I have used UserTesting on research projects I have been on in the past where I have used this tool to conduct surveys, market research, user interviews and overall insights on a specific brand or product from diverse audiences.
Pros
Surveys
Diverse Audiences
Recording Features
Cons
Research Insights
Note Taking
AI features
Likelihood to Recommend
I think UserTesting is great if you want to connect to diverse audiences and get their real time feedback on a product service or brand
VU
Verified User
Project Manager in Marketing (Market Research company, 10,001+ employees)
I use it whenever I need quick user feedback to a certain redesign, or to current designs. Their feedback help me support some necessary improvements, and represent decisive feedback sometimes.
Pros
Get users for surveys
Feedback on online navigational issues
Getting a diverse pool of users
Cons
Highlight reels could have more editing features
The note snipped have a sharing option so people go there specifically and read the note
Overlay notes on video and not before video
Likelihood to Recommend
Well for testing prototypes and general interaction things. Not so well for very specific use cases where users need to be users of your product
Working in marketing, we use UserTesting to help us surface user pain points and feedback that are then fed back to our optimisation squads. The squads pick out these opportunities for testing and we a/b test hypotheses backed by user research which helps drive conversion rates. We also use UserTesting to conduct user research on prototypes to allow us to get early feedback and for designers to iterate on experiences before they've ever even launched on the website.
Pros
Multi-method studies
Visualising results
Centralised repository of research
Cons
AI functionality in UserTesting and EnjoyHQ
Participant quality in UserTesting
Better recruitment numbers for niche profiles
Likelihood to Recommend
We're currently using the UserTesting and EnjoyHQ platforms and we love the integrations between them. UserTesting allows us to run a plethora of multi-method studies and importantly, QXScore studies which help us internally benchmark our web experiences and track improvements. EnjoyHQ allows us to have a centralised repository of research insights, data analytics findings and experimentation results that keep our findings living and breathing with clear evidence and summaries and allows for stakeholders to self-serve insights which free's up the researchers to run more research.
I'm anticipating the future of AI in UserTesting and EnjoyHQ which currently doesn't exist. I know there are some interesting plans for this and it's something currently lacking in the platforms we use so very exciting stuff. We also have run into recent issues with the recruitment panels either not being able to achieve the numbers we need or having poor quality results.
It helps us improve our systems and their performance. We can either test our products, usability unmoderated tests or use our tools to do tests to measure our performance on the use testing platform. UserTesting enhances the effectiveness and efficiency of usability testing processes providing quick result feedback, utilizing an intuitive platform, and accessing a large pool of users.
Pros
The simplicity of their page
Large pool of users
Fast results after doing the study
Cons
Sometimes the page doesn't work well (bugs, not loading properly...)
More options for Latin America
Offer more tests
Likelihood to Recommend
UserTesting is ideal for usability testing with various question types and an unlimited plan for comprehensive testing. It's excellent for UX, CRO, Creative, and Marketing teams, especially for iterative design and research. Though not a sole decision-maker, it clarifies user interactions, aiding business cases and design processes. I haven't encountered any scenarios where it's less appropriate of had affected my work in some way.
VU
Verified User
Program Manager in Marketing (Marketing & Advertising company, 10,001+ employees)
We are a design and growth agency. Without testing ideas, we have no way to validate them. UserTesting allows us to research ideas correctly and validate concepts.
It's used on both projects and retainers largely by designers and data experts within the discovery phases. It allows us to get data before developing and launching a feature.
Pros
Sorting trees
Basic user testing models
Understanding customer frustrations
Cons
Clarity of pricing model
Recruiting valid participants
Likelihood to Recommend
It's well suited for providing a wide enough variety of user testing methods to allow a CX Researcher enough tools to get valid data and insights.
It's not suited to more hands on methods of user testing or supporting some unmoderated forms of reviewing like asking a user to walk through a site whilst acting out specific scenarios and providing the recordings.
In order to improve product usability and obtain actual user input, we use UserTesting. It is an affordable method for determining pain points and making marketing collateral and prototypes good. By using this, we are able to close the gap between our presumptions and user reality, which improves user experience, optimises products, and helps us meet client satisfaction objective.
Pros
Identifies latent usability flaws based on actual user behaviour.
Allows for rapid iteration on prototypes to gather early input.
Users' comments and expressions reveal their emotional responses.
Cons
UserTesting does not allow you to pick specific testers and instead screens them based on demographics. This can be restricting if you require very targeted user groups for testing.
It is possible for testers to describe events and ideas inaccurately at times, which could introduce bias into the data.
Usability testing and general user feedback are the two main purposes of UserTesting. For highly technological products or those that need very particular user journeys with complex activities, it might not be the best option.
Likelihood to Recommend
When it comes to rapidly assessing how well your website makeover is going, user testing excels. You can find any difficult-to-understand material, ambiguous menus, or perplexing layouts by having actual people browse your website before it launches. This guarantees that your website meets its objectives and is easy to use. However, when precise user behaviour needs to be recorded in financial apps or other highly complex applications, UserTesting might not be the ideal option. In a similar vein, it is focused more on generic usability testing than on a thorough examination of intricate user tasks. Put more simply, UserTesting allows you to see how actual users interact with the "look and feel" of your website. Different testing techniques might be more suitable if you need to get into the finer details of really specialised products.
VU
Verified User
C-Level Executive in Information Technology (Information Technology & Services company, 51-200 employees)
We use it to test our future design and concept. We like to use the preference testing template for this type of need. We also use it to test our current product to see if improvements can be made. UserTesting gives us a chance to validate our assumptions or test new ideas faster than an individual interview or another type of testing. It's a big time saver for us.
Pros
Good templates for a lot of testing type.
Metrics dashboard are well done.
The support team is good!
Cons
How to find panelists - creating a panelist group in an easier way than today.
Having a personalized dashboard.
More suggestion to improve our questions when we type it - in a live way (AI?).
Likelihood to Recommend
It's so fast to test a concept with a real user! This is a good and easy way to create a video reel to explain pain points on the interface. We had some issues with the firewall when we used our personal external users (a client based in a government agency) to test. It was harder to set up an environment for them to bypass their own security rules.
VU
Verified User
Manager in Research & Development (Information Technology & Services company, 501-1000 employees)
As a UX Researcher, I employ UserTesting in my daily flow. I launch a number of qualitative studies, and UserTesting has not failed me ONCE in recruiting participants who meet my stringent criteria within tight deadlines. The transcription tool that writes out participants' feedback is also incredibly helpful in my analysis and synthesis process.
Pros
Recruiting participants based on specific screener criteria QUICKLY
Allows me to cancel or replace user sessions EASILY when there are issues with the test plan or participant feedback
Simplifies analysis process by transcribing interviews
Creates highlight reels
Allows you to easily copy and paste standout participant quotes
Cons
AI feature is not quite helpful -- sentiment analysis is subpar
Wish there were more internal tools for data analysis/synthesis like tagging (as Dovetail has)
Hoping that the AI summary tool really ups its game soon
Likelihood to Recommend
Use UserTesting if you need to recruit participants QUICKLY to get fast results. If you're running a particularly stringent project, UserTesting's screener tool isn't the most rigorous as I've had several participants who shouldn't have qualified based on the screener questions pass through and end up as participants in my studies. If strict adherence to participant recruitment guidelines is of top priority, you might want to use a more traditional approach to recruitment.
VU
Verified User
Employee in Information Technology (Information Technology & Services company, 1001-5000 employees)
We primarily use UserTesting to validate, evaluate and test product design problems. Sometimes we use it to validate a more modern experience, other times we use it to test new experiences that have been designed to address specifical problems within the user journey. We test products as a lower fidelity test before we do live site AB testing and eventually deploy new experiences globally.
Pros
Post AB testing problem solving to understand why experiences didn't get the intended results
Discovery and framing to learn what the users needs are
Early iterative prototyping to learn what users think about new mental models and experiences
Late stage prototyping to validate the experience
To learn about content and what users think about it
Cons
Maybe hide the more complex or lesser used test functionality on the right sidebar. The new test creation process is a bit more cumbersome than it used to be
Likelihood to Recommend
Good/well suited: - Industry/competitive analysis - Quick perception test - Content analysis - Early & late stage prototype testing - Basic usability testing
Less suited - API testing, personalization testing
VU
Verified User
Contributor in Information Technology (Information Technology & Services company, 10,001+ employees)
