Last March, we shared our prediction that 2022 would be the beginning of the end of project-based, ad hoc research programs across a fragmented set of UX research partners as the primary way brands get the insights they need.
One year later, we can not only confidently say that this remains true, we’re also seeing flexible research programs becoming the go-to solution for companies facing increasing uncertainty.
Increasingly, UX leaders are being asked to do more with less. Our clients are relying more and more heavily on long-term research programs that meet their significant demand for insights. Over the past several years, we’ve been building enterprise research programs for some of the world’s most influential companies, helping them scale research at the pace of their product development process.
How are teams elevating UX and getting more done?
Broadly speaking, Enterprise Research is a category of strategically designed insights programs with dedicated teams providing continuous research to support an organization’s rapidly growing need for insights. Our Enterprise Research approaches enable organizations to expand and accelerate their user insights capabilities with purpose-built dedicated teams that extend reach and impact.
As we adapt to the shifting economic climate, we see that for most UX leaders, elevating UX to peers and business leaders is a top priority. But with leaner teams to manage the day-to-day, it’s even tougher to focus on strategic priorities. We’re easing the burden with dedicated teams that can be dialed up or down as needs flex, paired with roadmap and stakeholder management.
No two dedicated teams are the same. Here are a few examples of ways we’re helping high-performing teams right now:
Freeing up internal teams to scale organizational impact
AnswerLab’s Flex Programs typically involve deploying a team of dedicated research experts to embed with a product team. Our team shifts priorities as the product team’s insights needs mature over time, continuously bringing the right set of UX research methodologies to bear at the right moment.
We’ve been leading a Flex Program for a leading financial brand for the past two years, freeing up their in-house research team to scale their organizational impact. Our team meets the demands of their agile product development schedule, conducting regular evaluative research, while the client team focuses on strategic activities. Our dedicated team knows the ins and outs of their products and business, enabling them to be true partners in deploying a research roadmap.
Learn how we built an end-to-end research program for a multinational e-commerce client.
Operationalizing and improving a research operations practice
For the past few years, we’ve been building and running larger operational programs for major brands. These engagements develop repeatable, integrated research processes that ensure every new feature or product receives the required insights necessary for optimization before launch while providing unparalleled efficiency and integration in the UX research function.
AnswerLab designed, launched, and operationalized a Research Operations practice that supports multiple product teams for one of the largest tech companies in the world. We’ve been running this program for the past two years, focusing on recruiting hard-to-reach user segments across product teams. As we iterated on complex systems and built trust across our client stakeholders, we’ve scaled up to support recruiting, operations, and logistics for 100 projects each month while continuously improving processes and efficiency across their operations.
Rapid research for fast, iterative insights ahead of a product launch
AnswerLab’s rapid research approach ensures you don’t miss a beat in your development schedule. Iterative and fast moving, rapid research utilizes regularly scheduled research sessions to give a consistent stream of insights that inform design decisions. We’ve been running rapid research programs for major brands for years, enabling them to get timely, actionable research insights at any stage of a product’s lifecycle–from validation of design concepts to guiding the optimization of wireframes, prototypes, and live products.
In six months of a mixed-methods rapid program for a major multinational client, we conducted quantitative and qualitative research with 3,000+ participants across eight countries. The insights supported our client team in the development of a global payments platform ahead of their launch date.
Prioritizing a UX roadmap and supporting internal success
We support a number of teams with roadmap prioritization, internal process improvements, and elevating UX impact through research repositories and internal tools.
Our teams support collaboration across a client’s Design, Product, and Research teams to create, prioritize, socialize, and implement a cross-functional research roadmap, laying the groundwork for intentional, expert-designed research over the course of several months. We can also advise on how to communicate UX impact through relevant frameworks, new tools to track effectiveness, and internal workshops and stakeholder conversations. In one ongoing flex program we run for an e-commerce client, in addition to conducting research, we’ve contributed to client success by building custom report templates, evolving program documents and materials, providing training and shadowing opportunities for their internal teams, and piloting new and innovative research programs to build empathy cross-functionally.
Our enterprise insights programs meet the demands of the world’s leading brands. Will you be next? Get in touch with a UX Strategist today.
