January 2025 ARVIC

The January 2025 ARVIC conference centered on a single, pressing challenge for insights and product teams: translating UX work into language that moves decision-makers. The session this month offered a concrete, field-tested approach to quantifying the business value of research, with an emphasis on credibility, restraint, and stakeholder alignment over headline-grabbing numbers.

Building a Credible ROI Framework

The core session walked through a four-step process for converting UX findings into financial projections. The framework is designed to work for teams of any size and at any starting point, making it broadly applicable across research functions.

1. Establish a baseline. ROI calculation is impossible without benchmarked UX metrics. Start with one small project, track a specific metric over time, and build from there.
2. Select business-facing KPIs. Choose metrics tied to revenue, cost savings, or customer retention. UX-specific language like cognitive load or perceived usability does not travel well across stakeholder groups.
3. Do the dollar conversion explicitly. Time saved, error rates, and support volume only become ROI arguments when multiplied by a dollar value. The formula: (savings minus cost) divided by cost, times 100.
4. Report projections responsibly. Once UX data is extrapolated into financial estimates, it enters the world of strategy. Use hedged language, round down, and be transparent about methodology.

Stakeholder Strategy and Internal Alignment

A recurring theme was the importance of working across functions rather than in isolation. Partnering with a business-minded colleague to pressure-test which metric will resonate is a practical first step. The right KPI is not the one with the largest dollar figure; it is the one that will be understood and trusted across the broadest set of stakeholders.

The Case for Conservative Estimates

The session made a clear argument for restraint in how projections are framed and reported. Conservative estimates build trust over time, and exceeding a modest projection is a stronger credibility signal than falling short of an ambitious one. This discipline is what separates a durable ROI practice from a one-time exercise.