Siba Ghrear, PhD
I help you understand your customers, so you can grow with more confidence.
Here's what I do
I'm an independent research consultant based in Vancouver, working at the intersection of behavioral science and UX. Teams bring me in when they want real answers about their customers, grounded in what people actually do and say. Before you build, launch, or change something, I go talk to the people who'll actually use it, then bring back a clear picture of what's working, what's not, and what to do next.I've spent the past 12+ years doing research to understand people across a wide range of industries, automotive, insurance, financial services, e-commerce, healthcare, academia, and nonprofits, so I've seen how these problems show up in a lot of different businesses. I hold a PhD in Psychology from UBC and have published seven peer-reviewed papers, but day to day, what matters more is that I know how to get straight answers out of messy situations and explain them without the jargon.
Clients usually come to me with one of these:
Your customers aren't buying, signing up, or sticking around, and you're not sure why.You've got a few directions you could take, a product, a message, a concept, and you want to know which one is worth investing in before you commit.You want to understand what your customers actually need, instead of guessing.Your team already does research, but the process is ad hoc, and you want it to run smoother and produce clearer answers.If any of that sounds familiar, get in touch, a first conversation is free, and it'll tell us pretty quickly whether I can help.
Why customers were avoiding the contact form
A luxury auto brand came to us because people kept starting their contact form, then abandoning it right before hitting submit. The assumption going in was that the form itself was the problem, too long, too confusing, so the plan was to redesign it.We talked to customers instead of guessing. It turned out the form worked fine. The real issue was what submitting it felt like: handing control over to a dealership, and opening the door to calls and follow-ups they hadn't agreed to. People trust a process more when they feel like they're the one driving it, not the other way around.Once we knew that, we realized the fix was deeper than a simple redesign. It was about giving customers the same control they'd expect from a booking app. Let them choose the dealer, the time, and how they want to be contacted.A drop-off number can tell you that people are leaving. It can't tell you why, or what would make them stay. That part only comes from talking directly to your customers