How research powers strategy across the product lifecycle
Why top orgs take a research-led approach to strategy
“Strategic research” is often too narrowly defined as the foundational and discovery methods that occur early in the product design lifecycle. That limited view of research’s connection to product strategy undercuts its impact.
Research doesn’t just inform what to build (i.e., strategy formation); it lends to prioritization, ensures execution aligns with vision, de-risks launch decisions, and measures performance. In high-functioning product orgs, research powers strategy across the entire product design lifecycle (PDLC).
When research is embedded across the PDLC, strategy becomes clearer, execution improves, and product moves faster with less risk and better results. That’s not just good for researchers; it’s a competitive advantage for any organization serious about building the right things and making them work.
What we really mean by “product strategy” and how research fits into the loop
There’s a problem with the way practitioners talk about product strategy and research. Too often, foundational discovery methods are called “strategic,” implying that other methods are inherently not-strategic?
First, let’s get concrete about product strategy: Depending on who you go to, they’ll define product strategy a little bit differently, but generally, it is a comprehensive plan for a digital product that includes how the product will achieve a business’s goals, deliver user value, and do so feasibly. That’s not just a roadmap or a prioritized set of features; it is a set of decisions (e.g., defining clear goals, understanding target audiences, choosing the right digital channels, prioritizing initiatives that align user experience with business objectives) that help a digital product compete, deliver value, and evolve over time.
Other authors have argued that common distinctions between “strategic” and “tactical” research are artificial boundaries and that we ought to frame the strategic value of research by its scope rather than its method.
I agree with them, and I’ll take it a step further: These labelings and misconceptions overlook the fact that neither product research nor product strategy is a distinct phase; both exist in harmony throughout the product development lifecycle (PDLC).
Generally, we can break the PDLC into three broad phases:
Discovery - Gain a deep understanding of the problem space, frame opportunities, and identify what to build.
Design - Design solutions based on information from discovery. Test and iterate to deliver experiences that are effective, desirable, and viable.
Measure - Evaluate the effectiveness of solutions based on data, feedback, and real-world use to optimize the experience and inform future builds.
Product strategy decisions and product research that empower this decision-making occur at all three stages of this development lifecycle.
Discovery: Clarifying the problem space and defining opportunity
The discovery phase of the product development lifecycle focuses on gaining a deep understanding of the problem space and identifying what to build.
In terms of product strategy, these activities fall under what we’d call strategy formation. This is where we define the foundation of a digital strategy: shaping the positioning of a product, clarifying our problem space, aligning business goals to user needs, identifying market gaps, and assessing competitive advantages.
Discovery phase research identifies user needs and pain points, explores potential solutions, and informs prioritization decisions, all of which shape strategy formation. Research-led strategy formation comes with the benefits of validating that there are real problems worth solving, uncovering unmet needs or underserved segments, and setting early strategic direction based on evidence, not assumptions.
To achieve this research-led approach, teams typically employ methods like in-depth interviews, surveys, ethnography, social listening, prioritization studies (e.g., Kano), diary studies, and key driver analyses. For example, imagine a hotel chain in a discovery phase. They might conduct diary studies with frequent travelers to understand the end-to-end travel experience, from booking to check-in, and even the return home. Insights from this research might highlight that one of the top moments-that-matter for business travelers is check-in. This finding might help define a key pillar in the product’s strategic direction.
Design: Keeping execution aligned with vision
After discovery comes the design phase, where we build product solutions, translating strategic intent into specific designs, all while balancing ambition with feasibility. This phase typically includes frequent cycles of iteration, creating and testing design ideas to see how they hold up when presented to real users.
While the discovery phase is where we formulate product strategy, the design phase is where it is executed. But things don’t always go as planned; the iterative nature of this phase gives teams the opportunity to adjust direction and course-correct strategy. This is where research plays a critical role.
Research in the design phase powers strategy by helping teams identify what’s working and what isn’t. It tests whether strategy holds up under real conditions, de-risks the development process by catching issues before they go into code, and produces insights and recommendations for iteration.
Teams often rely on several different methods here, including usability testing, card sorting, tree testing, concept tests, accessibility reviews, first-click tests, five-second tests, and heuristic evaluations.
Imagine an enterprise SaaS platform that has historically focused solely on operations managers. Their new strategic objective is to expand adoption within existing accounts by supporting a second key user type: finance analysts, who need visibility into operations data for budget forecasting. The design team builds an interactive prototype of a new “Finance View” tailored to analysts’ needs. Research can reveal many different findings that would steer strategy:
If finance users find the tools clear and useful, that may signal that the strategic expansion can work.
If analysts express confusion, skepticism, or mistrust in the data, the team may need to revisit assumptions or even question whether this user type is a viable strategic target.
If operations managers feel the changes disrupt their workflow, the team might revise how the new finance functionality is surfaced, for fear of alienating their core.
In short, design research doesn’t just tweak UI elements; it keeps execution strategically aligned.
Measure: Tracking performance and learning what’s next
Once product changes are live, we enter the measurement phase, where we evaluate how well solutions fare in the real world. In this phase, we assess product effectiveness based on feedback and usage data to optimize the current experience and inform future product direction.
Strategically, the measurement phase serves two key purposes:
Assessing results against strategic goals. Through product feedback and usage data, we can evaluate whether the outcomes we’re seeing align with what the strategy set out to achieve.
Determining what’s next. Measurement activities help shape both short-term updates and long-term product direction, including new opportunity areas that will drive the next cycle of discovery and strategy formation.
Measurement research gives teams the visibility into product performance needed to make these strategic decisions. To support this, teams rely on methods such as usability benchmarking, A/B testing, competitive UX analysis, live intercept surveys, and in-product behavioral data.
Imagine a travel booking company that conducts a competitive usability benchmark of its booking flow. The findings reveal that a key competitor excels in one area: pricing transparency. Their design communicates costs, fees, and taxes upfront, significantly increasing user trust and loyalty. This insight leads to immediate product optimizations, such as redesigning the pricing summary in the booking flow. But it also informs broader strategic direction; the company may decide to revisit pricing policies and make transparency a core pillar of its value proposition.
In short, measurement research powers strategy by helping track performance and shape what’s next.
The bottom line
Research powers product strategy throughout the entire product development lifecycle, shaping what to build, how to build it, and how to evolve it. Organizations that embed research across all phases of the PDLC have a significant competitive advantage, building the right things faster with less risk and better performance.
Researchers should learn to articulate the strategic value of their work at every stage of the PDLC
Product teams should invest in research across the entire lifecycle to ensure that strategy is formulated, executed, and assessed on evidence
Executives should champion research in strategic decision points, requiring evidence-based backing for product bets from kickoff through key milestones.