Leveraging mixed methods research to inform foundational strategic updates

Identifying the problem

Customer feedback from several industry reports and internal research teams highlighted a recurring problem and need for a foundational strategic update to our digital experiences. We were tasked to figure out why and pose an alternate solution rooted in customer research.

Auditing the current experience

To understand where we needed to improve, we conducted a thorough heuristic evaluation of the current experience. We then created several journey maps and a prioritization analysis consisting of analytics, online surveys with consumers, and traffic data to identify top areas of opportunity.

Developing a strategic POV

Once we had a thorough audit of the current experience and a prioritized list of journeys for improvement, we met with key business and product stakeholders to align our findings with internal goals. We hosted several workshops to help align ourselves on a strategy to move forward.

Working toward a solution

After identifying current experience gaps and business priorities, we set to work gathering updated consumer insights to help us develop a new foundational strategy for our experiences. Research included: online surveys, A/B testing, card sorts, tree tests, and multiple rounds of consumer interviews to identify jobs to be done and test concepts.

In all, our solution incorporated feedback from over 1,650 customers through a mix of qualitative and qualitative research methods. And! Because this research would impact a foundational experience, this project was the spark we needed to set up operating procedures to include customers with disability and neurodiverse customers in our research. For me, this was the biggest win of the project.

Getting stakeholder buy-in

The project required weekly meetings with product, design, and business stakeholders to ensure that all teams were working toward the same goals with customer insights integrated at every step.

At the same time, we worked closely with our stakeholders to socialize findings with external teams that would be impacted by our foundational experience. Workshops were hosted with key teams to ensure that their needs were heard and reflected in the final solution. These workshops were key in obtaining buy-in from teams across the firm.

Takeaways

• Relationship building with stakeholders is a key part of UX Research and Strategy work. Our insights mean nothing if we cannot get stakeholders on board.

• Research impacting foundational experiences needs to be inclusive of individuals with disability. Inclusive research practices cannot just be a cherry on top at the end. If we co-create experiences (especially foundational ones!) with a representative sample of consumers, we will run into less problems later on.

• Mixed methods research is fun! I enjoyed pulling all the pieces of this very large puzzle together for this project.