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Product development at NerdWallet: Why user research is pivotal

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UserTesting
UserTesting

In this webinar, Jeff will cover the pros and cons of NerdWallet’s embedded research structure, their learnings on working with product designers and PMs, as well as the toolkit of techniques they have developed to maximize speed and insights.

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Product development at NerdWallet: Why user research is pivotal #UTwebinar @UserTesting Jeff Gurr Head of User Research, NerdWallet
UserTesting’s on demand customer insights platform enables companies to create powerful products and exceptional customer experiences. #UTwebinar
We Partner With Thousands Of Customers #UTwebinar
Across All Platforms, At All Stages Of Development Watch customers interact with: DESKTOP SMARTPHONE TABLET WEBSITES APPS & PROGRAMS PROTOTYPES & WIREFRAMES SURVEYS PHYSICAL PRODUCTS Anywhere people interact with your brand: AT HOME AT A STORE ON THE GO On any pla6orm or device: #UTwebinar
8 Jeff Gurr Head of User Research, NerdWallet Jeff Gurr works as the Head of User Research at NerdWallet. Prior to joining NerdWallet, he worked in Global Development and Corporate Strategy for Disney and at design consultancies, IDEO and Continuum. At NerdWallet, Jeff is focused on infusing the product development process with user research and insights. @jgurr #UTwebinar
Product Development at NerdWallet Why user research is pivotal March 28, 2017 ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary
We talking to users In 2016… 1200 300 usertesting.com tests (not just usability – generative and evaluative) in-person or phone sessions 20+ days with our customers
©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet Me. Twitter: @jgurr LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jgurr/
Thank you to the team past and present! ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet
©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary Our mission at NerdWallet Providing clarity for all of life’s financial decisions.
©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet What is NerdWallet? Reviews Marketplaces Best of Lists Tools & Apps
©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet How can user research create impact? •  Increased understanding & empathy of the customer •  Financial results Team Structure Research Effectiveness Partnership with other disciplines •  Building a complementary team •  From service org to embedded in pods •  Overcoming recruiting challenges •  Learning to concept test for NerdWallet •  Understanding the user’s financial context •  The importance of financial fidelity •  Building a testing mentality •  Design Sprints as a tool for team alignment and speed •  Weaponize non-researchers •  Participation is essential for PMs and PDs Impact
©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet Team Structure
©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet: Team Structure Positioning within NerdWallet: from service org to embedded From: Project Based To: Embedded Product, Engineering & Design PODS User Research Team PROJECTS Credit Cards Investing Mortgages Credit Cards PM PD xEng UR How is user research positioned to be effective within your team structures?
©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet: Team Structure Building a complementary team Analogy: a golf team •  Team works mainly autonomously, but comes together to share best practices and help with research execution •  Each member brings a unique research skill to improve the team collectively •  When you’re in the business of ideas and insights > diversity is a HUGE advantage Is the make-up of your team increasing or decreasing effectiveness?
©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet Research Effectiveness
©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet: Research Effectiveness Overcoming recruiting challenges Common user path on NerdWallet: Search NerdWallet Partner Site Where do you recruit people to speak with during this flow? •  Look-a-likes (UserTesting panel is very rich and helpful here) •  With partner cooperation •  Through Facebook and other ad retargeting (very cost efficient) Do you have a challenge accessing the right users to speak with? What creative ways can you use to find them?
©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet: Research Effectiveness What makes for a ”great” concept test at NerdWallet? Two major learnings: 1. Financial fidelity is CRITICAL 2. Understanding user’s financial context is essential For the type of work you do, what elements of testing are important? •  Users have a very hard time relating to financial information that is not their own •  This mean when we are testing dashboards or personalized recommendation > high financial fidelity (their own data) is very important •  Test results (especially on user testing) without the context of the user’s financial situation were very difficult to interpret •  UserTesting pro-tip: ask questions before the test to understand the user context for that experience
©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet: Research Effectiveness UserTesting Pro-Tips: the “before we begin” questions UserTesting script for testing our personal loan marketplace Use ”before we begin” questions to get better context about the tester’s situation We always ask ourselves, what experience has this user had that they are an expert in? How can we get them to tell us those stories?
©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet Partnership with other disciplines
©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet: Partnership with other disciplines Building a testing mentality Does your organization have a thinking or testing mentality? Why? “We are going to be 50+% wrong, so be wrong fast!” Very difficult to overcome “rationalization tendency”: I’m smart, I can solve this problem. Help teams remember, when creating something new: •  100s/1000s of micro decisions o  Some implicit based on experience or design conventions o  Some explicit based on expertise •  Each of these individual decisions are right (“our best current guess”) •  It is the combination of these decisions into an experience that might be wrong (“doesn’t work as intended for the user”)
©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet: Partnership with other disciplines Design Sprints as a tool for team building and speed How could design sprints help your teams? •  NerdWallet is a matrixed organization, which has many benefits but also means lots of meeting •  To overcome the lack of focused time, design sprints led by the user research team have become a valuable tool •  Sprints allow for the team to deeply explore a problem and create a great opportunity for team building
©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet: Partnership with other disciplines Working with Product Managers and Product Designers How can you increase participation in research? •  PARTICIAPTION – strong belief: “Easier to facilitate insight, than transfer insight.” o  Having Product Managers, Product Designers and Engineers participate in research is the easiest way to facilitate insights o  No amount of debrief or synthesize makes up for being there •  Tactics: o  Make it part of the team’s sprint process (this is one of the benefits of our embedded model) o  Make participation an expectation - some PODs have implemented an expectation of “customer hours”, a requirement for every team member to spend with customers
©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet: Partnership with other disciplines Make research tools self-serve Who in your organization would benefit from basic research skills? customers Writers & Editors Business Operations Analytics Many teams at NerdWallet circle our customer: With limited resources how can we get teams close to the customer? •  Teach them the basic skills of research (UserTesting is great for this) •  Work with them to construct, analyze and synthesize user feedback •  Find champions and adopters on these teams to showcase and socialize results •  Results help adoption > everyone is looking to improve their metrics
We’re Hiring! ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet Passionate about helping people with their finances Curiosity to dig into very irrational and human problems Apply @ https://www.nerdwallet.com/careers Or reach out to me: jgurr@nerdwallet.com
©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary Ouser Research at NerdWallet Questions?

More Related Content

Product development at NerdWallet: Why user research is pivotal

  • 1. Product development at NerdWallet: Why user research is pivotal #UTwebinar @UserTesting Jeff Gurr Head of User Research, NerdWallet
  • 2. UserTesting’s on demand customer insights platform enables companies to create powerful products and exceptional customer experiences. #UTwebinar
  • 3. We Partner With Thousands Of Customers #UTwebinar
  • 4. Across All Platforms, At All Stages Of Development Watch customers interact with: DESKTOP SMARTPHONE TABLET WEBSITES APPS & PROGRAMS PROTOTYPES & WIREFRAMES SURVEYS PHYSICAL PRODUCTS Anywhere people interact with your brand: AT HOME AT A STORE ON THE GO On any pla6orm or device: #UTwebinar
  • 5. 8 Jeff Gurr Head of User Research, NerdWallet Jeff Gurr works as the Head of User Research at NerdWallet. Prior to joining NerdWallet, he worked in Global Development and Corporate Strategy for Disney and at design consultancies, IDEO and Continuum. At NerdWallet, Jeff is focused on infusing the product development process with user research and insights. @jgurr #UTwebinar
  • 6. Product Development at NerdWallet Why user research is pivotal March 28, 2017 ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary
  • 7. We talking to users In 2016… 1200 300 usertesting.com tests (not just usability – generative and evaluative) in-person or phone sessions 20+ days with our customers
  • 8. ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet Me. Twitter: @jgurr LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jgurr/
  • 9. Thank you to the team past and present! ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet
  • 10. ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary Our mission at NerdWallet Providing clarity for all of life’s financial decisions.
  • 11. ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet What is NerdWallet? Reviews Marketplaces Best of Lists Tools & Apps
  • 12. ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet How can user research create impact? •  Increased understanding & empathy of the customer •  Financial results Team Structure Research Effectiveness Partnership with other disciplines •  Building a complementary team •  From service org to embedded in pods •  Overcoming recruiting challenges •  Learning to concept test for NerdWallet •  Understanding the user’s financial context •  The importance of financial fidelity •  Building a testing mentality •  Design Sprints as a tool for team alignment and speed •  Weaponize non-researchers •  Participation is essential for PMs and PDs Impact
  • 13. ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet Team Structure
  • 14. ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet: Team Structure Positioning within NerdWallet: from service org to embedded From: Project Based To: Embedded Product, Engineering & Design PODS User Research Team PROJECTS Credit Cards Investing Mortgages Credit Cards PM PD xEng UR How is user research positioned to be effective within your team structures?
  • 15. ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet: Team Structure Building a complementary team Analogy: a golf team •  Team works mainly autonomously, but comes together to share best practices and help with research execution •  Each member brings a unique research skill to improve the team collectively •  When you’re in the business of ideas and insights > diversity is a HUGE advantage Is the make-up of your team increasing or decreasing effectiveness?
  • 16. ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet Research Effectiveness
  • 17. ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet: Research Effectiveness Overcoming recruiting challenges Common user path on NerdWallet: Search NerdWallet Partner Site Where do you recruit people to speak with during this flow? •  Look-a-likes (UserTesting panel is very rich and helpful here) •  With partner cooperation •  Through Facebook and other ad retargeting (very cost efficient) Do you have a challenge accessing the right users to speak with? What creative ways can you use to find them?
  • 18. ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet: Research Effectiveness What makes for a ”great” concept test at NerdWallet? Two major learnings: 1. Financial fidelity is CRITICAL 2. Understanding user’s financial context is essential For the type of work you do, what elements of testing are important? •  Users have a very hard time relating to financial information that is not their own •  This mean when we are testing dashboards or personalized recommendation > high financial fidelity (their own data) is very important •  Test results (especially on user testing) without the context of the user’s financial situation were very difficult to interpret •  UserTesting pro-tip: ask questions before the test to understand the user context for that experience
  • 19. ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet: Research Effectiveness UserTesting Pro-Tips: the “before we begin” questions UserTesting script for testing our personal loan marketplace Use ”before we begin” questions to get better context about the tester’s situation We always ask ourselves, what experience has this user had that they are an expert in? How can we get them to tell us those stories?
  • 20. ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet Partnership with other disciplines
  • 21. ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet: Partnership with other disciplines Building a testing mentality Does your organization have a thinking or testing mentality? Why? “We are going to be 50+% wrong, so be wrong fast!” Very difficult to overcome “rationalization tendency”: I’m smart, I can solve this problem. Help teams remember, when creating something new: •  100s/1000s of micro decisions o  Some implicit based on experience or design conventions o  Some explicit based on expertise •  Each of these individual decisions are right (“our best current guess”) •  It is the combination of these decisions into an experience that might be wrong (“doesn’t work as intended for the user”)
  • 22. ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet: Partnership with other disciplines Design Sprints as a tool for team building and speed How could design sprints help your teams? •  NerdWallet is a matrixed organization, which has many benefits but also means lots of meeting •  To overcome the lack of focused time, design sprints led by the user research team have become a valuable tool •  Sprints allow for the team to deeply explore a problem and create a great opportunity for team building
  • 23. ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet: Partnership with other disciplines Working with Product Managers and Product Designers How can you increase participation in research? •  PARTICIAPTION – strong belief: “Easier to facilitate insight, than transfer insight.” o  Having Product Managers, Product Designers and Engineers participate in research is the easiest way to facilitate insights o  No amount of debrief or synthesize makes up for being there •  Tactics: o  Make it part of the team’s sprint process (this is one of the benefits of our embedded model) o  Make participation an expectation - some PODs have implemented an expectation of “customer hours”, a requirement for every team member to spend with customers
  • 24. ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet: Partnership with other disciplines Make research tools self-serve Who in your organization would benefit from basic research skills? customers Writers & Editors Business Operations Analytics Many teams at NerdWallet circle our customer: With limited resources how can we get teams close to the customer? •  Teach them the basic skills of research (UserTesting is great for this) •  Work with them to construct, analyze and synthesize user feedback •  Find champions and adopters on these teams to showcase and socialize results •  Results help adoption > everyone is looking to improve their metrics
  • 25. We’re Hiring! ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary User Research at NerdWallet Passionate about helping people with their finances Curiosity to dig into very irrational and human problems Apply @ https://www.nerdwallet.com/careers Or reach out to me: jgurr@nerdwallet.com
  • 26. ©2017 NerdWallet — Confidential and Proprietary Ouser Research at NerdWallet Questions?