From Insights to Impact: The Power of UX Research

Establishing a Research-Driven Approach to Product Development

Key parts of the role

UX Research | User Experience (UX)| Qualitative Research| Quantitative Research| Customer Insights | User Testing | Persona Development | Customer Journey Mapping | Competitor Analysis | Market Fit | Design Thinking | Research Integration | Evidence-Based Decision Making | Continuous Feedback Loops | Usability Testing | Customer Satisfaction | Behavioural Analysis

Overview

As part of creating a new product team, the way data and insights are captured and analyzed is critical for making effective, fast decisions. For many years, "Research" teams were often isolated, reporting only to executives. This approach created a fundamental problem: how can those on the ground make informed decisions if the data is kept at arm's length? They can't. In today’s modern product teams, having an internal UX research function is essential.

In the context of launching the product and UX function for Project Martian, I introduced UX research directly into the product team. This initiative was not only aimed at enhancing our product’s usability but also at embedding a deep understanding of our customers’ needs and behaviours into the core of our product strategy.

The Challenge

Before establishing the UX research function in the Fox Sports Digital team, our product development process relied heavily on marketing research, executive assumptions, and sporadic customer feedback—often from internal staff. While these methods provided some insights, they lacked the depth necessary to truly understand our users’ pain points, motivations, and desires. As a result, our product strategy often missed opportunities to address latent customer needs or anticipate shifts in user behaviour.

The Approach:

Building the Foundation:

  • Demonstration: Drawing on my previous role, where research was key to strategic product decisions, I demonstrated best practices in research, including customer interviews and both qualitative and quantitative research, seamlessly integrating these into newly introduced sprints.
  • Research Roadmap: We developed a comprehensive research plan, beginning with customer interviews to understand initial impressions, followed by ongoing customer testing of new features during sprints. We also focused on quantitative research to validate features and ensure our product achieved market fit more quickly.
  • Recruitment: We recruited a skilled UX researcher with a diverse background in psychology, anthropology, design thinking, and data analysis.
  • Up-skilling the Team: The existing UX team had varying levels of research experience, so it was crucial to get everyone on board and up to speed. Every product manager and experience designer was empowered to collaborate with the UX researcher to gain critical insights for making effective recommendations.
  • Tool Implementation: We invested in a suite of research tools, including user testing platforms, survey tools, eye-tracking hardware, and analytics software, providing the team with the resources needed to conduct both qualitative and quantitative research.
  • Process Integration: We integrated UX research into every phase of the product development cycle. From initial concept validation to post-launch usability testing, UX research became a cornerstone of our decision-making process.

Developing Research Frameworks:

  • Customer Journey Mapping: We developed detailed customer journey maps to identify key touch points, pain points, and opportunities for improvement across the entire user experience.
  • Persona Development: The team created data-driven personas based on user interviews and behavioural data. These personas became vital in aligning our product design and features with the actual needs and behaviours of our users.
  • Competitor Analysis: We tracked 20 leading competitors, including international, free-to-air, and local paid services. We monitored every release across all devices, analyzed customer feedback from forums and app stores, and even predicted their next feature updates.
  • Realtime Product Dashboards: From the launch of each product, we created real-time product, dashboards, allowing us to see how users were using the products across every device type. This allowed us to see which devices were performing the customer expectations, and which devices needed to be improved.
  • Continuous Feedback Loops: We established ongoing feedback loops through regular user testing sessions, surveys, and analytics reviews. This allowed us to iteratively refine our product in response to real-time user feedback. As the products grew in the market, we leveraged customer service insights, voice of customer data, and NPS verbatim feedback to validate and align our roadmap.

Impact on Product Strategy:

  • Informed Decision-Making: Insights from UX research informed every major product decision. Whether prioritising features in our roadmap or refining the user interface, decisions were now backed by robust user data, saving critical time and resources.
  • Identifying New Opportunities: Through exploratory research, we uncovered unmet user needs and new market opportunities. For example, research identified a growing segment of users who wanted to avoid seeing match scores, leading us to develop the "No Spoilers" feature.
  • Aligning with Business Goals: By correlating UX research insights with business metrics, the research team demonstrated how user experience improvements could drive key performance indicators such as retention, conversion, and customer satisfaction. This alignment helped secure ongoing investment in UX research from senior leadership.
  • Executive Education: The product team began using UX research to proactively make evidence-based recommendations and quickly test executive requests.

Outcomes

The introduction of the UX research function had a transformative impact on our product development process and strategy:

  • Customer-Centric Culture: UX research ingrained a customer-centric mindset within the product team, ensuring that user needs were at the forefront of every decision.
  • Strategic Direction: Insights from UX research directly influenced the strategic direction of the product at all levels of the business. By understanding user behaviour and anticipating trends, we stayed ahead of the competition and adapted to changing market conditions.
  • Increased Product Success: Products developed with the guidance of UX research consistently outperformed previous iterations, with improvements in usability, customer satisfaction, and market performance.

Conclusion

The creation of the UX research function was a pivotal moment in the Streamotion product development journey. It transformed how we approached product design and strategy, making our products not only more user-friendly but also more aligned with our customers’ evolving needs. By embedding UX research into the heart of our product team, we built products that resonated with users and drove our business forward.

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