Rill Insights began supporting Vasion in May 2022. We kicked off the project with an internal discovery project aimed at gathering a holistic understanding of the past, present, and future of customer feedback across the organization. It was also an opportunity to demonstrate the value of Dovetail as a potential software platform to leverage. Interviews with leadership from Product, Support, Customer Success, and Marketing revealed several areas for improvement.

Collaborating with leadership, we aligned around a strategy to transform the processes, tech stack, and culture to become more customer-centric and drive product decisions with evidence. From there, our efforts shifted toward identifying the best tools and processes to deliver on the strategy. Rill Insights evaluated more than 20 different options, delivering a set of choices aligned to their business priorities and capabilities of the team.

Once the choice was made, we shifted gears from strategic consulting to implementation and training. It was an ambitious plan consisting of adopting several new software systems, getting them all to work together, and enabling the team in a democratized model. The goal was simple: We wanted insights to be at the fingertips of decision makers, without requiring them to dig into specific projects or siloed folders. To do this, we needed to set up multiple channels that captured the voice of the customer and channeled all of that information into a centralized “home” that all teams could access. Realizing this vision was complex, requiring detailed research into integrations and creating workflows that would make internal employee user experience as seamless as possible. The good news is, we figured it out…and this model is replicable for any organization that truly wants to leverage customer feedback to drive product and business decisions.

To facilitate the organizational change, we took a phased approach, implementing and training on one system at a time. Research operations was first, followed by product management and then CX programs. The execution took place over a 15 month period, with Rill Insights implementing Dovetail and Sprig for research and CX survey programs, and collaborating with product leadership to implement Productboard and Intercom. We also developed a bespoke masterclass to train product managers in design research. This 10 part series was delivered monthly throughout the year, with 1-1 and team mentoring to help skill development.

While the Vasion team built their internal capacity for research, Rill Insights managed research operations and continued to provide training and strategic advice as needed. Our relationship embodied the “teach a man to fish” approach, supporting Vasion until they were ready to take full ownership of the systems and processes we put into place. We remain “on call” to provide help whenever and wherever needed.