Human Insight Podcast

UserTesting Podcast

Welcome to the Human Insight Podcast where we share with you the business stories, ideas, and trends shaping the future of customer experience told first-hand by the experts themselves. This is your show if you work in product management, UX design and research, marketing, digital transformation and more. read less

13 episode clips that'll make you a better product leader
Dec 12 2022
13 episode clips that'll make you a better product leader
In this episode, we curated 13 clips from past episodes of the Human Insight Podcast to give you insights on being a better product leader. You will hear from C. Todd Lombardo, author of several books including Product Roadmaps Relaunched; Silicon Valley Product Group’s Christian Idiodi; Product School’s Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia, Harvard Business School’s Julia B. Austin, Radhika Dutt, author of Radical Product Thinking; Teresa Torres, author of Continuous Discover Habits, Ignition’s Karthik Suresh, and IDEO’s Iain Roberts.How the role of product management evolvingHow the product leader’s role has changedKey skills product managers need to be successful3 fundamental characteristics that makes a great product managerWhat makes a great product teamThree pillars of radical product thinkingWhat is continuous discoveryWhy customer feedback is critically important to your successKey elements for a successful product launchHow do you include execs in a design sprintHow do you know when you have good product market fitThe seven diseases of  of product strategy & developmentThe future of productFollow us on LinkedIn or Twitter Co-host Janelle Estes | @janelle_estes Co-host Andy MacMillan | @apmacmillan Producer Nathan Isaacs | @isaacsnd UserTesting | @usertesting Have an episode suggestion or guest recommendation? Share on social with the tag #HumanInsights Get a free video of a real person reviewing your website
Center for Human Insight: using human insight for business decision-making
Dec 5 2022
Center for Human Insight: using human insight for business decision-making
What is Human Insight? What can you do with human insight? And how do you get started gathering human insight? Those are the big three questions the Center for Human Insight, presented by UserTesting, hopes to answer. “People tend to think of user tests as being something just tied to usability when in fact it's a way to get broad feedback on anything that you need to get reactions to or input on in real time,” said Michael Mace, VP of the Center for Human Insight. “And the range of things you can do with it, the range of things you can learn are just amazing. We want to bring that to life for everybody so that they see what you can do.”Mace along with Michael Domanic, Head of Solutions Partners at UserTesting; and Sean Treiser, Insights Strategist at UserTesting, were guests on this week’s episode of the Human Insight Podcast. In their conversation, they also discussed: What is the Center for Human InsightWho is the center’s target audienceHow does someone submit an article or tip for gathering feedback to the centerLinks from the showCenter for Human InsightEmailing the center: centerforhumaninsight@usertesting.comFollow us on LinkedIn or Twitter Co-host Janelle Estes | @janelle_estes Co-host Andy MacMillan | @apmacmillan Producer Nathan Isaacs | @isaacsnd UserTesting | @usertesting Have an episode suggestion or guest recommendation? Share on social with the tag #HumanInsights Get a free video of a real person reviewing your website
Creating a great product onboarding experience
Nov 21 2022
Creating a great product onboarding experience
Customer onboarding is critical to the success of a business not just in activation, but in the long-term retention of those users.Typically, we think of the example of when we sign up a new customer and then onboard them on our product or service. But onboarding is more than that. You’ll need to re-onboard a once-every-few-months user every time they log on. And you’ll need to successfully onboard a customer every time you release a new product feature. “If you don't,” says Pulkit Agrawal, cofounder and CEO of Chameleon, “that feature won't get adoption activation, retention, and won’t be part of the reason why customers stick around.”Chameleon helps companies build better onboarding experiences. Agrawal was this week’s guest on the Human Insights Podcast, joining co-hosts Andy MacMillan and Janelle Estes. “User onboarding, while it's typically considered at the start of the product journey, really applies across the product lifecycle as you build functionality,” Agrawal said. “And in the world of product-led today, where really the companies that have the best products and the most usage in engagement are the ones that win, it's really vital that companies have a method, a process, a system and tooling to continue to onboard users onto features and continue to drive engagement adoption.”Listen to the episode and learn more about: Why companies should focus on the why and not just the how with onboardingThe importance of onboarding, especially in a usage-based pricing modelHow a friction log can help improve your customers’ onboarding experiencesEpisode links: ChameleonPulkit Agrawal on LinkedInChameleon funding roundGerrard: My Autobiography by Steven GerrardNudge: The Final Edition by Richard H. ThalerJonathan Livingston Seagull: The Complete Edition by Richard BachFollow us on LinkedIn or Twitter Co-host Janelle Estes | @janelle_estes Co-host Andy MacMillan | @apmacmillan Producer Nathan Isaacs | @isaacsnd UserTesting | @usertesting Have an episode suggestion or guest recommendation? Share on social with the tag #HumanInsights Get a free video of a real person reviewing your website
Our 2nd annual book recommendations from guests
Nov 14 2022
Our 2nd annual book recommendations from guests
Welcome to our second annual roundup of book recommendations from guests on the Human Insight Podcast. It is a good mix of books, covering creativity, money, innovation and product development. There is even a children’s book recommendation, as well as one for a newsletter. And don’t forget, our own Janelle Estes and Andy MacMillan also wrote User Tested, which was published earlier this year. Brave New Work by Aaron DignanGerrard: My Autobiography by Steven GerrardNudge: The Final Edition by Richard H. ThalerJonathan Livingston Seagull: The Complete Edition by Richard BachBuild: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making by Tony FadellThe Gruffalo in Scots by Julia DonaldsonThe Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by Dalai LamaThe Marginalian by Maria PopovaDare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brené BrownThe Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness by Morgan HouselBirdgirl By Mya-Rose CraigEnd of Bias: A Beginning by Jessica NordellInvisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado PerezHow Democracies Die by Steven LevitskyPermanent Record by Edward SnowdenThe Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you by Rob FitzpatrickFollow us on LinkedIn or Twitter Co-host Janelle Estes | @janelle_estes Co-host Andy MacMillan | @apmacmillan Producer Nathan Isaacs | @isaacsnd UserTesting | @usertesting Have an episode suggestion or guest recommendation? Share on social with the tag #HumanInsights Get a free video of a real person reviewing your website
When you can stop talking to your customers
Nov 7 2022
When you can stop talking to your customers
Julia Austin is a strong advocate for feedback never stopping, whether she is pushing her students to get out and talk with customers or talking with business leaders. “I'll get this question, especially from founders early on, of ‘when do I stop talking to my customers and getting feedback and start building my product?,’” said Austin, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School’s Rock Center for Entrepreneurship where she currently teaches Startup Operations. “And I'm like, ‘Never ... You need to be talking to them all the time.”In this episode of the Human Insight Podcast, Austin joins UserTesting’s CEO Andy MacMillan and Chief Insights Officer Janelle Estes to discuss the importance of customer feedback, as well as: What makes a great product manager?How do you know when you have product market fit?Her advice to legacy companies making the digital transition and developing new products or reinventing how their current products are offered in the marketplace?Links in the show: Julia on LinkedInJulia on TwitterJulia's page at the Harvard Business SchoolCourse description for her class, StartupOperationsGood for HerFollow us on LinkedIn or Twitter Co-host Janelle Estes | @janelle_estes Co-host Andy MacMillan | @apmacmillan Producer Nathan Isaacs | @isaacsnd UserTesting | @usertesting Have an episode suggestion or guest recommendation? Share on social with the tag #HumanInsights Get a free video of a real person reviewing your website
Cultivating customer empathy in a data-driven world with Brian Solis
Oct 24 2022
Cultivating customer empathy in a data-driven world with Brian Solis
Producer’s note: This week’s episode is a conversation Janelle had with futurist and author Brian Solis at The Human Insight Summit held last week in New Orleans. We hope you enjoy the conversation. Do you know how your customers experience your brand today? Do you know how they really feel? Do you know what they say when you're not around? You think you know your customers, but you really have no idea–until you talk to them!Brian Solis, author of X: The Experience When Business Meets Design, joined Janelle Estes, UserTesting’s Chief Insights Officer and co-author of User Tested, met onstage in a fireside conversation at The Human Insights Summit last week in New Orleans to discuss the importance of customer understanding and empathy in an always-on world, and why today customer experience is your brand.Solis is a world-renowned digital anthropologist, futurist, 8x best-selling author, and international keynote speaker. He serves as VP, Global Innovation at Salesforce and has consistently been recognized as one of the world's leading voices in innovation, business transformation, and leadership for over two decades.Leveraging insights from each of their books and professional experiences, Brian and Janelle spoke about the parallels in their books and beliefs on powering customer-centric experiences.Follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter Co-host Janelle Estes | @janelle_estes Co-host Andy MacMillan | @apmacmillan Producer Nathan Isaacs | @isaacsnd UserTesting | @usertesting Have an episode suggestion or guest recommendation? Share on social with the tag #HumanInsights Get a free video of a real person reviewing your website
Connecting with your audience through sponsored communities
Sep 26 2022
Connecting with your audience through sponsored communities
"When you're thinking about measuring a community, usually what you measure is what you effect," said Wesley Faulkner, Senior Community Manager at Amazon’s AWS. "So, if you're not measuring the success of the people who are in the community, if that's not part of the measurements, then you're really not going to be tracking that. Thus, you may lose sight of what makes your community good."Wesley talked with Andy MacMillan, UserTesting's CEO, and Janelle Estes, UserTesting's Chief Insights Officer, in Episode 48 of the Human Insight Podcast. Wesley is a first-generation American, public speaker, and podcaster. He is a founding member of the government transparency group Open Austin and a staunch supporter of racial justice, workplace equity, and neurodiversity. His professional experience spans technology from AMD, Atlassian, and Dell among others. Wesley is currently .He also co-hosts the developer relations focused podcast Community Pulse and serves on the board for SXSW.He said measuring what makes a sponsored community successful can be complicated. Ask the sales team and they want to know how many leads are coming from the community. Ask customer service and they want to know how many tickets are being diverted to and answered in the community. "But if I had to boil it down to anything," Faulkner said, "it is what does the community itself say its worth?"Listen to the episode to hear Faulkner's tips for putting metrics to that measurement. Additionally, they discuss: What do Faulkner mean when he says community shapes us? What are the benefits of a community to those within the community, and what are the benefits to the sponsoring organization? How do you authentically build an audience, especially as everything seems to shift to more digital, more remote, and more global ? Follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter Co-host Janelle Estes | @janelle_estes Co-host Andy MacMillan | @apmacmillan Producer Nathan Isaacs | @isaacsnd UserTesting | @usertesting Have an episode suggestion or guest recommendation? Share on social with the tag #HumanInsights Get a free video of a real person reviewing your website
Uncovering your customers' key moments as a design target
Sep 12 2022
Uncovering your customers' key moments as a design target
We all have special moments. There are signature moments, critical moments, key moments, moments that matter, moments of truth and so forth.For this week's episode of the Human Insight Podcast, we talk with Patrick Quattlebaum, Co-founder and CEO of Harmonic Design and author of Orchestrating Experiences. Quattlebaum believes moments are a powerful concept worth exploring. "What I have been fascinated by is this concept of moment and how it can be an architectural element that we can think about: this moment occurs and this event occurs that we can actually observe and that we can collect data on and that we can then do additional research to then really understand the dynamics around that moment," he said. "And that taps into some systems thinking in terms of drilling into structure and mental models and can we then start to see moments as a design target together? "We can measure it, we can try to understand it, understand how moments are connected to one another.  And if we start using that similar language, and using the term the same way, it can unlock that cross functional collaboration that companies find it really hard to get everybody focused on the same thing."Besides the concept of moments, we also discussed: How do you engage more stakeholders in the process, especially when not everyone is a designer?The concept of zooming outThe role storytelling in sharing insights across the organization Follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter Co-host Janelle Estes | @janelle_estes Co-host Andy MacMillan | @apmacmillan Producer Nathan Isaacs | @isaacsnd UserTesting | @usertesting Have an episode suggestion or guest recommendation? Share on social with the tag #HumanInsights Get a free video of a real person reviewing your website
Season 5 Recap: The customer experience, the 'only we' strategy, sharing insights, UX writing, and web3 integrations with real life
Jun 14 2022
Season 5 Recap: The customer experience, the 'only we' strategy, sharing insights, UX writing, and web3 integrations with real life
Today we’re recapping our fifth season of the Human Insight Podcast. Maybe the biggest change to the podcast this season you’ll have noticed is we started including into episodes more clips from our opt-in contributor network. These are people from around the world, responding to questions we asked either related to that episode’s guest and topic, or to a current news event or trend.This week's insightIn many episodes, as well as in our book User Tested, we’ve talked about the rising importance of the customer’s experience with your product or service.In fact, Google's search trends for the term “customer experience” has increased 400 percent in the last 10 years. For this Insights segment, we asked our contributors what does Customer Experience mean to them, and for examples of good and bad experiences. Here is what they had to say: [video] What does customer experience mean to you? This season's episodes: Ep. 39 Dan Misener - Growing your audience with an "Only we" strategyEp. 40 C. Todd Lombardo - Delivering value to both your customers and your businessEp. 41 Bobbie Wood - Understanding the accessibility and usability of UX writingEp. 42 Adam Thomas - The three survival metrics for building better productsEp. 43 Ethan Song - Building deeper web3 relationships between creators and their fansThank you to all the listeners of the podcast, wherever you may be. And thank you to all the guests for making time for us and sharing their stories.Season 6 will launch in September. If you have an insight you want us to investigate, or a guest you recommend, please email us at podcast@usertesting.com. Until then, you can go back and listen to any of past episodes of the Human Insight Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you.Follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter Co-host Janelle Estes | @janelle_estes Co-host Andy MacMillan | @apmacmillan Producer Nathan Isaacs | @isaacsnd UserTesting | @usertesting Have an episode suggestion or guest recommendation? Share on social with the tag #HumanInsights Get a free video of a real person reviewing your website
The three survival metrics for building better products
May 30 2022
The three survival metrics for building better products
Adam Thomas believes the role of a product manager is one thing only: how do you help the organization make better decisions consistently? Part of that is knowing when to stop work on a product idea, when to pivot on a product, and when to double down on a product initiative. Adam, lead product manager at SmartRecruiters, as well as a speaker, consultant and technologist, has developed what he calls  Survival Metrics to help product managers do just that. Adam joined Janelle Estes, UserTesting’s Chief Insights Officer, on this week’s episode of the Human Insight Podcast. They talked about his Survival Metrics, the difference between them and success metrics, and more. Insights this weekIn this week’s Insights segment, we asked consumers what advice they had for brands to consider as they advertise between Memorial Day through early fall?For many Americans the Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer, family vacations, grilling in the backyard, swimming at the pool or lake, and enjoying the longer days. That’s also the time we start seeing and hearing more advertising and other brand messaging for such things as travel and outdoor activities, yard and home improvement projects, as well as for events such as Pride Month, the Fourth of July or going back to school.But consumers are also living amid the third year of the pandemic, rising inflation and gas prices, the Russia-Ukraine war, as well as other national and global violence and other issues.  So we wondered what advice do people have for brands to consider so that they can be both human-centered and innovative. You can also watch their response in this highlight video. Help us, help youWe’re looking for your input in helping us improve the podcast. Please take this short survey to help us improve the show. There is also an opportunity to take a UserTesting test about the show, where we can hear about your experiences directly.  Survey: https://forms.gle/nCSTZFR5affEs2k1AFollow us on LinkedIn or Twitter Co-host Janelle Estes | @janelle_estes Co-host Andy MacMillan | @apmacmillan Producer Nathan Isaacs | @isaacsnd UserTesting | @usertesting Have an episode suggestion or guest recommendation? Share on social with the tag #HumanInsights Get a free video of a real person reviewing your website
Understanding the accessibility and usability of UX writing
May 23 2022
Understanding the accessibility and usability of UX writing
Good UX writing begins with usability and accessibility. Bobbie Wood, founder and CEO of UX Content Collective, joins the Human Insight Podcast this week to discuss UX writing and the importance of making it inclusive to everyone and all abilities. Bobbie and co-host Janelle Estes, UserTesting’s Chief Insights Officer, also discuss how Artificial Intelligence will impact UX writing.We also solicited feedback from UX writers and content writers from around the world, asking their thoughts about AI and how it may affect their careers.You can watch highlight reel videos of what they said. In the first, they answer whether AI will take their job. And in the second, we ask what advantages do you think humans have over AI when it comes to writing. This week’s insightsLast week, the U.S. Congress held its first hearing on UFOs in 50 years. At the hearing, a Navy intelligence official told lawmakers no evidence of aliens had been found. However, a database of reports of UFOs now includes about 400 incidents, up from 143 assessed in a report released about a year ago.The military says improved sensors, an increase in drones and other non-military unmanned aerial systems, and "aerial clutter" such as Mylar balloons as causes for the uptick in reported incidents. In a Gallup poll in June 2021, one-third of Americans said they believed some UFOs are indeed alien spacecraft, and a resounding three-fourths of Americans said that "life of some form" exists elsewhere in the universe.If you had one question to ask someone from another planet or solar system, what would it be?We asked UserTesting contributors if they had one question to ask someone from another planet or solar system, what would it be. We'd love your feedbackAnd as a listener of the show, we'd love your feedback. Please take this short survey to help us improve the show. There is also an opportunity to take a UserTesting test about the show, where we can hear about your experiences directly.  Survey: https://forms.gle/nCSTZFR5affEs2k1AFollow us on LinkedIn or Twitter Co-host Janelle Estes | @janelle_estes Co-host Andy MacMillan | @apmacmillan Producer Nathan Isaacs | @isaacsnd UserTesting | @usertesting Have an episode suggestion or guest recommendation? Share on social with the tag #HumanInsights Get a free video of a real person reviewing your website