Discussing the evolving landscape of user research & design at UX360
Zalando product design community members share their actionable insights from the impactful UX360 Research Summit in May 2024.
Designing a customer experience without user research is like writing a newspaper article without checking the facts. Assumptions, no matter how shiny they might sometimes seem to the rational mind, are not too far away from fiction. Starting with the customer is one of Zalando’s core values for good reason. Before we embark on the product design journey and indulge our creativity in big ideas, we should ensure we are truly solving the needs of our customers and speaking in their language.
This was one of the driving principles behind the discussions at the UX360 Research Summit, which took place from the 16th to the 17th of May in Berlin. The exciting conference showcased the latest UX and design research, with presentations and sessions from global thought leaders and international brands. There were also interactive panel discussions, including a panel on UX leadership featuring Product Design Manager at Zalando, Esin Isik. Esin and six other ambassadors from our product design community left the event feeling truly inspired, coming away with actionable insights they can apply immediately to their craft.
Are you interested in levelling up your user research and design practice? We asked the group of User Researchers, Product Designers, and Content Designers to share their highlights and learnings, which touch on key topics like the democratisation of research, leveraging organisational culture, authentic leadership, and fostering an even deeper connection to the customer.
Insights at a glance
- Use the customer’s language to solve customer problems
- Simplifying the customer journey increases research and design precision
- Create an impactful research strategy by contextualising research within the values landscape of the organisation
- Increase the impact of research and advocate for the customer by making insights actionable for leadership
- In the times of research democratisation, it’s key to balance research enablement with raising the bar of the craft
- Great UX leaders lead with authenticity and champion others
Measuring Critical User Journeys
The opening keynote of Javier Bargas-Avila, Unlocking the secrets of UX: Measuring Critical User Journeys (CUJs) for product success, really resonated with our ambassadors. The Director of UX Research at Google Play shared how harnessing the power of CUJ insights can enhance product development and deliver exceptional user experiences.
“I loved the simplicity, accessibility, and actionability of Critical User Journeys,” reflects Senior Content Designer Madeline Hoskin. “I liked the idea that if you find ways to map Critical User Journeys, you can then leverage tangible customer data to find out at that moment if these user journeys are successful. There’s a lot of overlap with what we have in place at Zalando with Jobs to be Done.”
Jobs to be Done (JTBD) are objectives a customer is trying to achieve within a given context. For example, to ‘buy a fashion item’ or to ‘pick the right size.’ The JTBD framework focuses on the relationships people have with achieving those objectives.
“Javier’s talk inspired me to ask how Content Designers could think about Jobs to be Done in the user experience, and how we can find ways to tap into our customers at different points in their journey to see if it is resonating the right way.”
User Researcher Mohana Saraf recognised the benefit of mapping user behaviour with on-site data. “It can help us to prioritise which jobs to measure. This way, teams can focus on the journeys that are not performing so well rather than building products or features for journeys that are already successful.”
“Javier mentioned that customer goals should be phrased the way an actual human would speak,” shares Senior Content Designer Jack Murray. “Simply asking ourselves what problem we are trying to solve is something we can lose track of amidst the complexities of the design process. It’s important to remind ourselves of these goals at every step, and in the customer’s language.”
Leveraging organisational culture
User Research Manager Agnieszka Magdalena Winczakiewicz’s highlight was a hands-on session led by Manthan UX founder Soma Ray: Leveraging your organisational culture insights to set up user research practice for success.
“Soma provided us with a clear framework on how to check which archetype our organisation fits according to the values it holds dear. We reflected on what we might do as a User Researcher to be successful in a company. Soma said that we will naturally try to replicate the successes we had in past companies. However, the context of the current company and its values might be radically different. It was very actionable to think about Zalando in this way, recognising the approaches that work and those we could improve on. I appreciated going deeper into thinking not only about what research makes sense, but the broader strategic perspective of what landscape it is happening in.”
Empowering researchers as holistic thinkers and leaders
Director of UX Research at Thumbtack, Nicole Bacchus’ talk, Rising Up: Empowering Researchers as Holistic Product Thinkers and Leaders, dived into the topic of personal growth, advising researchers on how to become influential product development leaders.
“Nicole’s talk really motivated me,” reflects User Researcher Irene Chambi. “She gave an example of a senior researcher who was struggling to get promoted to a principal or management role. She said this person did amazing research, but where she needed to improve was making her insights actionable. Nicole pointed out that our job is 50 percent research and 50 percent ensuring the research is used. I think we, as researchers, need to change our strategy of making leadership adapt to our way of thinking, talking, and doing, and instead start talking in their language so that we can make more of an impact.”
“For a long time, the research practice has been to present facts and not think too far beyond it,” Mohana adds. “Times are changing in terms of how companies perceive research. Instead of throwing research ‘over the fence,’ we must now deeply consider what it means for the product or the business. A big takeaway from the conference was to go after your research, really push your insights, and show the opportunities they hold. It inspired me to think about how to make our work speak and drive impact. Essentially, it comes down to building bridges between different disciplines.”
“AI will inevitably reduce the more operational and repetitive research tasks,” says Principal User Researcher Sonja Meriläinen. “That will leave more time for strategic efforts that need more thinking and human input. In that kind of world, it helps to understand business.”
“This was a consistent theme throughout the talks,” says Jack. “People who work in user experience have a huge customer focus and are genuinely trying to do the best for customers. At the same time, we have to balance this with our responsibilities to the business. The advice of many speakers was that to advocate for the customer at the business level, we have to meet stakeholders where they are and speak their language. This way, we can show that delivering great customer experiences also provides a specific business value.”
Democratising user research
The democratisation of the user research practice was met with more pragmatism than pessimism.
“UX research is a profession going through constant change,” says Sonja. “In the current landscape, we need to navigate between doing research and enabling others to do research.”
“Nicole Bacchus talked about the balance between lowering the bar to encourage others to go into research and raising it to perfect the craft,” says Irene. “We have to be flexible because, as Nicole said, a little research is always better than none.”
“An overarching takeaway from the conference was that without user research, we’re not really doing UX design,” Madeline reflects. “Without user insights to base our design work on, we’re essentially just making things up. There was a talk by Diana Lenz, UX Research Manager at Aviv, and Alexander Kurt, UX Department Lead at MediaMarktSaturn, about how the democratisation of user research has impacted the industry. After the economic setback, companies are now trying to build up user research again in a more mindful way. They are thinking about how they can champion the role in the long term in a way that is sustainable and in line with business goals. I feel like this is a great time to show how we can define processes on the company level that put customers’ opinions at the centre of design choices.”
Becoming better UX leaders
Esin and fellow industry representatives discussed how we can become better UX leaders in a fascinating panel moderated by ex-Zalando, User Research Academy Founder & Managing Director Nikki Anderson.
“Javier Bargas-Avila highlighted the importance of authentic leadership and understanding yourself,” says Esin. “My turning point in my transition to leadership was when I started seeing myself as a leader. It can be hard for some people to see themselves as the person leading the way for a group. One of the methods I shared that helped me was visualising myself leading a group in the direction of the next step or the ultimate vision goal. Wolfgang Bremer, Vice President Head of Design at Volkswagen, said to start by empowering the people; everything else follows.”
The panellists also talked about introverted and extroverted leadership styles. “There is a misunderstanding that extroverted people make better leaders, when what matters is knowing yourself and finding your unique way to lead,” Esin explains. “Javier said one of the best managers he had was someone who just listened to everyone and set a direction. Coaching plays a big role in figuring out your leadership style. Ultimately, great leaders are also brilliant role models who champion others. As Wolfgang mentioned in his summary of the panel, we should follow the example of those we have seen making a difference.”
“It was wonderful to see Esin represent us on the panel,” Agnieszka reflects. “She greatly inspired the audience on the topic of mentorship and championship in the workplace. It was a piece of Zalando culture on stage.”
Do you have any thoughts to share on the current landscape of UX research and design? Please feel free to share them in the comments.
Next up, six members of our product design community share how failure led to breakthrough moments in their careers.
