How can you create a user-centric culture?

1) Boosts Loyalty: ?? Clarabridge states 55% of consumers pay more for a guaranteed good experience. 2) Ups Profit: ?? Temkin Group says $1 billion companies could earn an extra $700 million in 3 years with a user-centric approach. 3)Widens Market Share: ?? According to Gartner, 81% of companies expect to compete mainly on customer experience.

You might have the latest technology and the fanciest interface in your product. Your product will still fail if it is not used by the users. Remember, don't build a product that "you" want to build, but built a product that "your users" want you to build. It is users that drive the success of your product. And users will use the product if it solves their problems. When the end-goal is solving user problems, why not begin the process with users and make them an integral part of your culture?

By embracing a user-centric culture, organizations can achieve a balance between meeting user needs and achieving their business goals. Understanding users' pain points and desires enables organizations to develop products and strategies that not only satisfy users but also drive business growth and success. Aligning user needs with business objectives ensures that decisions and actions are rooted in data-driven insights, minimizing risks and maximizing value.

It all starts by defining a research question. What are you trying to uncover with your user research? Once you have a clear question, start crafting a hypothesis. Combining your research question and hypothesis will help you select the right research method (quantitative or qualitative). Your choice will depend, among others, on your access to data and the preciseness of your question. If you go for qualitative research, you'll probably apply the grounded theory approach. Where data collection and analysis are a simultaneous process. Remember that regardless of the approach you'll pick, some elements are essential: - beware of the bias you might introduce - triangulate your insights (cross data from multiple sources)

Few additional points 1) Identifying Users: ?? Start by defining your target users, their demographics, psychographics, and needs. Common Misconception: You don't always need a broad sample for user research, often a specific, targeted group is more useful. 2) Collecting Data: ?? Use a variety of methods, such as surveys, interviews, and user testing, to collect data as mentioned above. Misconception: Quantitative data isn't always superior. Qualitative data can provide rich insights that numbers alone cannot.

There can be multiple frameworks or approaches using which you can conduct user research. But don't get lost while using the frameworks. The purpose of conducting user research is to understand users and their problems. Aim at having the answers to the following questions at the end of the user research: 1. What is the current process that the users have? 2. What are the challenges/pain areas with the existing process? 3. How is your product helping them in their existing process? 4. Can your product be used to improve their experience with their existing process? 5. Do they need to optimize their existing process? 6. How can you improve their process and give them a better experience?

It's essential to create digestible content that's easy to understand and share. If you keep your findings and insights only in your head or in lengthy documents, it's unlikely that others will engage with or understand the value of the research. Instead, create "snackable content" that can be quickly consumed and shared with relevant teams. Ensure that the findings from your research are actionable. Share insights with relevant teams that can benefit from the information, such as the customer success or sales teams. For instance, if you discover a particular use case or customer behaviour, share it with the sales team so they can leverage it in their interactions.

Playing back the results of a research initiative allows the broader teams to infuse their day-to-day decisions with customer knowledge and insights. As a habit, research playbacks can have a multiplier effect on the ability to innovate of a company. Still, no one wants to read a 100+ page slide deck. So make sure you highlight - the reason behind conducting the research - the outcomes - the key learnings in a simple, digestible format - the decisions that this newly found insights unlock for the company

Just as a story ends with the moral of the story, the research must end with some key findings. After the user research is completed, the findings must be communicated with the key stakeholders. This gives everyone an understanding of the current state.

For ongoing research initiatives, set up channels (like Slack channels) to keep key stakeholders informed. Provide regular updates on the progress, findings, and any changes to the research direction. This approach ensures everyone involved is on the same page and can contribute or provide feedback as needed.

Having multiple stakeholders in user research will help you follow divergent thinking. And it is very important to welcome stakeholders' ideas and suggestions at this stage.

There are several ways to involve your colleagues in user research. One way is to invite them to observe or participate in user research sessions. You can also ask them to provide feedback or input on your research plan and findings, and co-create solutions with them based on user research insights. Another way is to encourage them to conduct or join user research activities, create opportunities for cross-functional learning and sharing, and empower them to make user-centric decisions

Forming an early community of believers is key to product development. Investing time in this has personally helped me surface intentional and new user behaviours, unique set of challenges, rough-edges and bugs, and more discoveries. As much as we dogfood our products, we shouldn't discount the value a user community can add to our work. And of course, this involves meticulous followups and communication with the power users (and new ones) and it's very much a part of your PM work.

Beyond initial customer research and analysis, I have found it critical to carry those details throughout the entirety of execution of any initiative. An initiative that started with customer-centricity can quickly loose that focus after months of execution, especially if you're executing as a massive scale. Reiterating customer-centricity in all stages of product execution is essential to having a truly valuable product to customers.