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Matt Thomas is a Design, Research, and Product leader at Motability Operations where he leads the Design and Research efforts for a range of products, from a commerce platform for selling used cars to colleague-facing tools that support that website. His team also designs for a vehicle refurbishment workshop, a completely different challenge with a unique set of users, which keeps things interesting.

They work closely with Product and Technology teams to bring these products to life, always focusing on learning from the people who use them. He is super passionate about broadening where the team gathers insights and making research more accessible, so teams can make better product decisions.

In our conversation, we discuss:

* How Matt defines “broadening research” and why it starts outside of formal studies.

* Real-world examples of overlooked insight sources like sales calls, account managers, and field teams.

* The internal system Matt’s team uses to collect, tag, and feed sales feedback into their repository every day.

* Why traditional research reports don’t always land and what to try instead.

* Tactics for building trust and buy-in, even when you’re blocked from direct customer access.

Some takeaways:

* Matt encourages researchers to stop thinking of research as only formal studies. Some of the richest data comes from support calls, onboarding conversations, and field visits. These sources already exist in most companies but often get ignored because they don’t look like traditional research. When you tap into them, you’re bringing context into the room that would otherwise stay invisible.

* It’s tempting to jump straight into tagging or setting up automations, but Matt suggests beginning with a conversation. Ask a customer-facing teammate what they’re hearing. Offer to sit with them for an hour or buy them coffee. Building trust first, then showing how their insights feed into decisions, opens more doors long-term than asking for data access right away.

* Matt’s team gets sales feedback emailed to them daily and loads it into their repository in batches. But even without automation, he recommends reviewing 20 feedback items a day which is just enough to build a habit and gather useful patterns. That creates a log of real impact you can use later to justify hiring or tooling decisions. Don’t aim to boil the ocean; aim to show traction.

* The goal isn’t to create a polished report. It’s to influence a decision. Matt’s team shares snippets via Slack or email, hosts research gallery walk-throughs, and tests lightweight formats like social-style insight posts. Different stakeholders need different communication and just because a report is well-written doesn’t mean it will be read.

* From usability bingo nights to Iron Man-style gallery sessions, Matt embraces experimentation in how research is shared. Some people need a sticky note wall. Some need a voice clip in their inbox. If one format doesn’t land, try another. The most impactful insights often come wrapped in something a little unexpected but perfectly timed.

Where to find Matt:

* LinkedIn

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