episode, they discuss how they are leading a digital transformation at a major global retailer. Scaling the design organizations and helping to make the special in-person IKEA experience just as delightful when a person is shopping online.

Julia Austin is a strong advocate for feedback never stopping, whether she is pushing her students to get out and talk with customers or talking with business leaders. “I'll get this question, especially from founders early on, of ‘when do I stop talking to my customers and getting feedback and start building my product?,’” said Austin, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School’s Rock Center for Entrepreneurship where she currently teaches Startup Operations. “And I'm like, ‘Never ... You need to be talking to them all the time.”In this episode of the Human Insight Podcast, Austin joins UserTesting’s CEO Andy MacMillan and Chief Insights Officer Janelle Estes to discuss the importance of customer feedback, as well as:  What makes a great product manager? How do you know when you have product market fit? Her advice to legacy companies making the digital transition and developing new products or reinventing how their current products are offered in the marketplace?