A Lightweight, Continuous User Research Loop at NAVIT
NAVIT is a startup that helps companies offer flexible mobility benefits to their employees. As the platform scaled, there was still no structured way to collect and act on user feedback. I saw an opportunity to bridge this gap with a process that balanced structure and approachability—making research feel natural and doable, even in a resource-strapped environment.
Within six months, the loop helped double our NPS (22.7 → 44.0) and raise the App Store rating from 3.1 to 4.8 stars, proving that even small, consistent research can drive meaningful change.
This case study shows how I designed and ran a lightweight, continuous research loop for end users (B2E) at NAVIT—blending systems thinking with a human-centered approach to make feedback part of our monthly rhythm, without burning time or budget.
The Challenge
When I joined NAVIT, UX maturity was low and the product team was essentially flying blind. There was:
No structured user research process
No analytics or usage tracking in the app
No feedback loops beyond customer support tickets
As a result, product decisions were made with limited end-user (B2E) insight—risking wasted effort and misaligned features. My first assignment was to implement NPS tracking, but I saw an opportunity to go further.
The Goal
Introduce a lean, repeatable feedback loop that fits within:
A small startup team
No dedicated researcher or analytics tools
A product team eager for guidance but limited on time
What I Built: A Monthly Research Cycle
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Week 1: Gather Contacts & Outreach
Pull NPS data from the past month, focusing on detractors (0–6)
Segment users from high-priority companies (based on account size)
Automate outreach on first Monday via Zapier (Google Forms + Email)
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Week 2: Interviews & reminders
Conduct 30-min interviews via Google Meet (recorded and transcribed automatically)
Summarize calls with ChatGPT and Notion AI, review and add personal notes
Offer users the choice of a 30-min call or email-based feedback
Send reminders and ask about interest in future usability tests
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Week 3: Interviews & start analysis
Continue interviews and summaries
Follow up to probe deeper with email responders
Start grouping feedback into categories and patterns
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Week 4: Analyze & Share
Tag key insights (e.g., “confusing payment,” “unclear benefit value”)
Group patterns → generate 2–4 key takeaways
Visualize pain points with lightweight charts + suggest solutions
Present to the team a concise readout of monthly findings
Add everything to the Monthly Insights repository in Notion, shared with the whole company
“I’m happy you are reaching out... A lot of companies say they listen to their users but don’t really do it.”
— User, as they greeted me on a call
Closing the Internal Loop
To make sure user feedback didn’t stop at reports, I built continuous communication channels between Product, Support, and Customer Success so real user pain points fed directly into our design backlog and prioritization.
This included regular syncs and a simple ritual: I ran a short user test with new joiners during their first days at the company. New employees were first-time users — their fresh perspective helped surface obvious usability issues quickly, and the sessions doubled as a hands-on onboarding for them.
This combination of external feedback (user interviews) and internal loops (cross-team collaboration) ensured that every month’s insights translated into tangible product changes rather than sitting in a Notion database.
Impact
The loop proved lightweight enough to run consistently, yet powerful enough to shift how NAVIT made product decisions. We saw measurable results:
Product impact
NPS doubled in six months: 22.73 → 44.03
App Store rating climbed from 3.1 → 4.8 stars
Surfaced and prioritized fixes to critical issues (e.g. confusing ticket pricing, onboarding friction) that directly improved adoption and satisfaction
Maintained continuous visibility into recurring pain points (e.g. Deutschlandticket errors, unclear benefit value, NPS labels), reducing blind spots
Team impact
Replaced “loudest voice wins” prioritization with evidence from a reliable monthly user pulse
Shifted focus toward the core user journey, instead of scattering effort on one-off requests
Accelerated decision-making: interviews and readouts distilled into digestible patterns + charts, rather than word of mouth
Business impact
Identified upsell opportunities (e.g. bike leasing demand informed sales outreach to specific accounts)
Prevented benefit churn by showing employers that employees valued mobility card and ticket features once usability issues were addressed
Equipped the sales team with authentic customer quotes and insights, strengthening NAVIT’s customer-centric narrative
Process & organizational impact
Established NAVIT’s first research repository in Notion, tagged by themes and visualized with lightweight charts—making feedback accessible beyond the product team
Created a sustainable, no-budget system: 7–9 hours/month with free or existing tools (Zapier, Notion, Google Meet, ChatGPT summaries)
Amplified B2E feedback across the B2B2E workflow, helping stakeholders trust that decisions were aligned with real employee needs
Documented the process in a lightweight research playbook and trained team members, ensuring continuity and scalability of the feedback loop
Normalized research as a monthly habit rather than an ad-hoc activity, embedding customer-centricity into the culture
Deliverables & Documentation
User Feedback Repository: a tagged database of user interviews summaries
Monthly Research Reports: digestible readouts shared with the team
Research Playbook: step-by-step guide for running the loop sustainably
Why It Worked
No additional budget required—leveraging existing tools, a systems mindset, and a friendly, consistent presence to run the loop
Repeatable and fast: one person could run it in 7–9 hours/month
Insights informed roadmap decisions (e.g., improved offline access, clarified ticket pricing)
Refocused the team on the core user journey rather than chasing one-off requests
Ensured B2E voices were systematically heard in a B2B2E context, giving stakeholders confidence that product decisions truly reflected employee needs
Why This Process Matters
In early-stage startups, it’s easy to defer research. But a lightweight process like this:
Keeps end users part of every sprint
Avoids wasted effort
Visualizes user feedback to align the team around what truly matters to users, ultimately supporting revenue impact
How to Improve
Pilot bi-monthly follow-up surveys (qualitative + quantitative) to validate patterns identified in interviews. I was able to run this three times, demonstrating scalability for ongoing feedback
Add a toggleable recruitment banner on the app homepage for interview or usability test sign-ups
Establish a “preferred tester club” with small incentives to encourage repeat participation
Combine qualitative feedback with analytics for smarter prioritization
Leverage ChatGPT + Zapier integration to automate reminders, emailing only users who haven’t responded
This ongoing loop only works when users feel comfortable and the system behind it stays lean. By combining human rapport with operational thinking, research became a sustainable habit at NAVIT—not a one-off initiative.