Establishing a functional research plan

Editor’s note: Mary Kay Evans, Chief Go To Market Officer at Alida.

Researchers, product marketers and UX designers will tell you that time is a precious commodity. "Do more with less" has essentially become the industry mantra. Taking the time to craft a detailed research plan has become a luxury, and when you're constantly jumping from project to project, what becomes most important is focusing on the few key steps that will guarantee your research plan actually works.

One of the biggest mistakes I see product teams make is conducting consumer research after decisions about the product have already been made, without considering the “why” behind the “what.” This reactive approach can lead to a devastating amount of wasted time and resources. Developing a research plan doesn't have to be overly labor intensive or time consuming. By keeping these three key considerations in mind, you can ensure an efficient and effective approach, setting your team up for success.

1. Contact real consumers: Conducting research with your target audience

With limited time and resources, why invest in research with participants who may not even be your actual customers? For a successful product launch, it's essential to validate with real users – not just once, but over time – to confirm that your changes truly enhanced their experience.

Due to the increasing pressure to constantly do more with less, it is not uncommon for teams to turn to third-party samples to save time or cut costs. However, this approach can end up being far more expensive in the long run. While third-party samples have their place in certain stages of research, gathering direct feedback from your actual users is crucial for validating your decisions and ensuring they resonate with your target audience. After all, how can you be confident your product will succeed without hearing from those who are actually using it? If you’re spending time with the wrong people, you might be looking in the wrong places. Stop guessing and start talking to your real users.

2. Prioritizing mixed method research 

Effective research involves collecting a diverse range of data from various user touchpoints. For example: 

  • Intercept surveys within your product can provide valuable insights into user trends, growth opportunities and potential pain points. 
  • In-depth interviews can uncover the motivations behind user decisions and offer a clearer understanding of how to enhance their daily experience with your product or service. 
  • Integrating UX tools for usability testing, accessibility testing, eye tracking, heat-mapping, etc. to collaborate and collect feedback from users in real time can help you gain deeper insights into user behavior and interaction. 

By diversifying your research methods within your plan, you open the door for your different data sets to complement and augment one another, ultimately giving you the most comprehensive and accurate view of your users.

Experian Health, a health care technology provider, chooses to prioritize a mixed method research approach in order to foster continuous, two-way engagement with their user community. By embedding micro surveys within their products, they can capture real-time user feedback to address specific pain points. In addition, the inclusion of in-depth video interviews has provided their team with invaluable insights into their user’s experiences. This holistic approach to data collection has enabled Experian Health to gather actionable insights that inform strategic decision-making across their internal teams, ultimately driving user-focused product development and optimizing the overall user experience.

3. Using a centralized research platform

Managing research across multiple tools and platforms is like playing a game of broken telephone. When research activities aren’t integrated into a single, cohesive system, it becomes increasingly difficult for you, your team and your organization to gain a clear understanding of your users and their needs. Building or adopting a unified research ecosystem provides significantly more value, saving both time and effort. With an all-in-one platform approach, you can easily consolidate and connect your research data, providing a clearer picture of your users. This allows for more informed, strategic decision-making, driving greater impact across your organization. 

Using your time and resources effectively

Making the best use out of the time you don’t have is the name of the game when it comes to modern day research. Teams often lack the luxury of creating large-scale, detailed research plans, but cutting corners can only work for so long before it doesn’t. 

To set yourself up for success, it's important to prioritize feedback from real users – those who are actual consumers of your brand or product. Never underestimate the price you’ll pay for a wrong assumption about your users. When engaging with them, use a mixed-method approach to better meet them where they are. This strategy not only helps you more effectively reach your audience, but also ensures a rich, diversified data set that provides a comprehensive view of your user’s experience. Lastly, keep your research approach as simple and streamlined as possible by consolidating your research data on a single, integrated platform. By centralizing your data, you empower teams across your entire organization to make smarter decisions, build more impactful products and foster stronger connections with users.