UserTesting - great reach and quick, but some usability issues
December 14, 2020
UserTesting - great reach and quick, but some usability issues
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with UserTesting
The user research org uses it. Not every researcher uses it though--only if it fits our project needs (methodology, confidentiality, etc.).
- Gets feedback very quickly - i.e. w/in minutes of launching a study.
- Reach across the US + other countries, though I've only studied the US market. If your research ppts tend to be skewed towards major metropolitan areas (e.g. SF, NY, etc), UserTesting can help you quickly find folks outside these areas.
- Select parts of the UI - e.g. dragging/dropping different question types into your study is easy.
- The text formatting is awful. I often end up with weird spacing btwn lines and spend a bunch of time trying to fix this (yes, I'm aware of the help center and often use the formatting options, but it still looks strange).
- Related to the above point, text formatting in the first scenario is limited (e.g. can't use rich text). This matters because the scenario is the first thing ppts see and is often used for instructional test.
- Usability - moving questions up/down is clunky (e.g. if you want to move Q10 to Q2, it feels like the dragging/dropping takes forever. sometimes I accidentally let go of my mouse and have to restart the process).
- Positive: developing products based on feedback from a diverse set of users, which helps ensure we get it right w/out having to overhaul everything and start from scratch.
- Positive: cost savings (in terms of market research costs). I assume it's cheaper on a per participant basis using UserTesting vs. an alternative method (e.g. in person interview).
Improving products based on feedback from a niche population that was hard to find using our internal recruiting team. Because of UserTesting's reach, I was able to find our target demog w/in 2 days and deliver insights to our product team.
I have considered trying UserZoom but have stuck w/ UserTesting (despite my usability gripes) because I'm familiar with the platform.