Rosenverse

Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.

Log in Create free account

100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.

Bringing together market and user research (Videoconference)
Thursday, October 17, 2019 • Advancing Research Community
Share the love for this talk
Bringing together market and user research (Videoconference)
Speakers: Jemma Ahmed
Link:

Summary

Market researchers and user researchers face similar pressures: their work is becoming increasingly democratized and gaining attention (and scrutiny) from their organizations' stakeholders. They're also converging upon each other, sharing methods and space in the funnel. Where should they draw the line between their practices, and where should they join forces? Jemma Ahmed, Head of Insights at Badoo, explores the growing intersection between user and market researchers.

Key Insights

  • User research is expanding its scope to answer bigger strategic questions traditionally owned by market research.

  • Market research is adopting more agile, qualitative, and faster methods inspired by user research to meet digital demands.

  • The traditional sharp distinctions between market research and user research methods and questions are rapidly blurring.

  • Brand is now often viewed as what a company does, making product design and UX research key to expressing brand, necessitating collaboration.

  • Modern segmentation is becoming data-driven and behavioral, diminishing the historical segmentation/persona divide between the disciplines.

  • Customer experience as a holistic view of all touchpoints pushes market and user research teams closer to collaborate.

  • Researcher identity and professional tribalism remain key barriers to collaboration despite method and goal convergence.

  • Cross-training helps but not all researchers should be expected to master both market and user research methods—comfort with language is sufficient for some.

  • Combining market and user research insights through frameworks like voice of the customer improves prioritization and decision-making.

  • Acknowledging and addressing fears and territoriality in research teams is essential to foster collaboration and prevent duplication.

Notable Quotes

"User researchers feel like ferrets—nervous hunters still wanting to be wolves, confident and top of the food chain."

"Market research often has an air of the cat—arrogant, experienced, and comfortable inside, less agile than user research."

"User research is going up funnel, answering bigger questions about what to build and who to target, once the domain of market research."

"Market research no longer has the luxury of long timelines; it must be faster and borrow qualitative, agile methods."

"Brand is not just what we say anymore, it’s how we act—making product teams central to brand expression."

"Segmentation is becoming the domain of neither market nor user research alone; it’s merging into data-driven, measurable profiles."

"The sum of all customer touchpoints—marketing, product, sales—means researchers need to work closer together for holistic insights."

"Researchers’ sense of identity is deeply rooted and can cause friction when disciplines try to merge or collaborate."

"You can’t expect someone skilled in one research method to seamlessly switch to another without training and support."

"Ultimately, insight is insight—what matters is robust data quality, not guarding methods or samples for fear of dilution."

Ask the Rosenbot
Cassini Nazir
The Dangers of Empathy: Toward More Responsible Design Research
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Louis Rosenfeld
Do you want to work on climate? (Climate UX Discussion Series)
2023 • Climate UX Interest Group (Rosenfeld Community)
Brad Peters
Short Take #1: UX/Product Lessons from Your Industry Peers
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold
Brianna Sylver
Lead With Purpose
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Andy Polaine
What is the role of service design in product-led organizations?
2024 • Advancing Service Design 2024
Gold
B. Pagels-Minor
Breaking the Tension: The Power of Enabling Your Employees to Show Up Authentically
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Chris Engledowl
A Mixed Method Approach to Validity to Help Build Trust
2023 • QuantQual Interest Group (Rosenfeld Community)
Cheryl Platz
Merging Improv with Design (Videoconference)
2019 • Enterprise Community
Ovetta Sampson
Turning UX Passion into Real Product Influence
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Stop Talking, Start Doing
2017 • Enterprise Experience 2017
Gold
Alicia D. Johnson
Disasters and the 21st Century
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
DesignOps and The Great Talent War of 2021 (Videoconference)
2021 • DesignOps Community
Emily Eagle
Can't Rewind: Radio and Retail
2019 • Enterprise Experience 2019
Gold
Civic Design in 2022 (Videoconference)
2022 • Civic Design Community
Jorge Arango
Meeting of the Waters: Designing for Successful Inorganic Growth (Videoconference)
2021 • Enterprise Community
Kate Towsey
The State of ResearchOps: More Than Just Theory (Videoconference)
2019 • DesignOps Community

More Videos

Catt Small

"Creating evergreen design documents helps you influence projects asynchronously without being in every room."

Catt Small Micah Bennett Brian Carr Jessica Harllee

What's Next for ICs: Exploring Staff and Principal Designer Roles (Videoconference)

February 22, 2024

Jennifer Kong

"AI is not a comprehensive silver bullet solution; we limited our scope to capturing notes for verbal interactions only."

Jennifer Kong

[Case study] Journeying toward AI-assisted documentation in healthcare

June 5, 2024

Sara Logel

"People react to facts challenging their core beliefs the same way the brain responds to physical threats."

Sara Logel

Your Colleagues are Your Users Too

March 29, 2023

Veevi Rosenstein

"When I started at Zendesk in 2018, there was a single UX researcher serving 28 product designers around the globe."

Veevi Rosenstein

Building for Scale: Creating the Zendesk UX Research Practice

January 8, 2024

Michelle Bejian Lotia

"Our culture means if someone publishes something questionable, there’s a transparent discussion."

Michelle Bejian Lotia Anne-Marie Morell

Rolling Out a Repository: How Zapier Centralizes Insights from Across their Organization

March 28, 2023

Tutti Taygerly

"Employees are normal humans like all the rest of us as consumers and they deserve great software too."

Tutti Taygerly

Videconference: How to Work with Difficult People with Tutti Taygerly

June 25, 2020

Patrick Commarford

"We transitioned designers embedded on low priority projects to higher priority ones within three weeks."

Patrick Commarford

Design Staffing for Impact

January 8, 2024

Frances Yllana

"Measuring impact in design ops has always been a little stormy."

Frances Yllana

Theme 2 Intro

September 24, 2024

Mujtaba Hameed

"The eye is an extension of the brain; processing visuals fires new neurons and helps you think differently."

Mujtaba Hameed

Frameworks for Excellence: Using Visual Thinking and Communication to Elevate Your Research

March 26, 2024