How UX Research and Design Drive Innovation and Sellers’ Success
In a world where customer expectations are continually changing and evolving, exceptional customer experience is imperative. As such, companies around the globe are becoming increasingly customer-centric, prioritizing customer experience and satisfaction through impactful innovations.
As an Indonesian technology company that serves a multitude of stakeholders within our ecosystem, Tokopedia places an emphasis on research regarding customers’ needs and preferences to create meaningful product innovations. With over 12 million sellers serving hundreds of millions of customers, asking users the right questions is key to providing them with the right solutions that meet their needs.
Why is UX Research important?
Since 2017, Head of Product & UX Research at Tokopedia, Patricia Jesslyn has taken on the challenge of product and market research at Tokopedia — from working closely with the Product team for research recommendations to collaborating with the Marketing team to track brand health across Tokopedia.
Having led usability tests in her previous company to validate the ease of a product’s usage based on its design, stepping into the field of product and UX research was a natural career move for Jesslyn. Seeing user insights being truly translated into product innovation allowed her to see the real impacts of her work. Not long after joining Tokopedia, Jesslyn decided that her focus would be on helping sellers achieve success by maximizing their sales, among others, through UX research.
As a UX researcher at Tokopedia, Jesslyn plays an essential role throughout a product’s development lifecycle. To start, she leads the user surveys and interviews, conducts usability tests, visits the users physically (prior to COVID-19), and gathers all of the insights gained to understand users’ core pain points, which are then translated into a clear list of needs and solutions for the Product team.
Serving sellers through continuous research
For example, Tokopedia’s Seller Dashboard is the headquarters of a seller’s activities on Tokopedia. It is a centralized page where sellers can check and confirm orders, join promotions and campaigns, as well as monitor their products and store’s performances. UX research plays a significant role in the development of the Seller Dashboard, helping us to get to the heart of sellers’ expectations and needs to provide them with the relevant tools for them to seize better opportunities and achieve their true potential.
To see a before and after of our UX and Product team’s recent efforts to improve the Seller Dashboard, have a look below!
Moreover, supporting sellers through UX research is incredibly impactful ahead of important occasions and national celebrations, such as Tokopedia’s 13th Anniversary, as well as Ramadan and Idul Fitri. User research prior to Tokopedia’s largest annual campaign, Ramadan Ekstra 2022, enabled Tokopedia to offer sellers special packages with specific features that sellers could select based on what they deemed most important and beneficial for their business growth.
How can you become a Product and UX Researcher?
For those keen on entering the field of Product and UX Research, Jesslyn shared a list of skills she believes one should develop to thrive in a UX researcher and product developer role:
- Attention to detail and high curiosity
Dealing with people and designs on a daily basis, one must have a great eye for detail and aesthetics. When it comes to customer experience, details make an immense difference. Knowing what users are experiencing and expecting will enable you to improve your product in a way that really makes a difference in users’ lives.
2. Storytelling and communication skills
As a UX Researcher, you must be a great storyteller with strong communication skills. Being the first point of contact between the user and the product, you must be able to communicate your design goals while approaching the user with empathy and genuine interest. Once you have gathered feedback and insights from them, you must be able to communicate your learnings to the Product team, which is then responsible for improving the product for the user.
3. Analytical and problem-solving skills
As your goal is to leverage research to solve users’ problems and pain points, you must have strong analytical and problem-solving skills. From conducting user interviews to analyzing the interview results, you will be dealing with large sets of data and information. It is important to thoroughly analyze the knowledge gathered and make product development decisions based on it.
As a Product and UX Researcher, you have an array of responsibilities, from understanding user behaviors and needs to designing solutions to improve the user’s experience. However, all in all, your efforts as a researcher help deliver impacts and value from your designs so that users can have the best journey on your platform.
To learn more about being a Product and UX Researcher at Tokopedia, please check out their Instagram page here.
