UX Research · B2B SaaS · Mixed Methods · Behavioral Analytics · Research Operations
Client
Staffing Referrals
Role
UX Researcher
DELIVERABLES
Research synthesis & recommendations
Findings
Confidential
Research Approach — Sequential Phases
The Challenge
Staffing Referrals is the #1 referral platform for staffing agencies. The platform serves four personas, admins, recruiters, ambassadors, and candidates, each with different workflows, motivations, and relationships to the product.
The core research priority was recruiter adoption. Early behavioral analysis flagged ambassador activity as a factor in recruiter experience, so the scope expanded to keep both in view rather than treat recruiter friction in isolation.
Designing the research itself was part of the work. Four personas with different access patterns and different willingness to engage meant no single method would reach all of them, and the people most affected by adoption friction were the least likely to respond to outreach. The research used a sequence of methods, with each phase building on what the previous one had shown.
Each method was chosen to reveal what a given persona could uniquely show or say.
Strategy
Behavioral analysis came first to map how each persona interacted with the product and establish a baseline before interview questions were written. It also reached all four personas without depending on participation, which mattered given the recruiter response patterns the later phases would confirm.
Phase 2 — Recruiter Survey, Market Reviews, and Interviews
The thin recruiter footprint in HotJar was what prompted Phase 2. Behavioral data alone wasn't going to be enough to understand recruiter experience, so the work expanded to three sources of self-report.
A survey went to active platform users to capture articulated friction across the recruiter base. Market reviews pulled recruiter feedback from external review sites and forums as additional input. In-depth interviews followed with recruiters willing to engage, going deeper into the patterns from the survey and review data.
Recruiter response rates to direct outreach were low across two rounds. The three sources together gave the phase reach the interviews alone couldn't have provided.
Phase 3 — Competitive Benchmarking
With ambassador activity flagged as a factor in recruiter experience, competitive benchmarking turned to referral programs running outside the staffing category. Ten companies were analyzed, a mix of B2C and B2B. The analysis looked at how each handled referral CTA placement, reward structure, sharing methods, and dashboards.
The output was a swipe file of patterns and opportunities, which fed into the broader set of recommendations alongside the survey, market reviews, and interviews. With ambassador research in hand, the next phase returned to recruiters.
10 companies. B2C and B2B. Because referral motivation is a human pattern, not an industry-specific one.
Phase 4 — Recruiter Interviews, Round 2
The first round of recruiter interviews directed the following round to focus more deeply on workflows. Four interviews were conducted, exploring what recruiters prioritized in their day-to-day work. The interviews, alongside the other phases, pointed to communications as an area worth examining. A notifications audit became the next phase.
PHASE 5 — COMMUNICATIONS AUDIT
The notifications audit covered roughly 40 communications across the four audiences. Each was reviewed and streamlined to be more efficient and actionable, stripping unnecessary or competing elements so the user's next single action was clear. Related communications were evaluated together for consistency across the set, and the redesigned communications were matched to the platform's new branding.
This phase prioritized the messages users encountered most often and those carrying the highest risk of introducing friction. The deliverable was a redesigned set of communications, accompanied by a spreadsheet of decisions and rationale.
Outcome
The engagement covered five phases of research across four personas, beginning with behavioral analysis of platform usage and ending with a notifications audit and redesign. Communications emerged as a point of friction across research and leadership's standing concerns, which directed Phase 5 to address it across the full audience set.
Findings are confidential at the client's request. Research design and method selection are available in full.
The deliverables are currently under leadership review.