UI Breakfast: UI/UX Design and Product Strategy

What should you consider when using map components in your product? Our guest today is Loren Baxter, lead designer for Felt Maps. You’ll learn how to start thinking in terms of maps, how to approach UX interactions and animations, what types of information can be included, and more.

How can we get better at SaaS pricing and packaging? In this episode, we talk to Dan Balcauski, founder and chief pricing officer at Product Tranquility. You'll learn what department should own the pricing function, how often you should revisit pricing, why you shouldn’t A/B test your pricing, and more.

Ready to learn tricks of the trade from professional user researchers? Our guest today is Steve Portigal, user research consultant and author of Interviewing Users. You’ll learn how to prepare for a user interview, what your interview guide should contain, behavior cues to look out for, and more.

How do you run and manage a multi-product portfolio? In this episode, we talk to Tim Schumacher, co-founder and CEO of saas.group. You'll learn how they developed their acquisition model, the importance of setting up central teams for operative tasks, why founders need to think about successors, and more.

What are the three principles of taking and managing notes? Our guest today is Jorge Arango, an information architect, author, and educator. You’ll learn about the evolution of knowledge management tools, how digital note-taking systems have extended our capabilities, why you should choose the right tools for different types of notes, and more.

With so many elements involved in email marketing, what does the quality assurance process look like? In this episode, we talk to Michael Wilding, a marketing automation architect. You'll learn how QA is done in larger organizations, why creating a base template is important, how to do QA on your workflows, and how to test your emails using different methods.

What does successful product management look like for a bigger team? Our guest today is Benjamin Humphrey, co-founder and CEO of Dovetail. You’ll learn why designers hold more product management power at Dovetail, how product knowledge is shared across their team, why product marketing is important, and more.

How do you come up with new ideas for A/B testing in B2B SaaS? In this episode, we talk to Sahil Patel, CEO of Spiralyze. You'll learn why you should get inspiration from the tests run by other companies, how early you should invest in A/B testing, where to use disruptions in your website design, and more.

How can designers gain domain knowledge while working on a highly technical product? Our guest today is Ridhima Gupta, lead product designer at Databricks. You’ll learn how to work with deeply technical stakeholders, why it’s okay to admit when you don’t understand something, their product development process at Databricks, and more.

How do you build and grow a community-led business? In this episode, we talk to Lloyed Lobo, co-founder of Boast.ai and author of From Grassroots to Greatness. You'll learn about the four stages companies go through to become a global phenomenon, the values for building a sustainable community-led business, how to nurture brand evangelists, and more.

How do you measure customer satisfaction in a complex customer journey? Our guest today is Debbie Levitt, “The Mary Poppins of UX and CX” and author of Customers Know You Suck. You’ll learn how customer satisfaction relates to customer loyalty, why you should measure satisfaction qualitatively and quantitatively, how you can better capture and understand customer frustration, and more.

How can automated webinars help your product grow? In this episode, we talk to Melissa Kwan, co-founder and CEO of eWebinar. You'll learn the difference between live-first and automated webinar solutions, why you should be honest with your prospects, how you can make your on-demand demo effective, and more.

What should you consider when designing a learning process? Our guest today is Jenae Cohn, the author of Design for Learning. You’ll learn the motivation behind writing the book, how to choose the right format for your training, what interaction formats work best for different group sizes, and more.

How do you market a product that serves multiple jobs-to-be-done? In this episode, we talk to Geoff Roberts, co-founder of Outseta. You'll learn about their special approach to SEO, why you should sometimes prioritize resonance over reach, the importance of narrowing down on your audience, and more.

How can we better support research teams? Our guest today is Kate Towsey, research ops guru and the author of Research That Scales. You’ll learn when it’s time to invest in research ops, how to scale research teams, what library science can contribute to the field, and more.

Why should startups invest early in lifecycle marketing? In this episode, we talk to Nout Boctor-Smith, growth marketing consultant at Nine Lives Digital. You'll learn the difference between B2C and B2B lifecycle marketing, why customer centricity is important, how to market to sensitive audiences, and more.

What publishing options are available to first-time authors writing about design? Our guest today is Louis Rosenfeld, founder of Rosenfeld Media and co-author of multiple books on information architecture. You’ll learn about his motivation for establishing his publishing company, how they help book authors develop their ideas, how compensation works in different publishing scenarios, and more.

How can B2B brands become more authentic and straightforward in their messaging? In this episode, we talk to Sarah McCredie, director of product marketing at Recurly. You'll learn what marketing for humans is, which brands are nailing it, why you shouldn’t be afraid to rebrand, and more.

In the world of business goals and KPIs, how do we make space for user respect? Our guest today is Christina Nguyen White, Vice President of Design at Loom. You’ll learn the definition of user respect, how Loom leveraged user respect to redesign their desktop app, how they help users who are not exactly comfortable with videos, and more.

How do you know if a subscriber is due for a re-engagement campaign? In this episode, we talk to Tim Hart, senior email developer at Response Labs. You'll learn what incentives you can offer to reactivate subscribers, what engagement metrics matter the most, how often you should be pruning your email list, and more.

Is there “one best way” to use wireframes in your design process? Our guest today is Leon Barnard, education team lead at Balsamiq and co-author of Wireframing for Everyone. You’ll learn about their journey of writing the book, how they think about wireframes as industry insiders, the different phases and types of wireframing, tips on asking and giving feedback, and more.

How can you improve your customer acquisition funnel? In this episode, we talk to Farzad Rashidi, co-founder of Respona. You'll learn how they grow and convert their website traffic, how to help your landing pages rank, what content promotion strategies work best, and more.

Can you design a mobile app using a mobile app? Our guest today is Dan LaCivita, co-founder and co-CEO of Play. You’ll learn about their motivation for building Play, how their tool helps designers during high-fidelity phases, how they’re building trust in the industry, and more.

How do you get the best ROI from your engineering team while keeping them happy? In this episode, we talk to Phil Alves, founder of DevSquad and DevStats. You'll learn how to prioritize feature development, how to take care of your developers’ well-being, what non-technical founders should know, and more.

Can you get the benefits of design sprints in less time? Our guest today is Teresa Cain, author of Solving Problems in 2 Hours. You’ll learn about why she decided to condense the traditional sprints, what problems can be solved using this format, how to avoid bias in decision-making, and more.

How can virality and word of mouth help with your SaaS growth? In this episode, we talk to Gaurav Vohra, a startup advisor and a member of the founding team at Superhuman. You'll learn why they decided to focus on a specific set of channels, the mechanics of virality, how you can measure it in the early stages, and more.

Why do details matter so much in product typography? Our guest today is Oliver Schöndorfer, a UI designer, typography consultant, and YouTuber. You’ll learn how to select a typeface for your software project, whether your logo should use the same font as your product, why you always need to consider the line length, and more.

How can swag amplify your SaaS brand reputation? In this episode, we talk to Scott Markovits, fractional COO and startup mentor. You'll learn how swag supplements your marketing strategy, when it’s best to offer swag, why you should be thoughtful about selecting physical items, and more.

How can content testing save you time down the road? Our guest today is Erica Jorgensen, author of Strategic Content Design. You’ll learn how to approach content testing, what exactly you should test, why your test audience matters, and more.

How can you uncover your customers’ personal motivation and leverage it for SaaS growth? In this episode, we talk to Sofia Quintero, the founder of Collie and previously the founder of EnjoyHQ. You'll learn the lessons she learned from building EnjoyHQ, how you can get customers to open up to you, why you should ask why their project may fail, and more.

How can designers show up as changemakers? Our guest today is Maria Giudice, founder, executive coach, and co-author of Changemakers. You’ll learn about the inspiration behind the book, the different foundations for success when trying to drive change, potential roadblocks, and more.

What makes a SaaS brand special? In this episode, we talk to Karrie Sanderson, a marketing executive and former chief marketing officer at Typeform. You'll learn about the work that goes into branding, why branding also involves internal education, how to stay on brand when you’re scaling, and more.

When designing for both adults and children, what aspects do you need to consider? Our guest today is Nathalie Stratton, the co-founder and head of product at Hearth Display. You’ll learn the story behind their product, how they researched users in different age groups, how the team approached prototyping and testing, and more.

How do you approach and manage your SaaS growth processes? In this episode, we talk to Asia Orangio, founder and CEO of DemandMaven. You'll learn why selecting your North Star KPI is crucial, how to pick a focus area, how to handle pricing experiments, and more.

What goes into a successful ecommerce branding project? Our guest today is Abbey McGrew, the founder and creative director of Wayfarer Design Studio. You’ll learn about the work that goes into creating and testing out packaging design, the challenges they encounter with packaging mockups, how they determine the prices for projects, and more.

What value can designers get from sharing their work in progress? Does it outweigh the fears? Our guest today is Brian Lovin, the founder of Campsite. You’ll learn Brian’s motivation for creating the platform, how peer feedback improves the design process, the anxiety that keeps designers from sharing outside their team, and more.

How does product design relate to the company’s growth goals? Our guest today is Brent Palmer, the product design manager at Mixpanel. You’ll learn about their shaping process, how their design team contributed to the development of their new pricing, how to deal with cross-functional teams, and more.

How can storytelling help us achieve marketing goals? Our guest today is Rebecca L. Weber, a journalist and writing coach. You’ll learn how to use stories in different situations, why you should keep an idea bank, tips for overcoming the anxiety over writing, and more.

Why should SaaS businesses invest in a pricing strategy? In this episode, we talk to Chris Mele, the managing partner at Software Pricing Partners. You'll learn what happens behind-the-scenes of enterprise pricing, what value-based selling really is, the problem with pricing tiers, and more.

There’s so much more to the design craft than just designing. How can you work harmoniously with stakeholders in a project? Our guest today is Paul Boag, a CRO expert. You’ll learn how to involve clients in the design process, how to communicate your design to different stakeholders, how to deal with committees, and more.

How can the JTBD framework help with customer development and product positioning? In this episode, we talk to Aggelos Mouzakitis, a retention-focused B2B SaaS head of growth. You'll learn about the main metric that proves product-market fit, how they used customer segmentation in the process, how to improve your JTBD interviews, and more.

How can services improve and expand our product experience? Our guest today is Justin Zalewski, director of product design and strategy at Studio Science. You’ll learn their framework for figuring out customer pains, how to establish the balance between self-serve and done for you, how to test your design service prototype, and more.

How do SaaS metrics evolve throughout the company life cycle? In this episode, we talk to Sid Jain, senior research analyst at ChartMogul. You'll learn about the two overarching categories of metrics, what high and low frequency metrics are, why you should use segmentation and cohorts when analyzing data, and more.

How can you measure the success of your design system? Our guest today is Berk Çebi, co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Zeplin. You’ll learn what a design system is, how their customer interviews led to a new product, when you should start investing in design documentation, and more.

What processes are involved in activating your data? In this episode, we talk to David Sepulveda, Head of Data at Kumospace. You'll learn why data analysts need to work closely with research and product teams, how to distinguish correlation from causation, how much data you need to track, and more.

Can you improve conversion rates ethically, without deceptive tricks? Our guest today is Paul Boag, a CRO expert. You’ll learn about the negative impacts of using dark patterns, how to promote ethical decisions in your organization, why supporting evidence is so important for designers, and more.

How can you approach SEO in a more creative manner? In this episode, we talk to Monica Lent, founder of Affilimate. You'll learn about the challenges of SEO in the SaaS space, the importance of link building, how you can go beyond classic articles, how to cut costs on content, and more.

As UX writers, how can we go above and beyond to increase our business impact? Our guest today is Yael Ben-David, and author of The Business of UX Writing. You’ll learn about the top challenges in UX writing, the “five letter” framework, Yael’s writing philosophy, and more.

How exactly do you run a successful design vision program? Our guest today is Nick Myers, VP of Design and Research at Patreon. You’ll learn what a design vision program is, its components, why it’s applicable to any company size, and more.

What essential skills should innovators and entrepreneurs have? Our guest today is Bob Moesta, one of the co-architects of the Jobs to Be Done framework and author of Learning to Build. You’ll learn about the five learnable skills highlighted in his book, his perspective on compromise, why it’s important to understand the progress that people are trying to make, and more.

How do you make sure your product “sounds” on-brand? Our guest today is Reese Fuller, lead writer at Work & Co. You’ll learn what brand voice looks like as a deliverable, the process of developing it, how to approach overhaul projects for mature brands, and more.

How do you measure the ROI of your emails? In this episode, we talk to Claudiu Murariu, co-founder and CEO of InnerTrends. You'll learn about the role email plays in a product, how to track the impact of your email, two types of impact from sending a message, and more.

How do you build a sustainable content strategy practice? Our guest today is Natalie Marie Dunbar, author of From Solo to Scaled. You’ll learn what a content strategy practice is, how different teams work together to implement it, the five components of the content strategy practice blueprint, and more.

How can SaaS marketers benefit from content curation? In this episode, we talk to Jonathan Gandolf, founder and CEO of The Juice. You'll learn how to curate your content lineup manually, why content distribution is important, and more.

How do you design for a retailer brand that has thousands of products? Our guest today is Todd Maute, partner at CBX. You’ll learn about the structures of the retail branding and retail packaging industries, how a design idea becomes a finished product on the shelf, their advice for designers who want to go into packaging, and more.

Can we, mere mortals of email marketing, influence email deliverability? In this episode, we talk to Lauren Meyer, chief marketing officer at SocketLabs. You'll learn about the mechanism of how an email is delivered, the factors that affect deliverability, why you should use engagement metrics as proxies for deliverability, and more.

Designers or not, we practice creativity every day. What are some of the laws that govern creativity? Our guest today is Joey Cofone, founder of Baron Fig. You’ll learn about his decade-long journey of writing the book, his advice for storytelling, why you should care about creativity, and more.

When is the right time to think about your email strategy? In this episode, we talk to Samar Owais, email strategist and founder of Emails Done Right. You'll learn about the extended onboarding flows, how to increase conversions from your mailing list, how to do discounts for SaaS the right way, and more.

What does “slow design” mean for us, practitioners? Our guest today is Pree Kolari, VP of design at Klaviyo. You’ll learn about the three thesis statements of slow design, why design is important in building long-term relationships, how to build a remarkable product, and more.

What does it mean to run a product-led organization? In this episode, we talk to Todd Olson, co-founder and CEO of Pendo. You'll learn about the three pillars of product-led growth, the sales process for a highly technical product, the benefits of having a free plan, and more.

These days, you can talk with the digital things around you, like voice assistants and chatbots. How are these experiences designed? Our guest today is Rebecca Evanhoe, co-author of Conversations with Things. You’ll learn about the four pillars of conversational design, what prototyping looks like for this field, how to develop a personality for your voice application, and more.

Why do SaaS founders have a unique advantage at doing sales? In this episode, we talk to Josh Ho, founder and CEO of Referral Rock. You'll learn why you should lean into your founder superpowers, how to choose the right CRM, what to ask during a discovery call, and more.

How can a self-audit help you move forward in your design career? Our guest today is Rajeev Subramanian, founder of Shift UX. You’ll learn about the three stages of doing a self-audit, why it’s important to lean into a specific niche, how this process can help inform your job search strategies, and more.

How do you leverage monetization for growth? In this episode, we talk to John Kotowski, founder and CEO of Buyerson, Inc. You'll learn about the importance of identifying your buyer persona, the three growth tactics through monetization, who should own the pricing problem, and more.

How can you monetize your email list? Our guest today is Chase Dimond, email marketer and founder of multiple companies. You’ll learn how to grow your email list, why you should hyperfocus on your niche, how to run a paid newsletter, how to keep your email list clean, and more.

Can your roadmap be better than a traditional timeline? In this episode, we talk to Janna Bastow, co-founder of ProdPad. You'll learn why product teams are moving away from time-based roadmaps, how this framework allows flexibility, and why it’s okay to apply only some parts of a methodology based on your situation.

What’s the best way to drive product engagement without getting in the user’s way? Our guest today is Pulkit Agrawal, co-founder and CEO of Chameleon. You’ll learn why less is more in onboarding, practical tips on how to conduct A/B testing of your onboarding process, why it’s important to understand the pain point from the user perspective, and more.

What is employee experience, and how does it affect the downstream user experience? Our guest today is Jen Briselli, chief design strategy officer at Mad*Pow. You’ll learn about the components of employee experience, why organizations should care to improve it, how to map the ecosystem through a service design lens, and more.

How do you find that elusive product-market fit? In this episode, we talk to Andrew Reifman, co-founder and chief product officer at Makeswift. You'll learn why you need to get your product out there as early as possible, how to follow your gut feel in finding the fit, why you should focus on your core product, and more.

What is customer experience, and why does it involve a multi-disciplinary team? Our guest today is Gene Lee, the Chief Experience Officer at Mailchimp. You’ll learn about the “bookends” and curating touchpoints in the customer journey, conducting experience reviews, using Voice of the Customer data to prioritize roadmaps, and more.

How do you conduct a survey-based research project? In this episode, we talk to Becky Lawlor, founder of Sparkifico. You'll learn about the benefits of doing research content, how to identify the angle for your research, what to include when identifying your audience, tools that you can use for conducting the survey, and more.

How do we bring fun into our work and design? Our guest today is Rafa Conde, founding designer at Along Video. You’ll learn strategies on how to design freely within bounds, elements of design that contribute to delight, tips on how to manage time with the goal of enjoyment, and more.

How do we make the most of our data in Google Analytics? It’s free and extremely powerful, but also intimidating. In this episode, we talk to Julian Juenemann, founder of MeasureSchool and a Google Analytics expert. You'll learn how Google Analytics has evolved over the years, the benefits of organizing your data, tips when using Google's entire suite of data tools, and more.

How can we design effectively for stressful situations, like life and death ones? Our guest today is Katie Swindler, design strategist at Allstate. You’ll learn the role of human intuition in high-stress situations, how to use visuals and sounds in life and death design, what situations warrant special design decisions, and more.

Today we have another episode of Better Done Than Perfect. Listen in as we talk with John Doherty, a serial entrepreneur and founder of Credo and EditorNinja. You'll learn why you should first focus on the supplier side, how to reduce friction for all parties, tips for scaling marketplaces, and more.

Can play and delight be an afterthought? Or must they be integral to a product from day one? Our guest today is Richard Ward, chief design officer at Otter.ai. You'll learn how to balance designing for delight and utility, how to bring joy to product users, ways to get design inspiration, and more.

Today we have another episode of Better Done Than Perfect. Listen in as we talk with Steffen Hedebrandt, co-founder and CMO of Dreamdata. You'll learn about the typical customer journeys in B2B SaaS, which channels are the easiest to measure, tips for running marketing experiments, and more.

Can designers succeed in managing products? Is it a natural path forward? Our guest today is Christian Crumlish, product consultant and the author of Product Management for UX People. You'll learn how product managers benefit from UX knowledge, how and when startups should focus on their PM efforts, tips for learning product management as a designer, and more.

Today we have another episode of Better Done Than Perfect. Listen in as we talk with Pawel Grabowski, SEO strategist and founder of Smashing Copy. You'll learn why SEO strategy and content strategy are interchangeable in the context of SaaS, how to approach keyword research, practical tips for improving your content, and more.

Today we explore “the allied teams” model, which combines the benefits of a design agency and an in-house team. Our guest is Anthony Armendariz, co-founder and head of design at Funsize. You'll learn how Anthony finds designers in a competitive hiring landscape, why enterprise clients still value agency work, what team structures work best within large companies, and more.

Today we have another episode of Better Done Than Perfect. Listen in as we talk with Alan Silvestri, founder of Growth Gorilla and expert in link building. You'll learn how to keep up with your SEO competitors, how to estimate the quantity and types of links you will need, strategies for link building outreach, tools of the trade, and more.

Why do UX writers still use different words to describe their own craft? Our guest today is Yuval Keshtcher, founder of UX Writing Hub. You'll learn how this ecosystem operates, what companies are leading the way with their guides, numerous books and resources to help with UX writing and content design, and more.

Today we have another episode of Better Done Than Perfect. Listen in as we talk with Chris Silvestri, copywriter, designer, and founder of Conversion Alchemy. You'll learn the strategies to increase conversions on landing pages and blog posts, the power of heatmaps and usability testing, resources for further CRO learning, and more.

How can you make the most of your customer interviews? Our guest today is Michele Hansen, co-founder of Geocodio and author of Deploy Empathy. You'll learn how to get started with customer development, how to incentivize users to participate in interviews, how to structure your calls, and more.

How can UX designers position themselves to land the best suitable roles? Our guest today is Sarah Doody, UX researcher, designer and founder of Career Strategy Lab. You'll learn what companies look for when they are hiring designers, tips for crafting your portfolio, creative ways to scope projects before starting, and more.

How can asynchronous conversations help us achieve work goals? Our guest today is Brian Casel, founder of ZipMessage. You'll learn why async is so important for remote workers, how it can improve your hiring process, where realtime calls still work better, and more.

Today we have another episode of Better Done Than Perfect. Listen in as we talk with Noah Bragg, founder of Potion. You'll learn about the benefits of building in public, practical tips for producing video content, strategies for posting on social media, and more.

What do traditional product funnels have to offer? Our guest today is Rachel Obstler, VP of product at Heap. You'll learn about the shortcomings of product funnels, how granular product data can unlock opportunities, common data science challenges, and more.

Today we have another episode of Better Done Than Perfect. Listen in as we talk with Ekaterina Howard, a conversion copywriter and strategist. You'll learn about common SaaS copywriting crimes, how to be consistent with your messaging, how to research for the voice of the customer, how to utilize long-form content, and more.

What frameworks can we use to guide better conversations? Our guest today is Daniel Stillman, conversation designer and executive coach. You'll learn about several conversational modes, why it is important to have conversations with ourselves, how mentorship is different from coaching, and more.

Today we have another episode of Better Done Than Perfect. Listen in as we talk with Nicole Kow, a B2B marketing consultant and content strategist. You'll learn how to avoid a common content strategy pitfall for many companies, tips for content research, resources for improving writing, and more.

How much work goes into organizing a successful meetup? Our guest today is Jon Setzen, creative director at Kandji and former host of CreativeMornings LA. You'll learn how to handle meetup logistics, why great volunteers are essential, how to set speakers up for success, and more.

Today we have another episode of Better Done Than Perfect. Listen in as we talk with Kieran Tie, founder of Chatty, the editorial service. You'll learn the different types of editing, negative writing habits to avoid, how to make niche technical content more appealing, and more.

How can design systems help us build products more efficiently? Our guest today is Pek Pongpaet, founder of Impekable, an award-winning agency. You'll learn the importance of design systems, why documentation for these systems is important, how to organize design components, and more.

Today we have another episode of Better Done Than Perfect. Listen in as we talk with Marc Thomas, head of growth at Powered by Search. You'll learn why positioning is crucial for your SaaS business, the step-by-step framework for defining your positioning statement, some examples of SaaS positioning, and more.

How can object-oriented UX help designers solve complex product problems? Our guest today is Sophia Prater, UX designer and coach specializing in OOUX. You’ll learn why object-oriented thinking is well-suited for design processes, how a shared vocabulary enables collaboration, practical mapping tips, and more.

Today we have another episode of Better Done Than Perfect. Listen in as we talk with Karl Hughes, founder of Draft.dev. You'll learn how to scale content for different goals, the editorial process he follows at his agency, tips for content promotion, and more.

Can designers make an impact as startup advisors instead of providing capital? Our guest is Brian Lovin, founder of Staff Design and product designer at GitHub. You’ll learn how Brian invests in companies with design expertise instead of capital, why design advisory is helpful to startups, lessons that Brian has learned in the process, and more.

Today we have another episode of Better Done Than Perfect. Listen in as we talk with Cassidy "Cassidoo" Williams, developer and content creator. You'll learn what equipment and tools Cassidy uses for streaming, tips on how to get started, different approaches to handling the live chat, and more.