Celebrating Yagmur Erten: A Look at the Accomplishments of a Trailblazing UX Researcher

Hi Yagmur, tell us a little about yourself and what you do.

Hello! I'm Yagmur Erten and am a user researcher with a background in behavioral psychology and business management. I love working at the intersection of data and storytelling and enjoy discovering insights and discovering the obvious. After graduating from college and struggling to find my passion, I ran into the field of UX Research through a project I participated in while working at UberEATS. I then attended the HCID master’s program at the University of Washington, where I learned how to blend knowledge of human behavior with my creative passion to help create influential, meaningful, and beautiful products for all users.

I currently work at BuzzFeed as a Sr UX Researcher. When I am not UX-ing, I love spending time with my dog Bimini and discovering new restaurants and speakeasies.

How did you get into UX Research?

My journey to UX research occurred naturally. Before I fully understood what UX research entailed, I found myself interested in improving the experiences of people through product design or system improvements. Throughout my career in tech, I have held various roles, but my psychology background led me to find joy in engaging with end users. As I gained more experience in the field, I realized the importance of involving end users in the product development process rather than making assumptions about how they would use or appreciate the existing products.

I also enjoyed learning about their backgrounds, understanding their experiences, and observing how they adapted the products into their everyday lives. I have always had a natural inclination towards conversations and believe that this career is well-suited for me because I am genuinely interested in others' stories. This motivation led me to start my career as a UX researcher.

What career advice would you give to UX Researcher who are just starting their careers?

If you are starting a career in UX research, I recommend focusing on developing non-technical skills such as the ability to provide business impact through effective storytelling of your research. Storytelling is a vital but often overlooked skill for UX researchers. The way you present your research findings has the power to shape business decision making and influence stakeholders.

In my view, a good researcher doesn't just involve conducting high-quality research, but also knowing how to present that research in a way that drives change in product development and business decisions. Therefore, I recommend not only acquiring specific degrees or technical knowledge, but also developing your business and storytelling skills to effectively convey the behaviors and attitudes of end users.

Tell us more about your role as a Sr UX Researcher at BuzzFeed.

When I first started at BuzzFeed, there was no dedicated UX researcher, so I was a team of one. This meant that I had to build the user research practice from scratch and introduce UX research to all of the product teams on my own. As the only member of the research team, I was responsible for the research operations processes as well as conducting research studies.

One of my first tasks was to explore the previously conducted research and the inventory of research (which was mainly managed by designers and product managers) and create a research repository to centralize and make research accessible. I also prioritized meeting with different product teams to understand their projects, working relationships and styles, and the need for user research. I introduced user research to the teams and familiarized myself with their projects. I try to do this periodically with all of the teams that I support. We also collaborate on user research kickoff workshops to identify the stakeholders' user questions and prioritize our focus on the research study. My goal for UX research at BuzzFeed is to turn this process into a systematic cycle to integrate strategic research initiatives into product development.

While being a solo researcher provided me with a lot of freedom to set up my own frameworks, it also put a lot of pressure on me to deliver inspiring research and compelling stories. I had to ensure that the product teams understood the value of UX research and were willing to incorporate research insights into their product decisions. Fortunately, the teams were mostly aware of the value of UX research and excited to learn more through user research.