UX Research Essentials

🐑 Business Language vs. UX Language. How to present design work, explain design decisions and get stakeholders on your side ↓ 🤔 Businesses rarely understand the impact of UX work. 🤔 UX language is overloaded with ambiguous terms/labels. 🤔 Business can’t support initiatives it doesn’t understand. ✅ Leave UX language and UX abbreviations at the door. ✅ Explain design work through the lens of business goals. 🚫 Avoid “consistency”, “empathy”, “simplicity”, “affordance”. 🚫 Avoid “design thinking”, “cognitive load”, “universal design”. 🚫 Avoid “lean UX”, “agile”, “archetypes”, “Jobs-To-Be-Done”. 🚫 Avoid “stakeholder management” and “design validation”. 🚫 Avoid abbreviations: WIP, POC, HMW, IxD, PDP, PLP, WCAG. ✅ Explain how you’ll measure success of your design work. ✅ Speak of business value, loyalty, abandonment, churn. ✅ Show risk management, compliance, governance, evidence. ✅ Refer to cost reduction, efficiency, growth, success, Design KPIs. ✅ Present inclusive design as an industry-wide way of working. As designers, we often use design terms, such as consistency, friction and empathy. Yet to many managers, these attributes don’t map to any business objectives at all, often leaving them baffled and utterly confused about the actual real-life impact of our UX work. One way out that changed everything for me is to leave UX vocabulary at the door when entering a business meeting. Instead, I try to explain design work through the lens of the business, often rehearsing and testing the script ahead of time. When presenting design work in a big meeting, I try to be very deliberate and strategic in the choice of words. I won’t be speaking about attracting “eye-balls” or getting users “hooked”. It’s just not me. But I won’t be speaking about reducing “friction” or improving “consistency” either. Instead, I tell a story. A story that visualizes how our work helps the business. How design team has translated business goals into specific design initiatives. How UX can reduce costs. Increase revenue. Grow business. Open new opportunities. New markets. Increase efficiency. Extend reach. Mitigate risk. Amplify word of mouth. And how we’ll measure all that huge impact of our work. Typically, it’s broken down into 8 sections: 🎯 Goals ← Business targets, KRs we aim to achieve. 💥 Translation ← Design initiatives, iterations, tests. 🕵️ Evidence ← Data from UX research, pain points. 🧠 Ideas ← Prioritized by an impact/effort-matrix. 🕹 Design work ← Flows, features, user journeys. 📈 Design KPIs ← How we’ll measure/report success. 🐑 Shepherding ← Risk management, governance. 🔮 Future ← What we believe are good next steps. Next time you walk in a meeting, pay attention to your words. Translate UX terms in a language that other departments understand. It might not take long until you’ll see support coming from everywhere — just because everyone can now clearly see how your work helps them do their work better. [continues in the comments]

I've worked with research teams that change how entire companies think about users. I've also worked with teams that produce beautiful reports which don't get used. Most research teams are really good at being thorough, but being thorough by itself doesn’t lead to being influential in an org. And with AI taking on a lot of ‘how’, the way UX teams differentiate will be in the ‘why’ - the strategies, framing & influence they are able to bring. From what I’ve seen, these are a few things that an influential research team does well: → Anticipate what decisions need research → Frame insights in business language → Share insight summaries before product planning starts → Track how their research changes actual decisions → Get involved & invited to roadmap meetings These are the 3 shifts that matter the most: 1. Reports → relationships Start holding weekly 1:1s with product managers. This will allow you to become thought partners, not order-takers. 2. Methods → business impact The perfect sample size matters less to stakeholders than if your insights prevented a costly mistake or unlocked revenue. Tie your efforts to impact. 3. Individual studies → organizational knowledge Influential teams don’t just answer today’s questions. They build knowledge systems that allow companies to become world-class experts on their users. Where does your team sit today, and what shift would get you closer to influence? If there's anything that's worked for you in making this shift, I'd love to know! 👇

To succeed in a UX role, you must align your work with a business’s bottom line. Staying relevant means thinking and talking like a business stakeholder. Here are key ways to achieve this. 1. From Wireframes to Market Fit Crowd-pleasing UI isn’t enough. Your work needs to align with go-to-market strategies. Example: Consider a SaaS product redesign. The UX team used to focus on the sign-up flow and in-app navigation. Now, they’re also collaborating with product marketing to identify the most profitable customer segments, validating market fit before investing design hours. Business concept cheat sheet: ✅ Market Segmentation: Which user groups should we prioritize for maximum ROI? ✅ Value Proposition: How do we articulate the unique value that differentiates our product? 2. Driving KPI-Focused Outcomes UXers track usability metrics like clicks, conversions, time-on-task, and error rates, but business leaders focus on other KPIs: Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV), Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), and Net Promoter Score (NPS), to name a few. We need to design experiences that drive these measurable outcomes. Example: You’re working on an e-commerce platform and propose A/B tests that measure conversion rates. Want to speak the same language as the CFO? Translate those numbers into anticipated revenue upticks or cost savings. Business concept cheat sheet: ✅ MRR, CLTV, CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) ✅ Unit Economics: Understanding the cost vs. revenue per user 3. UX as a Strategic Differentiator When UX truly resonates with end users, it can become a competitive moat. Example: Think of the premium Apple charges. Yes, the hardware is elegant, but what truly commands loyalty is the end-to-end experience that aligns with a brand strategy aimed at high-end markets. Knowing this means positioning UX as a differentiator for stakeholders, protecting market share, and expanding into new verticals. Business concept cheat sheet: ✅ Competitive Analysis: Evaluate how user experience stacks up against industry peers. ✅ Brand Equity: The intangible value gained from user perceptions and loyalty. 4. Earning Executive Buy-In No matter how brilliant your UX solutions are, you’ll need decision-makers – CEOs, CFOs, VPs – to champion the cause. Example: Communicate in business terms, build a compelling business case, and link your ideas to organizational objectives. Fail to do this? You’ll leave groundbreaking UX initiatives unfunded and abandoned. Business concept cheat sheet: ✅ Stakeholder Alignment: Understanding each executive’s priorities (e.g., reducing churn, increasing upsells). ✅ ROI Calculations: Be prepared to show how a redesign could drive X% revenue growth or Y% savings. The UX evolution sits between user centricity and corporate strategy. UX professionals who embrace this have the power to transform the bottom line.

10 Things I Learned Working with EY, BCG, and IBM on UX at Scale I never planned to work on UX at a scale where one insight could affect thousands of users across continents. But EY taught me structure. BCG taught me clarity. IBM taught me scale. Together they shaped the way I design and think as a UX Researcher and Design Manager. Here are the lessons I wish someone had told me earlier. 1. Enterprise UX is not glamorous. It is impact driven. At EY I learned that most wins come from hidden workflows nobody talks about. One navigation change can save a team hours every week. 2. Research beats assumptions every single time. Task analysis. Personas. Heuristics. Accessibility reviews. These were not deliverables for me. They were decision making tools. They kept projects grounded when opinions were loud. 3. The real bottleneck is usually not the interface. It is the workflow. At BCG we rebuilt internal tools to eliminate duplication and complexity. Result was a 90 percent reduction in repeat work and 30 percent faster proposal creation. Scale comes from removing friction. 4. Consistency protects the experience. Multiple teams. Multiple countries. One unified product. Consistency reduces learning curves and increases trust. 5. Accessibility is not optional. It is foundational. Following Section 508 and WCAG at EY and IBM changed how I see interfaces. Inclusive design is efficient design. 6. UX at scale requires negotiation not perfection. You balance deadlines. Teams. Engineering constraints. Good UX is often the most realistic option that still respects the user. 7. Research insights are only valuable if people act on them. I learned to translate research into business terms. Retention. Revenue. Efficiency. That is how UX earns a seat at the strategy table. 8. Small ideas can shift entire ecosystems. Like a content checklist that increased traffic by 5 percent. Or a simple “Download Font” button that reduced issues from 50 percent to 11 percent. Tiny changes. Large ripples. 9. Service design is the missing piece in many organisations. Airline journeys. EdTech classrooms. Global M&A teams. When you study real journeys end to end the gaps become obvious. 10. The bigger the organisation the more important empathy becomes. People do not resist technology. They resist uncertainty. Design becomes the bridge between human comfort and system capability. Key reminders I carry even today • Users do not care about your process. They care about outcomes. • Enterprise UX is slow but the impact is deep. • Accessibility is everyone’s responsibility. • Research is the fastest way to alignment. • The best designs disappear into the workflow.

Want to become a truly strategic UXR? Stop thinking like a researcher. Start thinking like a CEO. Here are 5 strategies that helped me move from tactical to trusted business partner: 1. Influence through foresight, not hindsight. Predict problems before they arise. Conduct pre-mortems to identify challenges early and layer competitive intelligence with user insights to stay ahead of competitors. 2. Quantify your impact in business terms. Tie research to business outcomes. “Streamlining onboarding could save 300 engineering hours, freeing resources for high-priority initiatives.” Build an ROI calculator to make your value undeniable. 3. Think in systems, not projects. Create feedback loops to validate insights regularly. Prioritize research like a portfolio—based on risk, reward, and strategic alignment. This ensures ongoing, scalable impact. 4. Operationalize empathy at scale. Embed user narratives into OKRs and decision-making frameworks. Advocate for user-centric goals and empower teams with tools that guide real-time decisions. 5. Drive the conversation, not just the insights. Strategic UXRs don’t just present findings—they set the agenda. Storytell with data, anticipate objections, and create future scenarios to shape long-term strategies. Good researchers solve immediate problems. Great researchers anticipate what’s next and shape the roadmap. Want to elevate your career? Focus less on what you deliver and more on how it transforms your organization. What strategies have worked for you? Let’s discuss in the comments. PS. Share ♻️ this post to help elevate the role of user researchers everywhere.

Telling a compelling story with UX research has nothing to do with flair and everything to do with function, empathy, and influence. One of the most critical yet underappreciated lessons in UX and product work - beautifully articulated in It’s Our Research by Tomer Sharon - is that research doesn’t succeed just because it’s rigorous or well-designed. It succeeds when its insights are heard, understood, remembered, and acted upon. We need to stop treating communication as an afterthought. The way we present research is just as important as the research itself. Storytelling in UX is not decoration - it’s a core deliverable. If your goal is to shape decisions rather than just share findings, the first step is to design your communication with the same care you give your methods. That means understanding the mindset of your stakeholders: what they care about, how they process information, and what pressures they’re facing. Storytelling in this context isn’t about performance - it’s about empathy. The insight must also be portable. It needs to survive the room and be retold accurately across meetings, conversations, and documents. If your findings require lengthy explanations or rely too heavily on charts without clear conclusions, the message will fade. Use strong framing, clear takeaways, and repeatable phrases. Make it memorable. Avoid leading with your process. Stakeholders care far less about your methods than they do about the problems they’re trying to solve. Lead with the tension - what’s broken, what’s at risk, what’s creating friction. Only then show what you learned and what opportunities emerged. Research becomes powerful when it forecasts outcomes, not just reports behaviors. What will it cost the business to ignore this behavior? What might change if we take action? When we can answer these questions, research earns its place at the strategy table. Treat your report like a prototype. Will it be used? Will it help others make decisions? Does it resonate emotionally and strategically? If not, iterate. Use narrative elements, embed user moments, bring in supporting visuals, and structure it in a way that guides action. Finally, stop thinking of the share-out as a one-way street. Facilitate instead of presenting. Invite stakeholders to interpret, ask questions, and explore implications with you. When they co-create meaning, they take ownership-and that leads to real action. Research only creates value when it moves people. Insights are not enough on their own. What matters is the clarity and conviction with which they are communicated.

Most UX folks are missing the one skill that could save their careers. For a long time, many UXers have been laser-focused on the craft. Understanding users. Testing ideas. Perfecting pixels. But here’s the reality. Companies are cutting those folks everywhere, because they don’t connect their work to hard, actual, tangible $$$$$. So it’s viewed as a luxury. A nice-to-have. My 2 cents.. If you can’t tie your decisions to how it helps the business make or save money, you’re at risk. Full stop. But I have good news. You can quantify your $$ impact using basic financial modeling. Here’s a quick example.. Imagine you’re working on a tool that employees use every day. Let’s say the current experience requires 8 hours a week for each employee to complete a task. By improving the usability of the tool, you cut that time by three hours. Let’s break it down. If the average employee makes $100K annually (roughly $50/hr), and 100 employees use the tool, that’s $15K saved each week. Over a year, that’s $780K in savings.. just by shaving 3 hours off a process. Now take it a step further. What if those employees use those extra 3 hours to create more value for customers? What’s the potential revenue upside? This is the kind of thinking that sets a designer apart. It’s time for UXers to stop treating customer sentiment or usability test results as the final metric. Instea learn how your company makes or saves money and model the financial impact of your UX changes. Align your work with tangible metrics like operational efficiency, customer retention, or lifetime value. The best part? This isn’t hard. Basic math and a simple framework can help you communicate your value in ways the business understands. Your prototype or design file doesn’t need to be perfect. But your ability to show how it drives business outcomes? That does. — If you enjoyed this post, join hundreds of others and subscribe to my weekly newsletter — Building Great Experiences https://lnkd.in/edqxnPAY

Measuring and showcasing the business impact of UX research can be challenging, but it’s crucial for demonstrating the value we bring. To make this more tangible, I’ve built a dashboard that tracks key metrics and insights to help communicate our contribution to the company’s success. Here’s how I’m breaking it down to show impact for the business: 1. Research impact: We categorize each research project by its level of impact: ➔ Low: Provides valuable insights but doesn’t lead to immediate action. ➔ Medium: Validates or refines existing ideas. ➔ High: Directly influences the product roadmap or business strategy. By tracking these metrics, we can demonstrate how many projects directly contribute to strategic decisions and influence the company’s goals. 2. Tied to business KPIs: We tag each research project with the business goals it aligns with, like CSAT, conversion rates, or task completion rates. This allows us to highlight how research contributes to improving key business metrics. By linking research findings to KPIs, we’re able to quantify the value we’re adding. 3. Project complexity and external costs: We categorize projects by complexity (simple, moderate, complex). This helps us see how often we’ve needed external resources because of a lack of internal capacity. Tracking this allows us to highlight the extra costs of outsourcing, helping make the case for expanding the internal research team to reduce expenses. 4. Denied Projects: We track the number of projects we’ve had to deny due to capacity constraints. This is crucial for showing unmet demand for research, which in turn shows the business the need for more resources. Denied projects highlight how much additional impact we could be making if the research team had more capacity. 5. National vs. International: By tagging whether research projects are national or international, we gain insights into where the company is focusing its efforts. This helps ensure that we’re aligning our research efforts with market priorities and identifying gaps where more international or cross-market research could drive business growth. By creating these dashboards, we’re able to quantify and visualize the impact UX research makes for the business, whether it’s driving decisions, contributing to KPIs, or highlighting the need for more capacity to meet growing demand. How are you showing the business value of UX research in your company?

When reporting on your impact as a UX Researcher, here are the best → worst metrics to tie your work to: 𝟭. 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 Every company is chasing revenue growth. This is especially true in tech. Tying your work to new (or retained) revenue is the strongest way to show the value that you’re bringing to the organization and make the case for leaders to invest more in research. Examples: - Research insights → new pricing tier(s) → $X - Research insights → X changes to CSM playbook → Y% reduction in churn → $Z 𝟮. 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 This might not be possible for many UXRs, but if you can, showing how your work contributed to key decisions (especially if those decisions affect dozens or hundreds of employees) is another way to stand out. Examples: - Research insights → new ideal customer profile → X changes across Sales / Marketing / Product affecting Y employees' work - Research insights → refined product vision → X changes to the roadmap affecting Y employees' work 𝟯. 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 If you can’t directly attribute your work to revenue, that’s ok! The majority of research is too far removed from revenue to measure the value in dollars. The next best thing is to tie your work to core user engagement metrics (e.g. “watch time” for Netflix, “time spent listening” for Spotify). These metrics are north star metrics because they’re strong predictors of future revenue. Examples: - Research insights → X changes to onboarding flow → Y% increase in successfully activated users - Research insights → X new product features → Y% increase in time spent in app 𝟰. 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 For tech companies, a dollar saved is usually less exciting than a dollar of new (or retained) revenue. This is because tech companies’ valuations are primarily driven by future revenue growth, not profitability. That being said, cost savings prove that your research is having a real / tangible impact. 𝟱. 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘃𝗲 Hot take: The biggest trap for researchers (and product folks generally) is focusing on user experience improvements that do not clearly lead to more engagement or more revenue. At most companies, it is nearly impossible to justify investments (including research!) solely on the basis of improving the user experience. Reporting on user experience improvements without tying them to any of the metrics above will make your research look like an expendable cost center instead of a critical revenue driver. — TL;DR: Businesses are driven by their top line (revenue) and bottom line (profit). If you want executives to appreciate the impact of (your) research, start aligning your reporting to metrics 1-4 above.