User Access to Content: Research Project

Context

Before Inkling Labs, we were only able to get structured customer feedback through discovery research calls. Inkling Labs opened up a new avenue for us to get customer feedback.

Labs surveys are a systematized and efficient approach to learning about an interesting topic, need, or pain point that has been bubbling up, without needing to take up too much time of any other function - CSM, Product, Eng, or even the customer themselves. Feedback is used as a signal for future project exploration.

Problem & Why

Problem

There are occasions when a customer might want someone who does not have Inkling login credentials the ability to view Inkling content.

Why did we choose this topic for a Labs Survey?

We received an urgent request from a major customer and built a rough MVP. We want to understand how and if other customers would use this functionality. What are their problems, use cases, & goals?
If we can validate similar use cases & needs, there could be a case for additional investment into the problem/solution.

My role / the team

Lead Researcher: I drove all the research.
Team/Stakeholder: PM, PD, Eng Manager.

Phase 1 research

Research Goals

We wanted to be problem-oriented and not solution-oriented in our approach:

Why & when do customers need to open up access to Inkdocs? Not, Do customers need public-facing Inkdocs?

Learn other customer use cases & problems for why & when they want users without login credentials to view Inkling content
Determine if customers need a “public Inkdoc” or if they want a more convenient way to send an Inkdoc

Survey Questions

Do you have a need for allowing people without an Inkling login to view published Inkling content? If so, why?
Who would you be giving access to? Why does this user not have an Inkling login?
What content would they be viewing?
How do you imagine a user getting to this content & viewing it?
Do you have any other feedback or comments you would like to provide on this topic?

Timeline

< 1 month
- Kickoff: 3/15/2023
- Presentation to stakeholders: 3/30/2023

Responses

Received 21 responses from 15 customers

Analysis

Affinity diagramming: We were able to group themes from feedback together to identify the primary use cases & needs.

Learnings

Below are some of the key learnings from research shared out with the stakeholders.

New Hypotheses

As you start to learn more about a particular topic, you will inevitably start to form new questions and new hypotheses.
When sharing the results with my stakeholders, some hypotheses started to form during our discussion together (see below). Our data didn’t prove or disprove them, but they were something we wanted to learn about more in a potential follow-up survey.

Hypothesis 1: Some customers are asking for this to be used as a workaround because they are dissatisfied with print/export
Hypothesis 2: Some customers are asking for this to be used as a workaround because our user authentication and licensing model isn’t sufficient

Phase 2 Research

Why another survey?

In our March Labs survey, the primary question we wanted to answer was “ why might customers want to give people without an Inkling login access to Inkling content?”. From that survey, we learned of additional use cases other than “public Inkdocs”, which generated further questions.

Timeline

Kickoff: July 6, 2023
- Sent survey: 7/12/2023
- Presentation to stakeholders: Aug 4, 20233

Goals (survey 2)

Do other customers have interest in public inkdocs, outside the customers we already know?
What is the minimum amount of security and user authentication we need to support?
Does this functionality reduce or replace instances of when they need to print?

Survey Questions

How valuable is the ability to share published Inkdoc content in each of these situations:
1. We need to share published Inkdoc content with internal employees who don’t have Inkling accounts
2. We need to share published Inkdoc content with external users, such as contractors and vendors.
3. We need to share published Inkdoc content with the general public (i.e., anyone who has the URL can access it).
4. Scale: Not valuable, Somewhat valuable, Valuable, Very valuable, Don’t know yet need more information
Would you ever want to share an Inkdoc link without requiring the user to authenticate in order to view? Provide an example if you can.
If you need a user to be authenticated, what is the minimum amount of security you would need to meet your business security needs?
Are you using print as a workaround today because of the inability to share Inkdocs with these audiences? If you had the ability to share with these audiences, would that reduce the need for you to print?

Responses

12 responses across 10 customers

Hypothesis Evaluation

H1 - Validated: Users are asking for this because they are dissatisfied with print
- Some indication this would eliminate customers' need to print. 7 indicated “yes”.

H2 - Somewhat Validatee: Users are asking for this because our user authentication & licensing aren’t sufficient.
- The primary use case is still internal & external secured sharing. Very few users wanted to share this without requiring users to authenticate.

Learnings & Insights

Insight: High internal sharing suggests onboarding or pricing issues.
More to Learn: Investigate if the need is for easier account creation or content sharing.
More to Learn: Understanding internal sharing's root cause can inform strategy.
Product Considerations: Consider charging per click as a potential revenue stream.

Impact of Research

Discover New Needs: This approach led to uncovering new customer problems and needs.
Strategic Pause: Decided to pause additional engineering work on the MVP to gather more feedback, ensuring more relevant solutions.

Personal Reflections

Start with the Problem: Focus on identifying problems rather than fitting a solution to a problem.
Customer Feedback is Crucial: Two surveys showed low interest in the original solution, highlighting the need for problem-focused research.

User Access to Content

Highlights