What do you do if your virtual UX research is not building strong stakeholder relationships?

1 Define your goals and expectations

Before you start any virtual UX research project, you need to have a clear and shared understanding of what you want to achieve, why it matters, and how you will measure success. This means communicating your research goals, questions, methods, and timeline to your stakeholders, and getting their buy-in and feedback. You also need to set realistic and mutual expectations about the roles, responsibilities, and deliverables of each party, and how you will communicate and collaborate throughout the project. By defining your goals and expectations upfront, you can avoid confusion, misalignment, and frustration later on.

4 Build rapport and trust with your participants

Another challenge of virtual UX research is building rapport and trust with your participants, especially when you can't meet them in their natural environment or observe their body language and facial expressions. To overcome this challenge, you need to build rapport and trust with your participants before, during, and after your research sessions. You can do this by introducing yourself and your research purpose, explaining the process and expectations, respecting their time and privacy, showing empathy and curiosity, using icebreakers and warm-ups, thanking them for their participation, and following up with them if needed. You can also use techniques like storytelling, humor, or gamification to make your research more fun and enjoyable.

5 Showcase your impact and value

Finally, one of the most important aspects of virtual UX research is showcasing your impact and value to your stakeholders, and demonstrating how your research contributes to their goals and outcomes. You need to communicate your research results and recommendations clearly, concisely, and persuasively, and highlight the key insights, opportunities, and actions that emerge from your research. You also need to show how your research aligns with the business objectives, user needs, and stakeholder expectations, and how it helps to solve problems, create solutions, or improve experiences. By showcasing your impact and value, you can build credibility, confidence, and support for your research, and foster long-term relationships with your stakeholders.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?