Insights Unlocked

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In this Insights Unlocked episode, UserTesting’s LeTisha Shaw talks with REI’s Monique Lalonde about their continuous interview program with customers to support the product development life cycle.

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The Human Insight Summit (THiS) is headed to Austin, Texas, this October 28-30. THiS is our annual, in-person customer conference dedicated to helping organizations understand their customers by showing and sharing, first-hand, the possibilities of using human insight across the business. Get $100 off your registration with the podcast listener code: UNLOCKED. Learn more or register.

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SHOW NOTES

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that REI, the nation’s largest consumer co-op with some 23 million members, loves to talk with its customers.

“As our product-led practice matured, we saw an opportunity to foster a habit of talking to customers on a regular basis in support of the product development cycle,” said Monique, REI’s Director of Product Design. “Layne Foit (REI’s senior manager of UX research & Content) developed a scalable framework for continuous customer interviewing with a goal to empower teams with just enough research skills so they feel comfortable talking to customers, are able to analyze what they hear, and use those customer insights to drive innovation and customer centricity.”

Once a week, members from REI’s UX research and product teams meet up to talk with a customer about a specific problem they are experiencing. They then evaluate that interview together, listening for all the different things that people observed.

We often talk about shifting left in the product development lifecycle when you’re talking with your customers and prospects. This helps you develop products your audience wants, needs and will pay you money. It also helps avoid or reduce the cost of rework (estimated at more than $1 trillion annually) because you built something no one wanted.

REI is a purpose-driven specialty outdoor retailer dedicated to enabling life outside for all. The co-op was founded in 1938 as some mountaineering friends in the Pacific Northwest sought access to better climbing gear. As a co-op, with about 23 million members, they measure success differently than many companies. 

“Our goal is to run a healthy business, which enables us to make a positive impact on our employees, members, and society,” Monique said. “Our product design practice plays a critical role in supporting our goals, measuring their progress and impact in all our experiences.”

So far the program has been successful in conducting continuous research that can be measured and tracked, Monique said. 

“This shared experience is helping in cross-functional alignment, promoting a user-centered culture, and understanding a holistic picture of our customer journeys,” she said. “An unexpected benefit has been team building. Our product teams are 100% remote and our pilot teams reported feeling more connected to their co-workers thanks to the program.”

Episode web page

In this Insights Unlocked episode, Andy MacMillan, CEO of UserTesting, talks with Dave about the rapidly transforming UX research landscape, shedding light on how technological advances are reshaping our approach to understanding user experiences.

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The Human Insight Summit (THiS) is headed to Austin, Texas, this October 28-30. THiS is our annual, in-person customer conference dedicated to helping organizations understand their customers by showing and sharing, first-hand, the possibilities of using human insight across the business. Get $100 off your registration with the podcast listener code: UNLOCKED. Learn more or register.

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SHOW NOTES

In this Insights Unlocked episode, Andy MacMillan, CEO of UserTesting, talks with Dave about the rapidly transforming UX research landscape, shedding light on how technological advances are reshaping our approach to understanding user experiences.

Dave has written several essays on the subject over on his website.

“What we're doing in user research compared to what we were doing 10 or 15 years ago is a much more understood set of activities,” Dave said. “And that means that the way that we undertake them, the amount of effort that it takes to undertake them is decreasing and the amount of knowledge that we as an industry have about how the craft of user research itself works is increasing. 

“User research is only one small piece of the puzzle,” he said. “And the user of user research are the product teams who are actually taking these insights and are weaving them into our ongoing processes. So as we look to the future of user research, I think we actually need to shift our view a level higher and look to the future methods of product development that will unfold along with a now more commoditized version of research.”

Dave suggests the future of UX research is to be closer aligned to the product development process.

Episode web page

In this Insights Unlocked episode, UserTesting’s Sean Treiser talks with UI/UX and product designer Karla Fernandes about designing, developing, testing and launching products on your own.

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The Human Insight Summit (THiS) is headed to Austin, Texas, this October 28-30. THiS is our annual, in-person customer conference dedicated to helping organizations understand their customers by showing and sharing, first-hand, the possibilities of using human insight across the business. Get $100 off your registration with the podcast listener code: UNLOCKED. Learn more or register.

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In this Insights Unlocked episode, UserTesting’s CEO Andy MacMillan talks with Chris Messina, co-founder of the Ride Home AI Fund. They discuss AI’s rapid integration into our lives; ways in which AI will revolutionize work; the key elements of a successful product today; as well as Chris’s investment strategy for AI startups.

In this Insights Unlocked episode, Lawrence Williams talks with Dawn Procopio, founder and principal UX researcher at AI-Ethicist.com. They explore the critical role of UX researchers in ensuring that machine learning models are human-centered and ethically sound.

In this Insights Unlocked episode, UserTesting’s Lija Hogan talks with Jorge Arango, author of the new book Duly Noted: Extend Your Mind Through Connected Notes. They discuss the power of note-taking to help you be more knowledgeable and creative, both at a personal level and collaboratively with teams.

In this Insights Unlocked episode, Teresa Torres — author of Continuous Discovery Habits, which has now sold more than 100,000 copies — talks about the importance of customer input earlier in the product development lifecycle to better dial in product market fit and reduce wasted costs.

Teresa has coached hundreds of teams at companies of all sizes, from early-stage startups to global enterprises, in a variety of industries. She has taught more than 11,000 product people discovery skills through the Product Talk Academy and her coaching practice.

In this episode of UserTesting’s Insights Unlocked podcast, Andy MacMillan talks with Pablo Stanley about AI’s impact on design.

Pablo is the founder or co-founder of several design brands, most recently Bueno and the Musho AI plugin for Figma. Previously he was a lead designer at InVision, as well as a staff designer at Lyft and Udemy. He teaches art and design on his YouTube channel Sketch Together, as well as supports the Latinx community through his projects Latinx Who Design and Dreamer Stories.

“I am a techno-optimist,” Pablo said. “I believe in the potential of these tools to enhance our lives in general and, specifically, that of creative individuals, assisting them in taking their creations to a different level.”

The pace of the change is happening quickly, he said, and some people may get caught in that disruption, including on the creative side, and get left behind.

“It would be naive not to see the challenges this brings,” Pablo said. “The pace of the AI evolution is making traditional systems and industries slow to adapt, sometimes causing an existential crisis. So, there's going to be a transition period where a lot of people will be affected by this shift.

In this bonus episode, we look back to our conversation from Season 6, Episode 53 with Monal Chokshi, Head of Research & Insights at Dropbox. 

In this clip, Monal shares tips for anyone looking to build a research team from the ground up at a company, as well as tips for next leveling a research team that already exists. She also explains how she created an internal Insights Council to help inform and influence business decisions.

Enjoy the episode.

In this bonus episode, we look back to our conversation in Episode 87 with Ari Zelmanow and UserTesting’s Michelle Huff. Ari is a former police detective turned UX researcher and now leads User Experience Research at Twilio. 

In this clip, Ari explains why he thinks we need to reinvent UX researchers role within organizations to be less of a service provider and more of a consultant providing strategic advice.  

Enjoy the episode.