Strategy
My research has focused on several areas: international growth, competitive analysis, special populations, but in each case the key to innovation has been developing and refining product strategy.
There are three key ingredients for deploying a successful product strategy as a researcher: business acumen, strong partnerships, and effective storytelling. Together, these ingredients arm you with the ability to deliver real impact.
Business acumen
The most important part of developing a good product strategy is knowing what’s most important to the business. This means getting to know the key metrics, KPI’s, and any “hidden metrics”. It also means understanding how these metrics show up in consumer perception and behavior. In addition to key metrics, it’s also important to get to know the testing strategy/framework as that will be the primary lever for actioning research insights.
Strong Partnerships
A critical piece to the success of product research is strong partnerships within product. This means successful cross-functional collaboration with PMs, designers, engineers, content strategists, as well as partners outside of product in marketing, legal, and policy. My approach to forming these partnerships is to understand the point of view of each function, as well as their unique perspective on our business area. This way, I can structure recommendations for my insights in a way that feels actionable to them.
EFFECTIVE STORYTELLING
This brings me to the spark that ignites product change: effective storytelling. Effective storytelling is the product of the marriage of clear user needs, questions that spark ideas, and actionable recommendations. In my storytelling, I bring consumer needs to life through the use of media like video/audio clips, as well as direct quotes. I often use the JTBD (jobs-to-be-done) framework to conceptualize the user needs and inspire solutions, which feed into both strategic opportunities as well as tactical recommendations for engineering, design, and content.
