Building Out a Resarch Operations Program
Project Summary
Established in 2021, Inkling Labs is Inkling's research program for exploring new concepts and features. It began as a list of users and customers who wanted to be invited to research opportunities and grew to enable new forms of research.
My Role:
I created, managed, and evolved the entire program.
The Team:
VP, Product and Director, UX on guidance and support
Marketing on branding materials
CSMs on customer recruiting and promotion of the program
Product / Design team on feedback, use of the program
Research Skills:
Customer & user recruitment
Process improvement and optimization
Research democratization
Impact:
6x increase in types of research
2.3x increase in structured research topics
1.4x increase in customer engagement for research
Background
Business Context
Company Overview:
Inkling is a training and reference platform for large corporate companies with distributed, frontline workforces. Customers use Inkling to create and manage their training content.
Primary Personas:
Author/Admin: Responsible for creating and managing all company documents and training materials.
Learner: Accesses company documents and completes training sessions.
Problem
Inkling's enterprise B2B2C model made it challenging for the UX and Product teams to quickly access users for research.
Simplified diagram of Inkling’s relationship with the customers and users
Goals
In the summer of 2021, I led a strategic initiative aimed at improving the overall recruiting process. The goal was to get easier access to Inkling users for research sessions on a regular and as needed basis.
Process
I led several cross-functional workshops and ideation sessions to gather input on how to streamline research recruiting operations. The best determined solution was to build out a panel of users. Other ideas explored:
Continuous research program: Not suitable for our problem.
In-app recruiting tools: Faced legal hurdles.
Hiring a specialized recruiting company: Too costly.
With an initial concept in mind, the "Inkling Labs" brand was developed to promote the user panel.
Giving research a brand and identity helped:
Establish credibility with a name and logo, making it easier for customers to engage.
Communicate research value internally and externally.
Develop Inkling Labs into a comprehensive program, enabling more frequent and impactful research.
Ways I promoted Inkling Labs to customers
Announced during our customer conference, Illuminate.
Regularly promoted during webinars, release notes, and other customer communication channels—we even wrote a blog post!
Met with customers 1:1 and worked with CSMs and IMs.
In order for this to be successful, we needed full company and executive support. Getting their feedback and buy-in was critical.
With buy-in and support secured, the final weeks before launch were spent refining the pitch and marketing materials.
Labs Principles & Approaches
Customer & user-centered: Customer ≠ user.
Agile UX principles: Follow processes that allow us to get feedback throughout the design & development process.
Problem-focused: We hone in on our customers & users’ ’ problems and create solutions that work to solve these problems across a diverse base.
Program Launch and Improvements
Inkling Labs was officially launched to customers in October 2021 at Inkling’s annual customer conference! During the months following the launch, there was lots of excitement and lots of learning.
Conducted 1:1 meetings with customers and collaborated with CSMs and IMs.
Promoted the initiative through webinars, release notes, customer communication channels, and a company blog post.
Learned how to better communicate the process and benefits, especially to more traditional customers with legacy systems.
About 10 months after launch, I conducted formal, cross-functional retros to acknowledge key wins, identify challenges, and align on next steps for improvement.
Clear wins included generating excitement, gaining ready access to a user list, and unlocking additional research opportunities.
100+
Users on the panel
60%+
Customers on panel
5+
New types of research opportunities
Challenges
A big challenge was customers hesitation to add their Learners to the panel.
Why were they hesitant?
Concerns about knowing project details and coordinating participation.
High turnover among field users makes long-term panel membership impractical.
How I adapted:
Shifted focus from enrolling Learners to targeted research visits for customer-specific needs.
Positioned onsite and field research as an exclusive Labs offering.
Impact and Personal Refelctions
Impact
The program's development and expansion were marked by continuous wins, improvements, and ongoing evolution.
Impact
Inkling Labs drove substantial growth in research, enabling richer insights and more impactful product development.
Personal Reflections
Labs grew beyond its original scope through iteration, experimentation, and fostering connections, proving that growth requires persistence.
Adapt, Try, Fail, Learn, Repeat: Labs exceeded its initial goals through continuous evolution. Challenges led to repeated iterations, teaching the value of experimentation and the non-linear nature of process improvement and design thinking.
Relationship Building: Establishing strong relationships was key. A blended approach of customer and product research opened doors to engage with end users.