#89 - UX Agencies: Setting Clients Up for Success with Karen VanHouten

Doing user research in an agency setting comes with its own set of challenges—from context switching to stubborn clients to less-than-optimal tool stacks.

Karen VanHouten, Director of Product Strategy at Philosophie by InfoBeans, spent most of her career in enterprise B2B before transitioning to agency life. In this podcast episode, Karen shared some great advice on setting expectations, fostering ongoing client relationships, and why she thinks more researchers should be involved in the sales cycle.

Episode highlights

• [00:01:29] Transitioning from enterprise B2B to agency life
• [00:03:05] The value of getting involved in the sales cycle as a researcher
• [00:06:04] Which clients does Karen not want to work with?
• [00:13:00] Setting clear client expectations
• [00:20:10] Why her team only uses essential tools
• [00:24:35] Building trust by saying “no”  
• [00:27:59] Finding your champion
• [00:33:14] Recruiting for client projects
• [00:37:54] Should you make the move to an agency?

Resources mentioned in this episode

• Kim Goodwin on stakeholder research
• Essential tools: Google Sheets, MURAL, Miro
• Just Enough Research, Erika Hall

About our guest

Karen VanHouten has over 20 years of experience as a UX professional and strategist, with a focus on B2B & SaaS. She uses human-centered design principles to build useful & accessible digital products and healthy and impactful product teams. Karen is currently the UX Practice Lead at TMG.