Research, wherever the question leads.
I’m a research and insights generalist with 10+ years of experience across customer, market and product research.
I work across quantitative and qualitative methods, tackling questions from market opportunity and go-to-market strategy to customer behaviour and product development.
I’ve spent much of my career as the only researcher or as part of a small team, working across product, marketing, commercial and leadership teams.
That means getting close to different parts of the business, understanding the decisions they’re facing, and shaping the research around what they actually need to know.
It’s made me a curious, method-agnostic researcher. I care more about finding the right way to answer a question than fitting it neatly into a particular research discipline.
Markets & Opportunities
I help teams understand new and changing markets, from identifying opportunities to learning what customers need and how those needs differ from one market to another.
Market entry · Gap analysis · GTM· Thought leadership · Global research
Products & Experiences
I work with product teams to understand customer needs, explore new ideas and evaluate experiences, bringing research into discovery through development.
Discovery · Concept testing · Usability testing · Product development
Customer Behaviour
I dig into who customers are - both B2C and B2B - to uncover what drives their choices, building a clearer picture of the differences that matter to the business.
Segmentation · JTBD · Journeys · Personas · Analytics · Satisfaction/NPS · Customer panels
Research Foundations
I build the practical foundations that make good research possible, particularly for teams introducing research for the first time or looking for a more sustainable way to do it.
Research ops · Research strategy · Procurement · Tools & processes
Raised in Scotland, PhD'd in Canada, built my career with North American companies… now home to complain about the weather.
Open to new roles or consulting projects
Lesley@lesleydeas.com
Projects
MARKET & CUSTOMER UNDERSTANDING
Understanding the shoppers behind two markets
Independently ran two large-scale segmentation studies across Canada and the US, building a fresh understanding of existing customers and wider market potential.
Segmentation · JTBD · Journeys · Personas
GLOBAL DESIGN RESEARCH
Reimagining a global travel brochure
Using traveller and travel-agent research to redesign a key purchase touchpoint for customers around the world.
B2B + B2C · Mixed methods · Continuous research
B2B & SAAS PRODUCT STRATEGY
Bringing B2B customers into the product roadmap
Interviewed 40 retailers in three weeks to bring customer evidence into the roadmap for a new B2B SaaS product.
B2B interviews · Product development · SaaS
PRODUCT DECISIONS
Testing a high-stakes product decision
Bringing customer evidence into an executive decision about integrating two products, with retention and CX at stake.
User research · Product strategy · Mixed methods
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Turning research into a market point of view
Using original research to uncover emerging shopper trends and create evidence for industry thought leadership.
Market research · B2B · Executive insight
RESEARCH FOUNDATIONS
Building research from the ground up
Introducing research across four European markets where teams had no existing customer evidence or research infrastructure.
International research · Research operations