Research Initiatives
Here is part of our tagging taxonomy for our research into categorization and app.raivenI built a robust system that can grow with our team. The aim was to organize the files so everyone could understand them, including new members as our company expands.
This meant, providing multiple touch-points on the same data based off of different team-members’ needs.
Tag Tables
I created a table for our team to easily understand the information. Planning this system carefully helped everyone get aligned quickly and cut down on unnecessary communication, speeding up product timelines.
Insights Reports, User Personas, and In-File Documentation for Scalability
I created insights reports after finishing each interview summary and the affinity diagram.
These reports were shared with stakeholders, developers, product and design teams, and our customer success managers.
I also developed user personas for quick reference and prepared documentation for each product. This provided guidelines for our expanding team and ensured that my system was easy to use and scalable for new members during onboarding.
Prior to my tenure at Raiven, the company lacked a comprehensive understanding of its market fit, user needs, and product-market fit. This resulted in a sales-driven culture, where revenue generation was heavily reliant on cold pitching and outbound sales efforts. Despite having a significant customer base, user retention and engagement were low, with many customers underutilizing the product or struggling with the onboarding process.
As the head of research, I initiated a comprehensive research initiative to address these challenges. Through in-depth user interviews, surveys, and observational studies, we gained valuable insights into our users’ motivations, pain points, and desired outcomes. These findings led to the development of detailed user personas, which served as a foundation for product development and decision-making.
One of the key areas we identified for improvement was the onboarding process. By implementing Cognito Forms, we were able to streamline the onboarding experience, reducing the burden on our customer success team and improving user satisfaction. This reduced delays and user drop-off caused by a complicated and outdated onboarding process. Additionally, the insights gained from our research enabled us to pivot the company’s business model from a sales-focused approach to a SaaS model. This strategic shift positioned Raiven to provide greater value to our users by seamlessly integrating into their existing workflows and addressing their specific needs.
Through my leadership of the research initiative, I was able to contribute significantly to Raiven’s transformation. By fostering a data-driven culture and prioritizing user-centric design, we were able to improve customer satisfaction, increase product adoption, and position the company for long-term success.
Here’s what I did
First I built out our research database utilizing Dovetail.
This included building our tagging taxonomy, organizing initiatives by product, creating affinity diagrams, summarizing each interview, and creating an “insights report” to share with executives.
Affinity Diagrams
Additionally…
Quick and scannable reports
In-Figma Documentation
Additionally, I ensured that our findings were provided to our design team within the Figma file.
This was to ensure that designers could easily reference our findings in order to streamline design efforts. Also, by providing documentation in-file, our development team is also able to view our findings—this leads to a concerted effort, where all parts of the team are working in a more streamlined process.
Research and product teams have worked together to create a smoother process, allowing products to move easily.
Now there is a complete system in place, and Raiven is seeing growth in both adoption and, more importantly, engagement.