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Summary
What is Research Strategy? Join Chris Geison, Senior Research Strategist at Workday (who will also speak on this topic at the upcoming Advancing Research Conference), and a panel of research leaders in discussing and debating what we mean when we say “research strategy,” and its growing importance in the growing and maturing world of user research.
Key Insights
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Many researchers and teams lack a clear research strategy, unlike marketing or sales teams who have defined strategies.
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Prioritization of research projects should be guided by expected impact, business OKRs, and clear success metrics.
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Emma Bolton's research funnel categorizes research into operational, tactical, strategic, and exploratory buckets to balance investment.
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Generative or foundational research impact often takes years to materialize, requiring alternative milestone metrics for success.
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Collaborating closely with sales and marketing teams can accelerate access to customer insights and improve research relevance.
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Researchers must manage biases from sales or marketing feedback by running dedicated, methodologically sound studies.
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Building credibility with executives involves tailoring research communication to their priorities and involving them directly in studies.
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Persistent relationship-building and early involvement of stakeholders in research planning increases buy-in.
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Measuring research success involves multiple layers: study objectives met, stakeholder behavior change, business impact, and team growth.
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Even non-leaders can adopt strategic approaches and influence through strong stakeholder relationships and delivering tangible wins.
Notable Quotes
"If you ask your marketing head if they have a marketing strategy, they absolutely do, but ask research leaders about research strategy and many look confused."
"There is always more research to do than there are people to do it, so prioritization is a core question of research strategy."
"We use a structured rubric to evaluate research requests based on expected impact and alignment with OKRs."
"Generative research is hardest to track because impact timelines can be years long, so we track citations and strategy mentions as milestones."
"Working with sales partners to sit in on their calls allowed us to gather insights faster than traditional research timelines."
"Rather than gatekeep customer insights from sales and marketing, research should systematize and socialize all data within the organization."
"When executives participate in research studies, they feel the product challenges firsthand, which opens doors for influence."
"Building relationships means listening more than evangelizing and making research a partnership rather than a solo mission."
"We try to give stakeholders wins that help them become recognized customer champions at organizational forums."
"For researchers not in leadership, using these strategic approaches can still build influence and impact."
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