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This is the Quick-Start Guide to the Grand Studio UX Research Business Impact Calculator. Here, we'll walk you through how to:
In order to use this calculator, simply select the metric that seems most relevant for your project and stakeholder needs. You will need to fill out every input field and click calculate to see your metric-level impact.
Some metrics will already have industry default values applied. These can be changed if you have a better number.
Not every metric can be used at once, otherwise you're at risk of double counting your research impact. There is a logic built into the calculator that will disable certain metrics if others are selected. To use the disabled metrics, simply deselect your conflicting metric.
All selected and completed metrics will count towards your Estimated Total Impact Number. This is how much money you will have saved your client by doing this research.
Some metrics will ask you to input your sized research insights. More detail in the next section.
We know that not all research insights are created equal. Some point to massive, structural changes needed, while others might point to simple UI/UX changes. In order to use many of the formulas, you will need to size your accepted research insights.
Note: not every metric requires research sizing, it all depends on your project!
What does accepted mean? It means a research insight that your stakeholders have agreed with and committed to as part of their tasks, roadmaps, or to do's. You'll have to use your best judgement as to what insights were accepted.
This table below shows you how to size your insights. Remember, you only need to do this with your accepted insights — not all of them.
| Recommendation Complexity | Examples |
|---|---|
| Tiny | Copy, labels, helper text, icons, visual polish |
| Small | Simple UI adjustment, navigation tweak, button placement |
| Medium | Single interaction improvement, component redesign, filtering / sorting behavior, one-step workflow refinement |
| Large | Multi-step workflow improvement, new interaction pattern, one screen redesign, dashboard refinement |
| Very Large | New workflow, several connected screens, significant business logic changes, AI interaction redesign |
| Epic | New objective, major AI capability, end-to-end journey redesign, cross-functional process change |
| Initiative | Product or platform initiative requiring decomposition into multiple epics or releases |
Similar to how our research insights can have different levels of impact, our projects have different levels of complexity that change the cost of things like story points. For any fields where you are required to input project complexity, you can reference the descriptions below:
Stakeholders will likely have questions about where the research impact numbers came from. It's understandable! Research usually isn't calculated in this way, and business stakeholders want to be able to justify what we present to their leadership.
To help with this, each metric has sources linked where you can find how and why those formulas and/or industry default values were decided on. Each one of these formulas is a typical industry-standard type of formula — we've just adapted them to reflect what we are delivering and have the most transparency over: our research insights.
You can share the results via email, or download a PDF, CSV, or PPT file of your total research impact.
Pick the metric that matches what your research actually changed.
If you only need a quick, standard figure, or you don't have much data yet, use ROI. It needs just the cost of the research.
Use this decision tree to help you identify your ideal metric quickly.
Use this table to confirm your choice and see what you'll need before you start. "Sized research insights" refers to a Grand Studio method of counting your accepted research insights by size, from Tiny to Initiative. The Quick Start Guide will explain how.
| Metric | Choose it when | You'll need |
|---|---|---|
ROI Industry Standard Metric |
You want a quick, standard estimate or have little other data. E.g., a stakeholder wants one number and you only know the research budget. | The cost of the research |
Support Cost Reduction UX Research Adapted Metric |
People need help less often, so there are fewer tickets and calls. E.g., a clearer checkout means fewer customers contact support. | Current customer support volume, your sized insights, expected reduction % of customer service interactions (industry default is 20%) |
Channel Shift Cost-to-Serve Reduction Industry Standard Metric |
Contacts move to a cheaper channel. E.g., a chatbot now answers questions agents used to handle by phone. | Number of contacts moved from an old channel to a new channel measured in tickets, cost per contact in the old and new channel |
Employee Productivity Industry Standard Metric |
Staff finish tasks they already do faster. E.g., a simpler claims tool lets staff process each claim faster. | Number of employees, how often they do the task, time saved, blended hourly rate of all employees doing the task |
Time-to-Market Acceleration UX Research Adapted Metric |
Up front research cut design and build iteration loops, so the product ships sooner. E.g., the team got it right the first time and launched a month early. | Your sized research insights, daily team cost, amount of time saved in days (industry defaults are applied) |
Error Reduction Industry Standard Metric |
Research prevents costly mistakes, audit issues, or delays. E.g., fixing a confusing form step stopped frequent data-entry errors. | Number of errors prevented, cost per error |
Developer Hours Saved Industry Standard Metric |
Developers avoid rework and wasted effort. E.g., design questions settled early meant screens rarely had to be rebuilt. | Blended hourly rate, number of developers, average working hours, rework rate, and efficiency gain (industry defaults are applied) |
Release Penalty UX Research Adapted Metric |
Problems are caught before launch instead of fixed after. E.g., usability testing found major issues before a feature was built. | Your sized research insights, project complexity level, story point cost (industry default is applied) |
User Adoption and Time-to-Value Acceleration UX Research Adapted Metric |
Staff adopt an internal tool sooner and fewer abandon it. E.g., a new dashboard got picked up quickly instead of ignored. | Total users, % of early adopters, your sized research insights, hourly rate, time lost (industry defaults are applied) |
If a metric is greyed out in the calculator, it's to prevent double counting your research impact. Deselect the conflicting metric to use it. Some conflicting metrics: