Conversocial project

Conversocial was a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for social customer service, founded in 2009 and acquired by Verint in 2021. It provided brands with a platform to manage customer inquiries and interactions on social media and messaging channels, using AI-powered prioritisation, team collaboration tools, and analytics to enhance agent productivity and efficiency. The company helped businesses integrate social customer service into their contact centres and provide a personalised customer experience at scale.

Problem to solve

How might we better understand our users and clients to enhance the product and shape its strategy and direction?

Building a User Research Strategy

For such a strategic project, I usually start by taking a step back and ask a set of questions from the start, which will then equip me to build a UR plan:

What is the company's strategy?
What triggered the project?
What is the scope of the project?
What has been done before? What worked? What didn't?
Who should be involved?
What are your expectations?
Any qualitative or quantitative data available?

Defining a User Research Plan

I always begin by defining a clear research plan, which helps to materialise and frame the problem we are aiming to solve.

At this stage, I clarify the scope of the work, identify the target audience, and consider any constraints such as timelines, legal requirements, or technical limitations.

This structured approach ensures that I have the right foundation to outline the potentially most suitable research methods, set realistic timelines, and define meaningful deliverables that directly support the project’s goals.

Identifying and preparing relevant research methods

I draw on my understanding of the project, its objectives, its target audience and the working hypotheses to shape my preparation.

I usually start by working independently, which allows me to clarify my own approach.

For this project, I decided to deploy a few methods:

Interviews
Contextual enquiries
Jobs to be done

Monitoring and facilitating User Research activities

I collaborated closely with account managers to identify clients and recruit suitable participants for research, conducting on-site studies across England, Scotland, and New York.

Meeting end users in their own environments offered an exceptional opportunity to understand their context, needs, and expectations.

The experience was truly fascinating, revealing unexpected insights and fostering deep empathy.

Analysing findings and generating insights.

Given the volume of data collected:

4 countries
11 companies
38 participants
53 hours recording

I began by organising my notes in an Excel spreadsheet.

I then conducted an initial analysis using a colour coded system, to then create an Affinity map using post-its on a wall which helped me identify recurring themes, emerging trends and isolated findings.

This process made it easier to synthesise findings and translate it into insights, to finally develop clear recommendations.

Synthesising and communicating

I strongly value documentation, to align the team, around evidences which can enrich and influence internal conversations.

I always prefer to present my work directly, so I can address questions and ensure recommendations lead to concrete actions and impacts.

I also treat these moments of sharing as opportunities to foster a user-centered, evidence-driven culture and to advocate for users across the organisation

"Sarah joined the design team at Conversocial at a particularly sensitive time. It was important to hire just the right person to help deliver a large research project. She proved to be the perfect candidate.

As a manager, I can say that her worth was evident from the start as she picked up on the project very quickly and demonstrated strong communication skills and work ethic.

It was a genuine pleasure to work with Sarah as she is knowledgeable and enthusiastic. I have been impressed to see how Sarah would take initiatives to go above and beyond to provide high quality work. I particularly enjoyed our (sometimes extensive) chats about product design and research."

Phil James

Head of Design

Making an impact

My work helps bridge user needs and business goals, creating products that are more intuitive, impactful, and valuable.

Business

▪ Business reputation
▪ Reduce risk and cost (eg. Rework)
▪ Competitive advantage
▪ Enable Innovation

Team

▪ Evidence led decisions

▪ Empathy

▪ Efficiency

▪ Confidence
▪ Better alignment
across team members
▪ Enable innovation

Users

▪ Improve user experience
▪ Increase satisfaction,
▪ Loyalty and trust
▪ Brand advocacy