I have fallen upward on the corporate ladder and have been promoted to be a UXR manager for the first time in my life. I will likely have between 1-3 independent contributor UXRs reporting to me soon. If you believe in any higher diety, please pray for me and those hired to work under me in the corporate ladder as I get my bearings, oh internet stranger.

I’ve had a few different UXR managers/directors over the years and I’ve learned vastly different lessons from each one. Each took drastically different approaches to leadership, research craft, and mentoring others. I figure I’ll also develop my own unique approach over time, but until then I need to start somewhere! My company is small and is offering no training, no professional development, or anything other than a “We believe in you! You can do it!”. Additionally, I’m still expected to maintain my IC workload while being a manager, which I expect to be a challenge I need to work through, albeit definitely not a unique one.

What would YOU say makes a good UXR manager? A bad one? Any standout amazing things your manager did for you that built confidence or propelled your growth as a researcher (or even just growth as a human)? Or anything a manager has done that I should definitely avoid?

I am part of a small health tech startup doing at-home blood testing. A clinician comes to your home for the draw, and results arrive in an app.

We want to understand two things:

- How the service itself felt (booking, the home visit, wait time for results)

- Whether people actually understood their results and felt they could act on them

So far we've tried offering Amazon gift card in exchange of feedback but response rates have been really low.

For anyone who's built something where the customer experience is personal or sensitive:

- What methods actually got people to respond? (in-app prompts, calls, texts, something else?)

- Did product-based rewards (discounts, free add-ons) work better than cash or gift cards?

-Any tips for checking whether people understood something, beyond just asking if they liked it?

Thanks for all the help!