Puget Sound Research Forum’s Post

If you weren't able to make our last networking evening for UX and Product leaders here's a snapshot of the key takeaways from the night: Want to join the next one? Our next event is coming soon. Stay tuned for more details and get in touch with one of the team for more details. #UXDesign #ProductLeadership #NetworkingEvent #LeadershipEvents

🤝 The Power of Cross-Functional Collaboration for Enhanced Customer Experience (CX) 🤝 As a UX research expert, I’ve witnessed the transformative impact of cross-functional collaboration on delivering exceptional customer experiences (CX). In today’s complex business landscape, creating a seamless and delightful CX requires breaking down silos and fostering collaboration across various departments. Why Cross-Functional Collaboration is Essential for CX Holistic Understanding of Customers: Collaboration between teams like UX, marketing, product development, and customer support brings together diverse perspectives. This comprehensive understanding of customer needs, behaviors, and pain points enables the creation of more intuitive and empathetic experiences. Consistent and Cohesive Experiences: Cross-functional collaboration ensures that every touchpoint aligns with the brand’s promise and delivers a consistent experience. From marketing messages to product interactions, a unified approach across departments enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty. Agility and Innovation: When teams work together, they can respond more quickly to customer feedback and market changes. This agility fosters innovation, allowing companies to continuously improve and adapt their offerings to meet evolving customer expectations. Efficient Problem Solving: Collaboration facilitates the sharing of insights and expertise, leading to more effective problem-solving. By leveraging the strengths of different teams, organizations can address issues more efficiently and deliver solutions that resonate with customers. The Role of UX Research in Cross-Functional Collaboration From a UX research perspective, fostering collaboration involves: Facilitating Communication: UX researchers act as a bridge between departments, sharing valuable user insights and data. This information helps align teams around a common understanding of the customer and the goals of the CX strategy. Empathy and User Advocacy: UX research brings the voice of the customer into the decision-making process. By advocating for the user’s perspective, researchers help ensure that customer needs and emotions are prioritized in every aspect of the business. Design Thinking Workshops: Conducting workshops and co-creation sessions with cross-functional teams fosters a collaborative mindset. These sessions encourage creative problem-solving and help generate innovative solutions that enhance the customer experience. Continuous Learning and Feedback: Foster a culture of continuous learning and feedback. Regularly gather insights from different teams and customers to iterate and improve the CX strategy. Let’s embrace collaboration and work towards a future where every customer interaction is a testament to our collective efforts. #UXResearch #CustomerExperience #CrossFunctionalCollaboration #UserExperience #CXStrategy #Innovation #CustomerCentric #Teamwork

🤝 The Power of Cross-Functional Collaboration for Enhanced Customer Experience (CX) 🤝 As a UX research expert, I’ve witnessed the transformative impact of cross-functional collaboration on delivering exceptional customer experiences (CX). In today’s complex business landscape, creating a seamless and delightful CX requires breaking down silos and fostering collaboration across various departments. Why Cross-Functional Collaboration is Essential for CX Holistic Understanding of Customers: Collaboration between teams like UX, marketing, product development, and customer support brings together diverse perspectives. This comprehensive understanding of customer needs, behaviors, and pain points enables the creation of more intuitive and empathetic experiences. Consistent and Cohesive Experiences: Cross-functional collaboration ensures that every touchpoint aligns with the brand’s promise and delivers a consistent experience. From marketing messages to product interactions, a unified approach across departments enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty. Agility and Innovation: When teams work together, they can respond more quickly to customer feedback and market changes. This agility fosters innovation, allowing companies to continuously improve and adapt their offerings to meet evolving customer expectations. Efficient Problem Solving: Collaboration facilitates the sharing of insights and expertise, leading to more effective problem-solving. By leveraging the strengths of different teams, organizations can address issues more efficiently and deliver solutions that resonate with customers. The Role of UX Research in Cross-Functional Collaboration From a UX research perspective, fostering collaboration involves: Facilitating Communication: UX researchers act as a bridge between departments, sharing valuable user insights and data. This information helps align teams around a common understanding of the customer and the goals of the CX strategy. Empathy and User Advocacy: UX research brings the voice of the customer into the decision-making process. By advocating for the user’s perspective, researchers help ensure that customer needs and emotions are prioritized in every aspect of the business. Design Thinking Workshops: Conducting workshops and co-creation sessions with cross-functional teams fosters a collaborative mindset. These sessions encourage creative problem-solving and help generate innovative solutions that enhance the customer experience. Continuous Learning and Feedback: Foster a culture of continuous learning and feedback. Regularly gather insights from different teams and customers to iterate and improve the CX strategy. Let’s embrace collaboration and work towards a future where every customer interaction is a testament to our collective efforts. #UXResearch #CustomerExperience #CrossFunctionalCollaboration #UserExperience #CXStrategy #Innovation #CustomerCentric #Teamwork

As I refined the design vision for Officevibe, a tool for measuring and improving team engagement, I had a revelation about the evolving nature of products. Initially, we focused on providing engaging experiences - making our interfaces intuitive and enjoyable to use. Simplicity was never easy to achieve, but I felt we could still do more. The breakthrough came when we started asking: How can Officevibe transform our users into better leaders? This question led me to the concept of the Transformation Economy in product. It's not just about providing a service or crafting an experience - it's about facilitating genuine growth and transformation for our users. We began integrating management best practices, positive reinforcement messages and simple actions users could take. The goal for the UX team wasn't just to help managers collect feedback anymore, but to evolve their leadership skills over time. This journey opened my eyes to the potential of SaaS in the Transformation Economy. I have written about the various ways product design can create a memorable, growth experience on UX Collective (https://lnkd.in/dwa2K-fW). What transformative potential do you see in your products? #TransformativeSaaS #UXStrategy #ProductStrategy #productdesign"

As marketing and CX leaders, delivering exceptional customer experiences is critical for driving growth and staying competitive. But achieving that goal requires breaking down the silos that plague many organizations. When overcome, it's a challenge that can fuel your ambition and drive your business forward. That's where the power of cross-functional collaboration comes in. When diverse teams across your business collaborate to map and optimize the customer journey, the results can be genuinely transformative, inspiring and motivating to everyone involved. THE IMPORTANCE OF CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAMS Cross-functional collaboration is essential because it allows you to gain a truly holistic understanding of the customer experience. By tapping into teams' unique insights, data, and perspectives, such as marketing, sales, product, and service, you uncover hidden pain points, identify opportunities, and design solutions that cohesively address the customer's needs. Companies that excel at cross-functional customer experience see 5.7 times more revenue growth than their competitors. The reason? They've made journey optimization a strategic priority, harnessing the collective brainpower of their entire organization and staying focused on their goal. THE KEY ELEMENTS So, what are the critical elements of a successful cross-functional journey optimization team? Diverse representation on the team is essential. Having the right stakeholders across the business ensures you capture all the critical perspectives necessary for a comprehensive understanding of the customer journey. Second, the team must develop a shared understanding of the customer journey. Aligning the end-to-end experience and creating a common language is crucial. And third, you must foster a collaborative mindset and culture. Open communication, knowledge sharing, and a focus on problem-solving are essential. THE STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS To build this kind of high-performing, cross-functional team, here's a step-by-step process: 1. Identify the correct stakeholders to include, securing buy-in from leadership. 2. Facilitate collaborative working sessions - from kickoff meetings to journey mapping workshops. 3. Establish clear ownership and accountability, with a cadence for progress tracking. CONCLUSION When you get this formula right, the results can be game-changing. Just look at the leading financial services firm we studied. By bringing together cross-functional teams, they uncovered significant friction points in their online account opening process and drove a 27% increase in conversion rates. So if you're serious about transforming your customer experience, it's time to break down those silos and build your journey optimization dream team. The payoff will be well worth the effort. #CrossFunctionalTeams #MarketingStrategy #CMO #UX #CX #UserJourney #UXVocabClub #UXTrends

As companies expand, new teams and divisions emerge, creating a vibrant network of specialized neighbourhoods. While this growth brings diversity and innovation, it can also lead to challenges. The key to thriving in this environment? Collaboration! By connecting across teams, we can break down barriers, build trust, and work together more effectively. Collaboration not only fosters creativity and problem-solving but also enhances the customer experience. Here's four things to remember during cross-team collaboration: https://ow.ly/CnRi50TlU5H #UX #ServiceDesign

When corporate leaders, whether CIOs, CMOs, or department heads, perceive UX as mere aesthetics, customers suffer and business performance is affected.   A UserZoom report shows that 45% of decision-makers still view UX as just 'how things look', overlooking impact on critical areas like usability and task completion. This ill-informed view can lead to frustrated users and costly redesigns, among other issues. As Forrester highlights, addressing unresolved design issues after launching a product can cost up to 100 times more.   Our carousel explores the real costs of neglecting UX. An aesthetically appealing design won't carry much value if users struggle to complete tasks. Over time, these frustrations will erode trust and loyalty. With customers today being exposed to seamless, simple experiences in their daily lives, companies that don't meet these expectations risk falling behind competitors who prioritize both 'form and function'.   So, how can corporates close this gap? This challenge often falls on product and UX teams. Let’s explore how they can lead the charge in Part 2 next week.   #CustomerExperience #DesignLeadership #CorporateInnovation #UserExperience #UXDesign

Got out of the office to meet up with people at Hallmark. Connecting with individuals across organizations opens doors to new ideas, collaboration, and growth. Fresh perspectives and shared knowledge can spark your next big breakthrough. Reach out and expand your network! If you want to meet up and talk about UX or how to solve gnarly problems feel free to contact me on LinkedIn! #Networking #Collaboration #Growth #Innovation

Responsibility for UX in corporations often falls on design, tech, or marketing teams, but it’s not always clear who takes charge. In fact, a UserZoom study revealed that 20% of companies don’t have a designated C-level executive overseeing UX, and is instead managed by several business units. Without clear leadership, UX can easily fall through the cracks. Despite its critical role in crafting exceptional digital experiences, many companies struggle to assign a dedicated leader or team fully accountable for UX. Often, the UX function is buried within a larger marketing or tech team, where it becomes a lower priority. Some organizations tackle this by appointing a Head of Design, VP of User Experience/Design, or engaging specialized third-party UI/UX teams. This strategy helps leverage best practices, secure buy-in from the rest of the leadership team, and align UX with broader business goals. Another effective approach is to embed UX into the company culture, making it a key performance goal across all departments – tech, marketing, design, and customer service. By tying UX outcomes to measurable business objectives, such as improving CSAT, reducing user complaints, or boosting engagement, you give everyone a reason to take UX seriously. When UX becomes part of company culture, it shifts employee mindsets to prioritize the customer, ultimately driving business momentum. Review the statistics from the UserZoom survey in our post to understand why strong UX leadership and collective ownership are essential for your organization’s success. #UXStrategy #UserExperience #BetaLaunch #CorporateUX #UXLeader #UXOwnership #CollectiveUXOwnership #EnterpriseUX #UXforCorporates

Hey UX Researchers! - How do you navigate it when team members interpret terms like "survey" or "concept testing" differently from their intended use in research? I have seen them as opportunities for growth and education. Here's a post I penned sharing my insights - https://lnkd.in/gXa-Smdx. Would love to hear your tips and experiences in the comments.