Bridging the Gap Between Product, GTM, and the Bottom Line

Rather than just limiting your collaboration within your department, I really want to encourage everyone here to start following business questions and see where it takes you. I think the most valuable insights and where you can really have impact as a researcher really is across boundaries in the organization. So maybe this doesn't work. Oops. It skipped. Okay.

So thirty minutes. I'm gonna cover a lot. Hopefully, there'll be things you can take away. But I'm gonna cover a little bit of an introduction to the difference between product dev and go to market and our different goals. I'm gonna tell you a real life story, something I was involved in with how do we how do we mend and keep a seven year relationship, what happened after that escalation, and how you might copy it or replicate it inside your own roles and organizations.

And last but not least, AI is a very big topic. So I want to talk about how it might help you in this aspect as well in terms of crossing those boundaries and collaboration. So if we think about UX research, we're really in the product development space. I think that's very clear. And that's the traditional role of gathering data, joining the dots, turning it into an insight.

But I think there's an opportunity to be mindful and go much further, and that's to oops. Sorry. Like, help the teams with conversion. So the collaboration with the go to market team is often very underutilized and underused. And it's not just one way. Actually, you can gather data and interpret the go to market team's contributions such as customer feedback, market information, giving you a sense of what's going on in the industry.

And they can also help with communicating outwards about your projects and updates and what you are also seeking as a researcher. So together, when you connect all of these dots, it's actually a a broader continuous cycle, gathering data, connecting the dots, communicating those insights, and then converting them into action in different ways.

Okay. So I think you a lot of people may know these two, but I wanted to choose a familiar example, salespeople. Some may or may interact with them in the organization, but in terms of their goals, they're really thinking about things like revenue, customer retention, churn, and that really impacts the bottom line of the business. And from a research perspective, they really give us a good touch point, and I wanna talk about different ways in which we can get and work with them.

And they can also help with the insights into action. So we had one day a very out of ordinary request. So usually me and my team, we sit in product development, and we only work in product development. We were asked how can we actually collaborate with the go to market team to run this workshop on a customer escalation.

So we had a really big question. Can we actually do something? What could we do? And so it began with an informal internal connection. So the design team, me included, we got approached by this team to see what could we do to help. So we've got accounts exec, success solutions consultant, and a product specialist.

All of them have different roles, but they work with the same customer. These are real people, by the way, there's me. There's a intermix of stock people and real people. But I just wanted to say that they have a goal. They want to keep the customer, keep the customer happy. We want to understand what the customer needs.

There is quite a lot of alignment there, even though it doesn't seem so direct. And so we wanted to bring something different to this workshop, which was a strong understanding of user experience, but also showing the customer how we do things internally to build that relationship in Gravitas. So can we save this relationship?

A bit of context, this customer was actually our biggest customer in the APAC region, So the stakes were really high. It was go or no go. And the goal was to help the customer really understand their own setup with Zendesk. So as the customer support software, we wanted to really help them make sure that they are maximizing it and identify areas of underutilization. That's a common thing that we have in our business is that we really want to make sure that customers really get the most value out of what they're paying for.

But what we did was we designed the workshop to benefit both sides. We weren't just going to be service providers, but we would be would be providing some things like expertise. We would be providing some things like the understanding of the customer support space, given that we've done a lot of design and research in that space. And then the idea was for us to get some of those things that we could take back to the product development department. So the important principle that we had from the outset when doing this was that the engagement must create value for the customer, but it also must create some benefit and value for our organization and the team at the same time.

So what we did was we actually took some familiar research techniques, and then we applied it to this workshop. So it wasn't just a normal workshop. We brought our own research to help the customer see how we're thinking about the user experience and the user needs. So as a result of what we did before the workshop, which we shared with them, the customer got a good insight as to how we work. So we showed them things like unmoderated research that we did on their experience and how we also do that internally at Zendesk. We also did some mystery shopping.

So for this customer, we went to speak and pretend to be their users to directly experience and empathize with their user needs. We also, with the designer, brought the design thinking techniques. So there was a lot that they our goal was to have them leave this workshop and also learn new skills that they could take on for their department and their organization as well.

So it wasn't just to conduct research on and for the customer. It was to give them a taste of our internal expertise and also build some goodwill. As I mentioned, I'm fighting the brunch, I'm gonna I'm gonna be mindful of the time. And then also, I wanna share that at the same time, we got something out of it that we could take back to the team. We managed to do things like user shadowing, so we were able to take photos and then report back.

We had to actually saw firsthand what were the issues that this customer and their team were having with using our product, which was invaluable. We also heard from this direct but also broad user group. Sometimes we are hearing things through the go to market team, for example, or through people who are submitting feedback on our site or through our customer support team.

But this was us hearing it directly from these various levels of users. It wasn't just hearing from the people who are buying the product. So there's the buyer, but then there's different layers like managers in terms of customer support agents. We got the whole gamut of all this different feedback which we could take back to the team.

And then the last thing which was also valuable for us, they were able to give us direct feedback on what we were planning and what we were thinking. We heard it then and there, and there was no denying or filtering of it. They were very, very direct. So as I mentioned, this was a three day workshop where we got something, they got something.

It was really a true collaboration, I feel. And here's a quote from the head of seats. This is a general picture, but the key thing was that they got outputs, next steps, and action plan. They felt like it was very clear. It wasn't just a workshop for the sake of a workshop. We were very deliberate in making sure that there were some commitments and there were some takeaways.

And it wasn't just the head of CX who really got a lot of value out of it. The participants who all levels also had a very strong response. By no means this is quantitative research, but it gives you a sense of the sentiment. Everything was four plus in terms of positive to strongly positive. Participants described this workshop and engagement as fun and interactive, and they really appreciated having us join them, and they felt there was a level of expertise that they could take away.

And the business outcome was significant. Did we save that relationship or did we not? We did. Celebrations. So I think it was one successful customer engagement, but actually it went to something much, much bigger. This was something that was a one off request, and it actually turned into a new business process.

One of the things that after that one customer engagement engagement and workshop we had where we shared all our research, there was a hunger and a taste for more. Now mind you, this is outside of a typical UX research role. But what we did was we trained about 2,000 go to market staff, so sales, success, professional services, solutions consultants.

And we did this globally at our sales kickoff, which happens once a year. And the intention was that they could replicate some of our approach. Now don't get me wrong. This is not to replace a UX researcher. It's just to give a small taste and some insights into what they could use and be more user focused in their interactions with customers. So the difference between a typical project and this was that it was both successful, but also scaled as a capability that these other teams could then take on themselves.

And also, again, what was in it for the product development team, the design and research team, was that we also got better visibility. In an organization size like Zendesk, sometimes you don't know who's who, and so this helped bring to the front the UX research team and how we might work together, and that was something we were very purposeful in sharing in this workshop and presentation.

And so to share, as I mentioned, the training was focusing on a few specific areas rather than we're not teaching people how to be UX researchers, but just small aspects that they could take away and be more thinking about the user experience. So we taught them how to think about auditing customer experiences, so a little bit of that mystery shopping that we did.

So how can they go and do it versus engaging our whole team? How to use personas? So we have a set of personas, different levels of users, and their goals. So how to use those when working with the customer and who's attending the workshop. And the key thing also was how to map the customer journey. So this is an example of the team here having a go at mapping it, and we're walking around and giving them feedback of, yes, this should be part of it.

No, this shouldn't be part of it. There were a lot of questions, but we tried to make it as interactive as possible. But the goal wasn't just to teach concepts. We wanted to be very practical. This was a very practical exercise. And so that they could take the ideas and the approaches and run with it in their own workshops with customers.

So as a result, the research methods, these few, were more accessible to go to market. And also go to market were able to help engage with customers in a structured and useful way. And then it also feeds into our product development process. So thinking about how might this work inside your own organization.

I think one key thing that we often forget about, or at least I can say that I do, is that bringing together metrics when it comes to metrics and insights together. So if we think about UX or UX research, we have different measurements, but they can be actually related. For example, ease of use may support adoption.

If it's easy to use, more customers will adopt it, and they'll be more likely to stay with your company. Also, faster time to value. Maybe it improves customer satisfaction. They can use it. They feel, okay. We're getting a lot of benefit right away, and they're more likely to stay and less likely to churn, which is a big thing for us in our company.

And I think the important thing to note is that here's some examples of how they might be joined, but it's not to force it. I think you need to think of, you know, which ones are appropriate and which ones are a good match for your insight and what your goals are. And it's important to understand how these different measurements can connect.

So thinking about your indirect stakeholders, I will give you some examples of the go to market roles. I think I mentioned a few. So I talked about sales, success managers, presales, solutions consultants, professional services. But as I mentioned, this could even apply to a b to c company. So thinking about things like product marketing or just marketing, data and analytics teams, customer service and operations, these are all areas where you could get data, which leads to better insights.

So here are some examples of how we work with the go to market team as part of our research projects. So one of the ways in which we work with them is we are we may pilot how we're going to do our research and get a sense from them about, is this going to work with the customer base, and are they going to give us the time to sit with them or work with them on this?

So we may test out methods, questions, the length of the session, and we'll get input from them right away. The other thing is they may be an internal expert on a space. So for example, I'm working on a project in AI. I'm working with the AI sales specialist to get their input on, yes, this is interesting, or no, this is already covered in the market. You need to push a bit further.

So that's really helpful. This one, introducing you to customers, is really, really important. What we find is that when we work with go to market team, our response rate markedly increases. And I think this is very, very important because you need to be mindful that your users or customers are busy. And so sometimes they may see an email and they may disregard it, but if you have a warm introduction from the sales team, they have a strong relationship, the customer or user may be more likely to participate. And then the last but not least is give you some signals into the market and industry information.

Maybe because of certain recessions, spending is going down in retail, or maybe there is AI spend in certain other regions. So they can give you a sense of, yes, this is going to be good timing for this project, or maybe you need to think about other ways and approaches. I want to give a clear and our own example.

So at Zendesk, use something called user voice. I don't know if any of you have heard of it, or maybe you all have in your organization. But the interesting thing about user voice is that customers and also the go to market team will put their requests for improvement or feedback or their needs. And that goes into a catalog that we can see.

And it helps us pass between one customer saying it versus multiple customers saying it. So as a research team, we may look at that. And that's, again, a source of data to help with our insights. But it also helps us find these customers who we might work with in our projects. So this is an example of direct and indirect stakeholders having input into our project. They may give feedback, like, say, support hears it from one customer. They put it in user voice, and then we'll see it and follow-up with it.

And then if we implement what they've requested, we'll close the loop, and they'll get an update from us. So that's really important as well as the closing of the loop so the customer not only feels heard, but they can see what's happened as part of their participation. The information works in both directions. The sales team will get an update, and we will also hear from the sales team.

Okay. So I think one thing I've talked about is this case study of our largest customer. And now I'm going to talk about increasing your surface area for influence because I think this is one key thing with working with different departments. The broader your your network, the bigger opportunity that you have to discover more important information and also influence decision making and also connect your work to organizational priorities.

So I call this the surface area for impact. So we've got this, and I mentioned before, simply by also thinking about your go to market or other teams, as I mentioned, you're already starting to broaden the potential area for impact. And so this is a framework of how you might approach it. Four ways to increase your influence and surface area for impact.

So the first one is openness. So are you receptive to information beyond your immediate team? And are you willing to explore some unexpected connections or areas? This is a really good opportunity to help with forming of projects. So an example might be that you listen to sales calls recordings.

So you don't necessarily have to join live. But for example, internally at Zendesk, we use a tool called Gong, and we listen to the calls. And that might be an input for data and insights. And it will give you some insight into things that the customer might challenge, what they're seeking, all of that. Some other things that are also helpful in this case is, for example, in Slack, we have many, many different channels.

And we can use those different channels to find some indicator of market shifts or areas of opportunity that are not brought to us by the product development team, but will impact the product development team. So that's some examples for openness. Proximity, this is who you work with and also the customers you access and also the teams that are closest to your business problems.

So think about things like how can you be closer to the go to market team. One thing you could do is attend weekly go to market syncs, where they're talking about their numbers, challenges, things that customers are requesting, some signals there. This could be working with the product marketing team.

So consuming and using their research and also sharing your research onwards with them. And it could also include things like going with the success team when there's issues with products and shadowing and understanding the friction there. So it's how can you get much closer to various other teams? And exposure is really important.

How can you have impact if nobody knows about it? So strong work must have impact, I believe. And so there's simple things that we do or I have the research team do. For example, I ask them when they have their direct stakeholders to ask those stakeholders, please on share the research with other people that you think might be interested in the report.

And the reason being is that sometimes simply we don't even know who those indirect stakeholders are. They are the unknown unknown. So by having your stakeholders who are direct helping you, this is expanding your exposure through your research work. Some other ways in which you could also increase your exposure is apart from just attending those go to market meetings, also sharing your research far and wide, including at those go to market meetings.

And also back to the metrics, ensuring that you're sharing it with the framework of how they're thinking about things. So talking about things like churn, adoption, retention, and bringing that together with your insight. And then the last one is initiative. So thinking about taking action before a formal request arrives.

So I'm not sure how you all operate, but one thing we do is also ensure that not only do we take requests for projects, but we ensure we come up with our own ideas. Where are the knowledge gaps? Where is the company heading with the strategy? How might we answer some questions in advance which will help with that? So that your work is both helping with short term, medium term, but also long term.

And that could be things like bringing some research ideas to the product development leadership. It could be also thinking about research programs that work with the OKRs, which are objectives and key results, there are many different ways in which you could take initiative in your area. I think there is an important balance.

So I've talked about indirect stakeholders, but I think the key thing is not to also just focus on them, and you forget your main core stakeholder set. That's really, really still important. And so we must not neglect them. And I think the key thing is also to communicate effectively within your department, whether it's product design and research partners, but also to not replace your existing relationships and collaborators, but just simply expand your network whilst maintaining trust with your key stakeholders.

This is very essential, I would say. And I think I wanted to share some research hygiene and how you might connect your research with business metrics. And I'd give you an example. So your team or your department may look at things like OKRs and KPIs. Things like objective and key results, things like key performance indicators. Maybe the go to market team looks at things like revenue numbers, adoption numbers, new users.

And so here is an example. I've made it more general. But this is an example of an OKR an organization like Zendesk might have. So we want to increase a user base by 2,000. So as a result, what what research can we do to help with increasing adoption and retention? And how can we reduce the barriers to the adoption?

How can we make it easier for these customers to buy, use, set up, and keep using our product? And so, again, this is an example of how I I would encourage the team to frame their work and their insights back to this. And so sourcing business metrics, you may ask, where do I find them? Who who do I talk to?

Where do I go? Some may be obvious, and some may be not obvious. So I want to encourage or show you some different sources. One of them is executive sources. So your company may have public reports, board meetings. For example, we have quarterly business reviews. These are things that you don't necessarily need to attend the meeting, but you may want to consume and read and keep up to date with these. There could be even things like company wide all hands meetings. What is the CEO or leadership talking about and presenting?

What's top of mind for them? You might look at things like analytics. So thinking about how metrics are tracked and calculated. So not just the metric, but what's going into measuring that metric. What are the inputs? Looking at product managers, product requirement documents. Looking at support data.

What are people emailing with customer support? What's trending? Why are they leaving? Where are they having problems? Joining sales and customer success calls or listening to them after the fact. And then also working with product marketing managers. What are their competitor reports? What are they seeing or hearing?

Why are customers not buying your product? So I want to also share the AI aspect. So I talked about building the relationship, but I think we could also utilize AI to help us with that and also connect information and work across the boundaries.

And I'm going to share with you five examples of how we actually do it inside our company with our team. So the first one is stress test your work. So I have created a Gemini gem, which acts as the head of product. So it's ultra critical, very harsh, and likes just the information and research rigor.

So the idea is that the team can upload their reports, and it will challenge any assumptions or approaches. And it will push the team to really have elevated and practical insights. The second one is to gather stakeholder context. I think one thing is the more stakeholders, especially indirect ones you start to consider, the more time it takes to keep on top of all that information, all the Slack channels, all the emails, all the meetings. It's very, very difficult, and I don't think it's realistic.

But one of our team members created a MCP using ClawdCode to grab information from Google Drive, Slack, and give a digest of what these stakeholders are talking about week to week so you get the top of mind what they're focusing on and where their challenges are. Another one is to stay up to date with your area of business and beyond. So why not use AI to help you summarize and also for you to challenge or discover other information that might be missed in your projects or for your context as you're setting up your research projects.

The the fourth is to understand metrics and impact. So it may be hard for you to translate those metrics that I talked about with your insights. So you could use, for example, I think we use chatty p t to help suggest things that we may be missing and drawing some connections. And fifth is market forces.

So again, this is a great way to do market research. What's going on? What's out there? What are your competitors building? What's trending these days? A simple chatty p t conversation can can help versus you scouring the Internet. I find it useful and helpful for finding things like Gartner and Forrester and looking at those industry reports.

So I just wanna say that research is not reduced to revenue alone, but it's about connecting user reality and business revenue. And I think this is something that's really, really essential. This is what I mean by bridging the gap. So it means recognizing the user needs, product decisions, customer relationships, and business outcomes, but it's also about making those connections visible that I mentioned before and building and collaborating those strong networks.

So I give you some some actions for next week when you go back to your own offices. Firstly, audit your proximity. Who are you working with? Who are you close to? Which customers and teams and conversations are you having outside your direct stakeholder group? Second is to understand the business metrics and really start being purposeful about framing your insights plus metrics.

What does the organization measure and how might you align it and connect it? Third is think about sources of data and consumers of your work. Who can provide useful information and data to you and who should read or understand or act on your insights as well. So thank you very much for your time today.

Thirty minutes and on the way to brunch. I'm going to summarize this talk and put it on my Substack. This is my Substack here. I encourage you to subscribe. It's written by myself and a product manager, and we talk about collaboration and being effective inside product development. But thank you very much.