A disclaimer : If you’re a seasoned User Researcher and worked in B2B, you’ve probably already learned this truth. If you’re new to the field, welcome! If you’re in B2C and or you’re recruiting participants in the “wild”--note this article probably isn’t super helpful.
UXR meet your BFF, Customer Success.
If there’s one piece of sage advice or golden rule that I might be able to offer you that will make your life easier (like buttah!) it’s this: customer success is your new best friend.
Customer Success (AKA client services, account management, etc.) at any organization holds the proverbial keys to the customer. Think of them like the door wo/man at that really elite NYC club that you’ve been wanting to get into but you just can’t. And for good reason, their customers’ happiness and satisfaction is their paycheck. They don’t want somebody they barely know to go waltzing in like a bull in a china shop making them question everything they’ve come to know and love about their relationship with their CS manager, the company, and the product.
Nobody really clued me into this early on in my user research days. So I learned a bit of the hard way. I was bounced several times from dubious CS people who had no clue about user research and what I was offering. When I first started landing these meetings with clients was slow moving — taking an average of 4–6 weeks to just coordinate the meetings.
After a couple of times dusting myself off and trying again, I managed to find the key to getting the customer success manager on your side….empathy.
Yep, as a User Researcher, I should have known. But sometimes the “experts” forget to use our own know-how to our own process.
All I needed was to have a little empathy with my CS friends and everything went much smoother I started landing client meetings left and right. Put yourself in their shoes for just one afternoon and you’ll quickly understand what they want and need from you to make your client meetings happen much quicker and smoother. I strongly encourage to do this exercise on your own (because every person, team, and industry is different).
But if you’re pressed for time, let me save you a couple of months of trial and error. Below are the top 5 tools, tips, and tricks for collaborating with CS to land your user research meetings with clients. I’ve also included links to some templates that I use when working with my CS peeps.
5 keys to engaging with CS to unlock clientmeetings
Give context
Call a 15 minute meeting with the CS person with a client that you’re hoping to meet with. Give them a short breakdown of what the project is about and end with an ask:
What - research project with a little background, the problem statement, and what you’re going to do with the clients.
Why - why you’re doing the research. Connect the dots to how their help will directly help the business and the product.
Who - participant profile. What kind of client are you looking for? Also open it up for suggestions from them for other clients that you may not be aware.
When - what are the dates of the study? what week are you holding the sessions?
The Ask: what do you need them to do? Spell it out in detail.
Here's a template overview document that I filled out prior to my meetings with CS.
Be specific
Have an idea of who you want to talk to going into the meeting. After you’ve created your participant profile, do some of the lifting by pre-identifying clients that fit that profile. Use internal data and tools — product, web analytics, customer survey s— to whittle down to a predetermined list of clients. Then, look up the CS team members responsible for that account.
In speaking with the CS manager, make the theoretical tangible by grounding the request in their client and why you think the client might be a good fit for the project. Open it up to additional clients that they think might be a good fit. “Can you think of any other clients that might be a good fit for this study?” goes a long way not only to make the CS manager feel included and heard, but also open up your study to clients you didn’t think of.
Enable them
They don’t have time. CS members are part firefighter, part olympic swimmers, part saints (brings a whole new meaning to “turn the other cheek”). They’re drowning in emails and putting out customer fires. Heeding Steve Krug’s “Don’t make me think, stupid” sage advice, I pre-wrote out introduction/invitation to participate emails as well as scheduling emails for CS to use when approaching clients.
Bonus tip: create a repository document with all these sample emails so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you have a study.
Test on them
Everyone wants to be heard. Do some preliminary tests on CS team members — not only do you gain valuable context that can help inform your recommendations and findings, but also a chance to work out the kinks in your format, setup, and discussion guide.
Additionally, it gets the CS manager’s wheels turning and they’re able to quickly come up with clients who might be a good fit for your study.
UXR disclaimer: Obviously, you shouldn’t stop by testing on CS managers unless they're the primary persona for your study. Take their feedback as internal perspectives.
Follow up & through
Be sure to follow up with CS teammates after your initial meeting with an email with a quick synopsis of your ask and the project details in addition link to a scheduling doc to coordinate the client meetings.
In addition, if your CS member wasn’t in the room for the session, schedule a quick 15 minute follow up after your client meeting to give them a download of how it went, what was discussed, and if there was anything that they should be aware of.
With a little empathy, design “thinking”, prototyping, and iterations, I honed the keys to CS. What once took 6 weeks to land shortened to 2 weeks and sometimes to days depending on the client commitment.
Those are the 5 keys that I found to engaging with Customer Success teammates in order to unlock access to clients for my user research meetings.
With a little empathy, design "thinking", prototyping, and iterations, the gates to CS and my client meetings flew wide open. Word spread like wildfire among CS, eventually my relationship with CS was so solid, they were actively recruiting for me.
Templates
If you didn’t catch the links to the templates above and you’ve made it this far (Wow! I’m honored. Thanks for reading!). I’ve created some templates for you to use when approaching CS that I found super helpful in landing my client meetings. Chose File > Make a Copy and feel free to use, lose or modify to suit your needs.
Study Overview Doc - A Google Doc that included the who, what, why, when and how and even sample email template to use when approaching clients.
Scheduling Document - This is a Google Sheet that I used to help schedule the meetings and make sure that everyone was on the same page and CS wasn’t double or triple booking time slots.
What do you think about this article? The templates? Love ‘em? Hate ‘em?
Got something to add, let me know. Leave comments below.