Video: Multipurpose Communication & UX Research Marketing

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Multipurpose Communication & UX Research Marketing

Thursday, September 12, 2019 • DesignOps Community

Molly Fargotstein

Associate Research Operations Manager, Mailchimp

Summary

Despite our clear value in informing product and advocating for our customers, UX Research (UXR) tends to have a lot to prove within most companies. Whether it’s our value, knowledge, or definition, there are information-holes about UXR that need to be filled. Not only that, but we have a lot to share with the rest of our company. We want to be sure that our insights are heard. With zero marketing experience, I (alongside our Centralized Research Team) took a stab at rebranding and marketing our UX Research (UXR) team with sincere intention. Collecting lessons and dodging roadblocks along the way, we tested and evolved different methods set out to evangelize UX Research insights, share findings between teams, define and demystify UX Research and prove value for UXR throughout the company. What does that even look like? Molly will tell you.

Key Insights

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UX research marketing is a strategic effort to clearly communicate who UX researchers are and what they do, creating greater impact within organizations.
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Without intentional marketing, UX research risks being misunderstood, undervalued, or seen as mysterious and unapproachable.
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MailChimp’s UX team created one-pagers for each research project to provide skimmable, digestible summaries accessible across the company.
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Quarterly newsletters and internal broadcasts like 'Camp Radio' effectively increase engagement by sharing insights creatively and widely.
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Physical artifacts such as posters and team swag foster a strong UX research brand and cultural presence inside the company.
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Multipurpose communication—tailoring messaging to different audiences and goals—is essential to maintain relevance and drive collaboration.
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Encouraging company-wide participation in research via shadowing sessions and sticker rewards builds advocacy and visibility.
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Measuring the success of research marketing efforts remains a challenge but is critical for justifying resourcing and scaling initiatives.
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Collaborative team dynamics, leveraging designers and volunteers within the UX team, amplify marketing efforts and creativity.
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Research marketing and knowledge management overlap, with well-organized repositories enhancing discoverability and autonomy across the company.

Notable Quotes

"UX research marketing is the strategy behind and implementation of intentional effective promotion and communication of who UX research is and what UX research does."

"If we haven’t defined and branded ourselves, others will—and others could be wrong."

"Valuable research becomes buried in overflowing Slack channels with meaty decks no one has time to read or revisit later."

"One-pagers are a lightweight, skimmable way for anyone in the company to quickly understand what’s been learned from research."

"When you market UX research, you prove and show your value, make your company smarter by your insights, and create advocates."

"Multipurpose communication means the same insights might be presented differently depending on the audience’s needs and what outcome you want."

"We give out stickers for research participation, and people get really eager to collect them all and promote research to their teams."

"Our definition of UX research connects the dots and helps fellow peeps make smart, strategic decisions by collecting insights directly from users."

"You could never do all this marketing alone—it’s all hands on deck, relying on different strengths and creativity across the team."

"Measuring the success of marketing tactics is starting to become a focus; right now it’s fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants but we want to quantify and prove impact."

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