November 2024 ARVIC

Across five talks, the November 2024 ARVIC conference returned repeatedly to a single tension: the gap between how insights and UX research teams currently operate and what the business actually needs from them. Speakers from Airship, Vail Resorts, JP Morgan Chase, and Lucid Motors, joined by an independent B2B practitioner, each attacked a different corner of that gap. Together they made a cumulative case for researchers who are faster, more strategic, more cross-functional, and more honest about when their inputs have gone stale.

The Cost of Staying Tactical

The sharpest thread running through the conference was a warning against tactical, siloed research practice. Two talks addressed this most directly. The UXR lead from JP Morgan Chase argued that researchers confined to usability work are the most exposed to layoffs, and laid out a concrete path toward strategic influence: frame the right problem first, then tie outputs to business OKRs and product vision. The Vail Resorts speaker made the same argument from a career angle, urging researchers to stop waiting to be asked and to sit in strategy meetings, join creative briefings, and lead with outcomes rather than methodology.

• Strategic researchers who connect findings to revenue and business outcomes are more resilient than those doing evaluative work alone.
• Starting a conversation with methodology loses the room. Lead with the outcome the partner needs, then back into the method.
• In conservative industries like finance and healthcare, trust-building through fast evaluative work comes before strategic influence.
• Reframing a problem often surfaces faster and cheaper solutions than the stated ask would have produced.

Keeping Insights Fresh and Honest

Two talks pushed directly on the shelf life of research. The B2B practitioner made the case for quarterly audits at minimum, and immediate reviews after any major global disruption. The Vail Resorts speaker added a behavioral dimension, arguing that gatekeeping data and perfectionism are habits inherited from an earlier era that now actively slow teams down.

• Audit screeners, survey questions, and standing trackers regularly. Stale questions cost money and crowd out better ones.
• Widen recruiting criteria beyond conventional definitions of the target audience, including marketers, retirees, and non-traditional respondents.
• Sharing work-in-progress builds trust. Partners who ask for raw data are usually exploring, not auditing your methodology.
• Match the delivery format to how your audience actually consumes information. A 100-page deck is not a neutral choice.
• Adopt the agile approach: deliver a solid, timely answer now and reserve the right to update as new information arrives.

Activation and Engagement as a Research Discipline

The Airship talk brought a data-rich perspective on mobile app activation that has direct implications for anyone designing research around user behavior. With the cost per app download rising since iOS 14 privacy changes, the efficiency of the first 30 days matters more than it used to. The research presented quantified what best-in-class activation actually looks like.

• Identified users return to an app at day 30 at a 17% rate versus 4% for anonymous users, and they purchase more frequently and at higher average order values.
• Onboarding opt-in campaigns can lift push permission rates up to 40% above the category average. A soft prompt before the OS system prompt is the recommended approach.
• Audience targeting based on stated preferences produces roughly a 59% lift in purchase conversion on average, with top performers reaching up to 90%.
• Preference gathering is continuous, not a one-time onboarding step. Preference centers, interest surveys, and contextual data collection all contribute over time.

The Generalist Advantage and AI as a Force Multiplier

Two talks addressed the expanding skill expectations on UX and insights professionals and the role AI tools now play. The Lucid Motors speaker made the case for a generalist profile: deep research expertise paired with strategy, basic design fluency, and cross-functional communication. AI was framed as a way to handle volume-heavy tasks so practitioners can focus on interpretation and decision-making, not as a replacement for judgment.

• UX job postings dropped sharply from 2022 to 2023 but remain 53% above 2018 levels, and roles were recovering as of mid-2024.
• AI tools accelerate secondary research, thematic analysis, persona drafting, and survey design. Treat outputs as starting points and review for hallucinations.
• Follow your organization's IT and infosec policies before inputting proprietary or user data into external AI platforms.
• Diversifying skills does not mean learning every methodology. It means applying the same critical thinking across UX research, CX research, service design, and design strategy at different scopes.
• Market research is the foundation of CX, UX, and EX. Broaden the role rather than treating adjacent disciplines as competition.

The Qualitative Differentiator

Several speakers converged on a point worth naming separately. Most organizations are already data-rich on the behavioral side. The why behind the what is where insights teams have room to win. Qualitative research, storytelling, and humanizing findings were cited not as soft skills but as competitive differentiators in a landscape saturated with dashboards and trackers.

If you take away one thing: humanize your research, and throw out the expired.