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User research is a support system. With that support, we help our teams:

• Mitigate risky decisions

• Highlight the most important pain points and unmet needs

• Narrow the scope of possible solutions for a problem or unmet need

• Make more user-centric decisions

• Generate empathy and curiosity toward users

If you think about your user research as a product, those are the goals you try to achieve with your research studies. You are attempting to help teams make less risky, more user-centric decisions and also alleviate the pain point of trying to create meaningful products without a user’s perspective.

Our research is meant to boost our teams, empower them, and enable them to make the best decisions they can, given the information in front of them. This is the crux of user research and, often, one of the most important parts of our job.

When I was earlier in my career, I struggled so much with writing insights. I spent more hours Googling what insights were than writing them (and trust me, I spent many, many hours writing insights). They were an enigma, something that was meant to be magical, motivating, realistic, relevant, and concise.

It seemed nothing I wrote could come close to what everyone called an “actionable insight” (I hate the word actionable, by the way, because it is just such a vague word I tripped over for years). Yet, I also couldn’t find any concrete examples of insights seeing as most of them are kept locked away and confidential. The only real examples I found were ones I didn’t want to replicate. And, while it’s helpful to know what not to do, it doesn’t fully guide you in best practices.

Similar to my first personas and journey maps, my insights fell flat. They didn’t inspire great action and help teams make better decisions. They kind of just relayed the facts of the situation with subjective, vague language.

And, repeatedly, I was disappointed in my work. I felt like I wasn’t filling the full potential of my role and doing what user researchers are meant to. After some time, I decided to dive deeper into researching user research insights and create something that felt good for me, and that helped my teams in all the ways I strived to.

What is a user research insight?

Because it’s more interesting and fun, let’s start with defining all the things that a user research insight isn’t. There are a lot of terms floating out there that seem to get lumped together or used interchangeably with the word insight. Let’s take a closer look at these words and what they mean, independent of the word “insight.”

1. An observation. An observation, on its own, is not an insight because it cannot tell us why a person is acting in that way. It is simply something you observed happen without additional context surrounding it.

2. Quantitative data trends. Data trends tell you a lot about what actions users are taking on a product and can also highlight important trends in behaviors, as well as metrics. However, quantitative data doesn’t help explain why something is happening.

3. A fact. When we simply state a fact, such as “users have a lot to juggle at their jobs” or “participant one has poor eyesight,” we aren’t doing any justice to our projects. Facts are often well-known and lack a high degree of context, and that context is hugely important to insights.

4. A bug. Something wrong with the product isn’t an insight, but rather a bug that needs to be fixed. A bug is very product-centric, which is different from insights.

5. A finding. If you have information that will solve something today but won’t have a significant impact in the future, that is most likely a finding, not an insight. A finding typically doesn’t have a big consequence (we will get to define that word later) and is more on the shallow side. You typically have a lot of findings in evaluative research, such as usability tests.

6. A preference or wish. When a participant says, “I would love this feature...” you can’t use this as an insight. Dig deeper into why they want the particular feature to understand the outcome they desire. This outcome is the underlying motivation and is much more valuable (and closer to an insight) than a feature wish.

7. An opinion. Opinions are trickier than the above. When a participant expresses their opinion on something, that isn’t necessarily an insight. If a participant says, “Apple products are much better than Microsoft products,” that doesn’t really tell us much, does it? Similar to preferences and wishes, we need to dig deeper to expose the root of this opinion for it to get into the realm of an insight.

To demonstrate this a bit more clearly, let’s take a look at some of the insights I’ve written in the past that are less than ideal and break them down into these categories. This was when I was working at a hospitality b2b company, and we were also exploring residential properties as potential customers. Here is a screenshot from a report I wrote way back when:

Yes, I titled these as “insights.” Feel free to laugh — they make me laugh too. Or, if these look a lot like your insights, know that you aren’t alone! Writing insights is super hard work, and it takes a lot of practice. So, let’s rip my insights apart.

In the rest of the article, I break down what an insight is (and isn’t), using my own painfully bad “insights” from an old report as examples, then show the exact model I use to write insights that actually help teams make better decisions. Paid subscribers get:

• A clear definition of what a user research insight is (and what it’s for)

• A blunt breakdown of what an insight is not (observation, trend, fact, bug, finding, preference, opinion)

• Real examples of “bad insights” and why they fail your team

• The components that make an insight land: key learning → why → consequence

• A simple way to spot when you actually have an insight (four signals to look for in your data)

• The prework that makes insight-writing easier: quick stakeholder interviews + what to ask

• A lightweight satisfaction survey you can send after projects, with sample questions

• Two fully worked insight examples from generative travel research (package deal anxiety; price volatility distrust)

• A finding vs. insight comparison (with a rewritten version that shows how consequence changes everything)

Exclusively for paid subscribers

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You’ve run a study. You’ve got a deck. There are insights. Quotes. Maybe even a juicy clip or two. And yet something’s off. No one’s acting. Your team smiles politely, mumbles something about “circling back,” and then your findings drift into the digital void.

We’ve all been there.

It’s not that your work wasn’t good. It’s that no one, including you, had a clear way to know if it worked. That’s where success metrics come in.

We’re not talking about KPIs like "# of insights generated" or "level of excitement in the room." We’re talking about hard, clear signals that your research did something.

This article breaks down:

• What success metrics actually mean in user research

• How to pick the right ones

• How to track them (without turning into a PM)

• How to use them to grow your influence, your visibility, and your budget

And yes, B2B, B2C, and internal impact examples are all here.

Stop piecing it together. Start leading the work.

The Everything UXR Bundle is for researchers who are tired of duct-taping free templates and second-guessing what good looks like.

You get my complete set of toolkits, templates, and strategy guides. used by teams across Google, Spotify, , to run credible research, influence decisions, and actually grow in your role.

It’s built to save you time, raise your game, and make you the person people turn to—not around.

→ Save 140+ hours a year with ready-to-use templates and frameworks

→ Boost productivity by 40% with tools that cut admin and sharpen your focus

→ Increase research adoption by 50% through clearer, faster, more strategic delivery

Grab the Everything UXR Bundle

Define What “Success” Means Before You Start

(No, “We learned a lot” doesn’t count)

If you’re anything like I was in my first few years, you probably run a research project, wrap it up, send the findings around, and then stare at your Slack hoping someone tells you it was useful.

If you wait until the end of a project to figure out what success looks like, you’ve already lost the chance to shape it. Success isn’t the presentation. It’s what changes afterward.

Here’s how to figure out what success actually means for your research, before you even write your first interview question.

Step 1: Ask the only question that matters

Before you build a screener or open a FigJam, ask your main stakeholder one thing:

“What decision are you trying to make?”

If they say something vague like “We just want to understand our users better,” push again. That’s not a decision. That’s a vibe. Keep digging. Say:

• What’s something you’re stuck on right now?

• What are you debating in your team meetings?

• Is there something that feels risky about what you’re building?

You’re looking for a moment of clarity. A real fork in the road. A choice they need to make but don’t feel confident making yet.

B2C example:

You’re talking to the product lead for a mobile meditation app. They say they want to understand their users better. You ask again:

“Is there a feature you’re debating?”

They say they’re unsure whether to invest in sleep stories or morning focus playlists next quarter. Boom. There’s your decision.

B2B example:

You’re working with a SaaS platform for accountants. The PM wants to “make the dashboard more intuitive.” You ask:

“What do you need to decide?”

They say they’re debating whether to hide advanced filters by default. That’s your research target.

Internal/organizational example:

You’re working inside a company on the design system team. A designer says, “We’re getting feedback that the spacing tokens are confusing.” You ask:

“What do you need to decide?”

They say, “We don’t know if we should rename the tokens or run workshops to teach them.”

Great. Now we’ve got something specific.

Step 2: Turn the decision into a success question

Once you’ve found the real decision, translate it into a success question. Think of this like writing the headline for your project before it starts. It should sound like this:

• Did we clarify the decision?

• Did the team feel confident picking a direction?

• Did the research unlock a concrete next step?

If you want to go further, you can even write it as a fill-in-the-blank sentence:

“This research will be successful if it helps the team ___________.”

Let’s use the examples from above.

B2C – Meditation app:

“This research will be successful if it helps the team choose between sleep stories and morning playlists for Q3 prioritization.”

B2B – Accountant dashboard:

“This research will be successful if it gives the product team enough confidence to hide advanced filters by default, or shows that it would hurt workflows.”

Internal – Design system:

“This research will be successful if it helps the design system team decide whether to rename tokens or invest in onboarding.”

Step 3: Write it down in plain language

Put this success statement somewhere visible.

Don’t just keep it in your head. Don’t bury it in a Google Doc that no one will read. Write it at the top of your research plan. Pin it in your team’s Slack channel. Repeat it every time someone asks what you’re working on.

And during the readout? Put it on slide one. Then repeat it on slide ten. Then end with it on slide twenty. Seriously, people forget. You’re not being annoying. You’re making it stick. Here’s what that might look like in real life:

Slack message you can send at kickoff

“Hey everyone, quick recap before we start sessions. This research will be successful if it helps the team decide between focusing on morning playlists or sleep stories for Q3. I’ll be shaping the sessions around that question, so if anything shifts, let me know now!”

Top of your research plan

Study Goal: Help the team choose the next focus area for content (sleep vs morning). Success = clear recommendation backed by user evidence + action taken in Q3 planning.

Slide 1 of your readout

This study’s success = helping the team pick a direction.

Based on what we heard, here’s what we recommend and what to do next.

If you’re still stuck…

Ask yourself:

• “What would make this study feel worth it a month from now?”

• “If I wasn’t here, what decision might they make blindly?”

• “What’s the worst-case scenario if no one listens to this research?”

The answer to any of those questions will help you write a better success metric.

Pick the Right Type of Metric

Most metrics user researchers are told to track are either impossible to prove or completely disconnected from the actual work.

• “Number of studies run.” Great. And?

• “Number of hours spent interviewing users.” Who cares?

• “Number of insights shared.” Shared where? With whom? Did anyone do anything?

That’s why I only use three types of success metrics now. These are the ones that consistently tell me whether the research mattered. You only need to pick one per study. Just one. That’s it. But pick the right one.

Type 1: Decision Metrics

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You’ve spent weeks conducting interviews, analyzing data, and crafting insights that you believe could change the trajectory of your product. But when you share your findings, the response is… underwhelming. People nod politely, maybe ask a few questions, and then go back to business as usual. It’s frustrating, but it’s not uncommon.

The problem …

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User researchers love uncovering insights, but let’s be honest, tracking the impact of our work? That’s a different beast. If you’ve ever felt like your research disappears into a black hole after presenting it, you’re not alone. But if you want a seat at the strategic table, you need to show your value in ways that are undeniable.

This isn’t about vanity metrics or feel-good storytelling. It’s about hard data, real influence, and making sure your work leads to tangible product decisions. Here’s how to track impact like a pro, using a structured framework that aligns with your UXR Impact Tracker.

Step 1: Set Up Your Impact Tracker from the Start

Most user researchers make the mistake of thinking about impact tracking after the research is complete, by then, it’s too late. The key to ensuring your work drives real change is planning for impact before you even start.

If you don’t define success from the beginning, you’ll have nothing concrete to measure later and your research could be dismissed as “interesting but not actionable.” Let’s fix that.

Define What Success Looks Like

Before launching into research, pause and answer these critical questions:

• What is the problem this research is solving? (Be specific, don’t just say “improve usability” or “increase engagement.”)

• Who are the key stakeholders, and what decisions will they make based on this research?

• What specific metric, KPI, or business outcome will this research impact?

• How will we measure whether the research was successful in 3-6 months?

Without clear answers, your research may be valuable in theory but won’t drive real product changes.

Example: Good vs. Bad Goal-Setting

Bad Research Goal: “Improve the onboarding experience.” (Too vague!)

Good Research Goal: “Identify usability barriers in onboarding that prevent users from completing the setup process. Success will be measured by an increase in onboarding completion from 60% to 75% within 3 months of implementation.” (Clear and measurable!)

Log Your Research in an Impact Tracker

Once you’ve defined the goal, immediately document it in your UXR Impact Tracker. This ensures the research is tied to a tangible outcome from the start.

Set up a new entry in your tracker with these fields:

• Project name: Ensures clarity about what the research is for.

• Impact statement: Defines what success looks like in measurable terms.

• Research type: Specifies the type of study (usability test, survey, etc.).

• Stakeholders: Identifies who will use this research to make decisions.

• ROI type: Connects research to business impact (retention, cost savings).

Example entry:

Align with Stakeholders

To ensure research is used, you must get stakeholder buy-in before starting. This means having direct conversations with the people who will act on your findings.

Steps to take:

1. Schedule a 15-minute alignment meeting with key stakeholders (PMs, designers, leadership, engineers). Ask them directly:

   1. “What decisions do you need to make, and how will this research inform them?”

   2. “What’s the biggest risk if we don’t solve this problem?”

   3. “What kind of insights will be most useful for your team?”

Document their responses in the tracker under Stakeholders & Decision Needs.

Example:

• PM: “We need to know why 40% of users abandon onboarding after step 3. If we don’t fix this, we risk losing potential customers.”

• Designer: “We need usability feedback on the new dashboard layout before launching it.”

If stakeholders don’t feel personally invested in the research, they won’t use the results.

End every meeting with: “What would make this research a success for you?” Their answer will help you tailor insights to drive action.

Define What Type of Impact You’re Measuring

Not all research influences product changes immediately. Some research influences strategy while other studies drive immediate fixes.

The 3 Main Types of Research Impact:

1. Direct Product Impact: Research findings result in product changes, UI updates, or feature adjustments.

   1. Example: “Our study on checkout friction led to a redesigned payment flow, decreasing drop-off by 12%.”

2. Strategic Influence: Research shifts company priorities, informs a roadmap, or changes a long-term strategy.

   1. Example: “Our research showed that users prioritize speed over new features, leading leadership to invest in performance improvements.”

3. Operational/Process Impact: Research improves internal workflows, saves time, or enhances research efficiency.

   1. Example: “We streamlined participant recruitment, reducing turnaround time from 10 days to 4 days.”

Log the expected impact type in your tracker. This will help when measuring long-term results.

Example tracker entry:

Establish How You Will Measure Impact

Once research is complete, how will you know if it worked?

Every research project should have at least one measurable impact metric that is reviewed at 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months.

Possible metrics to track:

• If you’re researching a pricing page redesign, track conversion rates before and after implementation.

• If you’re testing a new signup flow, measure if more users complete registration after the update.

Set a reminder to check these metrics at 1, 3, and 6 months. If impact isn’t visible, follow up with stakeholders to investigate why.

Next steps

By now, you should have:

• Defined what success looks like before starting research

• Logged the project in an Impact Tracker

• Aligned with stakeholders on expected decisions and impact

• Identified the type of impact (product, strategy, or process)

• Defined how you will measure success and set check-in reminders

Go document your next research study in an Impact Tracker and align with a stakeholder.

Step 2: Ensuring Research Gets Seen and Used

You’ve done the research. You’ve gathered valuable insights. Now, the real challenge begins: making sure people actually use it.

One of the biggest reasons research fails to drive impact is because stakeholders don’t engage with it or don’t know how to act on it.

This step ensures your findings are not just read but discussed, referenced, and used in decision-making.

Choose the Right Format for Sharing Findings

Different stakeholders consume information in different ways. If you want your research to be actionable, present it in a format they will actually engage with.

Match the format to the audience

Steps to take:

1. Before creating a report, ask stakeholders:

   1. “What’s the most useful way for you to consume these insights?”

   2. “Would a summary, a deep dive, or a quick walkthrough be best?”

2. Structure insights in a way that answers their key questions:

   1. What’s the main problem?

   2. Why does it matter?

   3. What should we do about it?

3. Use clear, concise, and scannable formats:

   1. Avoid long paragraphs.

   2. Use bullet points and data highlights.

   3. If possible, create an “Actionable Insights” section at the top.

Example:

Bad:

“We conducted a usability test with 10 participants to understand how they interact with the onboarding flow. Several issues were identified, including confusion around step two, lack of guidance, and unclear terminology.”

Good:

“Users drop off at step two of onboarding due to confusion. 70% of participants didn’t understand the next action. To fix this, add a progress indicator and clarify step two’s instructions. If addressed, this could increase onboarding completion by 15%.”

Present Findings in a Discussion, Not Just a Document

If you only send a research report via email or Slack, there’s a good chance it will be skimmed or ignored.

Instead, schedule a research readout or discussion session where you can walk stakeholders through the insights and ensure they understand them.

How to run a research readout session:

1. Keep it short (15-30 minutes).

   1. Stakeholders have limited time. Focus on the most critical insights.

2. Start with the conclusion.

   1. Lead with the main takeaway, not the background.

3. Make it interactive.

   1. Ask stakeholders:

      1. “Does this align with what you expected?”

   2. “What questions does this raise for you?”

   3. “How can we apply this immediately?”

4. Have clear next steps at the end.

   1. Assign owners to actions.

   2. Get verbal commitments from PMs or designers on what they’ll do next.

Example agenda for a 20-minute readout:

A discussion ensures engagement. A report alone can be ignored, but a conversation forces action.

Track Stakeholder Engagement and Reactions

Once research has been shared, it’s important to track who engaged with it and how they responded.

If no one asks follow-up questions or discusses the findings, that’s a warning sign that the research is not being absorbed.

What to track in your impact tracker:

Example stakeholder engagement log

If you share findings and receive silence, take action:

1. Send a follow-up message:

   1. “I wanted to check in, do you see any immediate next steps based on these findings?”

2. Tie it back to roadmap goals:

   1. “Since this aligns with the Q2 roadmap, I want to make sure we discuss implementation.”

3. Set up a quick 10-minute sync:

   1. “Would a quick discussion help clarify anything? Happy to jump on a call.”

Why this matters: Research that isn’t engaged with won’t be acted on. Ensuring discussion and action is critical to making research impactful.

Assign Ownership and Next Steps

Even if stakeholders love the insights, research won’t drive impact unless someone is responsible for acting on it.

Steps to Take:

1. At the end of your readout, assign clear action items:

   1. “PM to update the roadmap to include X change.”

   2. “Designer to update UI elements based on findings.”

   3. “Engineer to investigate feasibility of the recommendation.”

2. Log these next steps in the Impact Tracker.

Example impact tracker entry for next steps

3. Follow up within 2-4 weeks.

   1. f no action has been taken, check in with assigned owners.

Without clear ownership, research can sit idle. Assigning responsibility ensures it turns into real changes.

Next steps

By now, you should have:

• Shared findings in the right format for your audience

• Presented research in a discussion, not just a document

• Tracked who engaged, what was said, and what actions were taken

• Assigned clear owners for next steps

Go back to your last research project and check:

• Was it shared in the most effective way?

• Did stakeholders engage with it?

• Are there clear next steps documented?

If not, adjust how you share research going forward.

Step 3: Measuring Impact Over Time

You’ve shared the research. You’ve got stakeholder engagement. But how do you prove the research actually made a difference?

This step is about tracking what happens after research is delivered, following up to ensure action is taken, and measuring long-term impact.

Most research impact doesn’t happen overnight. Stakeholders may agree with your findings, but implementation takes time. Without a structured follow-up process, research can get lost in the shuffle.

This step ensures that your insights turn into real changes and that you can quantify their impact.

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If you’ve ever spent weeks on a research report only to have stakeholders skim it, misinterpret it, or worse, ignore it entirely, you’re not alone.

No matter how great your research is, if you don’t communicate it well, it won’t have an impact.

This realization hit me early in my career when I spent three weeks crafting a beautifully detailed 30-page research report. I presented it to the product team with excitement, only to hear:

• “Can you summarize the key takeaways in a few sentences?”

• “So… what do you actually want us to do with this?”

• “I didn’t have time to go through everything, can we just chat?”

I was crushed. All that effort, and they weren’t even reading it. That’s when I realized I was structuring my reports the wrong way.

Fast forward to today, and I structure every single research report using The Pyramid Principle and it has changed everything.

Now, my reports don’t just get read. They drive real product decisions.

If your reports keep landing with a dull thud, it’s rarely the research and it’s usually the structure. Paid subscribers get the full Pyramid Principle system I use to write reports stakeholders can skim in two minutes. Inside the paywalled section, I share:

• my exact “first sentence” formulas (by study type)

• a copy/paste report skeleton with headings you can reuse every time

• a simple way to choose 2–4 “key arguments” without dumping your whole findings list

• examples of weak vs strong insight statements, rewritten into stakeholder-ready language

• how I package evidence so it reads like a case, not a data dump

• the “action plan” block that stops the “so what?” question before it shows up

• a finished example you can mirror for your next report

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Hello curious human

User research is often viewed as a practice that uncovers insights to enhance user experiences. While this is true, the role of a user researcher goes far beyond usability testing and interview synthesis. Strategic thinking and business acumen are critical to ensuring research has a tangible impact on an organization’s goals.

Without aligning research efforts with business objectives, insights risk becoming unused documents that never drive action. To make an impact, user researchers need to bridge the gap between research and business strategy, effectively positioning themselves as catalysts for innovation and growth.

If you’ve ever struggled with proving the value of your work or gaining stakeholder buy-in, understanding why and how research supports business growth is the key to unlocking new opportunities.

Strategic user researchers move beyond traditional roles of collecting insights and instead become active contributors to product development, customer success, and revenue growth.

This is exactly why I created the Impact Membership—to help user researchers like you align your efforts with business goals and position themselves as strategic leaders. Through the membership, you’ll gain the skills, mentorship, and tools needed to amplify your impact.

Let’s break down why developing a business-first mindset is critical for user researchers.

Influencing product and business decisions

User research is not just about uncovering insights—it’s about driving meaningful change that aligns with business goals and product strategy. If you’re struggling to get your research recognized, the key lies in strategic influence.

Influencing business and product decisions means being proactive, speaking the language of stakeholders, and positioning research as a critical component of business success. But how do you do that effectively?

Many researchers feel frustrated when their insights are ignored or when they see a lack of follow-through from stakeholders. The truth is, product teams and executives don’t dismiss research because they don’t value it—they dismiss it when they can’t see its direct connection to business goals.

Your research should answer questions like:

• How will this impact revenue?

• Will this improve user retention?

• Does this support our strategic business objectives?

If your insights don’t align with these priorities, they risk being perceived as “nice-to-have” rather than essential.

For example:

A user researcher at an e-commerce company conducted a study on mobile usability. Initially, their insights were dismissed as “too minor.” However, when they reframed their findings in terms of potential cart abandonment reduction and increased average order value (AOV), leadership took notice, and the proposed improvements were prioritized.

The way you present your research findings can determine whether they are acted upon or ignored.

Key challenges in influencing business and product decisions

Before we discuss how to influence decisions, it’s important to understand the challenges that researchers often face:

Lack of alignment with business goals:

Research sometimes focuses too heavily on user experience without considering business objectives like growth, retention, or revenue.

Communication gaps:

Researchers often communicate in UX terms (e.g., usability scores, personas) that don’t resonate with business stakeholders.

Timing issues:

Research insights often come too late in the product development cycle, making it difficult to incorporate recommendations.

Perceived lack of ROI:

If research isn’t tied to tangible outcomes, stakeholders may deprioritize it in favor of other initiatives.

How to influence product and business decisions effectively

Step 1: Speak the language of business

To gain traction with stakeholders, you need to frame your research findings in terms of business impact, revenue, and growth.

Instead of saying: “Users struggle to find the checkout button.”

Say: “Improving checkout discoverability could increase conversion rates by 18%, potentially adding $500,000 in monthly revenue.”

Steps:

1. Get familiar with key business metrics such as:

   1. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

   2. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

   3. Churn Rate

   4. Retention Metrics

2. Align your research insights with these metrics whenever possible.

3. Use frameworks like OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) to link research outcomes to strategic goals.

Step 2: Involve stakeholders early in the research process

Stakeholders are more likely to act on research when they feel invested in the process. Bringing them in early fosters buy-in and collaboration.

• Schedule kickoff meetings with product managers, marketers, and executives to align on research goals.

• Ask questions like:

  • “What business challenges are we facing right now?”

  • “What user behaviors do we need to understand to drive growth?”

  • “What success metrics matter most for this initiative?”

Steps:

1. Create stakeholder “co-design” sessions where they help shape research questions.

2. Share research goals early and align them with product roadmaps.

3. Conduct stakeholder interviews to understand their pain points and align insights accordingly.

Step 3: Tie research to key business decisions

Your research should not only support product design but also influence business strategy.

• Identify upcoming business decisions and ensure research addresses them directly. Anticipate business questions such as:

  • “Should we enter a new market?”

  • “Which feature should we prioritize?”

  • “Why are customers dropping off at a certain stage?”

Steps:

1. Align your research reports with business objectives.

2. Use storytelling techniques to make findings relatable.

3. Provide executive summaries highlighting business impact.

Example:

Instead of delivering a lengthy report, distill insights into a one-page dashboard with key findings like:

• Current user pain point: 65% of users drop off due to a confusing checkout process.

• Business impact: Reducing drop-offs by 20% could increase revenue by $2 million annually.

• Proposed action: Simplify checkout steps and add trust signals.

Step 4: Demonstrate the ROI of research

Leadership cares about numbers. When you can prove the financial or operational impact of your research, your influence grows.

• Track pre- and post-research impact using A/B tests, analytics, and customer satisfaction scores. Quantify improvements in terms of:

  • Increased conversion rates

  • Reduction in support tickets

  • Faster time-to-market

Steps:

1. Work with data analysts to measure the impact of your recommendations.

2. Develop case studies showcasing how past research influenced business success.

3. Present findings through quarterly impact reports.

Step 5: Become a strategic partner, not just a researcher

Product teams will start viewing you as a strategic partner when you actively contribute beyond research—helping prioritize initiatives and offering business-aligned recommendations.

• Regularly attend product strategy meetings.

• Offer insights proactively, even outside formal research projects.

• Educate cross-functional teams on the value of research.

Steps:

1. Stay informed on industry trends and market shifts.

2. Position yourself as an internal consultant, not just a service provider.

3. Work with leadership to build a long-term research roadmap aligned with business strategy.

Want to overcome these challenges? The Impact Membership offers expert-led workshops on how to align research with strategic business objectives, making your research invaluable to leadership.

Prioritization of research efforts for maximum impact

There’s never a shortage of questions to answer, stakeholders to satisfy, and initiatives to support. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by competing demands and endless requests for insights.

The key to success lies in prioritization, focusing on the research efforts that will have the highest impact on business goals and user needs. Without it, research can become scattered, reactive, and ultimately, undervalued.

Effective prioritization allows you to:

Maximize your influence:

Working on the right projects ensures your research contributes to critical business decisions and product development milestones.

Ensure efficient use of resources:

Research teams often have limited bandwidth, and focusing on high-impact initiatives allows you to deliver more value with fewer resources.

Strengthen your position as a strategic partner:

When your work is aligned with business priorities, stakeholders see you as an integral part of the decision-making process rather than a reactive service provider.

Avoid wasted effort:

Prioritizing correctly helps you avoid spending time on low-impact research that may not drive action or align with company goals.

Challenges in research prioritization

Before diving into how to prioritize effectively, it’s important to recognize the most common challenges user researchers face:

Saying “Yes” to everything:

Stakeholders often bombard researchers with urgent requests, and without clear prioritization, it’s easy to fall into a reactive mode that drains resources and focus.

Lack of strategic alignment:

Conducting research without understanding broader business objectives can lead to misaligned efforts that don’t contribute to product or revenue goals.

Trying to do too much at once:

Attempting to juggle multiple research projects simultaneously can dilute the quality and depth of insights.

Focusing on short-term fixes:

Addressing only immediate usability concerns without considering strategic opportunities to shape the product’s future can limit your impact.

How to prioritize research efforts effectively

1. Align research with business and product goals

Step 1: Understand the company’s objectives

Start by gaining clarity on your organization’s strategic goals. Ask yourself:

• What are the company’s top priorities for this quarter/year?

• Are we focusing on growth, retention, cost reduction, or product expansion?

• What key metrics (KPIs) are driving business success?

Step 2: Partner with stakeholders

Meet regularly with product managers, executives, and other stakeholders to align research initiatives with business priorities.

Step 3: Map research needs to business impact

Consider how each potential research project contributes to the following areas:

• Revenue growth: Does this research have the potential to improve conversion rates, upsell opportunities, or retention?

• Operational efficiency: Will this research reduce support tickets, decrease churn, or optimize workflows?

• Customer satisfaction: Does this research align with improving CSAT metrics?

Create a simple research roadmap that visually maps upcoming research projects against business goals. This ensures transparency and alignment across teams.

2. Use a research prioritization framework

A structured prioritization framework helps in objectively evaluating research opportunities. Some of the most effective frameworks include:

The RICE scoring model

RICE stands for Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort. Assigning numerical values to each factor helps determine which research efforts should take precedence.

• Reach: How many users/customers will be affected by the research findings?

• Impact: What is the potential business impact (high, medium, low)?

• Confidence: How confident are you that the research will produce actionable insights?

• Effort: How much time and resources will it take to complete the research?

The RICE formula is:

(Reach x Impact x Confidence) / Effort = Priority Score

For example:

• Research Study A: (500 users x High Impact x 80% Confidence) / 20 Effort = Priority Score: 2000

• Research Study B: (100 users x Medium Impact x 90% Confidence) / 30 Effort = Priority Score: 300

The project with the higher priority score should take precedence.

The MoSCoW method

This method categorizes research efforts into four distinct categories:

• Must-Have: Critical to the success of the business or product.

• Should-Have: Important but not essential for immediate impact.

• Could-Have: Nice to have but non-essential.

• Won’t-Have (for now): Can be deprioritized for future consideration.

For example:

If a company is planning an international expansion, research related to market feasibility would fall under “Must-Have,” while a UI tweak might be classified as “Could-Have.”

Impact vs. Effort Matrix

This simple yet effective tool helps categorize research tasks based on their potential impact and the effort required.

• High Impact, Low Effort: Prioritize immediately.

• High Impact, High Effort: Plan for strategic investment.

• Low Impact, Low Effort: Consider if resources allow.

• Low Impact, High Effort: Deprioritize.

For example:

Researching onboarding improvements (High Impact, Low Effort) should be prioritized over an exploratory study with unclear business value.

3. Prioritize based on risk mitigation and uncertainty

Prioritize research efforts that help reduce uncertainty in critical business decisions. Consider the level of risk associated with moving forward without insights.

Questions to ask:

• What decisions are currently being made without enough data?

• Which research gaps could lead to costly mistakes if left unaddressed?

• What are the riskiest assumptions within the current product strategy?

For example:

If a company is about to launch a new feature, conducting usability testing to uncover major usability blockers should take precedence over general exploratory research.

4. Consider the research’s longevity and reusability

Prioritize research that can serve multiple purposes across teams and functions. Look for research opportunities that can generate insights applicable to:

• Future feature development

• Marketing messaging

• Customer support improvements

• Product roadmap planning

A well-conducted persona study can inform product design, marketing campaigns, and sales strategies, making it a valuable long-term investment.

5. Be transparent and communicate prioritization decisions

Once priorities are established, ensure they are clearly communicated across the organization. Transparency helps set expectations and gain stakeholder support.

Steps:

1. Host a quarterly research prioritization meeting with stakeholders.

2. Share a research backlog with visibility into priorities and timelines.

3. Regularly update stakeholders on progress and any changes.

Struggling to prioritize? Join the Impact Membership to start prioritizing with confidence and clarity.

Bridging the gap between UX and business goals

User research and business objectives often seem like separate worlds, one focused on usability, empathy, and human-centered design, and the other on revenue, market share, and profitability. However, the most successful organizations understand that great user experiences drive business success, and it’s the responsibility of user researchers to help bridge the gap between the two.

When research insights are directly tied to business metrics, the value of research becomes undeniable. This alignment ensures that both user needs and business goals are met, creating a win-win scenario for the company and its customers.

When user experience efforts aren’t aligned with business goals, organizations face several challenges:

• Research that doesn’t tie into strategic business initiatives may go unused, wasting valuable resources.

• If UX research doesn’t demonstrate business impact, decision-makers may deprioritize it.

• Teams may focus on usability improvements with minimal impact instead of addressing core business drivers like retention and growth.

• If research isn’t aligned with business strategy, products might solve user needs but fail to address market realities or revenue goals.

For example:

A SaaS company wanted to improve their onboarding experience. While their UX team proposed usability improvements, leadership was focused on reducing churn. By reframing research findings in terms of churn reduction, the UX team gained buy-in and saw their recommendations implemented.

Bridging UXR and business goals isn’t about sacrificing user needs, but about aligning research efforts with strategic objectives to ensure actionable impact.

Key challenges in bridging UXR and business goals

Before we explore solutions, it’s important to understand the common roadblocks that prevent user research from influencing business decisions:

1. Different priorities between UXR and business teams

   1. UX teams prioritize usability, accessibility, and engagement.

   2. Business teams prioritize revenue, growth, and scalability.

   3. The challenge is finding common ground where both perspectives align.

2. Lack of a shared language

   1. UX professionals often communicate findings using design terminology, while business leaders think in terms of KPIs, revenue, and growth metrics.

3. Measuring UX impact is difficult

   1. Unlike sales or marketing, UX research outcomes aren’t always directly quantifiable, making it harder to tie efforts to ROI.

4. Siloed organizational structures

   1. UX, product, and business teams often work in silos, leading to misaligned goals and miscommunication.

How to effectively bridge the gap

1. Align UX goals with business objectives early on

The earlier research efforts align with business goals, the more effective they will be. UX researchers should proactively collaborate with stakeholders at the planning stage to understand business objectives and identify ways UX can support them.

Steps:

• Attend business planning meetings to gain insights into company goals and priorities. Ask strategic questions, such as:

  • What are our revenue goals this quarter?

  • What challenges are preventing growth?

  • How can UX improvements help achieve business objectives?

• Develop UXR objectives that map directly to business KPIs, such as:

  • Reducing churn rates

  • Increasing conversion rates

  • Lowering customer acquisition costs (CAC)

For example:

If a company’s goal is to increase annual recurring revenue (ARR), UX research should focus on identifying friction points in the user journey that prevent renewals or upsells.

2. Speak the language of business

Stakeholders respond better to data that reflects their priorities. To influence business decisions, UX researchers must translate findings into metrics that executives care about, such as:

• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): How UX improvements impact long-term profitability.

• Retention Rates: Demonstrating how better UX leads to increased customer loyalty.

• Cost Savings: Showing how improved UX reduces support costs and churn.

• Convert UX metrics into business metrics.

  • Instead of saying “Users struggle with navigation,” say “Reducing navigation confusion can increase conversions by 20%.”

• Use business-oriented storytelling, focusing on the financial impact and risk mitigation.

For example:

If research reveals that users struggle to find key features, instead of reporting it as a usability issue, position it as an opportunity to improve feature adoption and increase upsell potential.

3. Quantify the impact of UX improvements

Executives want numbers. One of the best ways to bridge the gap is to show tangible, quantifiable results from UX improvements.

Steps:

1. Leverage A/B testing and analytics to measure the business impact of UX changes.

2. Track metrics before and after improvements, such as:

   1. Task completion rates vs. conversion rates

   2. Reduced support inquiries post-design changes

   3. Impact on Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

3. Use qualitative and quantitative data to create compelling reports.

For example:

If optimizing an onboarding flow leads to a 25% increase in activation rates, presenting this result in revenue terms makes the impact clearer to executives.

4. Establish cross-functional collaboration

Breaking down silos between UX, product, marketing, and business teams ensures research findings are considered in broader strategic conversations.

Steps:

1. Create cross-functional task forces that include UX, product managers, marketers, and executives.

2. Conduct collaborative research planning sessions to align on priorities and share insights.

3. Offer UX training sessions for business teams to help them understand the value of research.

5. Prioritize research that drives strategic decisions

Not all research projects hold the same value. Prioritizing research that aligns with high-impact business goals helps secure stakeholder buy-in.

Steps:

1. Use prioritization frameworks like the RICE (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort) model to select research efforts with the highest business impact.

2. Focus on projects that answer critical business questions, such as market expansion, customer retention, or pricing strategy.

3. Develop a long-term research roadmap that aligns with business growth strategies.

For example:

Instead of focusing on minor UI changes, prioritize research that helps understand why customers churn after onboarding and what changes can improve long-term engagement.

6. Communicate UX impact regularly

Regular communication of research insights ensures they remain top-of-mind for business stakeholders and demonstrates ongoing value.

Steps:

1. Provide executive-friendly reports with key findings, potential business impact, and actionable recommendations.

2. Use storytelling techniques to illustrate how UX improvements have driven positive business outcomes.

3. Create UX dashboards that show real-time impact on key business metrics.

Example:

A monthly UX impact report could showcase how reducing friction in checkout flows resulted in an X% increase in completed purchases.

Inside the Impact Membership, you’ll learn how to effectively connect UX insights with business goals, making research a strategic asset that drives long-term value.

Securing stakeholder buy-in and advocacy

As a user researcher, one of the most crucial aspects of your role isn’t just conducting research, but ensuring that your insights influence decisions and drive action. However, many researchers struggle with getting stakeholders to truly engage with research findings, resulting in insights being ignored or deprioritized.

Without stakeholder buy-in and advocacy, even the most valuable research can end up collecting dust in a slide deck rather than informing strategic product and business decisions.

Securing stakeholder buy-in means:

• Your research gets implemented, not overlooked.

• Research becomes a strategic asset, not an afterthought.

• You build long-term advocacy and trust with leadership.

• You gain access to greater resources and influence within the organization.

Getting stakeholders invested in your work is a game-changer for both the success of your research and your career as a researcher.

How to secure stakeholder buy-in

1. Understand stakeholder motivations

To gain buy-in, you must first understand what drives your stakeholders. Different teams have different priorities, and your ability to align research with their goals will determine your success.

• Identify key stakeholders across departments:

  • Product managers care about feature success and roadmap alignment.

  • Executives focus on business growth, profitability, and risk reduction.

  • Marketing teams look for insights to drive customer engagement and acquisition.

  • Customer support wants solutions to reduce complaints and friction points.

Example approach:

When presenting to executives, focus on how research can drive revenue growth or reduce customer churn, rather than usability improvements alone.

Questions to ask stakeholders:

1. What are your current priorities and pain points?

2. What success metrics are most important to you?

3. How do you currently make product and business decisions?

By understanding what stakeholders value, you can position your research as a solution to their most pressing needs.

2. Involve stakeholders early and often

Stakeholders are more likely to support research when they feel like they are part of the process rather than being handed insights they weren’t involved in.

1. Hold kickoff meetings with stakeholders to discuss research objectives and align on goals.

2. Invite stakeholders to observe research sessions to create emotional connections with user pain points.

3. Establish a continuous feedback loop, ensuring stakeholders feel heard and involved.

4. Send weekly progress updates to keep stakeholders engaged and informed about ongoing research efforts.

3. Deliver actionable, concise insights

Stakeholders are busy, and they don’t have time to sift through lengthy research reports. To capture their attention, provide clear, concise, and actionable takeaways.

• Summarize insights into one-page executive summaries with key findings and recommendations.

• Use data visualization tools to highlight important trends.

• Offer a “next steps” section to guide immediate actions based on research.

Example report structure:

1. Key Insight: Users abandon carts due to complicated checkout forms.

2. Business Impact: Potential revenue loss of $500K per month.

3. Recommendation: Simplify form fields and introduce guest checkout.

4. Next Steps: A/B test the new checkout flow within the next sprint.

4. Build credibility and trust

Trust isn’t built overnight; it’s cultivated through consistent, valuable contributions. The more you demonstrate the reliability and impact of your research, the more stakeholders will advocate for it.

1. Start with small, high-impact wins to prove the value of research.

2. Regularly showcase how research has driven positive business outcomes.

3. Be transparent about research limitations and collaborate on solutions.

For example:

In a quarterly review, show how past research led to a successful feature launch that increased engagement by 30%.

5. Foster advocacy by educating stakeholders

Many stakeholders have limited exposure to user research. Taking the time to educate them on its value can turn them into strong advocates.

• Conduct UX workshops and training sessions to demonstrate how research informs better decision-making.

• Share industry best practices and case studies showing research’s impact on business success.

• Encourage stakeholders to champion research by including their perspectives in case studies and reports.

• Create a “Research 101” guide for non-researchers to help them better understand your role and the value you bring.

Elevate your research impact

Bridging the gap between research and business goals, prioritizing the right research efforts, influencing product decisions, and securing stakeholder buy-in aren’t just skills, they’re essential for driving meaningful change and proving the value of user research within any organization.

But mastering these skills doesn’t happen overnight. It requires strategic guidance, proven frameworks, and a supportive community to help you navigate the complexities of user research with confidence. That’s where the Impact Membership comes in.

With the Impact Membership, you’ll gain access to the tools, insights, and expert mentorship you need to take your research career to the next level. Whether you’re looking to:

• Position yourself as a strategic leader by aligning research with business objectives

• Maximize your influence and ensure your insights drive actionable change

• Develop business acumen that helps you speak the language of stakeholders

• Collaborate effectively across teams to prioritize research for maximum impact

• Secure stakeholder advocacy and establish research as a critical function in your organization

…the impact membership program provides everything you need to level up your skills and increase your influence.

What you get:

• Learn from industry leaders on how to align research with business goals and influence high-level decisions

• Actionable tools that help you prioritize research, communicate insights effectively, and gain stakeholder buy-in

• Connect with other ambitious researchers, share experiences, and gain support from peers facing similar challenges

• Personalized guidance to help you navigate the toughest challenges in your research career

• See how top researchers successfully apply strategic thinking to create business impact

The next level of your career starts here.

If you’re ready to go beyond traditional research practices and step into a role where your insights drive real business outcomes, the Impact Membership is for you.

Join the Impact Membership today and start transforming the way you approach user research.

Make your research matter. Make your impact count.

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Hi there, curious human!

I’ve received quite a lot of questions on the topic of estimating potential product improvements based on insights. I talk a lot about how important it is to report insights in terms of outcomes like:

• Fixing the navigation could reduce drop-off rates by 20%, which would boost conversions by 15%

• We need to redesign the onboarding flow to reduce friction, starting with a simpler first step. This will lead to a 10% increase in user retention

Seems simple? Just put some interesting numbers in there and huzzah, we have buy-in. But, honestly, I didn’t start my career doing this and it took me years to understand how to put numbers to my findings and insights.

However, when I started doing this, the change was transformative. People paid attention, listened, didn’t zone out during reports, and even prioritized my work. Stakeholders need to understand the value of your insights. It’s not enough to report findings; you need to show how implementing your recommendations will drive measurable outcomes.

By learning to estimate improvements, you become not just a researcher but a strategic partner in product development.

But how do we really do that? Especially if we are more geared toward words rather than numbers. Here is my step-by-step process for estimating improvements and relating numbers back to my research.

Step 1: Define the target metric

The first step is to identify the specific product metric your recommendation will impact. This ensures your research aligns with measurable outcomes.

How to define the metric:

1. Understand business goals: Meet with stakeholders to identify the metrics they prioritize. Common examples include:

   1. Conversion rates: Percentage of users who complete a desired action (ex: sign-ups, purchases).

   2. Retention rates: The proportion of users returning over a defined period.

   3. Drop-off rates: Percentage of users abandoning a flow (ex: onboarding).

   4. Engagement metrics: Time spent, number of sessions, or feature usage.

2. Align metrics with insights: Choose a metric directly related to the problem uncovered in your research. For example, if users abandon onboarding, focus on the onboarding completion rate.

3. Document the target metric: Write down the specific metric so you stay aligned during the estimation process. For example:

   1. Finding: Users drop off at Step 3 of onboarding due to a confusing form

   2. Metric: Onboarding completion rate

Step 2: Gather baseline data

To estimate an improvement, you need a clear understanding of the current state of the metric—this is your baseline.

How to collect baseline data:

1. Access analytics: Use tools like Google Analytics, Mixpanel, or Amplitude to gather current metrics. If you don’t have access, collaborate with your product or data teams and ask them how they measure analytics.

2. Record key data points:

   1. Current value: What is the current metric value? For example, a 60% onboarding completion rate.

   2. Affected population: How many users does this metric represent? For example, 10,000 users go through onboarding monthly.

   3. Segments: Are there specific groups (mobile users, international users) with different behaviors?

3. Visualize the data: Create a chart or table summarizing baseline data for easy reference.

Step 3: Craft a hypothesis

A hypothesis links your research insights to a measurable improvement. It includes three elements:

1. The problem: What is causing the issue?

2. The solution: What are you proposing to solve it?

3. The expected outcome: What measurable improvement will result?

How to write a hypothesis:

Identify the problem

Use your research findings to articulate the issue:

• What’s happening? Users drop off at Step 3 of onboarding.

• Why is it happening? The form has too many fields, causing friction.

Propose a solution

Define a specific, actionable recommendation tied to the problem. For example: Reduce the form fields from 10 to 5 to simplify onboarding.

Estimate the improvement

This is the most challenging part for many researchers. Follow these steps:

1. Use past data: If similar changes were made previously, analyze their impact. For example: Simplifying a checkout process in the past improved conversion rates by 8%.

2. Leverage industry benchmarks: Research typical improvements for similar changes. For example: UX benchmarks show that reducing form fields can improve completion rates by 5-15%. You can use the following places to research this information:

   1. Nielsen Norman Group (NNG)

   2. Baymard Institute

   3. Forrester Research:

   4. Gartner

   5. Open Data Institute

   6. Kaggle Datasets

   7. ACM Digital Library

3. Analyze the room for improvement: Look at the size of the problem. If 40% of users drop off at Step 3, aim to reduce drop-offs by 10-20%.

4. Be conservative: Use a cautious estimate for initial predictions (ex: 5-10%).

Example hypothesis:

Reducing form fields will reduce drop-offs by 10-15%, increasing onboarding completion rates from 60% to 65-70%

Step 4: Model the potential impact

Once you have a hypothesis, calculate the impact of your proposed change on the metric. This involves applying the improvement percentage to the baseline data.

How to calculate the impact:

Identify the affected population.

Determine the number of users impacted by the metric:

• 10,000 users go through onboarding monthly

Apply the improvement percentage

Use the formula:

Improved Metric = Baseline Metric * (1 + Improvement Percentage)

Example:

• Baseline completion rate = 60%

• Improvement estimate = 10%

60% * (1 + 0.10) = 66%

Quantify the results

Calculate the number of additional users completing the flow:

Additional Users = Total Users * Improvement Percentage

Example:

10,000 users × 10% = 1,000 additional completions.

Translate into business value

If possible, calculate the financial or business impact. If each completion generates $20 in revenue:

1,000 * 20 = $20,000 additional monthly revenue

Step 5: Evaluate your hypothesis

Evaluating your estimate ensures your recommendation is grounded in reality. Use these methods to refine your predictions. You can do this through:

1. Usability testing: Test your proposed changes with a small group of users in a controlled environment to observe how they interact with the new design or feature.

   1. Create a prototype or mockup of the proposed solution.

   2. Ask users to complete tasks using the new design and measure success rates, time on task, or satisfaction.

   3. Compare results to the baseline behavior observed with the current design.

2. Wizard of Oz testing: Simulate the new experience without building the full solution. The user interacts with what appears to be a functional system, but parts are manually operated behind the scenes.

   1. Set up a partially functional prototype where manual effort substitutes for backend functionality.

   2. Observe how users engage with the simulated change and gather feedback on their behavior and satisfaction.

3. Split funnel analysis: Instead of comparing users in two distinct groups (as in A/B testing), analyze different stages of the user journey to identify where the proposed change would have the most significant impact.

   1. Break down the user journey into smaller steps (ex: Step 1: Account creation, Step 2: Onboarding completion).

   2. Identify where drop-offs occur and use the data to test small changes in targeted areas of the funnel.

4. Scenario modeling: Model the potential impact of your proposed solution by simulating changes in metrics based on user behavior patterns and historical data.

   1. Use historical data to model “what if” scenarios for the change. For example: “If 20% of users who currently drop off at Step 3 continue instead, how would completion rates change?”

   2. Compare modeled results to real-world observations after implementation.

Step 6: Communicate the findings

Presenting your estimates clearly and persuasively is key to gaining stakeholder buy-in.

1. Start with the problem: “40% of users drop off during onboarding due to a complex form.”

2. Propose the solution: “Reducing the form fields from 10 to 5 will simplify the process.”

3. Share the estimated impact: “This could increase the onboarding completion rate from 60% to 66%, adding 1,000 new users per month and $20,000 in monthly revenue.”

Impact estimation template

Step 1: Define the problem

• What’s the issue?

  • Example: 40% of users drop off at Step 3 of onboarding due to a complex form.

• What’s the impact?

  • Example: This results in a 60% onboarding completion rate and a loss of potential revenue.

Step 2: Proposed solution

• What’s the change you’re recommending?

  • Example: Simplify Step 3 by reducing form fields from 10 to 5.

• Why does this solve the problem?

  • Example: User feedback indicates that long forms are a primary pain point.

Step 3: Target metric

• What metric does this impact?

  • Example: Onboarding completion rate.

Step 4: Baseline data

• Current metric value:

  • Example: 60% completion rate.

• Affected population:

  • Example: 10,000 users start onboarding each month.

Step 5: Hypothesis

• Expected improvement range:

  • Example: Reducing form fields will increase completion rates by 10-15%.

• Data source/benchmarks for the estimate:

  • Example: Historical data shows similar changes improved completion rates by 12%.

  • Example: UX industry benchmarks indicate a range of 5-15% for form simplification.

Step 6: Modeled impact

• New metric value:

  • Example: 66-69% completion rate (10-15% improvement on 60%).

• Additional users completing onboarding:

  • Example: 1,000-1,500 additional users monthly.

• Business impact:

  • Example: If each completed onboarding generates $20 in revenue, this adds $20,000-$30,000 per month.

Step 7: Evaluation plan

• How will you evaluate the hypothesis?

  • Example: Conduct usability testing with a prototype.

  • Example: Run a cohort analysis to track behavior over time.

Step 8: Next steps

• Develop a simplified prototype for testing.

• Evaluate the hypothesis.

• Share results and adjust the estimate as needed.

Estimating potential improvements transforms your research from observation to actionable strategy. It allows you to connect user needs with business goals, ensuring your insights drive measurable change. By presenting clear, data-backed outcomes, you build trust with stakeholders and increase the likelihood of implementation. This practice not only amplifies the impact of your work but also positions you as a strategic partner in product development. Over time, this approach strengthens your credibility and helps you deliver meaningful results for both users and the business.

Is there anything that’s worked super-well for you that I didn’t mention or that you totally agree with? Share in the comments 🙏

Leave a comment

📚 Additional resources to explore

1. Use these simple formulas to show research ROI

2. Deliver research insights that demand action, with zero guesswork

3. Top questions to my UXCon Vienna presentation

4. A Guide to Writing Effective Research Reports

The Impact Membership : A space for user researchers who think bigger

You know your craft. You’ve run the studies, delivered the insights, and seen what happens when research is ignored. You’re ready to go beyond execution and start making real strategic impact but, let’s be honest, that’s not always easy.

That’s where the Impact Membership comes in.

This is not another free Slack group or a place to swap survey templates. It’s a curated community for mid-to-senior user researchers who want to:

• Turn research into influence – Get insights to stick, shape product and business strategy, and gain real buy-in.

• Break out of the research silo – Learn from peers facing the same challenges and work through them together.

• Stay sharp and ahead of the curve – Dive deep into advanced research strategy, stakeholder management, and leadership.

Why join now?

• You don’t have to figure this out alone – Every member is carefully selected, so you’re learning alongside people who truly get it.

• Get real value, fast – No fluff, no generic advice—just focused conversations, expert-led sessions, and practical guidance you can use right away.

• Make it work for you – Whether you want to participate actively or learn at your own pace, there’s no pressure—just a space designed for impact without overwhelm.

Membership fee: £627/year or £171/quarter

This isn’t just about keeping the lights on. Your membership funds exclusive research initiatives, high-caliber events, guest speakers, and a space that actually pushes the field forward.

Spots are limited because we keep this community tight-knit and high-value. If you’re ready to step up and drive meaningful change through research, we’d love to have you.

Join today

Stay curious,

Nikki

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Hello Curious Human!

Before we get into the regularly scheduled amazing post, can you please help me out? I want to figure out what you need or what might be helpful for you right now (rather than being like any of my stakeholders and giving a good ol’ guess).

So, what is most valuable to you right now?

Thanks for taking the time, I appreciate it 🩵

One of the biggest challenges in user research isn’t just doing the work—it’s proving its value to stakeholders. The truth is that companies are always looking for numbers, and you need to know how to show the ROI of user research in a way that speaks directly to the bottom line.

Here’s the problem I always encountered. I knew my work was important, but I had no idea how to prove it with numbers. I struggled for years trying to demonstrate and show how my research impacted the organization on a larger level.

But then I was in a role where I had absolutely no choice — no one cared about research because they couldn’t see the connection to the bottom line. I had to figure out how to show them and, despite my utter hate for numbers, I bumbled through it.

In this article, I’ll show you how to calculate the ROI of your user research, how to get the specific data you need, and whether your approach should differ depending on whether you’re in B2B or B2C.

Let’s break down ten ways you can turn your research into numbers that stakeholders and execs care about, from formulas on exactly how to calculate them to who to collaborate with to find the necessary information.

1. Cost savings from avoiding unwanted features

The formula:

Cost savings = (cost of development per feature) x (number of features not developed)

How to calculate and where to get the numbers:

1. Cost of development per feature:

   1. You’ll need to work closely with your product and development teams to get a breakdown of costs. Typically, this involves knowing the salaries of the developers, designers, product managers, and QA teams, plus overhead (tools, software, infrastructure).

   2. Set up a meeting with the finance department or the product manager to get an estimate of the average cost of a single feature development. This might also involve tracking time spent on feature development.

2. Number of features not developed:

   1. Use research findings to identify unnecessary features that were on the roadmap but eliminated due to research.

   2. Align with your product manager and product roadmap to get a count of these features.

B2C example:

Your app development team was planning to build three new features based on assumptions. After conducting user research, you find that users aren’t interested in two of them. If each feature costs $75,000 to build, you’ve saved the company $150,000.

B2B example:

In a B2B SaaS platform, two planned features were deprioritized based on user feedback from enterprise clients. These features would have cost $200,000 each. Research saved $400,000 in unnecessary development.

2. Increased revenue from optimizing conversion rates

The formula:

Revenue increase = (increase in conversion rate) x (average customer value) x (number of customers)

How to calculate and where to get the numbers:

1. Increase in conversion rate:

   1. You can get this from analytics tools like Google Analytics, Mixpanel, or Amplitude. Look at the conversion rate before and after implementing changes based on user research.

   2. Collaborate with your marketing or growth team to track these numbers.

2. Average customer value:

   1. Finance or sales teams usually have this number on hand. It’s the average amount of revenue a customer generates over a given period (monthly or yearly).

   2. Check with sales and finance for up-to-date figures on customer value.

3. Number of customers:

   1. Again, this is a number you can get from your analytics platform or CRM.

B2C exmple:

Your website’s conversion rate improves from 3% to 4% after simplifying the checkout process based on user research. If the average customer spends $150 and 50,000 visitors hit your site each month, you’re now bringing in an extra $75,000 in revenue each month.

B2B example:

A B2B company offering software sees a jump in conversion from 2% to 2.5% after improving the trial signup experience. With an average customer lifetime value (CLV) of $10,000 and 5,000 monthly visitors, the research-driven improvements generate an additional $250,000 annually.

3. Time saved from faster product iteration

The formula:

Time savings = (hours saved per iteration) x (cost per hour)

How to calculate and where to get the numbers:

1. Hours saved per iteration:

   1. Use project management tools like Jira, Trello, or Asana to track how long each product iteration typically takes. Estimate how much time was saved by addressing issues early through user research.

   2. Product managers and development leads can provide data on how many iterations were reduced or sped up.

2. Cost per hour:

   1. This number comes from HR or finance. It’s typically the average hourly wage of your team members (including overhead).

   2. Speak with finance to get the fully loaded cost of development team hours.

B2C example:

Your research team identifies usability issues that would have otherwise required multiple iterations to resolve. Instead of 5 rounds of iteration, you needed only 3, saving 200 hours. With an average cost of $150 per hour, you saved $30,000.

B2B example:

In a complex enterprise platform, addressing customer pain points upfront reduces the iteration cycles from 6 to 4. With 500 hours saved and a team cost of $180 per hour, that’s a savings of $90,000.

4. Reduction in customer support costs

The formula:

Support cost savings = (decrease in support requests) x (cost per support ticket)

How to calculate and where to get the numbers:

1. Decrease in support requests:

   1. Gather support data from tools like Zendesk, Intercom, or your internal help desk platform. Track the drop in support tickets related to usability issues after the research-based changes.

   2. Work with your customer support manager to identify these trends.

2. Cost per support ticket:

   1. Your finance team or customer support leadership can give you the cost per ticket. This includes not only salaries but also software and overhead.

B2C example:

After streamlining the user interface based on research, support tickets drop by 500 per month. With each ticket costing $20, that’s a $10,000 monthly savings, or $120,000 annually.

B2B example:

A B2B company was handling 100 support tickets a week, costing $50 per ticket. After usability improvements, tickets drop by 40%, saving $2,000 a week, or $104,000 per year.

5. Revenue growth from increasing customer retention

The formula:

Revenue from retention = (increase in retention rate) x (annual customer value) x (number of customers)

How to calculate and where to get the numbers:

1. Increase in retention rate:

   1. Your CRM or subscription management tool (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) should give you retention data over time. Look for improvements after research-informed changes.

   2. Retention rates are usually closely monitored by the customer success or product teams.

2. Annual customer value:

   1. Similar to conversion rate calculations, this number comes from finance or sales. It’s the yearly value of a retained customer.

3. Number of customers:

   1. Again, pull this from your CRM or analytics tool.

B2C example:

Your research helps improve customer retention from 75% to 80%. If each customer is worth $200 annually and you have 10,000 customers, that 5% increase adds $100,000 in extra revenue.

B2B example:

For a SaaS company with enterprise clients, customer retention increases from 85% to 90% after improving the onboarding process based on research insights. With each customer worth $50,000 a year, and 500 total clients, this adds $1.25 million to the bottom line annually.

6. Value of new features based on user research

The formula:

Feature value = (projected user adoption rate) x (revenue per user) x (total number of users)

How to calculate and where to get the numbers:

1. Projected user adoption rate:

   1. Get this from surveys, user interviews, and usability tests. Analytics tools can also track engagement with similar features.

   2. Work with the product team and analytics team to estimate the adoption rate based on comparable feature launches.

2. Revenue per user:

   1. This number can be pulled from the sales or finance team.

3. Total number of users:

   1. Find this in analytics tools like Mixpanel, Google Analytics, or your CRM.

B2C example:

After research, you develop a new feature that 30% of users are likely to adopt. If the feature adds $50 in revenue per user and you have 100,000 users, the new feature will generate $1.5 million annually.

B2B example:

A B2B software company identifies a new feature that 20% of enterprise clients will likely adopt. With each client generating $100,000 in revenue annually and a total of 500 clients, this new feature could potentially add $10 million in annual revenue (100 clients adopting the feature x $100,000).

7. Decreasing churn rate through usability improvements

The formula:

Churn rate impact = (decrease in churn rate) x (number of users) x (average revenue per user)

How to calculate and where to get the numbers:

1. Decrease in churn rate:

   1. Your CRM or subscription management tool (Salesforce, HubSpot, Stripe) or analytics tool (Google Analytics) will track churn rates. Compare churn rates before and after research-driven usability changes.

   2. Work closely with customer success or product management teams to understand the specific usability issues impacting churn and track changes over time.

2. Number of users:

   1. This comes from your CRM or analytics platform (Google Analytics, Mixpanel, etc.).

3. Average revenue per user:

   1. Finance or sales should provide this number. It’s often calculated by dividing total revenue by the total number of active users. You could also find this on an analytics tool such as Google Analytics.

B2C example:

Before research, your churn rate was 12%, but after usability improvements, it drops to 10%. If you have 50,000 users, and the average revenue per user is $120 annually, the 2% reduction in churn saves you 1,000 users, resulting in $120,000 saved annually.

B2B example:

For a B2B SaaS company, research-driven enhancements reduce churn from 8% to 6%. With 2,000 enterprise clients and an average revenue per client of $50,000, retaining 40 extra clients equates to an additional $2 million annually.

8. Improving team efficiency with user research

The formula:

Efficiency gains = (hours saved per project) x (cost per hour)

How to calculate and where to get the numbers:

1. Hours saved per project:

   1. Use project management tools like Jira, Trello, or Asana to track how much time research has saved on specific tasks or decisions. Conduct retrospectives with teams to quantify the reduction in ambiguity and guesswork.

   2. Work with project managers or scrum masters to assess how many hours were saved by addressing problems earlier with research insights.

2. Cost per hour:

   1. This number comes from finance or HR, typically calculated as the average hourly cost of team members, including salaries, benefits, and overhead.

B2C example:

Through better research, your product team saves 80 hours per project in design and iteration cycles. If the average hourly cost of team members is $100, that’s an $8,000 saving per project. If you work on 10 projects per year, that’s $80,000 saved.

B2B example:

In a large-scale B2B software implementation, research eliminates 150 hours of development time per project. With the cost per hour at $200, you save $30,000 per project. If your company runs 5 projects a year, that totals $150,000 in savings annually.

9. Avoiding redesign costs through early research

The formula:

Redesign savings = (cost of a full redesign) x (number of redesigns avoided)

How to calculate and where to get the numbers:

1. Cost of a full redesign:

   1. Work with product and development teams to estimate the cost of a full redesign. This should include design, development, testing, and project management costs.

   2. Get input from finance, product managers, and development leads to calculate the total cost of a redesign.

2. Number of redesigns avoided:

   1. Use product roadmaps and historical data to see how many redesigns were planned or likely, but avoided because of research.

B2C example:

Your company planned a redesign of the mobile app due to poor user engagement. However, early-stage user research highlighted key usability issues that could be fixed without a full redesign. The projected cost of the redesign was $200,000, which you saved entirely.

B2B example:

An enterprise software company avoids a full redesign of its reporting feature, thanks to early usability testing with key customers. The redesign would have cost $500,000. By addressing user pain points early, the research saves the company this entire expense.

10. Faster time to market due to improved understanding of user needs

The formula:

Revenue from speed to market = (days saved) x (average daily revenue)

How to calculate and where to get the numbers:

1. Days saved:

   1. Track project timelines in your project management tools. Use historical data to compare project durations before and after integrating user research earlier in the process.

   2. Work with project managers to calculate how research helped you shave off unnecessary delays or iterations.

2. Average daily revenue:

   1. This comes from finance. Calculate it by dividing the company’s total revenue by the number of days in operation (typically over a year).

B2C example:

Research helps you understand users’ key needs earlier, cutting 20 days from your product launch timeline. If your product generates $10,000 in revenue per day, that’s an additional $200,000 in revenue from faster time to market.

B2B example:

For a B2B SaaS platform, user research speeds up the release of a critical feature by 15 days. With an average daily revenue of $30,000, this brings in an extra $450,000.

Turn user research into hard numbers

Proving the ROI of user research comes down to knowing exactly how your efforts impact the business, both strategically and financially. The formulas above, paired with specific collaboration tips and sources for finding the necessary data, give you a roadmap to quantify the value of user research.

Whether you’re in a B2C or B2B environment, these calculations allow you to communicate the direct business benefits of research — from cost savings and increased revenue to customer retention and faster time to market.

So, what’s next? Start tracking these metrics. Collaborate with the right teams, and build a clear case for the ROI of user research that stakeholders can’t ignore.

Is there anything that’s worked super-well for you that I didn’t mention or that you totally agree with? Share in the comments 🙏

Leave a comment

📚 Additional resources to explore

1. How user research impacts the AARRR metrics

2. Episode 48: Tracking OKRs and impact as a user researcher

3. Episode 36: Tracking impact on colleagues as a UXR

4. A Comprehensive Guide to Growth User Research

Stay curious,

Nikki

Subscribe now

P.S. Paid subscribers get access to full archive, all content, a private Slack community, Substack lives, and a hub of templates, scripts, and mini-courses

User research is only as valuable as the action it inspires. You might have deep insights and detailed data, but if your stakeholders can’t digest or apply them, your hard work goes to waste.

I know because this was my way of life as a user researcher for many years: huge projects with amazing (and admittedly abstract) insights that sat in a folder somewhere.

Then, I reached a point in my career where I couldn’t measure my impact because no one was doing anything with these stunning insights that no one could truly understand and act on. So, I stagnated.

And then, when I wanted to go freelance, I realized I had to up the ante. If I wanted good word of mouth and recommendations (read: a steady income), I had to deliver things my clients could actually do stuff with.

So, again, I hit a wall. It was a crappy wall that I didn’t enjoy banging my head against for about a year. Until I decided to try something new.

My stakeholders (both in-house and freelance) didn’t have time for complexity. They didn’t have time to sit and analyze everything that happened in a research study, to digest all the data and then figure out what to do with it.

They needed fast, clear insights they could act on immediately.

Actionability, actionable insights, action, action, action. When I focused on action, my reports changed, and so can yours.

Your insights need to do more than sit in a report. How do you make sure your research delivers impact? By simplifying your reports so that stakeholders can easily digest, understand, and act on your findings.

If your research keeps dying in a folder, it’s rarely your insights. It’s the format your stakeholders can’t use. Paid subscribers get:

• my one-page “goal + next steps” opener you can paste into any report

• headline formulas for turning findings into 8–10 word “news article” takeaways

• the micro-story template that makes stakeholders feel the cost of inaction in 30 seconds

• a risk heatmap worksheet (impact x likelihood) you can run in a 15-minute meeting

• the “start with actions, back it up with data” structure with examples

• an activation plan table (owner, next step, deadline, success signal) that stops the “so what?” loop

• a Loom/short video script for sharing findings in 3-5 minutes

• a simple decision-tree format that makes next steps obvious

Exclusively for paid subscribers

Read more

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P.S. Paid subscribers get access to full archive, all content, a private Slack community, Substack lives, and a hub of templates, scripts, and mini-courses

Hello, Curious Human!

I recently had a talk at 2024 UXCon Vienna about articulating the strategic value of user research. You can download the slides below (please give credit if using/referencing the slides):

Nikki Anderson Uxcon Vienna 2024

14.6MB ∙ PDF file

Download

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Some key takeaways from my talk:

1. Stakeholder interviews are integral to understanding what they need so that you can pitch impactful research

2. Two frameworks for writing and presenting your insights strategically

3. Several formulas for calculating how your research can impact the bottom line (a full article on that coming)

I couldn’t answer all the questions that came up, but the fantastic team sent me the captured questions, so I wanted to give some answers to those who asked great questions that needed more depth than I could reach within the 20-minute talk.

Prefer to listen to an overview? Listen on YouTube or below.

This audio is created with NotebookLM

Q: How can I calculate the ROI of the insights obtained from qualitative studies?

Calculating the ROI of qualitative insights may seem tricky because these insights don’t typically come with numerical data attached. However, they can lead to actions that result in measurable outcomes. Here’s how I quantify the value they bring:

1. Link insights to actionable changes

The first step is to identify the business actions directly influenced by the qualitative insights. Did the insights lead to a change in product design, marketing strategy, or customer experience? The more concrete the actions, the easier it will be to measure the impact.

Keep in mind that you might have to wait a little bit to tie your qualitative research to metrics because these things take time, and that is okay.

2. Measure the outcome of these actions

Use traditional business metrics to measure the outcome. For example:

• Revenue impact: If the insight led to a product feature improvement, track how this affected customer acquisition, conversion, or retention.

• Cost savings: If the insight reduces customer support tickets or operational inefficiencies, calculate the associated cost savings.

3. Use comparative metrics

Compare the “before” and “after” states of a key metric. For instance, if a design change based on qualitative research reduced the drop-off rate on a webpage from 50% to 30%, quantify the additional users retained and project their value in terms of sales or conversions.

B2B example:

Imagine a SaaS company that conducts qualitative interviews with enterprise customers and discovers that a particular dashboard feature is confusing. The company changes the feature, and over the next three months, they see a 15% reduction in churn. By calculating the lifetime value (LTV) of the retained customers and multiplying that by the number of customers saved, they can estimate the financial impact.

B2C example:

A retail company conducts user interviews and discovers that customers are abandoning their carts due to unclear shipping policies. They adjust the website copy and streamline shipping options. In the next quarter, they notice a 10% improvement in conversion rates. The revenue generated from these additional sales can be compared against the cost of conducting the research to determine ROI.

Q: How can we articulate the consequence of insights from exploratory/strategic research when the opportunity can’t yet be connected to KPIs or $$$?

Exploratory research often provides insights that influence long-term strategy, which can be hard to tie immediately to financial metrics. I’ve struggled with this myself. However, there are ways to communicate the strategic value effectively:

1. Link insights to company goals

Start by connecting the insight to broader company goals. For instance, does this insight contribute to innovation, product-market fit, or competitive differentiation? Even if the dollar impact isn’t immediate, you can articulate its role in driving the company toward key strategic objectives.

2. Frame in terms of potential impact

Use hypothetical scenarios. While you may not have data yet, you can model what success would look like if the opportunity were realized. For example, “If we can address this user pain point, it could lead to a 20% increase in adoption of this new product.”

3. Use risk mitigation language

Highlight what’s at stake if the company doesn’t act. Often, exploratory research helps mitigate future risks. Articulating the cost of inaction—such as market share loss or missed opportunities—can be just as compelling as presenting potential gains.

4. Work with others to understand the holistic consequence

One of the best things I’ve ever done is collaborating with other departments to understand, more holistically, what my insights might mean. I’ve gone to marketing, sales, account management, customer support, and other departments to share my findings and to understand how it might impact areas outside the immediate product. Make meetings with these colleagues to discuss how your findings could be relevant to their areas and goals as well.

B2B example:

For a B2B company exploring a new market, research reveals that customers are hesitant to adopt the product due to a lack of clear integration with their existing tools. While you can’t yet quantify the exact revenue lost, framing it as a potential barrier to entry for a $10 million market opportunity can emphasize the importance of addressing the issue.

B2C example:

For a B2C app targeting young users, exploratory research might reveal a growing trend in voice-activated commands. While it may be hard to quantify the financial impact immediately, you could frame it as a strategic investment to stay ahead of competitors who might capitalize on this trend if ignored.

Q: How do you avoid recommending approaches that increase revenue, but hurt your users or stakeholders?

Balancing the need to drive revenue while maintaining user satisfaction is critical, and can sometimes be a tricky thing to balance. Typically we can feel like our hands are tied — I remember a need for introducing a service fee to save the business that could have had an extremely negative impact on users. You can achieve this balance by following a user-centric approach that ensures business goals align with user needs.

1. Prioritize user feedback

Begin by deeply understanding your users’ pain points and motivations through research. Make sure any recommendations for revenue-generating changes align with these insights. And, if they don’t, understand what it is you are “giving up” when it comes to the user’s side.

2. Impact assessment

Before recommending any approach, conduct an impact assessment to weigh the benefits against potential drawbacks for users and stakeholders. Ask: “Will this drive short-term revenue but erode long-term trust?”

3. Create a balanced scorecard

Implement a balanced scorecard approach that includes metrics for both revenue and user satisfaction (ex: UMUX/SUS, churn rate). For every revenue-generating idea, evaluate its impact on these non-monetary metrics to ensure a sustainable approach.

B2B example:

A software company wants to increase revenue by adding premium features to its base product. However, qualitative feedback shows that customers are already frustrated with existing complexity. Rather than introducing more complexity for a revenue boost, the company decides to simplify the core product first and then introduce premium features based on user feedback, maintaining both revenue growth and customer satisfaction.

B2C example:

A streaming service considers increasing subscription prices to drive revenue. However, user surveys reveal dissatisfaction with the current content-to-price ratio. Instead of a blanket price hike, the company introduces flexible pricing tiers, ensuring that users feel they’re getting value at different price points. This approach sustains both revenue and loyalty.

Q: How do you create a safe space for both you and the stakeholders during a stakeholder interview on your work? I imagine it can be uncomfortable.

Creating a safe and productive space during stakeholder interviews is absolutely necessary especially when discussing potentially sensitive or uncomfortable topics. However, I’ve had a hard time in the past with trying to talk to stakeholders that were not only skeptical of my work, but also ones I had previously yelled at (you read that right) in the past.

After some years of holding these interviews, here’s how you can help to establish trust and openness in these interviews:

1. Set expectations early

At the beginning of the interview, set the stage by explaining the purpose of the discussion. Make it clear that the goal is to gather insights that will help everyone, not to assign blame or make anyone uncomfortable. Mention that the session is meant to be collaborative and solution-focused.

2. Use empathetic listening

Demonstrate empathy by actively listening to the stakeholder’s concerns. Reflect on their statements to show you understand their perspective. Avoid interrupting, and allow space for them to express their thoughts freely.

The same techniques that we apply in research sessions with participants are relevant here — make them feel heard and understood and remind them you are there to support them.

3. Ask open-ended, non-confrontational questions

Structure your questions to be open-ended, focusing on the stakeholder’s experiences and pain points rather than probing for specific failures. For example, instead of asking, “Why didn’t this project meet its goals?” try, “What were some of the challenges you faced during the project?”

4. Acknowledge vulnerability

Show vulnerability yourself by acknowledging that some topics may be difficult to discuss. For example, you might say, “I know discussing challenges can sometimes feel uncomfortable, but understanding them helps us work together to improve.”

5. Ensure confidentiality

If needed, assure the stakeholder that the feedback will be handled with care, and sensitive comments will remain confidential. This builds trust and encourages more open communication.

B2B example:

In a B2B setting, imagine you are interviewing a key decision-maker about why user research findings haven’t been fully implemented. You could start by asking, “Can you walk me through your thought process during the last implementation phase?” This framing shifts the focus to understanding the context rather than assigning blame.

Creating a safe space here allows the stakeholder to feel comfortable sharing internal challenges, like budget constraints or team dynamics, that may have impacted the decision-making process.

B2C example:

For a consumer-focused product team, you might interview a stakeholder in the marketing department about the challenges of aligning marketing efforts with product research. A question like, “What can I do to make research findings more actionable for your team?” opens up a constructive conversation. This approach can reveal gaps in communication or resources that you can work to resolve together, creating a sense of collaboration.

Q: We usually conduct qualitative studies. Is it appropriate to convert qualitative findings into quantitative insights (to calculate ROI)?

Yes, qualitative insights can and should be converted into quantitative data to help calculate ROI when necessary. While qualitative research provides depth and understanding, quantifying these insights helps communicate the value in business terms, making it easier to measure impact.

1. Identify themes and patterns:

After conducting qualitative research, identify recurring themes. For instance, if multiple users mention confusion with a specific feature, this insight could form the basis for quantification.

2. Quantify the frequency

Estimate how widespread the issue might be across your entire user base by quantifying how often these themes occur in your qualitative research. You could say, “50% of the users we interviewed expressed confusion about this feature.” This gives you a starting point to project the impact.

3. Estimate the business impact

If the insight suggests that an issue may cause users to abandon a product, you can estimate the revenue lost as a result. For example, if 30% of interviewed users indicated confusion with checkout options and your total user base experiences a similar issue, you can calculate potential lost sales based on conversion rates.

4. Run experiments to evaluate insights

You can also use A/B testing or surveys to turn qualitative insights into quantifiable data. For example, after redesigning a confusing feature based on qualitative feedback, you can run a survey to ask users whether the change improved their experience, and compare this to conversion metrics.

B2B example:

A B2B SaaS company conducts interviews and discovers that several clients find a reporting feature confusing. You estimate that this confusion affects about 20% of clients. If your average client contract is worth $100,000 annually and those 20% are at risk of churn due to dissatisfaction, you could project a potential $2 million revenue risk. This provides a clear ROI incentive to improve the feature based on qualitative insights.

B2C example:

A clothing e-commerce site finds through user interviews that customers often abandon their shopping carts due to unclear return policies. By conducting a survey or looking at session recordings, you can estimate that 10% of users drop off for this reason. If this represents a potential $50,000 per month in lost sales, clarifying the return policy could recover a significant portion of that revenue, providing a measurable ROI.

Q: What tooling/methods do you recommend for these measurable insights? Currently, we don’t have the numbers, making it challenging to give an indication of revenue.

When you don’t have existing data to quantify insights, there are several tools and methods you can use to gather the necessary numbers. These tools will help you turn qualitative insights into measurable outcomes and link them to business metrics such as revenue, customer retention, or cost savings.

*I have no relationship to the tools mentioned, they are simply tools I’ve used in the past.*

1. Set Up analytics tools

Tools like Google Analytics, Mixpanel, or Amplitude allow you to track user behavior, conversions, and drop-off points in real time. By understanding where users are having issues, you can quantify the size of the problem and estimate its impact on revenue.

2. A/B testing platforms

Platforms like Optimizely, VWO, or Google Optimize enable you to test different versions of a feature or product change to see which one performs better. These tests can give you concrete data about how a qualitative insight impacts metrics like conversion rate or retention.

3. Surveys and feedback tools

Tools like SurveyMonkey, Typeform, or Qualtrics help gather customer feedback at scale. You can survey users before and after making a change, asking them to rate their experience and satisfaction. This data can then be used to estimate the business impact of improvements based on qualitative feedback.

4. Heatmaps and session recordings

Tools like Hotjar and Crazy Egg provide heatmaps and session recordings that show how users are interacting with your website or app. This helps quantify how widespread an issue is and links qualitative insights (e.g., “users are confused by the layout”) to hard data (e.g., “30% of users never click past the first step of checkout”).

5. Revenue impact calculators

Many businesses use custom-built calculators to estimate revenue impact from product changes. These calculators typically factor in conversion rates, average order values, and user retention rates. You can input your qualitative findings (e.g., “20% of users mentioned frustration with a feature”) to see how much revenue might be at stake if the issue persists.

Please check all tools with your legal team prior to setting them up or trialing them!

B2B example:

A B2B marketing platform could use Mixpanel to track how users interact with their reporting dashboard. After identifying issues through user interviews, you can track how many users abandon the process before completing a report. You could also set up a targeted survey asking users to rate their satisfaction with the changes you implemented based on qualitative insights, helping you tie these improvements back to revenue or retention.

B2C example:

An e-commerce retailer could use Google Analytics combined with Hotjar to analyze how users navigate the site. If you notice a high drop-off on certain pages, you can introduce qualitative feedback via on-page surveys (“What stopped you from completing your purchase?”). Once you identify the issue, run A/B tests to validate any changes you make and use analytics to measure their direct impact on sales.

Those were all the questions — thanks to everyone who attended the talk and conference — I can’t wait for next year’s lineup!

Which of these questions resonated the most with you? Anything that I missed that you would add? Or anything in particular that you think you might try? Share in the comments!

Leave a comment

📚 Additional resources to explore

1. The current state of measuring return on investment in user experience design

2. How user research impacts the AARRR metrics

3. Use these simple formulas to show research ROI

4. Episode 48: Tracking OKRs and impact as a user researcher

5. Episode 36: Tracking impact on colleagues as a UXR

Stay curious,

Nikki

Subscribe now

P.S. Paid subscribers get access to full archive, all content, a private Slack community, Substack lives, and a hub of templates, scripts, and mini-courses

Raise your hand (clap, scream, or nod) if you’ve run an amazing research project and thought: my team will LOVE this data, and we will do so much with it.

Raise your hand (clap, scream, or nod) if you’ve then shared that data and…nothing happened.

One of the most frustrating parts of being a user researcher is when you feel like you have great insights or findings from a study, and then they end up dying in a virtual corner. No one seems to care about them or know what to do with them.

I struggled with this for so long in my research career, and it really got me down.

I’d run a study, create a deck filled with goodies, and then present it to my team. I thought the team would then take the data and run with it, improving the product, creating new features, or developing innovative ideas.

But reality looked much different. I’d present the results, and nothing would happen. I found this to be the case, especially with generative research.

To be completely honest, I blamed my teams. I claimed they didn’t care enough about user research and that no one valued my work. I believed that my work had enough information for the team to take and run with.

At one point, I threw my hands in the air and stopped spending time making reports. My research process stopped with the affinity diagram. What was the point if no one cared? What was the point if no one did anything with the reports?

My response was so much easier than thinking I could also be partially responsible for my findings and insights flopping. So (begrudgingly), I sat down and audited my current sharing process and then met with my teams to review and discuss what was missing.

These conversations were difficult, and I certainly had to swallow my pride when it came to receiving feedback — I still wasn’t wonderful at taking constructive criticism. However, the feedback my stakeholders shared completely opened my eyes and enabled me to revamp my sharing process to become so much more effective and impactful.

And I’ve never looked back. Here’s how I changed how I collaborate and interact with teams regarding sharing and activating insights.

Audit Your Current Sharing Process

The first thing you can do is understand what your current sharing process is and reflect on the different steps.

Start by listing out the different steps you have in your sharing process. You can see an example of mine below:

Once I did this, I went into each step and made a journey map, including what I was trying to accomplish in that step, the tasks associated with the step, and the pain points I encountered.

With this information, I could take a step back from my sharing process and understand, subjectively, what was happening and what wasn’t going as well within the process. For example, the “create a report” step looked like:

• Goal:

  • Create a report that stakeholders find helpful and use to inform their work

• Tasks:

  • Develop report design

  • Decide the audience and length of the report

  • Decide the most relevant information for the audience

  • Include any background information

  • Move findings from the affinity diagram to the report

  • Write out the report

  • Create video or audio clips

  • Link to relevant studies or resources

• Pain points:

  • Creating video and audio clips is hugely time-consuming and difficult on Quicktime to get exactly what I need because I need to skip through the video and trim, which can be very fiddly

  • I am not confident in the length of the report and what information I need to include versus what is too much

  • I hate designing reports and always find them to look ugly and like I can never get an eye-catching design

When going through this exercise, make sure you are specific with your pain points. Don’t just write that things take a long time; try to tease out exactly what is taking a long time, just like you would do with a participant. Be your own research advocate!

There are a few additional items you can include in your journey, such as:

• Tools you currently use

• Stakeholder involvement in the given step

• An emotion line (or emoji) indicating how you feel about that step

At the end of this exercise, you will clearly understand what your sharing process looks like and all your associated pain points. However, I highly encourage you to take the next step, which is to get stakeholder feedback. The first time I did this, I didn’t ask for feedback and tried to alleviate my pain points without context from my team. I wasted time on solutions that weren’t relevant, and I was unable to solve the pain points properly.

Always ask your team for feedback!

*If you want to take auditing your process to the next level and look at your entire process, check out my book Impact, where I talk through how to set up and optimize an entire research practice at your organization.

Get Feedback on Your Current Process

Once you have your process laid out, it’s time to involve your stakeholders to get their feedback.

I typically do this through a workshop setting, inviting each relevant team to their own separate workshop. For instance, I worked across four teams and held four workshops. Although this took a lot more time, it was much more manageable than shoving over thirty people into one workshop. I could understand each team’s feedback more deeply to think through better solutions.

The Feedback Workshop

I love a good workshop, and I will say this is a great opportunity for you to practice your workshop facilitation skills — always look for these moments of practice!

The goal of this feedback workshop is to present your current sharing process and get an understanding of stakeholders’ experiences to make improvements to the process. At the end of the workshop, you want to understand how stakeholders feel about the process, specifically their painful moments and how those overlap with your pain points.

With this knowledge and understanding, you can begin to ideate solutions that help alleviate the most common pain points.

Here is how I set up this feedback workshop:

• Talk through the goal and outcome of the workshop

• Introduce your current sharing process and how you created it

• Answer any questions before diving into the feedback portion of the workshop

• Ask for constructive feedback (acknowledge you won’t take it personally, this is very important)

  • Give stakeholders 10-20 minutes to fill out any tasks they have to do during each step

  • Come back and discuss the tasks, gaining any clarity if necessary

  • Give stakeholders 20-30 minutes to add any of their pain points to the different steps. Make sure everyone writes their own, even if the pain point is already up there, so you can understand the weight of each pain point

  • Take 30 minutes to discuss the pain points that came up for stakeholders

• Tackle any questions or parking lot topics that came up during the feedback session

• Assign action items to people

Review the Journey Map

Once you go through this process, you will have a journey map filled with everyone’s tasks and pain points. When I first did this, I was super overwhelmed by the amount of problems and pain points we uncovered. This led me to bounce around with about 50 different ideas and be incredibly inefficient in fixing anything. From there, I realized I had to prioritize, just like user research insights.

The next step for you is to review the journey map and list out the pain points that have the most weight (the ones most people wrote about) so that you can prioritize the most painful parts of the process. This will give you clarity on what to work on first and also allow you to show teams you are making progress on what is most important.

Depending on their size, I typically prioritize finding solutions to the top three to five pain points. If you are struggling with picking which pain points to focus on, I highly recommend sending out a poll to your teams so they can vote. You always want to ensure you include your teams in this process!

When I did this, I found the biggest pain points to be:

1. The team wasn’t sure what to do with big, abstract, generative research insights and often felt confused about how to bring them into brainstorming or a solution space

2. There was no prioritization of what should be worked on first or the most important problems for users

3. Sometimes, a report felt like it was unnecessary and just took a lot of time to create, especially if the teams were already involved in the research

I then honed in on fixing these particular problems.

Make Changes to Your Process

The next step is to start ideating on solutions to the biggest problems you and the team are facing when it comes to sharing research. You can do this one of three ways:

1. Ideate on your own and then experiment with your solutions over time

2. Bring your team in and ideate together on solutions, implementing them and monitoring how it’s going

3. Start by ideating on your own, sharing solution ideas with the team, and then asking them for feedback or ideas, which you can then implement

I’m a huge fan of making this a group effort and going with option two, but I also understand that’s not always realistic. The first time I tried this, I went at it alone. It turned out okay, but I wish I had asked my colleagues about their ideas.

From then on, I tried to go with either option two or three to get more feedback and ensure I was on the best path forward for myself and my teams.

Running the Internal Ideation Session

Regardless of whether you are doing this alone or with your team, essentially, you are running an ideation session.

An ideation workshop is a safe space that allows for this generation of ideas. The main goal of an ideation session is to spark innovation and draw out a sense of creativity. During this session, you aim to brainstorm as many ideas as possible surrounding the topic or pain point.

This is the same exact session we tend to run with user insights or pain points; however, this time, you are using the process pain points you identified earlier.

Here’s how I run my internal ideation sessions:

1. Talk through the goals of the session. My main goal with ideation sessions is for us to generate as many ideas as possible for the identified problems. You don’t necessarily have to focus on quality but rather on quantity. Although, I do tend to ask people to make sure their ideas are realistic :)

2. Define the outcome. By the end of this session, I want to have several ideas for each problem that we can implement and monitor to see how they work. I like to give a timeframe of how long we will monitor each solution to determine whether it is working.

3. Introduce one pain point at a time. I introduce one pain point at a time and make sure to give any context or answer any questions about the pain point.

4. Ideate on each pain point. We then ideate on each pain point, using methods such as:

   1. Flip the problem

   2. Method 6-3-5

   3. Crazy 8’s

   4. How would Google do it?

5. If necessary, vote or choose a solution to try. Depending on how many solutions you have for each pain point, you might have to vote or choose a solution to try. Depending on the issue, you might also be able to choose several ideas to implement at once.

6. Create success criteria. Once you choose what idea(s) to implement for the given problem, brainstorm some success criteria to help you decide whether or not the solution was successful.

7. Make a date to follow up. Make sure you have a time period to test the idea and follow up using the determined success criteria. If the solution was unsuccessful, choose other ideas from the session or rerun another ideation session. I typically give the ideas three months to understand if they are helping or not.

My Biggest Shift: Activation

One of the biggest pain points I identified in my sharing process was that teams were unsure of how to take big insights and bring them from the problem to the solution space. My biggest shift was understanding that I was missing this huge part of the research process. I went straight from presenting the research to checking in and seeing what teams were doing with it.

Since I was often the first and only user researcher at an organization, many people were unfamiliar with how exactly to work with user research, especially regarding larger generative research projects. I realized my way of throwing insights over the fence and hoping teams would act on them wouldn’t fly with everyone.

Once I heard from the team and saw how painful the experience was for them, I couldn’t unsee it, and I knew I had to change how I helped my teams digest and act on my research.

Ways to Activate Your Insights

Since I understood the problems and confusion my team faced on how to use my research, I baked the activation phase into each study. Here are the most common ways that I activate insights with my team:

An internal hackathon is a great way to help focus the teams on activating insights or personas. I took important insights from our persona and broke the organization into several teams, where they each brainstormed solutions (while competing) over two or three days. This is one of the most fun ways to activate insights.

Mini-brainstorm sessions. I left room in my calendar for ad-hoc mini-brainstorming sessions. I invited stakeholders, who had been present in the research sessions. We took some of the quick fixes/low-hanging fruit we’d been hearing about and had a quick brainstorm on how we could solve these issues. Within the session, we either sketched ideas on paper, wireframed potential solutions or just spoke through potential solutions.

Usability bingo. Let's dive into the concept of Usability Bingo, a creative approach to making user research more engaging. Imagine a 5x5 bingo board with randomly allocated phrases, quotes, pain points, needs, goals, and bugs from your usability tests instead of numbers. Rather than calling out numbers, you compile video clips from your usability tests that feature these phrases and issues. As your team watches these clips, they mark off corresponding spaces on their bingo boards, aiming to be the first to achieve five in a row and win a prize.

Ideation workshops are the end-all-be-all of insight activation. In these workshops, you bring one or two of the most critical insights from your persona (based on the prioritization you did earlier) and, together, ideate solutions. In this setting, you’re taking your research and making it into something, all while being there to help guide the team and provide context. Then, after the session, you have something to usability test!

The activation technique you choose depends on how much time and how many resources you have — ideation workshops, especially Crazy 8’s, are much less effort, whereas an internal hackathon takes a longer time to plan and run.

I recommend picking the easiest techniques (e.g., Crazy 8s or Method 3-6-5) first while you get used to them and then moving to more complex sessions with practice.

In-depth: Ideation Sessions

An ideation session is a turbocharged brainstorming session where your team unleashes their creativity. In this ideation session, your team reviews the problem and throws around solutions for the issues you’ve dug up in your research.

Feasibility and practicality can take a back seat in this ideation session. It's all about tossing out ideas and saving the serious evaluations for later. For this session, it is much more about quantity over quality. The more ideas, the merrier. In each of my sessions, "no" is banned because it stifles open-minded thinking.

Ideation sessions are the GPS for your team, guiding them through the maze of insights. These workshops light the way, pointing your team toward usability testing and the next big steps because they're rooted in user research, tackling real problems your customers face. No gut feelings or business whims – it's all about the users.

How to Run a Successful Ideation Workshop

Running a successful ideation workshop involves following best practices to maximize its impact

Begin with User Research

Ensure that your workshop is grounded in user research. Without this foundation, you risk exploring irrelevant topics that don't align with user needs, motivations, or pain points. Start with a clear problem statement derived from user insights.

Define Expected Outcomes

Set clear expectations for what you aim to achieve by the end of the workshop. These outcomes typically include gaining a deep understanding of the problem, generating many ideas, selecting the top ideas for testing, and determining the next steps for testing those ideas.

Craft a Problem Statement

A well-defined problem statement is crucial. It should outline a current user problem, goal, and challenges. Problem statements must be broad enough to generate diverse ideas but focused on addressing specific user needs. You can use the following techniques to craft a problem statement:

• Focus on the user's perspective: "I am a student who loves to travel, but I'm struggling because of my limited budget and trying to find cheap but safe flights. This frustrates me because I want to travel but feel stuck."

• Look at the four W's (who, what, where, why): "I'm a writer, but I also work a full-time job, making it hard for me to find time to write. I don't know how to properly manage my free time when I am not at work, so I waste a lot of time and feel bad."

• Examine needs: "I am a doctor and need a way to stay updated on the patient's charts. I don't have time to look through the computer program or go into the patient's room, so sometimes I miss important updates."

If you are struggling to create a problem statement, you can just utilize a pain point or struggle you and the team prioritized.

Select Ideation Techniques

Choose ideation techniques that suit your workshop's objectives. Here are some favorite ideation techniques.

• Flip the Problem: Invert the original problem statement and brainstorm ideas around the reversed question. Then, take some of these negative ideas and invert them back to solve the original problem.

• How Would [Company] Do It?: Explore the problem space as if you were a CEO of a completely different company (e.g., Google, Amazon). This exercise encourages thinking outside your industry's norms.

• Crazy 8’s: A sketching technique where participants create eight different ideas in eight minutes. This approach is inclusive and suitable for designers and non-designers alike.

• Method 6-3-5: Six people write down three ideas in five minutes, passing their sheets to others to build on the concepts. This collaborative approach sparks creativity and innovation.

• Worst Possible Idea: Encourage participants to generate terrible, absurd, or even illegal ideas. Then, challenge them to transform these terrible ideas into good ones by considering their opposites or extracting valuable aspects.

Follow Up

After the ideation workshop, ensure that the generated ideas don't just sit around. Collaborate with designers and product managers to plan usability testing for the selected ideas — make an actual date to do this, and put the meeting in your calendars ASAP. The ideation workshop is just the beginning; follow-through is essential to turn ideas into tangible solutions.

Ideation workshops are a dynamic means of harnessing your team's collective creativity and converting your research insights into actionable ideas. They can serve as a springboard for innovation and user-centered product development when executed effectively. For further inspiration and ideation techniques, explore these resources:

• Gamestorming

• Innovation Cards

• Trigger Cards

• Board of Innovation

• HI Toolbox

Example Agenda: Travel

I held many activation workshops, but ideation sessions, specifically Crazy 8’s, were always my favorite because they felt accessible to everyone and easy to explain. Over team, my teams got really great at running them without me — I was both happy and sad about this; super happy they learned, but I missed running them!

Here is an example of an actual ideation session agenda I used at one of my organizations:

Workshop Agenda Example

1. Welcome & Icebreaker (7 mins):

• Say hi to everyone and get everyone settled in the virtual or in-person room

• Icebreaker

  • Share your dream travel destination in 30 seconds. Bonus points for creativity!

2. Setting the Scene (10 mins):

• Briefly outline the workshop's goal

  • The goal of this workshop is to create as many

• Talk through the expected outcomes for the end of the session, such as:

• Emphasize the importance of fun and out-of-the-box thinking – we're here to dream big!

  • Everyone gets a chance to contribute

  • “Yes, and…” — “No” is banned!

  • Go wild with ideas!

3. User Insights Review (8 mins):

• Quickly dive into the chosen pain point or insight. I cover 1-2 per Crazy 8 session. For our session, we focused on:

1. Pain Point: Users often feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information available about potential travel destinations.

   1. Example: Sorting through endless travel blogs, reviews, and articles, leading to confusion rather than clarity.

2. Pain Point: Many users struggle to find travel recommendations that align with their unique preferences and interests.

   1. Example: Generic travel suggestions may not consider individual preferences, leading to dissatisfaction with the chosen destination.

4. Explain the exercise (5 mins):

• Briefly explain Crazy 8's: 8 minutes, 8 ideas. No holding back, no judgment – just pure creative chaos! Emphasize speed and quantity.

6. Problem Statement Focus (3 mins):

• Focus on each problem statement or pain point individually and follow the rest of the agenda for each one

6. Crazy 8's Exercise (8 mins):

• Set the timer and let participants sketch eight different ideas related to the pain point in eight minutes.

7. Show & Tell (5 mins):

• Whoever wants to shares their ideas with the group

8. Group Mashup (10 mins):

• Participants get into groups and mash-up the ideas into one or two Frankensteins

9. Review and Share (10 mins):

• Each team presents their ideas and other teams ask any questions

10. Voting for the Top Three Ideas (5 mins):

• Each participant votes on their favorite idea.

• The winning 2-3 ideas get brought into a design/prototyping phase to get testing with users then

11. Action Plan & Next Steps (8 mins):

• Assign tasks for refining the winning idea(s) and planning for a prototype or testing phase — assign actual people and dates here!

One of the wonderful outcomes of running activation sessions, whichever ones we chose, was that, even though I had a bit more work initially, I was slowly training my team to activate independently. Once I’d run several workshops with teams, I found champions and people who were interested in facilitating the workshops themselves. With time, I could take a step back, and I only facilitated when there was a particularly large and complex study.

Other Changes I Made:

Based on the biggest pain points and the ideation sessions, here are a few other changes I made to my sharing process that I still use to this day:

• Implementing the opportunity gap survey. Whenever faced with large amounts of qualitative data, the opportunity gap survey can really help you prioritize what is most important to work on first. Including this survey as part of the research process enabled my teams to focus much better and know they were impacting the biggest user pain points or needs.

• Creating success criteria for my research projects. I found it really difficult to prove my value when it came to the end of my research projects, and the teams also weren’t sure how to report on the impact of user research. So, we started defining clear success criteria for research projects so we could understand what positive changes came from research. You can read more about setting up success criteria here.

• Asking teams about the types of deliverables they need. Because teams mentioned reports sometimes felt unnecessary, I started asking upfront what my teams needed from me regarding deliverables. If they were heavily involved in the research and synthesis, we often determined that a Miro board was enough and there was no reason to create a whole report. By asking my team, I reduced the amount of unneeded work and was able to speed up the sharing process considerably.

• Creating an executive summary and catering to my audience. Similar to the above, I made sure to understand who my audience would be for the research. I knew if it was just the involved team, I might not have to create a big report, but if I presented to a wider audience, I would have to. I made sure to truly understand who my audience was and create a report that was applicable and relevant to them, including an executive summary.

I also took the time to audit my entire process (check out my book, Impact, if you want to do this) and continue to audit my process every six months!

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Demonstrating impact is critical to our jobs as user researchers, especially recently. Everywhere you look, it’s all about impact. Showing impact, proving impact, sharing impact.

Often, the impact gets tied to the output of user research. Were the insights impactful? Did they spur action? What about the product changed? How did the stakeholders feel about the report?

I played the dangerous game of waiting until the insights came from the research to see how impactful the project was. This approach led me to hoping my research would impact teams and the organization rather than knowing I was conducting the most influential research possible.

At one point, I ran several studies in a row that had landed on my desk without really thinking about how they tied back to the larger goals of the team and the organization. When it came to performance review time, I had done a lot of stuff, but there wasn’t much to show. It was disappointing for me, but a fantastic lesson.

A few months before, I had started a user research roadmap and backlog to organize my upcoming projects better and share them with my stakeholders. I’d “grown up” with product roadmaps being important, so I simply took the same concept to apply to my research projects.

However, over time, I saw my research roadmaps fall into the same trap many product roadmaps do — they became like “feature factories” filled with projects focused on outputs rather than outcomes. I simply threw research projects on the roadmap, not thinking too much about how the project tied back to the outcome or the business.

While this worked for a while, it ended up not serving me. I was frustrated churning out projects as teams churned out features. The work felt disjointed from the “bigger picture,” but I didn’t want to let go of my roadmap. Although it wasn’t the most ideal, it gave me such a great place to plan from and was so helpful in transparency on what I was working on.

What’s an outcome-based research roadmap?

An outcome-based user research roadmap is a living, ever-evolving document that shows the work a user researcher (or user research team) is focused on and how it specifically relates to a larger business objective. It mainly includes projects the team will work on in the next quarter, half-year, or year.

The biggest difference between a general roadmap and an outcome-based roadmap is that, instead of feeling like a feature factory, all of the projects on the roadmap are tied to a specific outcome.

The roadmap demonstrates the different outcomes the team will work on and how they will achieve them.

What do you mean by outcome?

Outcomes can be difficult to measure in user research, but it is essential to consider how our work ties to larger team or company-based objectives/goals.

When simply putting projects on my roadmap without thinking about the larger goal, I spun my wheels doing the same work repeatedly and always failed to answer the question, “How does user research relate to business?”

When it comes to outcomes, you have to look to your colleagues, teams, and organizations to help you. User research is a support system for decision-making and risk mitigation, so the outcomes of your research should support teams in the decisions they have to make and the risks they might be taking.

This concept can be tough to understand, so let’s look at some examples:

Example one:

Imagine we are working with the retention team at Pokemon TCG Live (add me if you play - my username is nicolerothier), and the team’s outcome is to “improve our day-7 app retention rate by 10%.”

Essentially, when people sign up for the live Pokemon Trading Card Game, we want them to return to our app within seven days because, once they pass that seven-day threshold, they are more likely to play for longer and purchase more cards from the store.

There are a million ways that we could likely brainstorm how to do this. This means there are a million risks they could take to try and move this metric. That’s where user research comes in and where we can start to tie our research back to an outcome.

Our research project becomes about mitigating the risks the team are taking when they work to improve this metric. It gives them more of a path or guidance toward making better decisions that resonate with users. So, within this project, our outcome would be:

“Reduce the risk of wasted time/energy when creating solutions to improve our day-7 app retention rate by 10%.”

You could also just tie the project directly to the team outcome, but I always like mentioning risk mitigation, help with decision-making, or reducing choice because it really is the essence of user research.

Example two:

For this example, I will demonstrate the difference between a more feature-based research project versus an outcome-based research project.

Imagine we are working with a conversion team (focused on increasing conversions in our product) at a company called Spooky World, where we sell year-round Halloween decorations (anyone??? Let me know if you want to go in on this fantastic idea). The team’s questions are:

• “Should we add a quick buy button?”

• “Should we add product reviews and photos?”

• “Should we include tips on how to decorate? Or maybe create a blog?”

• Should we let users connect with each other and talk about tips? Should we create a Spooky Community?”

These questions focus on features rather than an outcome or users. They can lead to many usability tests that, ultimately, don’t add much value to an organization or a product. When you go into a performance review, these types of projects can sometimes feel like low impact while still being a good amount of work.

Instead, you can reframe these questions to a larger outcome. Let’s take the quick buy button and the product reviews and photos feature. Instead of just talking about features, we could look at this like: “Improve conversion rate by 5% by simplifying the purchase process.”

Or, if we take the blog and community idea, we could tie it to a much larger objective of “Increasing customer basket size by 10% by helping customers understand how to use decorations together.”

Either way, we aren’t focused on “adding a button” or “creating a community,” but rather, we are mitigating risk by helping users and moving business metrics.

Example three

The final example I want to share is when you run into research projects that feel like they aren’t particularly tied to an outcome, such as generative research. A lot of the time, generative research can be lofty and abstract or could have a lot of potential outcomes across multiple teams.

For this example, let’s imagine we are working at Lego, and we are trying to understand our customers better by doing generative research to uncover their pain points, goals, and needs. We’re focusing primarily on parents because…money 😁

Within this context, what is our outcome? There are a few things we could tie this to:

1. Break down exactly how this project could impact the current outcomes/goals your teams are working on. Generative research helps you gather a lot of useful information that could help all the major metrics (AARRR metrics, for instance). For instance, generative research could absolutely help with improving retention rates by understanding unmet needs.

2. Look further than team-based metrics toward higher-level organization metrics. Generative research helps identify avenues for growth and innovation, which tend to be larger company goals.

3. Take into consideration internal outcomes for your team/yourself. You could have a goal of conducting more generative research (e.g. balancing evaluative and generative research better), so that could be an outcome you could include in the study.

Try not to tie it to a deliverable because that’s an output rather than an outcome, so if you are looking to create an output, what is the outcome that output will achieve? For example, the output of a project is a persona. The outcome of the project is what that persona helps the team do. If we created a persona at Lego, we would want to tie it to an outcome such as creating user-centric product roadmaps or increasing retention rates by understanding and addressing unmet needs.

What’s in an outcome-based research roadmap?

Read more

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Tying the impact of research on metrics can be challenging. I struggled with it for a large part of my career. How did I take a 1x1 interview and show how it impacted our revenue? Often, it felt like a lofty goal that I would never accomplish, and for a while, I left it to the wayside. Metrics were for other roles, not user research.

While that attitude served me for a little, there was a bumpier road ahead that I couldn’t see. After a round of layoffs and struggling to find a new role, I finally accepted a job offer.

However, I quickly realized how much of an uphill battle my role would be because no one, besides the person who hired me, believed in user research. I didn’t know people could self-select into believing or not believing in a literal craft, but here we were. I was terrified of losing another job and being unable to pay rent, so I tried to embrace the challenge.

The number one question I continuously got bombarded with was, “What is the impact of user research?”

I had the jaws of a fish as I opened and closed my mouth, unable to create a concrete answer. Eventually, I defaulted to the only things I knew to say:

• “We understand our customers better so we can make customer-centric decisions”

• “If we understand people’s needs or pain points, we create relevant products for them.”

• “We can reduce time guessing or basing ideas off assumptions that might fail.”

Although I had witnessed user research do many amazing things, I couldn’t fully articulate the impact in a way my colleagues understood or cared about. This plagued me. I constantly felt defeated and unvalued because I didn’t know how to tie something like qualitative research back to what people cared about: money.

And for a long time, I “stood my ground,” which really meant that I was hugely antagonistic and stubborn when it came to incorporating business into user research. I used to say that I, as a user researcher, was not there for the business and didn’t care about the business. I was there for the user. And usually, in my mind, the business and the user were pitted against each other as villain and victim.

To get to the point, this did not work out for me.

By creating a mindset and environment where it was me + users versus the business, I was stuck in the middle of a complete mess. I lacked trust with my colleagues, got into fights (literally, I yelled at people 🙈), and spun on the hamster wheel of trying to prove the value of user research without business.

Fast forward a few months when I sat in a performance review. My craft, interviewing, usability testing, synthesizing, was spot-on. I was good, if not great, at conducting user research. But I had a huge glaring gap in skills like stakeholder management, tying research to the business, and workshop facilitation.

I was super bummed about that performance review and, unfortunately, didn’t have much guidance on how to make it better. Was I going to lose my job over it? Likely not. However, I quickly saw there was no way I was going to advance in my career if I didn’t figure something out. And I knew exactly what I needed to work on.

Formulating a plan

It took me a few weeks to do some research and formulate a plan for how I was going to tackle this issue.

The first thing I did was research “business.” It was tough because it was such a broad area and scope. I wasn’t super familiar with how businesses operate, what goals they had, or what metrics were important to them, so it took a lot of Googling and some embarrassing question-asking.

I learned how important revenue was to a company — it shouldn’t have been such an “ah-ha” moment, but in my need to be so user-centric, I lost complete vision of the holistic picture.

A company (usually) needs to make money to create a product/service. Customers want a product/service that helps them achieve their goals or alleviate a pain point. When they find that experience, they give the company money.

A product/service aligned with customers’ needs = more money for a company.

User research could help determine the experiences, needs, and pain points of users to increase the amount of money a company was making.

Finally, I started to wrap my head around this concept, but I still wasn't sure how to apply it because that sounded like one of the fishy and vague answers I gave about user research impact. I wanted something more concrete.

Stakeholder interviews

I was in the green with some of my stakeholders, and definitely not a fan favorite with others (remember those fights I spoke about?), so this part was very challenging for me at first. But I knew I needed to talk to my stakeholders to learn more about their goals and the business. Without this, how was I going to draw concrete ties between user research and impact?

Biting my tongue, I bought a lot of “I’m sorry, please talk to me” lunches and coffees. I started the conversation with sharing that I was sorry about any disagreements made and sharing why I had acted in that way. Then I spoke about what and how I was trying to change. Most of my stakeholders were super kind and understanding, and they also apologized back. For a few, we were never really able to repair the relationship, but, hey, 80/20 rule, right?

As I spoke to these stakeholders, I learned about goals and started to see patterns and trends evolve in what they were talking about. There was a lot of concern or goals around the same terminology. With this, I went back to Google to further investigate.

Uncovering the pirate metrics

Through my research, I stumbled on something called the pirate metrics, named aptly for the acronym: AARRR.

This model, coined by Dave McClure* in 2007, highlights the five most critical metrics for businesses to track for success. Not only did these make sense to me based on my desk research, but they were also commonly referred to in my stakeholder interviews.

I wanted to understand how to concretely tie user research to these hugely important metrics. With that, I would no longer feel as much like a fish out of water. Instead, I could start to answer the questions about my impact more confidently and know that I was helping the business and users.

*Dave McClure is not a stunning human, having been accused of sexual harassment. I’m not a fan of him but wanted to cite the original source of the pirate metrics. While he sucks, hopefully, we can leverage this model for the greater good.

Tying user research to the metrics

Off I went on this adventure that would change my career forever. I dedicated as much time as possible to understanding these pirate metrics and figuring out how I could tie user research projects to each of them.

This is everything I learned and still practice to this day for each of the pirate metrics. I’ll be using a specific example from a travel company I used to work for.

Acquisition - how people find and are introduced to your product/service

Acquisition is all about getting new customers into your product/service so that they, essentially, know it exists. There are many ways a company can do this, such as:

• SEO

• Marketing (including email and social media)

• Sales

• Paid advertising

When I was working at the travel company, acquisition was hugely important to us because we didn’t have complete market share and, instead, shared the space with quite a few competitors. Getting customers without a ridiculously high customer acquisition cost (CAC) was incredibly important in our revenue.

We struggled a lot with finding new customers because of the sheer amount of competition out there and also because of the trust (or lack thereof) that comes with using a third-party ticketing product.

However, I knew how important it was to think about help improve our acquisition so I met with the acquisition product manager and we brainstormed the most important metrics within the acquisition space:

• Increasing traffic to our main page

• Reducing bounce rate from our main page (without any clicks)

• Increasing time spent on page

• Understanding the breakdown of where our traffic is coming from

These are all relatively high-level, top of funnel (TOFU) metrics and, to me, they seemed quite broad and generic, but it was the best we could do. (PS - these things all take time to learn and I’m still learning more about metrics/business so always take the time to experiment).

With that, I started to identify some research projects I could do to help these TOFU metrics (I love calling something in product Tofu). With that, I came up with the following projects:

1. Content testing through a highlighter test. The reason I decided on a highlighter test was because it is a great method to help determine value proposition and what information is necessary to help users achieve their goals. It can also reduce the amount of text on a page to focus on what is essential to the user. During this test, I copied and pasted the text from our homepage into a google doc and I asked them to use three colors:

   1. Green = text that was helpful to them

   2. Organge = text that was confusing

   3. Red = text that was unnecessary

After they highlighted, we went through the content and I asked them follow-up questions on why they highlighted certain things in the specific colors, how they might reword confusing content, and also if there was content missing that might be helpful.

We then went on to test A/B versions of copy and content to see what was most effective. This was to help reduce bounce rate and increase time spent on page.

2. Five-second tests. Once we updated our copy, I wanted to use five-second tests to understand what message we were communicating to our users. Could people understand we were a ticketing platform? Did they understand what we were able to give them or what needs we were trying to meet? We used this to continue to refine our message and clarify how we could help users achieve their goals from the moment they lied eyes on our platform. This was also to reduce bounce rate and increase time spent on page.

3. Closed word choice survey. Finally, we wanted to understand the types of words people associated with us, namely around the “trust family” since trust was a huge object of concern with us being a third-party ticket platform. I set up a survey with several images of our website and sent it out to participants asking them to select all the words they would use to describe our platform. I used words like:

   1. Empowering

   2. Approachable

   3. Disconnected

   4. Friendly

   5. Irrelevant

   6. Patronizing

   7. Untrustworthy

   8. Trustworthy

   9. Skeptical

   10. Easy

   11. Relevant

   12. Simple

I also followed-up with some open-ended questions, such as “please describe why you chose those words” to try to get further insight. We ended up having to contact some respondents to get a better insight into why they chose certain words through quick interviews. This was also to reduce bounce rate.

4. Lastly, I did some work with the four forces diagram in Jobs to be Done. This looks at why people stay with or switch between products when it comes to their habits, anxieties, pushes, and pulls. I conducted about 15 interviews with non-users of competitors to understand a bit about why they used several different competitors and why they switched between them. It was super interesting to learn about people’s anxieties and habits when it came to travel and this helped us with creating some great messaging to help foster trust and make people look at us as a reliable platform. This helped a lot with reducing bounce rate.

Activation - how people begin to use your product/service

It’s all good if people find you, but that first interaction is key. After running my business for almost two years full-time now, I know how important it is to activate users and get them to take that first step with you.

There are many ways to activate users and it hugely depends on your product/service/organization, but when you think about activation, think about the primary conversion metrics that determine the success of certain channels and campaigns, rather than high-level or micro-conversions. This could look like a funnel:

1. Someone comes to your website

2. They see a value in your work

3. They try a free trial or book a demo or sign up for a newsletter

Activation is the beginning of your relationship with the customer. Before this, they’re anonymously researching your business and competitors before they take any specific action that allows you to begin directly engaging with them.

When it came to the travel company I was working at, we actually didn’t have too many activation channels besides “booking a ticket,” which is a conversion but there were many steps prior to that conversion. So, I sat down with the product manager and we thought through some activation metrics:

• Increase number of newsletter signups

• Increase number of trip searches

• Increase first time ticket purchases

This was tough for me to apply user research on because I wasn’t sure exactly how to impact activation without going into full-blown conversion rate mode. I also wanted to test some of the other metrics outside of purchasing a first ticket like just searching or signing up for our newsletter.

So I came up with a few project ideas to try to help more these metrics:

1. Walk-the-store interviews. I spoke to about 15 users who hadn’t yet purchased with us yet to understand how they felt when they landed on our page and when they were searching for a trip. In this interview, they shared their screen and took me through their reactions and perceptions of what they say and what they were doing. It was very much qualitative and gave us some great feedback on confusing elements and components, as well as some glaring mistakes in the experience. This was to help searching for a trip.

2. 1x1 interviews with first-time purchasers. I then wanted to dive into the first-time purchasing experience with users so I screened for people who had recently purchased their first ticket with us. The reason behind this (and me not doing a usability test at this phase) was to understand the qualitative side of their experience. How had it been for them? What had been confusing? What had been missing? Another 15 people walked us step-by-step through their first experience which gave rise to even more pain points and improvements we could make in the experience. This study hugely helped with increasing people who purchased their first ticket since we could streamline the experience for them.

3. I struggled quite a lot with newsletter sign ups and ended up with continuously surveying our audience to understand why they signed up for our newsletter. I knew it would be tough to understand why people didn’t so I decided to instead, tap on what we had and could easily find out. Through understanding why people signed up and the value they got from it, we were better able to articulate that in our content. We also had an unsubscribe survey to understand why people unsubscribed from us to get improvements from that side. There were fewer responses to the unsubscribe survey but we were still able to take some actions from it. This hugely helped with increasing newsletter sign ups.

Retention - how people come back to and continue to use your product/service

Ah, the bread and butter. We get people, but nothing is better than keeping people (as serial killer-ish as that sounds). Retention is king/queen/royalty because when people purchase multiple times from you, their value to you as an organization sky rockets.

There are many ways to measure retention like:

• Customer lifetime value

• Churn rate

• Returning to your website

• Opening emails repeatedly

• Checking your product repeatedly in a given timeframe

Now, I’m just going to say it: churn is a tricky subject, which I will cover in its own full article because churn research gives me the heebie-jeebies 😱.

Retention was another big hitter for us since our CAC was so high. We were getting customers, but we weren’t retaining them, which was not helping grow our revenue. So we really focused on the following metrics:

• Increasing repeat order rate and customer lifetime value

• Increasing repeat searches

• Increasing the number of accounts made

Retention research is the most fun for me, so I really leaned into these projects and ran:

1. 1x1 generative research interviews. Retention is all about creating a product that helps people achieve their goals more effectively and efficiently than competitors while alleviating any pain points to achieve the goal. To me, generative research interviews are a slam dunk in getting that information. I took these interviews away from the product and into the complexities of planning and trip from end-to-end, including their needs, goals, and pain points. I used the TEDW framework to ensure open-ended questions:

   1. “Tell me…” or “Talk me through…”

   2. “Explain….”

   3. “Describe….”

   4. “Walk me through….”

This study led to some key understandings of what our customers needed and led to an understanding of where we were failing to meet those needs and alleviate those pain points. We were able to pivot and change the product in ways to better align with users through things like easier price comparison, eco-friendliness of trips, and sharing trips with friends. This led to increasing repeat order rate and customer lifetime value.

2. Usability testing (quantitative and qualitative). I first started with some qualitative usability testing, going through the process of booking a trip and asking people about their experience as they went through it. On its own, this study led to huge learnings on how we could improve the experience of our product through clunky filters, inability to link to trips, no favoriting, etc. Once the qualitative side was done and we made improvements, I went on to benchmark the current experience using task-based usability test and measuring time on task and task success, as well as the Single Ease Questionnaire and System Usability Scale to gather more data on usability and satisfaction. We saw people struggle with basic tasks and were able to make critical fixes that helped increase the usability of our platform, which directly contributed to increasing repeat searches as well as increasing repeat order rate and customer lifetime value.

3. Accounts were really difficult to understand because, well, to be honest, we didn’t really have any value in our accounts. You didn’t need one for anything other than storing your data to use more easily again (ex: storing credit card information). I deprioritized this and, unfortunately, wasn’t able to get to it before I left the company. If I could have, I would have probably run some surveys to understand the current value of the account (if there was one), and also maybe running interviews with people using competitor accounts to understand the value they were getting from those.

Referral - how people share your product/service with others (positive and negative sentiments)

Referral is all about people spreading the word about your product/service with other people - either with a positive or negative sentiment. Referrals can be great because, if positive, they can almost feel like free customers.

Referral metrics can look like this:

• Engaging with referral campaigns or emails

• Using a referral bonus or program within your program/service

• Leaving reviews

When we sat down to talk about referrals, we had some metrics we wanted to start tracking and thinking about:

• Increasing sign-ups through a bonus referral program (that we hadn’t yet created)

• Increasing our review rating

• Increasing shared trips

Referrals were a very interesting area for me and one that I wish I had invested more time into, but we had a lot of other priorities at the time. I didn’t have the bandwidth to dive in and learn how to conduct referral-related research as much as I wanted. However, I was able to sneak in some research when it came to referrals:

1. Data triangulation. We had quite a few reviews on our apps, and I decided it might be interesting (and fun, in a sadistic way) to go through these reviews and sort the data. I did this in a very manual way, combing through the qualitative reviews and creating a miro board with categories and tags. I wish I had a photo for you but I didn’t manage to snag one, but the categories consisted of:

   1. Pain points/problems people were coming up against and complaining about

   2. Feature requests which I needed to dig into more deeply in future research because they were quite shallow

   3. Positives of what we were doing well that we could use more of

   Within these major categories, I found patterns and trends and used the amount of reviews/mentions to help me weigh them for prioritization. For instance, a huge pain point people encountered in our system was a delayed email confirmation that ended up freaking people out that they had bought a ticket from a bad third-party app. We were able to fix this relatively quickly and easily. This project directly impacting our metric of increasing our review rating.

2. 1x1 interviews and concept testing. Since one of our main metrics was about a referral program we hadn’t yet created, I had to start from scratch on this project, which was quite exciting. I held about 15 1x1 interviews about referral programs where I asked really broad questions on people’s previous experiences with referral programs both inside and outside of the travel sphere (previous experiences with products, even if they are outside of your industry, are much more reliable than asking future-based questions). We were able to understand some key pain points and the needs of our customers. With this, we built a concept of a referral program, which I then used to run a concept test with 12 more people. We evolved the concept with this feedback and eventually shipped the feature, which we then were able to finally apply our metric to increasing sign-ups through referrals

3. Usability testing. We had heard from previous research done in one of our retention projects that sharing trips easily with others was an important feature for our users. We thought that increasing trip shares (especially with people that didn’t have the app or an account) would be an interesting metric to track because it may boost people’s motivation to use us. We conducted a usability test on the sharing trips functionality and then monitored its usage. We found, interestingly, that when users shared trips with others, they also shared their referral code, which helped us increase sharing trips and sign-ups through referrals simultaneously.

Revenue - how people are generative revenue (against costs) for your product/service

Now, all of the above stack up into and impact revenue. If you aren’t getting new customers and retaining them, likely you aren’t making money. Revenue can be broken down into so many different ways, such as:

• Revenue that exceeds CAC

• Monthly recurring revenue

• Minimum revenue

• Breakeven revenue

There was no one project that I could attribute to in terms of revenue, but rather it was the accumulation of the multiple projects I did with this new intention of directly impacting business as much as I could.

Because I was able to impact the metrics we determined above, I could indirectly link my work back to any revenue shifts that we saw in the business.

Try it!

Through this experience, the entire trajectory of my career shifted in such a positive way. I started thinking about projects not just with the user’s goals in mind but also with the business too. It hugely accelerated my career to tie these knots together and show the value of user research through this lens, which stakeholders greatly appreciated.

I recommend starting with one of these letters/topics and going to a trusted colleague to talk through metrics and potential user research projects that could impact the metrics. This is hugely a brainstorming session at first, especially if you are new to metrics + UXR, so a trusted colleague who is open to talking through potential ideas and experimenting is key.

If you don’t have any colleagues open to this discussion, try to brainstorm on your own (this is something I did for a while before I found trusted colleagues) and talk to other peers or join a community - you can check out my user research membership - to get feedback and ideas.

But, the first thing is to start with one of the letters and go from there in trying - you might not get it right the first time (I certainly didn’t), but it is a great skill to practice and hone over time!