NetBase
Pro Research
How research turned “make it simpler” into a product that actually shipped.
One product, and only analysts could use it.
NetBase Enterprise could process billions of posts and slice sentiment a hundred ways — and that was exactly the problem. It was so dense that the analysts who ran it couldn’t hand anything off.
A marketer, a PR lead, or an executive who wanted a number had to route it back through the analyst— every time.
In different words, over and over: we need something simpler for the people who aren’t analysts.
Instant Search: “simple,” taken all the way.
One search box, modeled on Google. Type a phrase, get instant basic analytics back — no configuration, no learning curve. We demoed it at the company’s first user conference, and it landed.
Validated— the idea was right. But also too simple. We’d heard “easier to use” and sprinted straight to the far extreme.
ShareEnterprise data with the whole team — the handoff pain again. And modern visualizations, so they’d stop exporting into other tools just to make it look decent.
I wasn’t going to build a platform on a hunch.
Recruit early adopters
The people who praised Instant Search at the conference, plus our larger accounts — the likely first buyers.
Build ownership early
Pulling them into the process early made them feel ownership — and more likely to buy at launch.
Partner cross-functionally
Sales & CS opened the doors; marketing, who knew the competitive landscape cold, worked alongside me.
The hardest part wasn’t the users. It was the politics.
One team held the belief that salespeople were the onlypeople allowed to talk to clients — and I got completely shut out of recruiting on my own. Genuinely frustrating. But research access is a stakeholder problem, not a methods one.
A different job
Framed research as a different job than selling — not a threat to it.
Work it patiently
Kept at it until they agreed to simply make the introductions.
Run it unbothered
Then ran my sessions unbothered — access won, relationship intact.
Research access is a stakeholder-management problem as much as a methods problem. You solve it with patience, not just a protocol.
A sample built on purpose, not convenience.
Every axis of the sample was a deliberate choice — weighted toward the people Pro most needed to win.
Managers & executives — 8 of 13, the target
Deliberately weighted toward the buyers Pro had to reach.
Existing users vs. newcomers — 9 existing · 5 new
So I’d hear both the newcomer’s confusion and the veteran’s frustrations.
Gender mix — 8 men · 5 women
The composition wasn’t an accident; every axis was a decision.
Five gaps Enterprise had, and rivals didn’t.
Alongside the sessions, marketing and I ran competitive analysis. It surfaced a checklist that shaped every Pro decision that followed.
Onboarding
Easy onboarding & self-service.
Upgrade model
A freemium / premium upgrade path.
Analytics
Simple-but-meaningful analytics.
Export
Ease of export to other tools.
Visualizations
Polished visualizations.
Every one of these became a requirement Pro was measured against.
Who we were really designing for.
Out of the sessions I built five personas that anchored the design work. Four non-analyst personas Pro was built for — and, tellingly, the Analyst, who wanted Pro to exist so they could hand off the small stuff.
Active Social Listener
Non-analyst
Researcher
Non-analyst
Casual Explorer
Non-analyst
Executive
Target buyer
Analyst
Wanted Pro too
Each persona carried a verbatim quote that kept the handoff problem in front of us.
Two verbatim quotes carried the whole research.
“I ask the analyst to run reports for me because I don’t know how to use the system.”
— Listener, Researcher, Explorer, Exec
“It would be great if I had a tool I could give to people to do the small stuff so I can focus on the bigger questions.”
— The Analyst
Both sides of the handoff wanted the same product.
How might we…
It paid for itself immediately.
Dashboard, card concept, filter & search, Compare — each one answered a specific research finding, not a hunch. And it confirmed the commercial bet: a mid-tier product could win new business. Research de-risked the platform before a line of it was built.
Downstream proof — Pro shipped, went through a large-scale beta with three Fortune 500 companies, and drove those results in its first quarter on the market.
When a user says “make it simpler,” don’t sprint to the extreme. The product lives in the middle.
Ship, then listen
You only find the middle by shipping the extreme first, then listening honestly when users say you overshot.
Build on what they said
Every Pro feature traced back to a real research finding — not a hunch about what “simpler” meant.
Access is political
Getting to your users is a stakeholder-management problem you solve with patience, not just a methods one.