How to – implementing and scaling UX research

How can UX research be firmly anchored in the company? This question is becoming increasingly important for many researchers, but also for management. Because the results have a visible impact. Because employees are becoming more and more advocates of the topic as their knowledge grows. Because the user perspective has long been relevant to corporate strategy.

Every day, internal researchers are confronted with more tasks and challenges that go beyond the mere execution and preparation of results of research measures. To ensure that quality does not suffer in the process, there is a need for ways to scale UX research.

The topic of scaling has received a huge boost in recent years - not least due to the Research Ops community. Our Research Implementation Model bridges the gap between practitioners and theory.

4 Building blocks for high-quality, scalable research

The UX Research Implementation Model consists of four basic building blocks that are iterated over and over again in exchange with all stakeholders from the company:

Integrate

When is research considered fully integrated in the company? Only when there is a dedicated UX research strategy. When it is continuously integrated into decision-making processes in all areas - from strategy development to roadmap planning to product development.

Along the way, the breadth of the UX methodology spectrum says a lot about how high the UX research maturity already is. An extensive research palette, from exploratory to operational feature-based, creates flexibility in choosing the right method for the problem at hand. This ensures that precisely those insights are generated that can also be directly and efficiently incorporated into product development.

Scaling

As the volume of tasks increases, the question of the scalability of UX research arises more and more. In order to be able to implement measures more efficiently, a corresponding infrastructure is required. This includes appropriate premises as well as templates and defined recruitment processes.

In terms of processes, scalability can be increased, for example, by a weekly test day. Regularity helps to establish standardized work steps and fixed schedules for preparation, execution and follow-up, especially when resources are low.

For companies with high maturity, the topic of research ops management is of increasing importance. The more researchers are employed in the company, the more activities and responsibilities need to be centralized to ensure efficiency and quality.

Establish

UX research becomes established in a company when stakeholders can work with the results in the long term. Clearly prepared, standardized forms of visualization are ideal for this purpose. The needs, satisfaction, desires, etc. of users can be documented and communicated, for example, using user journey maps.

The influence of UX research becomes most visible when you can measure the impact. UX KPIs increase the probability of product success and create important sales arguments internally.

The important thing here is that a uniform system is needed to make the results comparable over time. It is therefore worthwhile to check carefully at the beginning which form of preparation makes the most sense for your own company.

Strengths

The profession of UX Research is still relatively young and dynamic. Continuous training is not only desirable for researchers, but absolutely necessary. Attending professional conferences or regular internal exchange formats such as communities of practice can provide important impulses. Reading the relevant professional journals is also optimally not a leisure activity, but working time.

In addition to professional exchange, it is also important to empower other colleagues. For example, the introduction of research consultation hours or participation in specific research activities and workshops can help them to understand research, plan for it independently and implement results.

UX Research Maturity Assessment

How far along is your company on the path to UX Research Maturity? Where are the breaking points and what should you do next? We have developed an assessment based on the Research Implementation Model that helps with precisely this assessment.

We tested and adapted the assessment together with 15 UX researchers from a wide range of companies and industries as part of an Opportunity Lab.