Scaling Research Impact & Influence

When I stepped in to lead Tangerine’s Service Design and Voice of the Customer (VOC) team, research was often reactive—teams focused on individual feedback rather than big-picture patterns. As a lean team (4 Researchers + 1 CX Analyst), we couldn’t support every initiative, and research wasn’t yet driving strategic decision-making at scale.

First, I needed to understand where fragmented information was coming from and organize them into a unified view.

🔹 Mapped out where feedback was coming from and what was triggering knee-jerk reactions.

🔹 Shifted focus from isolated complaints to recurring themes and trends.

🔹 Partnered with a CX Analyst to train designers & PMs on using Voice of the Customer (VOC) dashboards strategically:

• Look at patterns, not just individual complaints.

• Validate insights with NPS impact scores & operational data.

✅ Result: Teams began making data-backed product decisions instead of reacting to random feedback.

Further, we introduced the Crystal vs. Plastic Balls Framework to empower product teams to prioritize research opportunities based on signals from the VOC program:

• Crystal balls = More fragile problems and opportunities, require deeper research & discovery before action.

• Plastic balls = Safer for teams to move forward with validation/testing.

✅ Result: Helped teams make more informed, strategic choices about when to invest in research.

Another key step in scaling research was empowering Designers to drive research with product teams:

🔹 Created research templates, training programs, coaching sessions.

🔹 Enabled Designers to run their own usability studies & light discovery work.

🔹 Freed up Researchers to focus on complex, strategic initiatives.

✅ Result: 11 out of 14 designers trained in usability testing → expanding research across 12 of 17 squads.

These efforts in empowerment helped Research and Service Design to become a scalable function even as a lean team, rather than a bottleneck.

For research to drive strategic outcomes, we needed executive buy-in. I partnered with the Chief Customer Officer to align executives on tracking outcomes through key anchoring metrics like:

• NPS impact scores (customer experience & sentiment)

• Call volume trends (operational efficiency)

This led to executive buy-in for strategic, journey-focused initiatives like the Get Help Journey redesign. Further, embedding research insights and impact metrics into prioritization discussions at executive forums, annual planning sessions, and product roadmapping sessions positioned research as a driver of holistic journey improvements. 

✅ Result: Research lifted from ad hoc support to a strategic function shaping CX strategy.

Finally, we made research more visible across the organization. We reintroduced the research team, emphasizing that:

• Each researcher is focused on a key customer journey rather than being an ad hoc support function.

• Researchers are here to help teams create holistic experience strategies, not just conduct one-off studies.

We clarified that we act as a strategic partner through 3 main levels of research engagement:

• Full support to transform entire journeys

• Medium support to improve specific features or a few UX flows along a few scenarios

• Light support to monitor feedback post-launch

✅ Result: Research became a scalable, proactive force in the organization.

Lessons Learned

🫶 Scaling research isn't just about doing more studies—it's about empowering others to create exponential impact.

🏅 Speaking stakeholders' language (metrics + business impact) builds buy-in.

🚀 Shifting from reactive to proactive research requires structural and cultural change.

Final Thought

By scaling research capabilities and shifting the organizational mindset, we ensured that insights didn't just inform decisions—they actively shaped customer experience strategy at scale.