User Experience Research
Mature companies generally leverage traditional user experience research, often augmenting product or design teams. Some companies hire dedicated, trained researchers, while others experiment with qualitative and quantitative research by having designers and product managers conduct research. Most typically, these types of user research programs are set up to primarily answer important, tactical questions such as:
“Are my features discoverable and useable?”
“What features would be most valuable for us to build next?”
“How can I reduce the number of customer support tickets?”
“How can we increase our NPS?”
Customer Development
Having a useable product is paramount, and there are so many other strategic opportunity areas for research to explore; arguably this is becoming increasingly important as technology advances at exponential rates of speed. Customer Development is designed to answer the burning questions including:
“What emerging pains are keeping my customers up at night?”
“How have my customers’ behaviors changed since our product was first introduced, and what are the implications for my business?”
“What new solution areas might I offer my customers upon which I can grow my business?”
“How might I leverage [insert technology here] to better meet the needs of my customers?”
Answering these types of questions can lead the company to new lines of business. Blockbuster is the classic example of a company that failed to ask and answer these types of questions. If they had looked outside the four walls of their stores, they could have been Netflix. When Netflix began, they mailed DVDs to customers. Today, Netflix is a place for customers to binge-watch Netflix-produced content. Netflix listens to the signals about technology, and user behavior, and adapts to them. What’s next for Netflix? What’s next for your organization?
Contact 23 Signals to help your mature organization discover what’s next.