Learning from others — how might we scale research and create a panel at Arnold Clark

The power of being part of a global community focused on research

Sometimes things pop up in your slack channel and you just go ‘that’s what I need right now’. In this case it was a webinar entitled ‘Building research ops with Airbnb’s Ops team: The gang’s all back’.

The scale of Airbnb, and knowing they’ve grown their research approach quickly, made me hit that ‘sign me up’ button.

Yes!

Since starting as user research lead at Arnold Clark I’ve used the eight pillars of research ops as a way to frame how research is currently carried out, the things we are already good at and where we have some opportunities to do things differently.

One area that comes up frequently is making sure we do more qualitative research with ‘real people’. I’d been sat contemplating recruitment strategies, as well as whether we should consider building our own panel.

So, this webinar couldn’t have landed at a better time.

What were my takeaways?

The general nuggets about scaling research

These are consistent points that came out from all four presenters. Not just about the change they’d seen at Airbnb, but also things that they’ve carried into their new jobs. The good thing is they really chimed with the approach I was already taking. So good just to know I’m on the right track.

Just start somewhere, but be ready to scale

It’s OK to start with a few templates for the team. Just make a start but be ready to change direction.

Research is brilliant at breaking down silos

It’s easy for product teams to think only about their own world. Getting people who are doing research talking about what they’re working on makes connections and can create shortcuts for people.

Research with your target user groups, as well as generalists

Airbnb are a global company and yet they were researching with white Americans who spoke English as their first language. So, they made a change, and focused their research on their growth areas instead.

Ensure everything is safe and legal

Having the phrase ‘don’t get sued’ as a strapline for a team was certainly an interesting piece of information. And you can understand why. Ensuring everyone is carrying out research in a way that protects people, and their data is critical.

Be the champion of your craft

Someone must shout about research so it may as well be you. Find that voice, share what’s happening and don’t worry about being perfect

Co-create where you can

Bring the team who you are looking to influence with you. Understand their pain points and respond to them.

Think about how you show the value of research through metrics

Measure something and share it. Things like number of research studies live, participant numbers, incentive costs etc

Why and how to create a research panel

Wyatt Hayman led a great discussion on customer panels. A real deep dive that made me ask some questions of what we should do at Arnold Clark and most importantly why.

Why have a panel

Get clear alignment about why to have a panel. What are its goals? Is it a short life panel for a specific area or something for the longer term? Is it good enough to have a diverse range of users that you go to regularly or do you want some defined tagging for very specific studies.

Understand what you’re getting in to

It’s not a small undertaking. Once started it will have a life of its own and needs loved and cared for. Google sheets was the start for Airbnb but quickly they moved to an online platform as the scale became just too much to manage.

How to promote it

The place to start is ask those people you already know. With Airbnb it was hosts and guests, but it could be through asking your current customers via your CRM. Make it an exciting opportunity, work with marketing to ‘sell it’. Do a simple screener and once people are in make them feel welcome

Love and cherish it

Set up a regular cadence of comms. If you’re going out weekly with research questions, make sure it’s the same day and time each week. Build that loyalty and commitment through regular contact, If you don’t do this people will drop away.

Think carefully about closing the loop

You do want to give feedback on ‘you said, we did’ but think carefully about what you want to say. Often people forget the questions you asked so this doesn’t need to be that often and can just be about one key thing that’s changed in the business as a result of research. Legal and marketing might also need an input into what you share.

Why people sign up and what keeps them there

Money wasn’t why people stayed on the panel. Yeah, sure incentives were nice and for some folk it was their only motivation, but for the majority it’s a way to reward loyalty and give people a voice to be heard.

Final thoughts

The final words really sank home.

“Start somewhere, adjust as you go, keep moving forward”