As one of Indonesia's distinguishable brands, Tokopedia has been able to establish a strong foothold amidst the other eCommerce giants within the region. So what's the secret?
In this session, Ananda will talk through the different approaches that her team has developed that strengthen their UX strategy and allowed their organization to scale and grow in such a competitive market. She will talk about:
- what effective research democratization looks like within cross-functional teams with limited resources;
- the importance of having an experimentative culture; and
- how understanding that the insights between users, product and marketing benefits the overall organisation
1. Democraticizing
the Power of
Data & Insights
With Ananda Nadya
Democraticizing the
Impact of Data & Insights
Through UX Research
With Ananda Nadya
UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
2. Introduction
Hi there!
My name is Ananda Nadya
a UX Researcher in
You can find me on:
linkedin.com/in/anandanadya
anandanadya28@gmail.com
UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
3. About Tokopedia (1)
Tokopedia is a unicorn technology company,
which is based in Jakarta, Indonesia. It was
founded in 2009 by William Tanuwijaya and
his best friend, Leontinus Alpha Edison.
As of 2021, the company had:
Product Design: 150+ members
Product Managers: 170+ members
All Tokopedia: 4,700+
Merchants: 11+ million
Monthly Active Users: 100+ million
UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
5. What are
we having
today?
Making insights meaningful
UX Research maturity
stages
Process of going up the
maturity ladder
Summary
UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
7. The motto of RAD Team
Since the time of its establishment,
Research, Analysis, and Development
(RAD) always try to create meaningful
insights that drive stakeholders to
implement actions from it.
See how much our team grows on the course of 5 years!
UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
8. The evolution of research team
Directional VS Foundational
2017
2018
2019
2020 -
2022
5 researchers
9 researchers
Request-driven, mainly product and UX research
21 researchers + 3 coordinators
The emergence of market research projects,
combination of directional and foundational
23 researchers + 3 coordinators
Initiative-driven
UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
10. Research maturity model (Avore, 2016)
PROGRESSING
Explorative, discovery
research. Teams are
more open to receive
strategic contribution
from research.
LAGGARD
Focused on user
feedback. Still
thought of as less
important.
EARLY
More ad-hoc projects,
limited to specific
product. Used as a
preventive measure to
avoid future mistakes.
MATURE
Explorative research,
identification of new
opportunities, spans
across organizations.
Focused on new
innovations and
strategies.
UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
12. Research team’s evolution
UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
LAGGARD
5 researchers
Centralized team
EARLY PROGRESSING MATURE
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 -
2022
10 researchers 21 researchers
+ 3 coordinators
Embedded teams
23 researchers
+ 3 coordinators
28 researchers
+ 3 coordinators
Moving to hybrid type
teams (embedded and
centralized)
13. LAGGARD - 2017
UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
Team focus from a team of 5
Gaining trust and awareness
Designer from
different tribes
contact research
for usability
testing
Researcher
conducts
research based
on availability
Centralized team structure
14. LAGGARD - 2017
UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
How we
Gained trust and awareness
● Type of project: 90% directional, design related
projects
● Methodology: usability testings, some
interviews, heatmaps
● Stakeholder: product designers
● Spread awareness: newsletters, pain point
database, concise reporting, invite stakeholders
to sessions.
15. EARLY - 2018
UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
Team focus from a team of 10
Company wide awareness, especially from higher levels
Stakeholders
from different
tribes request a
project
Captain
assigns to a
researcher
Semi embedded team structure
Researcher
availability
Researcher
experience in
that tribe
16. EARLY - 2018
UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
How we
Gained company wide awareness,
especially from higher level
● Type of projects: 40% directional, 60% foundational
● Methodologies: UTs, interviews, surveys, diary study, card sorting,
contextual, focus group
● Stakeholders: product designers, product managers, business development
● Spread awareness through:
○ Stakeholders invitations to research sessions
○ Multilevel approach to support company strategy:
■ Company events participation
■ TRIP: Tokopedia Research Internship Program
■ Reports and newsletter to higher level audiences
○ Insights exhibition
○ Communication channel on slack
○ Research repository website
17. EARLY - 2018: Multilevel approach
UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
1
1. Makerfest - event to introduce Tokopedia, held at various cities
across the country. RAD was responsible in conducting guerilla UT
at the event.
2. TRIP - intern from various locations conducting interviews
3. Guerilla interviews during a research trip to a company focused
city to identify selling behavior
4. Stakeholder was invited to participate in the research sessions.
2 3
4
18. PROGRESSING - 2019
UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
Team focus from a team of 21
Strategic research & impact
Embedded team
structure
Stakeholders from
different tribes
request a project
Product teams create
product prioritization
roadmap
Ad-hoc
Consulted
Researcher in that
tribe conducts the
research
Stakeholder
conducts, with
researcher
involvement
19. PROGRESSING - 2019
UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
How we were able to influence through
Strategic research & impact
measurement
● Type of project: 20% directional, 80% foundational
● Methodologies: Interviews, surveys, diary study, card sorting,
contextual, co-creation, speed dating, focus groups
● Stakeholders: product designers, product managers, business
development, media intelligence, CX, data analysts
● Gain influence & impact through:
○ Strong insights with tangible recommendations
○ Joining teams’ rituals
○ Pairing researcher with leads (design and product)
○ Presentations attended by high level stakeholders
○ Democratizing research = empathy
○ Process that measures actionable insights
○ Research expansion to additional cities
○ Insights exhibition
○ Podcast
○ End of year reflection report
20. Research democratization
UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
Who
How
Product
Designers
Product
Managers
Business
Dev.
Competitive
analysis
UT
Card sorting
Competitive
analysis
UT
Phone interview
Survey
Phone interview
Involvement
in data
collection
Internal
training
Empowering
others to do
research
23. Across-team collaboration
Pre-development
● Product managers for PRD and background of the product
● Business development for business considerations
● Data analysts for users’ current behavior based on statistics
Development
● Product designers for developing a prototype
● Marketing for communications
Post-development
● Data analysts for initial insights
● Product managers, business development, and product
designers for product improvements
UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
24. MATURE - 2020 onwards
UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
Team focus from a team of 23+
Influence product and company direction, and team growth
Embedded team
structure
Stakeholders from
different tribes request
a project
Research leaders
develop prioritization
projects to be done in
the next quarter
Product teams
create product
prioritization
roadmap
Ad-hoc
Consulted
Assigned
researchers
conduct the
project
Researcher in that tribe
conducts the research
Stakeholder conducts, with
researcher involvement
25. UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
MATURE - 2020 onwards
How we
Influence product and company
direction, and team growth
● Type of project: 10% directional, 90% foundational - UX, product, and
market
● Methodologies: Interviews, surveys, diary study, focus groups, card sorting,
contextual, co-creation, preference test, remote usability testing
● Stakeholders: across all levels, up to chief level
● Gain influence through:
○ Monthly insights presentation to chiefs
○ Foundational and innovation research, with the addition of quick
insights through panel
○ Quarterly research prioritization, aligned with strategies
○ OKR transformation
○ Quick adaptation towards what is happening (pandemic)
○ Data triangulation with insights producing functions
○ End of year report highlighting impact
27. UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
If you are a team of 1-5
Focus on Building awareness
● Prioritize doing as many high quality projects as
you can
● Build relationships (and friendships) with
stakeholders
● Produce clear insights with tangible
recommendations
● Invite stakeholders to research sessions and its
presentations
● Leverage the most basic communication channel
to spread awareness regularly
28. UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
If you are a team of 6-10
Focus on Building awareness on a
company level & higher ups
● Start conducting deeper, more complex projects
that are aligned with product or company
direction
● Increase exposure to different methodologies
● Initiate process improvements, including hiring
standardization
● Develop team vision and what you want the
culture to be like
● Build relationships with influential people
● Create company wide events showcasing insights
● Develop an insights library, and ways for others
to easily obtain insights
29. UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
If you are a team of 11-20
Focus on Strategic research & impact
● Prioritize and initiate projects that has a strong
impact
● Democratize projects
● Identify ways to measure your team’s impact
● Initiate collaborative projects across different
functions
● Regularly share insights through interesting and
creative ways
● Continue to improve processes and team
competency
● If possible, hire coordinators to help with
operational tasks, such as recruiting.
30. UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
If you are a team of 20++
Focus on Influencing at a bigger scale and
team growth
● Initiate your team’s own foundational projects
● Expand the type of research (UX, product, and
market)
● Document and share impacts
● Understand needs from stakeholders in terms of
insights (example: panel)
● Triangulate data
● Present findings to influential stakeholders
● Produce competency map, and roadmap for team
members’ growth
● As always, produce some kind of media to share
to everyone in the company
31. You have reached the
end of presentation
Any question? Let’s discuss!
UXDXCommunity SE Asia | March 3rd, 2020
