My guest today is Josh LaMar, Principal Researcher and Co-Founder at Authentique UX.

Find Josh Online:

Email: [email protected] 

Web: http://www.authentiqueux.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshlamar/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authentiqueux/ 

Find Jamin Online:

Email: [email protected] 

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jaminbrazil

Twitter: www.twitter.com/jaminbrazil 

Find Us Online: 

Twitter: www.twitter.com/happymrxp 

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/happymarketresearch 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/happymrxp 

Website: www.happymr.com 

Music:

“Clap Along” by Auditionauti: https://audionautix.com

This Episode’s Sponsor: 

This episode is brought to you by Lookback. Lookback provides the tools to help UX teams to interact with real users, in real-time, and in real contexts. It’s Lookback’s mission to humanize technology by bridging the gap between end-users and product teams. Lookback’s customers range from one-man teams building web and app experiences to the world’s largest research organizations, collectively ensuring that humanity is at the core of every product decision. For more info, including demos of Lookback’s offering, please visit www.lookback.io. 

[00:00:00]

Jamin: Hey everybody, this is Jamin. You're listening to the Happy Market Research Podcast. My guest today is Josh LaMar. He is live from Brazil. Josh, how are you today?

[00:00:13]

Josh: Hello. I am doing very well. It's a nice warm afternoon in Brazil.[00:00:18]

Jamin: San Pablo?

[00:00:19]

Josh: Yes.[00:00:20]

Jamin: Specifically?

[00:00:21]

Josh: São Paulo.[00:00:22]

Jamin: So tell us a little bit about yourself. You're a UX researcher, how in the world did you wind up in that job, and what kind of customers are you working with?

[00:00:32]

Josh: Well, I didn't initially set out to be a researcher. And it's funny because I did my undergraduate degrees in music composition and English poetry, which are seemingly as far as you can get away from research. But then I pivoted a little bit, and then went to grad school in human-centered design and engineering. And I've been playing with this idea, I think throughout my career, of the role of creativity in science and how important it is to use creativity to create research methodologies, and to answer questions that we have about our users. It ended up being a really great fit for me.[00:01:09]

Jamin: That's a big chasm between those two things, right?

[00:01:13]

Josh: Yeah.[00:01:13]

Jamin: To say the least. How did you bridge it professionally?

[00:01:18]

Josh: I started out thinking, what can I do with my English degree? And I started out by getting a certification in technical editing, thinking that I would become an editor. And then afterwards, I found this master's program at the University of Washington, like I mentioned, human-centered design and engineering. And when I finished the program, I was like, oh, I'm qualified to do research now, and people are way more interesting than commas.[00:01:44]

Jamin: That's true, I guess.

[00:01:51]

Josh: They'll always surprise you, and you just have to be open to seeing, what's gonna happen when you meet this new person? And the act of doing research and going and talking to people, and especially visiting people in their homes, it's really fascinating for me. And it's interpersonal and it's empathetic. And that's, I think, what draws me and keeps me doing research.[00:02:13]

Jamin: The topic for today's discussion is centered around questions, the anatomy of a question as it relates to research. It's funny, because as I've done this interview now a few times, I've realized that my first question is actually a flawed question. It's hilarious. The type of question that we're talking about here is really at an interview level, right?

[00:02:34]

Josh: Correct.[00:02:35]

Jamin: So,

My guest today is Emma Craig, UX Research Lead at Shopify.

Shopify was founded in 2004 by Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake after attempting to open Snowdevil, an online store for snowboarding equipment. Today, Shopify offers online retailers a suite of services for more than 1,000,000 businesses in approximately 175 countries, with total gross merchandise volume exceeding $42 billion.

Prior to joining the User Experience team at Shopify, Emma served as Manager Team Lead at Shopify and held the position of Investigative Interviewer at BackCheck.

Find Emma Online: 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/emmaccraig

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-craig-5b829920/ 

Find Jamin Online:

Email: [email protected] 

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jaminbrazil

Twitter: www.twitter.com/jaminbrazil 

Find Us Online: 

Twitter: www.twitter.com/happymrxp 

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/happymarketresearch 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/happymrxp 

Website: www.happymr.com 

Music:

“Clap Along” by Auditionauti: https://audionautix.com

This Episode’s Sponsor: 

This episode is brought to you by Lookback. Lookback provides the tools to help UX teams to interact with real users, in real time, and in real contexts. It’s Lookback’s mission to humanize technology by bridging the gap between end users and product teams. Lookback’s customers range from one man teams building web and app experiences to the world’s largest research organizations, collectively ensuring that humanity is at the core of every product decision. For more info, including demos of Lookback’s offering, please visit www.lookback.io. 

[00:02]

Jamin: Hey, everybody. My name is Jamin, host of Happy Market Research Podcast. Emma Craig, UX Research Lead at Shopify. Shopify has experienced massive, insane growth over the last five years - it's unprecedented. Valuations are just amazing on that company. Congratulations, Emma, on all of the success there.

[00:23]

Emma: Thanks. I won't take credit for it, but it's exciting to be part of it.[00:28]

Jamin: Yeah. No kidding, no kidding. So you've been at Shopify for a few years. What did you do before that?

[00:34]

Emma: So, before Shopify, I had a really interesting job, actually. I worked at a company that other companies outsourced this company to run their background checks on people that they were thinking of hiring. So, I was in the investigative interview team of that company. And I would phone people's references, and the previous employers, or educational institutions, in some cases, and interview them about these people, basically trying to suss out what type of employee they would be, and if it was the type of employee that this future employer was looking for. So, yeah, it was really interesting. I think it caught a lot of people off when you're more used to the average reference interview of like, "Were they productive? Were they nice?" And we really tried to get in there because these companies were very concerned about making sure they're hiring the exact person that they're looking for.[01:26]

Jamin: So, our topic today is the art and science of a good question. It's hilarious that you started your career in really framing out questions, and asking the right one in order to get the accurate response, I guess. Not like it's leading, but you just needed to know if it's a good fit or a bad fit. And then you moved into UX Research at Spotify. How did you wind up in research?

[01:49]

Jamin: So, how did you wind up in UX Research?

[01:51]

Emma: So, that was interesting, too, actually, because I started at Shopify in the Account Management sort of team. And that was the team that was spun up when we first launched Shopify Plus, now they're called Merchant Success Managers. But, basically, your job was to work with these enterprise clients as their Account Manager and make sure that they were taken care of.

In this episode, we’ll hear from insight professionals at top brands and consultancies on their top tips for asking a good research question to participants as well as common mistakes and how to avoid them.

Stay tuned for the following weeks to hear the individual episodes of our referenced guests.

Referenced Guests: Harry Brignull, Head of UX Innovation at Smart Pension

Twitter: https://twitter.com/harrybr

Emma Craig, UX Research Manager at Shopify

Twitter: https://twitter.com/emmaccraig

Zoe Dowling, SVP of Research at FocusVision

Twitter: https://twitter.com/zoedowling

Josh LaMar, Principal Researcher & Co-Founder at Authentique UX

Email: [email protected] 

Find Jamin Online:

Email: [email protected]

Find Chueyee Online:

Email: [email protected]

Find Us Online:

Twitter: www.twitter.com/happymrxp

Music:

“Clap Along” by Auditionauti: https://audionautix.com

Additional Links:

Double-barreled questions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-barreled_question

This Episode’s Sponsor:

[00:02] Jamin Brazil: In this episode, we’ll hear from insight professionals at top brands and consultancies on their top tips for asking a good research question to participants as well as common mistakes and how to avoid them.  

This newsletter is best read while listening to LL Cool J’s Moma Said Knock You Out. 

As Chueyee and I are writing this somehow it came up that she doesn’t know who LL Cool J is. So, if you do know...they you should listen with the satisfaction that 90s R&B is being passed down. If you don’t know LL Cool J...my goodness! Click the link right now! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vimZj8HW0Kg

Now, on to the important stuff… 

Are You a Marketer? 

If so, I’ve got a gift for you! After over 40 hours of research on how to optimize your blog posts, I’m releasing the first set of tips on SEO optimization. 

Why do a blog? 

The best place to bury a dead body is on the second page of Google. In fact, there is a 36.4% clickthrough rate on the first link and a 2% rate on the 10th (last one on the first page). 70% of your traffic will be looking for knowledge and 15% are looking to buy now.Blogs are the engine that tells Google you are an authority on whatever you sell. Drive the 70% and benefit from better Google placement. 

Tip: Don’t use blogs as sales pieces. Users will see straight through and “bounce” (e.g. use their browser back button and get off your site). Google translates a faster bounce as less relevant and will deprioritize you relative to your competitors. 

Golden Rule: Don’t invest in lots of little blogs. Instead, make one definitive piece of work that gets to the first position in Google. 

When researching a topic to do a blog post on, what tools do we use? 

Search trends on Google to ensure you are talking about the right thing at the right time; https://trends.google.com/trends/Google Adword Planner will help you frame your blog post in the best possible way; https://ads.google.com/Keyword research helps you put the right words in your article title and subtitle for maximum relevance: https://keywordtool.io/Use a Browser Private or Incognito mode to search for topics prior to doing any writing. This will ensure you are seeing general search results vs tailored to your browsing habits. 

What should my blog post include? 

Keyword-focused headerFeatured imageProminent email signup box with a descriptive call to actionSocial sharing buttonsHelpful detailed article focused on the keywordsMultiple compelling images, videos or chartsInternal links to other posts and service pagesCall to action for comments, related articles or more information

HACK: Comments have an oversized impact on organic SEO in Google which is why Reddit performs so well. 

Recap: Your blog will not generate many leads. Your blog will improve your site authority which will place you higher for the 15% of searches that are looking for your goods or services. 

Content Tip: Always start with this Madlib… 

Our company is where

[audience] finds

[content] for

[benefit].

Then, identify your blog post’s target audience: 

Potential customers we can help through our products and servicesAnyone we can help through our expert advice 

When you share your expert knowledge, you pull your audience toward you.

Types of blog posts: 

Original researchOpinion piecesGuest postsInterviews and roundupsVideo, audio and live events 

Your blog post must answer these questions…

Why do they care?How does this help them?What task can they complete once they are finished reading this? 

Blog post header fodder: 

Threat headlines: What keeps your readers up at night “27 Complaints about surveys” Zen headlines: Promising your readers a simpler life “Perfect Surveys: 9 Tips, Plus Some Research”Piggyback headlines: Riding on the back of a famous brand “What Lady Gaga Can Teach Researchers”Mistake headlines: Irresistible teasers from the masters “15 Survey Errors that Make You Look Silly”How-to Headlines: The oldie but goodie that never fails “How to do research when you have no money and no time”List headlines: Bite-sized content that readers adore “52 Types of Surveys that are Proven to Work”

Personal Log

CBS All Access launched Picard this week! I realize some of you may not be Treky’s … but stay with me. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart at age 79) is an old man long retired. So, why him vs. some young actor to carry the franchise forward? 

http://bit.ly/2RNdKim

But, my connection with the character, Captain Picard, goes deeper than age. The writers of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” did an amazing job of creating a model leader. Here are some tips I picked up after binge-watching the show the last four months: 

It is okay to see the impossible and then spend your blood and fortune to seek it.. “Things are only impossible until they are not.”Start with innocent until proven otherwise. Believe in people … not just the biased facts. “The road from legitimate suspicion to rampant paranoia is very much shorter than we think.”Work towards a higher good. “The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force of our lives. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity.”

But, my favorite quote reminds us about the importance of being present and appreciating those around us.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T_J3Vuu1GY

“Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we've lived. After all Number One, we're only mortal.”

As always, I’m super curious to hear what you think about the new format. Tweet me @jaminbrazil and let me know! Now! On with the news …  

Industry News Qualtrics vs. Medallia

First, we read about PwC joining the Qualtrics Partner Network. The partnership expands PwC’s existing SAP relationship and enables organizations who use the Qualtrics XM Platform to leverage PwC’s methodology “Return on Experience.”

A day later, Clarus Commerce, a marketing and technology platform for premium loyalty management, has selected Medallia, a market leader in experience management, as its experience management platform of choice.

Customer experience is growing at a 23% growth rate year over year with a target of over $18 billion by 2023. There is a lot of room for us all to take advantage of this growing pie. 

Human Capital News 

Sentient Decision Science appoints Clint Taylor as Chief Technology Officer. Clint is a personal friend of mine and I couldn’t be more happy for him and Sentient Decision Science. Congrats both! 

Comscore promotes Carol Hinnant, a 15-year Comscore executive, to Chief Revenue Officer. This company has gone through some tough times. Well done Carol for sticking with things and congrats on the new role!

Matt Michaud joins, RS IN VIVO, a BVA Group Company, as the Senior Vice President of Head of Behavioral Qualitative.

DVJ Insights expands with the opening of an office in Hamburg, which will be led by newly appointed Managing Partners, Erk Maassen and Stephan Knäble.

Former UK Managing Director at Kadence International, Greg Clayton, joins Ipsos Mori as Senior Client Officer.

Irwin Broh & Associates, a full-service marketing research company, appoints Michael Mitrano and Jackie Rousseau-Anderson to its Board of Directors.

Tool vs. Post of the Week

Marcel Slavenburg, Senior Director of SKIM, publishes, “Five tips on how to add automation to market research.” 

The white paper discusses their John Henry experiment where they launched “(Wo)man vs. Machine,” a head-to-head competition between human researchers and automation technology. Each team was tasked with analyzing self-recorded consumer videos using different research methodologies. One team had access to automated tools, while the other team of SKIM researchers relied on traditional human methods of analysis.

http://bit.ly/2RmVptR

Deals

GreenBook has offered us, Insights Nation, a unique 30% discount on any of their events.

I’m going to start this with a personal note. 

A big part to achieve happiness is saying, “No.” This is something that has gotten much harder for me in the past few years. 

As I’ve said, “Yes,” to more things, I’ve found less personal satisfaction and external success. The world is evolving at an increasingly fast pace. This change generates chaos and at the heart of chaos, we find opportunity. For me, and I believe many of us, this creates a growing sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) because we see the opportunities. 

So, why start a daily news show and weekly newsletter? 

I love our community of insight professionals. We generate a lot of research on research. I’m not talking about the self-promoting webinars or blog posts, I’m talking about the content that impacts us all — optimal incentives, ethical implications of technology, process improvements, keys to storytelling — these are the types of topics you are writing about and we want to elevate … for free. 

The end of this bit needs to be what am I saying, “No,” too? The answer is everything. I’m not adding a single thing to my plate. 

The other tactic I leverage is my team. For example, this podcast. My co-host, Chueyee Yang, does 90% of the work — writing, post-production, scheduling, and publishing — all takes a lot of time.

My hope for you is that you can be focused, not meandering, but move purposefully with your time towards your goal.  

If you have feedback on MRx News, please let us know. @jaminbrazil on twitter or, if you have news, please send it to [email protected]. 

Industry News

This week, 

Microsoft and dunnhumby announce their global strategic partnership where dunnhumby will move its customer insights products to Azure, Microsoft’s cloud platform. 

This from Clare Barclay, Chief Operating Officer at Microsoft UK: 

“Retailers sit on vast amounts of data but often struggle to create meaningful insights for themselves or their suppliers. Through this strategic partnership, retailers across the globe will benefit from the powerful intelligence that dunnhumby delivers through its market-leading tools with the scale, security and speed-to-market that has become synonymous with the Azure platform.”

Why is this so important? The incorporation of external data into primary data is a meaningful trend. 

News

This week, PureSpectrum introduced PureScore, a scoring system that evaluates respondent quality based on their profile, past behavior, and current behavior. This innovation has been spearheaded by Mark Menig, an OG in digital fingerprinting and respondent quality best practices. 

PureSpectrum: https://purespectrum.com 

Friendly Competition

GreenBook and Little Bird Marketing have launched the Market Research Podcast Awards. Nominations are due February 15, and voting will be open February 16 through March 31. Your nomination of this show or our sister podcast, Happy Market Research, would be appreciated. :)  

Little Bird Marketing: https://info.littlebirdmarketing.com/mr-podcast-award 

Tool vs. Post of the Week

We are researchers. We do this because we love it … and we get paid because we are good at it. 

This segment highlights happenings in tech or knowledge. Sometimes it’ll be directly in the crosshairs of market research and sometimes it’ll simply be relevant. 

Today, Josh LaMar, posted a must-read for consumer insight professionals titled, “A Fundamental Truth of User-Centered Design that is Simple, yet Forgotten.” 

This article directly addresses the importance of understanding the context of usage of a product or service vs. just the product or service. As an early ethnographer at Microsoft, he lets us all draw from his experience. 

Josh LaMar: A Fundamental Truth of User-Centered Design that is Simple, yet forgotten

https://medium.com/@joshlamar/a-fundamental-truth-of-user-centered-design-that-is-simple-yet-forgotten-d65d17265257

In Human Capital News 

First off … Happy 2020!!!

In 2020, we are taking a totally new approach to the Happy Market Research Podcast and is introducing a new show, MRx News.

First off, we’ve got a new host! Chueyee Yang. She has been with me for over a year and is finally ready to spread her journalistic wings.

New Format of Happy MRxP

This podcast will have a journalistic approach, covering issues surrounding our industry and the companies it touches. Our three-part 2019 year-in-review series was our first example of this change. Because it takes time to plan the series, we will release one series per quarter (two to four episodes). However, we’ll continue to drop weekly episodes summarizing news and happenings in our space.

Meet MRx News

A daily two-minute podcast where we cover trends, industry reports, mergers and acquisitions, and people. To subscribe, just open Apple’s Podcast app, or wherever you listen and search for “MRx News.”

Super curious to hear what you think about the new format. Tweet me @jaminbrazil and let me know!

Industry News

This week Dynata invested around $2 million in the blockchain startup, Measure Protocol. Meanwhile, Greenbook’s Lenny Murphy’s blockchain startup Veriglif is scratching a similar itch. It’ll be interesting to see this space mature as I believe it’ll address issues around respondent transparency.

Deals

If you are interested in attending Merlien Institute’s Qual 360, Women in Research (WIRe) published a discount code, WIRE20. I’ve been constantly impressed with Merlien Institute’s events and, if you have the time and money, I hope you can attend. I’ll likely be at their North America event from March 24 to 25.

Tool vs. Post of the Week

This week C+R Research published a blog post on, “5 benefits to a collaborative culture, and why it works so well,” for them.

One person can’t think of everythingWe all have a unique perspectiveIt helps us grow It’s more efficientIt produces better research 🔑

You can find the full writeup on their blog at: http://bit.ly/306WZm9

Thinking About User Experience Research (UXr)?

There has been growth in the number of consumer insight events.

Which one should you go to? Kathryn Brooksheir, a UX Researcher at Indeed, published her point of view for User Experience Research on Medium. You can find a link to the post in our show notes or search for Top UX Research Conferences in 2020.

Happy Market Research will attend the UXR Conference in Toronto in June, and, if budget permits, one other event. If you have a recommendation, please drop our show host, that’s me, and email at [email protected].

About the Happy Market Research Newsletter:

A highly editorialized recap of the week in consumer insights. We cover trends, happenings, and tips in market research, user experience research, and customer experience.

Find Jamin Online:

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jaminbrazil

Twitter: www.twitter.com/jaminbrazil

Find Chueyee Online:

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chueyeeyang

Twitter: www.twitter.com/chueyee15

Find Us Online:

Twitter: www.twitter.com/happymrxp

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/happymarketresearch

Facebook: www.facebook.com/happymrxp

Website: www.happymr.com

Music:

“Clap Along” by Auditionauti: https://audionautix.com

In this episode, we’ll hear from insight professionals at top brands on the biggest challenges facing user experience, customer experience and market researchers.

Happy Market Research is closing the year with a four-part podcast series, highlighting industry challenges, trends and much more.

This year we hit 80,000 downloads, interviewed 250 guests, heads of insights at Microsoft, P&G, and Samsung, we also had guests from leading agencies like Nielsen and TNS as well as several startup founders.

Referenced Guests:

Aji Ghose, Head of Research and Data Science at Sky

Twitter: www.twitter.com/ai_modeller

Anne Brown, CEO of Gazelle Global Research Services

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/anne-brown

David Garcia Pawley, director of European countries for CMI at Samsung

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgarciapawley/?originalSubdomain=uk

Estrella Lopez-Brea, the Global Head of Consumer Connections at Cereal Partners Worldwide

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/estrella-lopez-brea-60930311

Marian Anderson, Director of Insights at Microsoft

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariangyarmathy

Michael Yaksich, Director of Customer Strategy at Cruise

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-yaksich-8277a912

Mitchell Atchison, a insights professional at a pharmaceutical firm

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchell-atchison-0a43bb12

Rian van der Merwe, Product Manager at Wildbit

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/rianvdm

Find Jamin Online:

Email: [email protected]

Find Chueyee Online:

Email: [email protected]

Find Us Online:

Twitter: www.twitter.com/happymrxp

Music:

“Clap Along” by Auditionauti: https://audionautix.com

This Episode’s Sponsor: 

[00:03]