User research candidates from anonymous data
Background
Since we collect more data on Sourcegraph Cloud than self-hosted, this means we have the ability to segment users more granularly for user research. For example, we could retrieve the top 100 users of feature x, or get all users who performed a search but did not install the browser extension.
Principles
A couple thoughts from teammates on what to think about when considering whether a segment of users is okay to reach out to:
- If it’s information that we can reasonably expect that our users will know we have access to, all good. If it’s information that our users might not conceptualize we’d have access to, then we should reconsider.
- Would any member of our team have trouble defending our practices in a public space? At a high level, what is being requested here seems fine to me (if we’re not worried about cloud user emails being shared, and assuming the users have opted in to emails if necessary, etc.).
Legalities
Cloud
We can reach out to individual cloud users who are not a part of a Cloud organization because individual users agree to our Privacy Policy when they sign up. Our Privacy Policy allows us to reach out to users for marketing purposes and product improvement purposes.
To reach out to individuals who are part of a Cloud organization, we need to check with their admin or contact for their written consent.
Process
If you have a segment of users you’d like to reach out to (most commonly on Amplitude, where we have all emails hidden), please follow the guidelines on how to work with the Data & Analytics team.