Organizations are increasingly investing in research in order to create solutions that deliver real value to people. But if they don't focus on formulating the right UX research strategy to continuously fuel their decision-making process, these solutions may actually fail to bring innovation and growth. 

Even the most traditional organizations today recognize the value of understanding their customers. Opportunities for growth and innovation are often found outside their own company walls. Companies are increasingly trying to involve their customers in their product and business development. They do this by investing in user research. But despite these initiatives to engage research, we see that many companies still struggle to translate real customer needs into solutions that provide real value in their people's lives. 

Many companies focus only on validating solutions with users which is a strategic step to support product decisions. But they don't involve those users from the beginning when they are shaping their new ideas. Thus, they may launch a product that people find very beautiful and user-friendly, but that they still don't use - simply because it hasn't been looked at to see if it matches the customers genuine needs. Conducting foundational can reveal unmet customer needs and the problems that are worth solving. These results are essential business strategies.

From Research Reports to Actionable Insights 

We see companies that invest a lot of time and money in research, which improves the company’s knowledge about their customer. But often, the research reports are forgotten in a folder somewhere because the insights are not applicable in practice. Those who do know how to make these insights usable ensure that strategic choices can be based on them. 

By taking an active role in strategic conversations, UX researchers can bridge this gap. Research is about more than delivering reports. Giving UX researchers a strategic role brings the customer's perspective to the table and challenges assumptions made by internal stakeholders. 

UX Researchers play a fundamental role in continuing to develop a company's knowledge base. They establish a research roadmap to continue to fuel an organization's process. With this, and with the knowledge of internal stakeholders, ever-sharper research questions emerge. 

Actively Involve Internal Stakeholders in Research 

Another critical strategy of UX Researchers is to engage people from across different levels of the organization, from salespeople and customer service to board members. This ensures every key stakeholder is heard and their experiences are properly captured. This also helps researchers define the right problems and formulate the right questions, aligning research goals with the expected outcomes. In doing so, we make it easier to link the customers’ perspective and the business objectives to generate actionable insights.  

From Stakeholder Vision to KPIs 

We build the ground for a solid research strategy by articulating customer needs and company vision. We connect qualitative and quantitative data to create a comprehensive picture of customers’ behaviors and attitudes, bringing the real needs, goals, and context of customers and potential customers to the table, where they are then connected back to the company vision. Lastly, we define solutions with measurable KPIs to shape strategies and help companies track the impact and success of their solutions long-term.