How user researchers and stakeholders can work together

It’s no surprise to hear that user research, along with design, content design and front-end dev, plays an instrumental role in creating products and services that truly meet customers’ needs.

However, involving stakeholders in this process is equally important to ensure users’ expectations align with business objectives.

User researchers at Virgin Money believe that bringing stakeholders with us in the research planning and testing phases maximizes the chances of research project success, increases the value of the research findings and insights, and brings stakeholders one step closer to customers.

Plus, even though stakeholders already know or already have information about our customers, user testing can help lend new perspectives.

Early collaboration

So how do we go about it?

The first step is early collaboration with project stakeholders. This allows user researchers to gain insight into business goals, target audience and gives a better understanding of the project background.

This collaboration, through meetings and/or workshops, ensures that the research brief is clearly articulated, the research plan is tailored to address both the user needs and the business objectives and that everyone is invested in the research. All crucial to understanding the value of the research findings.

Defining the research brief and the research goals

Stakeholders collectively have a wealth of knowledge to tap into.

Collaboratively defining the research goals and research questions allows user researchers to integrate that expertise in the research study. This is where researchers and stakeholders align on the specific questions the research aims to answer.

“Stakeholders collectively have a wealth of knowledge to tap into. Collaboratively defining the research goals and research questions allows user researchers to integrate that expertise in the research study.”

Clear communication and regular updates

Setting and maintaining clear and open communication from the beginning is key.

This means everyone in the project is aware of the channels of communications to be used throughout the project and making sure that all the relevant stakeholders are invited to join these channels. Another important aspect is to inform stakeholders about the research methodology used, the expected outcomes and to agree on the output of the research study.

Providing regular updates and feedback loops keep stakeholders informed about the progress of the research, the challenges encountered as well as emerging findings/insights. This iterative approach allows stakeholders to ask questions and to provide input and to make sure that the research stays on course. Where, for various reasons, it’s not possible for the research to stay on course, the team can collectively make informed decisions about next actions.

"Involving stakeholders in the research sessions is always powerful."

Involving stakeholders in testing sessions

Involving stakeholders in the research sessions is always powerful.

They can hear what a customer or user has to say, as well as see their behaviour, giving first-hand insights into user behaviour, pain points and positive experiences. Getting stakeholders involved in live sessions helps foster empathy towards the user and create a deeper and better understanding of users’ perspective. By doing this we’ve seen how stakeholders can turn into real advocates for user centered-design.

Reporting

While putting together the final report, sharing high level findings with the stakeholders can have a powerful impact on how stakeholders receive the research findings overall.

It also gives them the opportunity to start thinking about what research findings they can quickly act upon and which ones need more thought. This transparency ensures that the insights gained will be effectively utilized in the decision-making process.

Involving stakeholders in the user research planning and testing is not only about keeping them informed about what the user researcher does, but also about creating a collaborative user-centric approach.

Ultimately, the impact of taking such a collaborative approach is to make sure the things we learn are fully embedded in the way we work with our stakeholders, while setting the foundation of a trusty and effective relationship.