Establishing UX Research
@ Exabeam
Overview
Exabeam, a cybersecurity start-up in its mid to late stages, had not conducted formal user research prior to my arrival on the team. Before transitioning to the Product Design team, I managed Exabeam’s community website, inadvertently honing the skills necessary for success as a UX researcher. In my role on the community team, I had to discern the type of content users required to effectively utilize Exabeam, which involved collecting feedback from both internal and external stakeholders to identify areas for improvement.
Upon joining the Product Design team as its inaugural UX Researcher, my primary objective was to demonstrate the impact of UX research on product and feature development. Continue reading to delve deeper into this journey :)
Challenges That Arise Without UX Research
Historically, cybersecurity companies have typically lacked a formal UX research function. Consequently, they often develop highly complex tools that are difficult to use and comprehend. This adds an additional layer of stress to an already demanding and critical job. The lack of user research comes with these types of challenges:
Unclear User Expectations
Absence of research leads to uncertainty about what users expect, risking dissatisfaction and disengagement.
Building Products Based on Assumptions
Lack of research means decisions rely on assumptions rather than evidence, resulting in products that may not meet user needs.
Confusion Surrounding Poor Performance
Without research insights, it's difficult to understand why products aren't performing well, leading to uncertainty about improvement strategies.
My UXR Goals at Exabeam
As Exabeam’s first and only researcher, I set three goals for myself. Each one shapes a section below.
GOAL 1 - VISIBILITYShowing the org what research can do
Virtual presentation to Engineering organization
In-person presentation at Technical Summit with Sales and Customer Success
At the Technical Summit, I laid out what types of feedback we receive through different channels:
And showed what happens when we involve customers in research and they see changes happening in real time:
"I appreciate the fact that you guys are doing the sessions… and taking feedback and improving based on recommendations from the whole user base. That's really important."
-SOC MANAGER, RESEARCH PARTICIPANT
GOAL 2 - DECISIONSMatching the research to the decision
Not every question needs a quarter-long study. I split work into two modes so teams got answers at the speed they needed.
Every study ended in a readout built to be acted on, and I tracked what happened next.
GOAL 3 - SCALEBuilding research that outlasts one researcher
As a team of one, I couldn't run every study, so I set up the documentation, tools, and planning that let research reach more product areas.
Impact
Visibility with Cross-Functional Teams
Teams ranging from sales to customer success to engineering see value in UX research. Customer facing teams ask to participate in “dogfooding” exercises and are always eager to meet to provide feedback.
Additionally, field teams use UX Research as a tool to build stronger relationships with the customer and to show our investment in creating a product that meets their needs
Buy-in from Leadership
CEO and Chief Product Officer push for PMs to meet with customers and truly understand what the problem is and what we as a team are trying to solve for
User-centric design is increasingly important to drive adoption of new and existing products and leadership began to see that
Satisfaction from Customers
Cybersecurity customers rarely have the opportunity to provide input to the people making the products they are using and have their input turn into actionable insights. Each customer leaves UXR meetings feeling heard and seen which in turn encourages them to do more UXR with the team and keep the feedback loop active and iterative