{"id":648651,"date":"2020-04-13T11:20:01","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T18:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newed.any0.dpdns.org\/en-us\/research\/?post_type=msr-blog-post&p=648651"},"modified":"2020-04-20T13:07:31","modified_gmt":"2020-04-20T20:07:31","slug":"going-remote-with-customer-research-lessons-from-microsofts-customer-driven-team","status":"publish","type":"msr-blog-post","link":"https:\/\/newed.any0.dpdns.org\/en-us\/research\/articles\/going-remote-with-customer-research-lessons-from-microsofts-customer-driven-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Going remote with customer research: Lessons from Microsoft\u2019s Customer-Driven team"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michele McDanel (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>
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Listen to this story:<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/newed.any0.dpdns.org\/en-us\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Going-Remote-With-Customer-Research_normalized.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

What do you do when you\u2019re a user research team that conducts in-person customer engagements and you\u2019re faced with a global pandemic and work-from-home guidance?<\/p>\n

Microsoft’s Customer-Driven team, which works with product groups to hold in-person customer events on the company’s Redmond, WA, campus was faced with that exact scenario. They were able to make the move to holding all events remotely so quickly that none of the dates had to be rescheduled. Here\u2019s how they did it.<\/p>\n

Looking through the lens of diversity<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the adage goes, having a team of people with diverse backgrounds and experiences is a strength (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, and the proof is evident with Customer-Driven. A team member with a background in public health started tracking news about COVID-19 in December and began thinking about the implications for the group\u2019s work. Her email outlining how remote experiences could translate for each of the team\u2019s research formats was sent a day in advance of Microsoft\u2019s initial work-from-home guidance. Because of that forward thinking and preparation, the team had a several week head start on planning.<\/p>\n

Eye toward inclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prior work that team member Steve Fountain had done finding ways to include users outside the Seattle area was also invaluable. Although the impetus behind exploring remote options was initially to involve a more diverse set of users and include international teams, this groundwork proved important to conducting programs remotely during the pandemic. The team had already evaluated online tools and experimented by having one group dial in remotely to a \u201cCoffee with Customers\u201d event.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust having the tools identified meant that we were able to use what worked best for each situation,\u201d commented Denise Zhang, User Research Program Manager. \u201cOnce we planned to go remote, we worked with the program owners to finalize what their sessions would look like. Then we sent emails to participants so they would know what to expect.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, in translating an event where people move from table to table, Customer-Driven decided to create seven separate Teams meetings. Participants start with a panel discussion, then are directed to smaller Teams sessions in 15-minute increments cycling through the series of virtual meetings, keeping the format close to the original format for familiarity.<\/p>\n

Maintaining customer focus<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the Customer-Driven team, it wasn\u2019t just about moving their research online. They also prioritized making users and people doing research feel as included and present as if they were attending in person.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to manage expectations and have strong cohesion between team members,\u201d noted Vora Savengseuksa, UX Research Project Manager. \u201cWe got the logistics underneath us as much as possible, helped get people comfortable with what was going to happen, and let them know of any potential issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting user feedback is what\u2019s important and remained our top priority,\u201d said Zhang. \u201cIn a scenario where people at many companies were just canceling meetings, we decided to be willing to explore other options.\u201d Product teams quickly realized that they could just as easily show a customer their screen and get feedback in the same way they would in person. And even if things didn\u2019t go flawlessly, they could still have a meaningful conversation with customers. Having a sense of normalcy in the conversations has been a source of comfort to both participants and researchers.<\/p>\n

Feedback from the events held so far has been overwhelmingly positive. Product teams have been able to easily join a call, wait for participants, share information, and talk with them just like they would in person. Initial comments have participants touting the \u201chigh-quality intimate experience\u201d and researchers praising the \u201cgreat pivot given the circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only thing that\u2019s missing is the ability to hand someone a cup of coffee and a donut. Maybe one day technology will enable that, too.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Has your team pivoted to remote events? What\u2019s worked for you? Tweet us @MicrosoftRI (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>! <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Michele McDanel is a builder, an organizer, and a storyteller with a bachelor\u2019s degree in Communications and an MBA. Michele is energized by solving problems and meeting business needs through communications and customer experience solutions that raise the bar. She enjoys building relationships and managing teams; and overall, just figuring out what the \u201cspecial sauce\u201d is that will be the competitive differentiator for a business and its solutions. Michele joined the Customer Insights Research team in 2019 to amplify the great UX research and data science work they do, and to showcase the thought leadership of the team across internal and external communications, events, and social media. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do you do when you\u2019re a user research team that conducts in-person customer engagements and you\u2019re faced with a global pandemic and work-from-home guidance? Microsoft's Customer-Driven team, which works with product groups to hold in-person customer events on the company's Redmond, WA, campus was faced with that exact scenario. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38703,"featured_media":648654,"template":"","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","msr-content-parent":616842,"msr_hide_image_in_river":0,"footnotes":""},"research-area":[],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-post-option":[],"class_list":["post-648651","msr-blog-post","type-msr-blog-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","msr-locale-en_us"],"msr_assoc_parent":{"id":616842,"type":"group"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newed.any0.dpdns.org\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-blog-post\/648651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newed.any0.dpdns.org\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-blog-post"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newed.any0.dpdns.org\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/msr-blog-post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newed.any0.dpdns.org\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38703"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/newed.any0.dpdns.org\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-blog-post\/648651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":651366,"href":"https:\/\/newed.any0.dpdns.org\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-blog-post\/648651\/revisions\/651366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newed.any0.dpdns.org\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newed.any0.dpdns.org\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"msr-research-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newed.any0.dpdns.org\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-area?post=648651"},{"taxonomy":"msr-locale","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newed.any0.dpdns.org\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-locale?post=648651"},{"taxonomy":"msr-post-option","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newed.any0.dpdns.org\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-post-option?post=648651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}