From Chemistry Geek to Customer Geek!
After I did my Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry I realised academia wasn't for me...
I moved to industry, joining the Unilever Future Leaders graduate programme and specialised in research & development because of my scientific background. It was there I discovered there was a world of consumer insight - both technical insight (where my role sat) and market insight.
I had a global role with big brands like Ben & Jerry's, Carte D'or, Walls and Paddle Pop and I had some fabulous research trips to cities like Jakarta and Bangkok to rummage in people's freezers and understand what role ice cream played in their lives! After 5 years of exploring new products, improving packaging and developing claims, I decided to hit the world of market insight and ended up at John Lewis & Waitrose for 7 years.
As iconic British brands with strong investment in insight, my team and I had the chance to work on a huge range of topics - everything from developing new brands, to improving in-store and online experience, to developing and launching attitudinal segmentations... I even partnered with an external data science company to run the econometrics programme, trying to quantify the impact of our marketing spend! It was there I then realised a relatively new insight branch was emerging, in digital user experience and design research, and I ran the UXR team for about a year.
In Kingfisher, I'm the digital design research manager and really, the core of what I was doing way back in my Unilever days is the same... I'll never tire of understanding people, why they do what they do. And now, with my own house renovation, I feel I'm in the perfect sector!
I run the design research team, improving digital CX
My team of researchers help the digital product teams and design team understand who they are designing for, what those user and customer needs are and how we can improve their digital experience with us. We work very closely with Service Design too, and often team up for projects.
We cover the full 'double diamond' from generative to evaluative research, across customer and colleague (employee) as well as looking at both digital and physical channels.It's important that we're exploring the 'phygital' world as customers are increasingly omni, using digital tools in a physical space like our stores - context is key!
We can be working on anything from a discovery piece on tradespeople and how they use apps, to how our colleagues are using digital tools in kitchen design appointments.
Our team has great collaboration and really does work flexibly.
We have a good open culture in the team, and people are always willing to help. We have lots of forward and backward looking sessions, time to use the hive mind of the team to solve problems and time to 'show and tell' - where it doesn't have to be perfect, it's more about discussing and shaping.
For me, I live on the Norfolk/Suffolk border so the London office isn't the easiest to get to! We have great trust in the team and through conversations with my manager (Head of Design) we've agreed a flexi pattern of hybrid working that is perfect for me. I come into the office maybe once a week and it's fantastic to see people and have those meetings and conversations that are better in person.
No career path is linear - try something new!
I came from a heavy scientific background, making unnatural amino acids in the lab (which are all white crystals!) to a world of colour and possibility in food development, and felt really out of my depth. The change to industry was challenging, there were targets and KPIs and OKRs and all the other acronyms! And so many people to work with, challenge, influence...
I then went to a retail environment where I felt out of my depth again initially, the pace was faster, there was less thinking time and quant evidence was king. I learned more about myself and decided after a few years to challenge myself again and go to the digital world.
I've had a constant thread - understanding customers, employees, users - though the context and environment has shifted every time. And that's a good thing! Don't be afraid to jump at an opportunity, you will always learn something and it will benefit you.
Wining the Aura Insight Team of the Year 2021 award
AURA is the client side body for insight and provides a fantastic, collaborative learning space for researchers on the client side of the industry. There are no agencies or suppliers which makes it free from sales pressure, and the forum really allows you to compare and contrast and learn from peers.
In 2020, I had stepped up to manage the team of 26 researchers and insight managers in John Lewis/Waitrose when the pandemic started. We shifted to remote and had to learn all about our new team, establish new ways of working and support people we had never met. It was amazing how the team galvanised, and despite the pressure we delivered some outstanding work that really shaped the strategy of the business.
I submitted the team for the award and we won at the 2021 ceremony. It felt like real recognition of not just what we delivered, but how we pulled together and developed a super strong culture. Definite highlight for me!
