How to Persuade Your Leaders to Invest in UX

What can you do when your boss or your organization’s leaders say “no” to design? An ongoing challenge shared by many UX professionals is getting the green light to move forward on a solution to improve the user experience. Believing UX is the right thing to do isn’t enough. As UX strategists, we must categorically … Continue reading “How to Persuade Your Leaders to Invest in UX”

8 Ways to Share User Research Findings & Customer Insights

Now that your UX research has been synthesized and shaped into a compelling story backed by data—what’s the best way to get it into the hands of decision-makers (and the rest of the team)?

24 Best Practices for Optimizing a Customer Lifecycle Communication Program

Your organization is supported by talented and passionate people who want to deliver the best possible customer communication. There’s a lot to say. You want customers to renew their subscription or buy more stuff. You’re responding to customer service and tech support questions. There are statuses, receipts, and acknowledgments to send. Satisfaction survey results to … Continue reading “24 Best Practices for Optimizing a Customer Lifecycle Communication Program”

4 Ways to Analyze Qualitative UX Research

After conducting 8 or more customer interviews, themes will start to bubble up. But often, there are many more smaller nuances — or even surprises — that remain hidden and need to be unlocked. To mine these gold nuggets, there can be an enormous amount of effort that goes into prepping qualitative, or unstructured, data. … Continue reading “4 Ways to Analyze Qualitative UX Research”

Inside My Toolkit: UX Research Apps & Tools

Here are the apps and digital tools that I most frequently use to communicate, conduct, and analyze UX research.

My Favorite UX & Non-UX Resources

An evolving list of my favorite books, videos, and podcasts that I have found helpful in my career:

3 Tips for More Successful Prototype Testing

One of the best uses of limited development dollars is to usability test a prototype as early as possible. Test too early in the design process — and participants may not fully understand what they’re looking at. Test too late — and you likely will trash quite a bit of work (and money).

UX Case Study: New Customer Onboarding Journey Map

My challenge: What types of support do new customers need in the first 90 days? My client wanted to understand their new customers’ frustrations, moments of delight, and overall experience in order to improve product adoption and self-service. My role in this project was lead researcher. The subsequent implementation phase was led by the client’s … Continue reading “UX Case Study: New Customer Onboarding Journey Map”

Tackle UX Research Questions Using Triangulation

Outlier or gold nugget? To reduce risk, ensure two (or more) UX research methods derive the same results. Tackle research questions using multiple perspectives and methods.

UX Research Playbook: When to Use Which UX Research Method

With more than 90 UX research methods and techniques available, when or where in the design process is the best place to use them? What does your organization or team want to learn more about? There are several different methods to consider—depending on your research goal.