Using Research to Determine Unique Value Proposition
Summary
Key Insights
-
•
Research often fails when stakeholders are not involved or don't trust the data sources and methodologies.
-
•
Treating research as a product, with stakeholders as users, drastically increases engagement and usability.
-
•
Using proto-persona workshops with cross-department stakeholders helps generate unbiased, relevant survey questions.
-
•
Clustering survey data via Python and correlation matrices can reveal meaningful user segments with statistical significance.
-
•
Statistical validity (e.g., 95% confidence at 5% margin) is critical for stakeholder buy-in in large user bases.
-
•
Behavioral and demographic clusters need to be augmented with emotional attributes to create actionable personas.
-
•
Affinity mapping large qualitative datasets reduces noise and distills coherent narratives and pain points.
-
•
Mapping pain points to measurable hypotheses enables prioritization based on user impact and implementation effort.
-
•
Divergent and convergent workshops using tools like the business model canvas help explore and refine value proposition delivery.
-
•
Iterative, lean research with frequent stakeholder feedback helps identify and minimize bias effectively.
Notable Quotes
"Research should be done the same way products are built, with stakeholders as your users."
"If you frame the research in terms your stakeholders understand, they will become research-hungry."
"We don’t make big deliverables because they create friction; instead, we create shared understanding through conversations."
"Proto-persona sessions helped us avoid departmental bias and uncover the questions stakeholders really cared about."
"We used a 0.8 correlation threshold to tightly cluster similar survey responses, balancing cluster count and inclusion."
"Clusters alone aren’t personas; we turned clusters into interview screeners and then emotional personas."
"We wrote hypotheses as we believe this pain point matters, here’s how we test it, and how success looks."
"Different stakeholders tackle the delivery problem differently, which gave us necessary divergent thinking."
"Biases surface as you iterate, so lean approaches help you find and fix them quicker."
"Marital status mattered because some people buy cars for their spouses or kids, not just themselves."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Just because you can solve a hard technical problem doesn’t mean you’re solving a real problem for real people."
Jonathon ColmanHow to Maximize the Impact of Content Design
January 8, 2024
"We have to shift from mechanistic linear thinking to complex systems thinking."
Ariel KennanCivic Design in 2022
January 13, 2022
"Managing resistance isn’t just pushing through it; it’s about aligning people, practices, and goals."
Jon FukudaTheme 3 Intro
September 25, 2024
"Our hands make all the things, and our brains form the teams that run the hands making the things."
Husani OakleyBias Towards Action: Building Teams that Build Work
June 14, 2018
"Security means protecting business, productivity, safety."
Heidi TrostTo Protect People, You Have to Protect Information: A Human-Centered Design Approach to Cybersecurity
January 23, 2025
"Research Ops needs an operational brain — it’s not the kind of brain researchers usually carry."
Brigette Metzler Dana ChrisfieldResearch Repositories: A global project by the ResearchOps Community
August 27, 2020
"We aligned engineering, product management, and design with the exact same goals so no one could succeed while another failed."
Julie BaherCulture Change—My Journey
May 14, 2015
"Sometimes you’re too early. Don’t fear. File this away and keep your powder dry."
Sam LadnerHow Research Can Drive Strategic Foresight
March 9, 2022
"We need to treat people as people, not users, because they are not a utility or a commodity."
Jemma AhmedTheme 2 Intro
March 26, 2024
