5 Customer Research Tips to Kick Off 2025!

Last month we had the opportunity to host a Lenny's Newsletter NYC Meetup focused on customer and user research. A big thank you to everyone who braved the chilly NYC weather to join us for an evening of networking and insightful conversations!

Like any networking event, its easy to get carried away in conversation and difficult to find the chance to talk to everyone! We didn’t want anyone to miss out on the collective knowledge from the group, so following the event we sent out a Strella AI-moderated interview where we asked attendees to share their best customer research tips.

While we heard a lot of great ideas, we wanted share the top 5 to kick off 2025:

1. Build a Super User Squad: Want a go-to group for reliable customer research? Build a community of super users! Beyond the typical incentives, make them feel extra special—think early access to new features, exclusive content, or even some cool company swag. But a word of caution: these communities can sometimes skew towards a certain type of person, which could introduce bias. (Cue tip #2!)
2. Tap into External Panels: While your own customers are a goldmine, don’t forget the power of fresh perspectives. External panels can speed things up and help balance the bias that can creep into your own customer base and super user community. End-to-end research tools like Strella often have their own integrated panels, or panel providers like Respondent or User Interviews  offer the option to recruit external participants directly from their website. In addition, panels can help you move more quickly when recruiting is your bottleneck.
3. Stay Ahead of the Curve with Continuous Research: You don't have to wait until the beginning or end of a product development cycle or until you have a hypothesis you want to test to run research. Continuous research lets you be proactive so you can stay in tune with users' evolving needs and uncover new opportunities as they arise. This ongoing process also fosters a deep, empathetic understanding of your users, keeping your team aligned with their needs and empowering them to make informed decisions that truly resonate with customers.
4. Observe the Unspoken: Don’t just listen—watch too. When possible, use video interviews to catch those priceless non-verbal cues: body language, facial expressions, and moments of hesitation can reveal a lot! Sometimes users can’t articulate what’s wrong, but their actions say it all. Those unspoken moments often hold the key to uncovering issues that wouldn’t surface in written or verbal feedback alone. Plus, sharing video highlight reels with your team are a great way to generate buy in and excitement.
5. Embrace AI to Amplify Your Research: We know this sounds like a shameless plug, but it’s true - we heard it from you! AI-powered tools aren’t just about speed, they’re about consistency and cutting out bias that can easily creep its way into traditional research processes. AI can moderate your interviews, synthesize insights, and ensure your research process stays objective, consistent and thorough. It's like having a research assistant who never gets tired, can speak any language and doesn't leave a stone unturned!

Anything to add or want to dive deeper into any of these? Have a user or customer research question you want answered? Let’s chat! Drop us a note at hello@strella.io or book a demo to see how Strella can help. And stay tuned for more Strella events coming in 2025!