Should UX Researchers learn Marketing?
UX Researchers should take Marketing 101
Your decks and thick reports are competing with (and losing to) 60-second TikToks for the attention of your stakeholders.
One of those Marketing 101 lessons you can use is the AIDA model.
AIDA is an acronym for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.
📢 Attention is cognitive.
Before anything else, you’ll have to make your stakeholders aware of your research’s existence.
Share your research as often as possible, in ways that make people want to consume them.
Talk to stakeholders through all possible channels — including and especially around water coolers.
Share audio notes from frustrated users. Include relevant, attention-grabbing graphics in all your communication. Share video clips of your user rage-clicking on the product.
😯 Interest and Desire are affective and come after Attention.
Get stakeholders hyped about your insights. Here’s how to do that:
Keep them short and easy to read. Avoid jargon like the plague. Use the Hemingway app to do this
Use catchy subject lines for your reports and emails. Review Hubspot’s 20 tips for subject lines for this
Most importantly: Appeal to the reader’s emotions. What emotions do people react to? Fear—of losing their job. Curiosity—for something cool or unusual. Joy—if something is funny. Pride— what will make them look good?
Activate pride, by telling them how much money your research will make them.
Activate fear, by talking about all those churned users (which your insights can prevent).
✍️ Action is behavioural.
Answer the “Now what?” of your research as easily and as often as you can. Once your stakeholders know your insights exist and that they are important, tell them what to do.
Provide suggestions for future product work. Everything you share should have some call to action (CTA).
Do note that AIDA is 100 years old and there are a few variants you can use now.