Using Research to Determine Unique Value Proposition
Summary
A story about how to quantify and use survey data to create audience clusters that are statistically representative of the people that use your online product or service. Edgar joins the dots between multiple research/pattern finding/storytelling techniques, such as proto-personas, affinity mapping, survey creation, quantification of qualitative data, organic clustering of audiences, user interviews, journey maps, and business modeling canvas. It makes research tangible and actionable: instead of being an end-point that provides stakeholders with insights, it takes stakeholders through an inclusive and structured process they can be part of.
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
"We don’t get direct access to patients, so we rely on clinicians to represent patient needs to us."
Laureen Kattan Julie KimCentering Patients and Clinicians in a Complex Government Ecosystem
November 29, 2023
"AI doesn’t fail at the model level. It fails at the workflow level."
Joy KendiMwitiDeciding when to automate: Integrating AI in high-stakes systems
June 9, 2026
"Users were initially excited but six months later expressed frustration and uncertainty about the tool’s usefulness."
Jennifer KongJourneying toward AI-assisted documentation in healthcare
June 5, 2024
"Sometimes leaders focus so much on scanning the river they’re not observing the surroundings—the banks tell you if the river is deep or shallow."
John CutlerOxbows, Rivers, and Estuaries: How to navigate the currents of change (without burning out)
December 3, 2024
"We had 80 designers attending UX Weekly and trying to get through 64 slides in one hour. It wasn’t sustainable."
Briana Thomas Christina RodriguezWhen Design Ops Comes in H.O.T. : A Tale of a Transformed Design Org
September 30, 2021
"I want my collaboration tool to be like the Nest thermostat of my workday, knowing when I’m heads down and when I’m open to communication."
Abby Covert Tomer SharonPanel: Collaboration Tools
November 6, 2017
"Change isn’t disliked as much as the surprise that comes with it—managing expectations makes change more palatable."
Dan Mall“Ask Me Anything” with Dan Mall, Author of Upcoming Rosenfeld Title, Design that Scales
October 2, 2023
"If you have a realistic roadmap and action plan, you can identify what one thing you can do now to move UX maturity forward."
Susan WeinschenkEvaluating the Maturity of UX in Your Organization
January 15, 2020
"One in four American workers actively distrust their employers, believing they lie regularly."
Sam LadnerData Exhaust and Personal Data: Learning from Consumer Products to Enhance Enterprise UX
June 8, 2016
