User research relies on collaboration across customer-facing teams. Securing team buy-in is the crucial first step, as these people will assist in executing the research! Even before I started working on this research project, I created a matrix of team members involved. And I'm fortunate that everyone on the Lemon.io team was not only supportive but also acted promptly.

Form your cross-functional team of contributors as early as possible. Use the DACI model (Driver, Approver, Contributor, and Informed) or any other to define the level of involvement.

I kicked off Power Users Research by defining objectives, tailored to Lemon.io’s company OKRs. While research can address many questions, given our time and resources, I focused on what's most impactful for the company right now. As a member of the leadership team, I quickly gathered input from both the founders and the team, ensuring that our expectations aligned perfectly with potential deliverables.

: Always get trumps up on objectives before running research.

Deliverables for our Power Users Research were done after several thoughtful discussions with the leadership team and cross-functional collaborators. This allowed me to ensure that research results will be useful for marketing, product, sales & other teams.

Each team shared what exactly they wanted to know about our power users and how they were planning to use this information. It was very granular needs that went into the "Research data points" section.

: Remember, that "the users" of your research are your team, and you need to deliver on their needs 

I've actively conducted user research since 2015. I consistently employ the same process. It’s based on a five-step methodology, originated by Erin Sanders at Frog. While I tailor this approach to each company's unique needs, there's no need to reinvent the wheel.The key here is to evangelize the process within the team and clarify tasks, ensuring that everyone knows where their assistance is needed. I used Notion + Jira for the project management part.

: Replicate what works and adapt as necessary.

We had many discussions at Lemon.io about how “to measure” power users. Should we focus on the size of their check or on hiring the most experienced, highest-paid developers? These debates continued in Slack and several team meetings.

While the outcome of whom we define as our power users looks simple and elegant, it took time to figure it out.

While it may have seemed like an extensive research effort, and indeed it was, these research data points proved essential in achieving research objectives. I prefer focusing on fewer but more impactful data points to streamline the research process. This time at Lemon.io, we needed to quickly research 50+ data points to meet our objectives (and we had to do it fast).

 When determining the data to collect, begin with your research objectives and break them down into granular components. Ensure that all gathered information contributes to the formation of valuable insights.

It can be tricky to find all research data points. We had to draw data from multiple sources, retrieving some information directly from our Hubspot records, while also relying on insights provided by our CS and Sales teams. The latest filled all the needed data across all 31 power users!

Always keep your data in your CRM clean and nicely organized because one day some happy PMM will use it for their power user research.

This is where the most challenging part of the work begins! Gathering data can be time-consuming, and it's easy to feel overwhelmed. 💛 Fortunately, I had many team members who actively assisted with stakeholder interviews, data analytics, deep dives into historical data, and other research tasks. When I joined Lemon.io, there were no other PMMs on my team… So it was crucial for me to get some help with the execution.

I cannot emphasize enough how valuable it was to receive support from the project contributors!

Product marketing is a highly cross-functional and collaborative role, heavily reliant on teamwork. It's critical for the Head of Product Marketing and any PMM lead to have the ability to influence and collaborate effectively with other teams.

Once you’ve figured out what you need to do in your research, it's time to assemble your toolkit. There are numerous tools available for user research, and I selected the ones already familiar to my team.

You might wonder why I included Figma in our toolkit. It’s because 🍋Lemon.io has a passionate, provocative, no-BS, and bold brand voice. We incorporate this brand voice into project briefs, using our pre-designed branded illustrations in Figma.

Research synthesis is my favorite part because it represents the culmination of all our efforts. It's the moment when the data transforms into actionable insights, providing answers to the questions our user research aimed to address. To me, it's like connecting the dots, discerning major patterns and common themes.

Synthesis differs slightly between qualitative and quantitative research. However, for both, it's essential to allocate sufficient mental space and time, as it's a highly creative phase of the work.

Distributing and evangelizing Power User Research among the team is crucial, and one effective approach is through engaging and easily digestible presentations.

Crafting a compelling presentation can be time-consuming, and if it isn't visually appealing and engaging, you risk losing your audience. Luckily for me, our growth marketer, Anna, undertook the task of creating a presentation that looked visually stunning and presented all our action Items and recommendations.

Always to consider the user experience when presenting your insights. Running research is just a step; the ultimate goal is to deliver valuable recommendations in a format that is easy to understand and engage with.

When we presented the insights along with actionable steps, we 100% delivered on promised outcomes 🎉 Moreover, we consistently applied these insights and recommendations over the next quarters, regularly revisiting the Power Users Research results.

I also spend more time evangelizing our research, bringing more visibility to it. This ensured that our insights remained in the spotlight, were reused, and continued to provide long-term value to Lemon.io.

Thank you for reading all the way to the end!

Lisa Dziuba

When I started the power user research at Lemon.io, my first action was to create a well-structured research project. The research project (research plan) is a must-have PMM document that focuses all the research efforts on the business outcomes. The beauty of this document lies in its ability to keep research on track and be a repository of all docs and tasks, as well as one source of truth.

Lemon.io Power Users Research: Project Overview

The Context for Lemon.io Power Users Research: 

User research is the main tool for every company to have insights-driven marketing, customer-focused culture, and sharp feature prioritization. When I joined 

, the leadership team was over-supportive about diving deeper into defining power users and unlocking new growth opportunities.

The Challenge with Lemon.io Power Users Research

User research is a complex, time-consuming project. It involved gathering insights from customer-facing teams on user data since 2015, searching 56 data points, and forming meaningful insights.

The project has clear objectives with defining ICP for power users and driving revenue growth via refocusing marketing efforts. So all research insights were supposed to be action-driven.

On top of that, there were no research foundations or PMM functions at 

 at the moment when I joined. With all of these challenges and constraints, the timeline was tidy: 3 weeks from the kick-off meeting to the insights presentation.

My first action was to create a well-structured research project that aligned clear objectives, deliverables, cross-functional team involved, research process and methodology, as well as tasks plan.

 Power Users Research I created and used to guide the research from start to successful finish:

----------------------------------------------------------------------

 Relaunch growth strategy based on new insights 

: @Liza Dziuba (PMM lead, Head of Growth PMM) | 

 @Liza Dziuba, @Anna Dolynska, @Malky V, @Yuliia Mamonova, @Kate Leschyshyn & sales team | 

 leadership, marketing, product, sales teams

💡We have a lot of historical data about customers who hired developers with us. However, we have never spent time digging into this historical data or structuring insights from our customer-facing teams. This leaves a lot of questions unanswered. 

Does our current persona “Matt” really define the clients who are driving the majority of our sales and who have the best retention? Do we know who our happiest customers are? Do we target those customers with the current marketing activities? 

To answer these questions and define untapped growth potential, the PMM lead will dig into the data to define our “Power Users”. We already have a gut feeling about who our best-fit customers are, now we need to prove it. 

Power Users Research will last 3 weeks and will have the following components: 

Research Objectives, Success Metrics, Research Process, Hypothesis for power users, Research data points, Chosen Research Methods, and Research Synthesis

We need to know WHY we are doing research and what we want to achieve after 3 weeks of work. Our research goals are:

Define who are our best, high-value users (power users) for demand

: a list of metrics or parameters that define power users.

Create an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) for power users. Deliverables:

answers the questions “Who are our power users?” and “How can we target them?”

assists the sales team in prioritizing potential power users and targeting them with outbound tactics

clarifies for leadership and cross-functional teams whom to focus on.

Make a detailed Insights Report with Action Items and Recommendations.

: Insights Report that should be practical and applicable for guiding:  

marketing & growth strategies, helping to choose new growth channels targeting power users

features prioritization, helping the PM team prioritize feedback from power users

content marketing, helping craft content targeting power users

strategic decisions on a company-wide level.

The Power Users Research will be successful if it meets the following three metrics:

: All outcomes are delivered within the specified timeframe of 3 weeks.

: Achieve a 40% increase in the number of SQLs by refocusing our marketing strategy on power users (Q1-Q2 2023).

: The leadership, marketing, sales, CS, and product teams will find the research insights useful.

PMM lead aims for fast & lean research, spending one week on forming research documentation & alignments, one week on gathering data, and one week analyzing & forming insights. While it’s overoptimistic 😃 , we want to receive actionable insights as soon as possible.

That's what the Power User Research process will look like:

 Align with key stakeholders on the research objectives.

 Form the Power Users Research project overview (this document). Improve & iterate.

: Define the hypothesis for power users (who are they and what we want to know about them). Get feedback on the hypothesis & improve. Finalize a list of metrics or parameters that define power users.

 Start collecting data via research methods. Put all data in an analyzable (processable) format.

: Synthesize and analyze data (research synthesis). Form Insights Report with Action Items & Recommendations and ICP.

 Present insights. Define the next steps based on Action Items & Recommendations.

Task-tracker & timeline. Available in JIRA 🔑

Power users are our best customers. We love them, we want to see more such customers. They bring the most value to our business.

What makes them different from other customers?

What metrics will tell us that those are our happiest, best-fit customers?

💡 After intense discussions and a revenue data deep dive, the team agreed that we would consider those customers who align with the criteria below as our power users:

 power users are everyone with 3+ subscriptions and retention of 3+ months. All further research will be conducted for users who meet these two metrics.

PMM lead & contributors will research 56 data points for 30 current power users with 3+ subscriptions and retention of 3+ months. 

These research points are categorized to provide meaningful insights

. General company information: name & website, industry, size, dev team size, organization type, country & city, funding status, year founded, and company’s LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

Demographic and psychographic characteristics.

 LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook usage of power users, what media publications & newsletters & podcasts, & YouTube channels they consume, trends & topics of interest. Also, online influencers, communities, and events power users engage with. Their learning avenues: courses, Slack groups, meetups, and conferences.

 JTBD, other needs (e.g., fundraising), competitive solutions, issues with other services, and unique challenges.

 The number of total subscriptions purchased by power users, their retention & churned status, customer life-cycle journey, power users’ lead sources (marketing channel they are coming from), LTV, CAC, and support requests from power users.

 Decision-makers, stakeholders, objections & questions, and unique selling points that influenced the purchase.

Demographic and psychographic characteristics 👇

Power Users Research at Lemon.io

Lemon.io Power Users Research: Project Overview

The Context for Lemon.io Power Users Research:

The Challenge with Lemon.io Power Users Research

How it was solved:

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