user experience research companies

UX Research and UX Consulting

Atlanta based usability experts with worldwide reach.

" Every dollar that an organization invests in user experience results in a return of $100. That’s an ROI of 9,900%! ”

The Six Steps For Justifying Better UX

Report by Andrew Hogan & Deanna Laufer

 Forrester

Jackson Associates Research Atlanta

A top UX research agency trusted by software and app development companies, medical device manufacturers, and ecommerce businesses

We are usability research experts.

Our user research agency comprises the top researchers in our field . Our small size allows us to provide hands on, personal attention for every aspect of your UX research project. Our decades of experience inform all decisions and actions. We have a proven track record of research that exceeds our clients’ expectations.  

UX Firm’s toolkit of usability services includes usability testing, human factors validation testing, and a wide variety of UX research tools to uncover user experience at every stage of development. Our expertise matches the right set of tools with your goals and your budget.

Our usability testing service is our most popular because you can do a small study on a small budget and get actionable results fast.  If you haven't done usability reseach up to now, a usability test might be a great place to start .

UX research consultants for Fortune 500 to startups

Regardless of the size of your company or the scale of your project, we put our UX research team to work for your team to produce the highest quality research findings that build better products, support FDA and EU MDR regulatory requirements for new medical devices, increase sales conversions, and improve customer satisfaction.

UX Firm has successfully guided clients through comprehensive user research projects and single usability studies. Whether this is your first time exploring your users’ experience or you are seeking fresh approaches to unlocking your users’ experience, we match the service you need to your goals.

Full-service user research agency

Our UX consulting firm provides complete turnkey services to support your usability research needs and budget.  Our user experience consultants start with planning and take you through all the steps to develop a test protocol, recruit your participants, set up and conduct the usability study, and report the results. 

Our UX research agency services include:

• Participant recruiting using screeners that match your user profiles
• Formative and summative user testing
• Expert moderated testing sessions, both in person and remote
• Deep probes of users’ needs and contexts from field studies and diary studies
• Detailed data collection 
• In-depth analysis of findings
• Evidence-based recommendation reports
• Stakeholder closeout meetings

Your UX usability research partners

As your UX research partners, our UX company is with you every step of the way. From the beginning, we learn what matters most to you and we match your needs to our expertise. We also learn your product so that we understand how your users engage with your product and can accurately report our findings.  Every project starts with a planning meeting to develop a plan to achieve your goals, meet requirements, and fit your budget.

Regularly scheduled team check-ins keep everyone up to date on the project. Draft reports are circulated and edited before final approval by your team. All human factors validation study reports are in compliance with FDA and IEC guidance.

Stakeholder and executive presentations—both informal and formal—present action-based findings.  

UX Firm has been a great partner to help us prepare the usability study for our FDA submission.

Borja Gonzalvez 

R & D Software Director, Nuubo

Our UX Research Consulting Services

Ux strategy & consulting.

Whatever stage your product is in, we create a UX strategy to build user experience into effective product design. We will help you with determining your research goals, the kind of data you need to collect to answer your questions, and the research method to make it happen. All within your budget requirements.

User Research

Our user research firm has over a dozen UX research tools in our UX Toolkit, including usability testing, human factors validation testing for medical devices, heuristic evaluation/expert reviews, card sorting, diary studies, site visits/contextual inquiry, persona development, surveys, focus groups, and more.

Human Factors Validation Testing ( Usability Testing for Medical Devices )

Medical device human factors testing requires strict procedures following the Guidelines issued by the FDA and IEC to validate the safe and effective use of medical devices. UX Firm has a proven track record of delivering effective test protocols for FDA review, high quality formative and summative usability evaluations, and detailed reports to be used in FDA 510(k) and De Novo pre-market submissions.

Usability Testing Services

Our most popular UX research method is user testing. We conduct one-on-one, in-person testing and moderated remote usability testing. We work with you to determine which methods are best for your product wherever it is in the timeline of development, as well as what works for your budget.

 UX research

When it comes to user experience, we are UX experts. Everyone on our team has decades of experience. That means we know how to plan and deliver data-driven results. Find out how UX consulting can benefit your organization.

Human factors validation testing

When it comes to human factors validation testing, we are human factors consulting experts. We provide FDA human factors guidance in conducting research on a wide variety of medical devices and combination products, and we know the requirements for FDA 510(k) and De Novo submissions, as well as IEEE 62366 and MDR and MHRA requirements.

Ecommerce and B2B usability testing 

When it comes to ecommerce and B2B usability, we are your usability experts. As a user research firm, we have decades of experience unlocking the UX of websites, mobile apps, web applications, and more. 

It was an absolute pleasure to work with Carol on our research survey project. Her insights helped us develop and finalize a successful research survey.

Anna Morgan-Barsamian

Senior Manager, Training & Education, NaRCAD

"Whether you're an individual hoping to hone your research skills or you're an organization looking to augment your research practice, I recommend you work with Carol. You're in for a treat!"

"When I think of the best in the business, I think of Carol Barnum. If you need any of the UX services she offers, I'd always recommend checking with her first."

Craig Lawson

"Carol is a great person to work with. Very knowledgeable!"

Size Matters.

We are a small, boutique UX consultancy. That means you work directly with the top UX experts. We are with you every step of the way.

Your Users.

Our experience..

All Rights Reserved | UX Firm

Twenty-Six premier User Experience Research Firms

User Experience (UX) Research firms represent an essential sector within the IT and design industry. These companies provide indispensable services geared towards understanding the behavior and needs of the digital user population. Their solutions encompass various methods like prototyping, user testing, and data analysis that aid businesses in making product decisions rooted in valid user insights. They employ emerging trends, like automation and integration with design platforms, to streamline the data gathering process. Looking forward, the industry sees continual growth prompted by the increasing recognition of UX's role in enhancing product competitiveness.

Top 26 User Experience Research Companies

1. userzoom.

• Website: userzoom.com
• Headquarters: San Jose, California, United States
• Founded: 2007
• Headcount: 201-500
• Latest funding type: Acquired

UserZoom is a company that specializes in automated and scalable user research. They offer services such as surveys, user testing, and data analysis to help businesses make informed product decisions. With a focus on user experience (UX) research, UserZoom aims to democratize the field without compromising quality.

2. YUJ Designs | A Global Design Company

• Website: yujdesigns.com
• Headquarters: Pune, Maharashtra, India
• Founded: 2009

YUJ Designs is a UX design company that offers end-to-end design services, including innovation and prototyping. With a research-driven approach, they streamline workflows to ensure smooth collaboration with clients. Their work has resulted in excellent qualitative and quantitative results, leading to increased user adoption and positive feedback from clients and investors.

• Website: maze.co
• Headquarters: Paris, Île-De-France, France
• Founded: 2018
• Headcount: 51-200
• Latest funding type: Series B

Maze.co is a platform that allows users to rapidly test and validate prototypes, concepts, copy, and more. It offers seamless integration with design platforms like Figma and Adobe XD, targeted product research campaigns, automated metrics and reports for user insights, and collaborative features to build better user experiences.

4. User Interviews

• Website: userinterviews.com
• Headquarters: Brooklyn, New York, United States
• Founded: 2015

User Interviews is a user research recruiting platform for teams. They offer participant recruitment for usability tests, surveys, and diary studies. With a diverse audience of over 700,000 vetted professionals and consumers, they provide fast and targeted access to conduct user research.

5. User Experience Researchers Pte Ltd (Singapore)

• Website: user.com.sg
• Headquarters: Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
• Founded: 2010

user.com.sg is a company that specializes in mobile app design and development, web design and development, and user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design. They offer services such as usability testing, digital market research, and content management system (CMS) development. Their aim is to provide digital solutions and enhance the customer experience for various industries including healthcare and education.

6. UX Fellows

• Website: uxfellows.com
• Headquarters: Munich, Bavaria, Germany
• Founded: 2012
• Headcount: 1001-5000

UX Fellows is a global network of experienced user research companies that offers a wide range of usability research methods for all kinds of devices. They help their clients conduct international user experience research by providing actionable recommendations and reports.

7. Blink UX

• Website: blinkux.com
• Headquarters: Seattle, Washington, United States
• Founded: 2000

Blink UX is a user experience consulting and usability research firm that specializes in evidence-driven design. They believe that beautiful design leads to better user experience and offer services such as prototyping, research, and user-centered design. Their expertise helps organizations align and create superior solutions.

8. Userfeel

• Website: userfeel.com
• Headquarters: London, London, Greece

Userfeel.com is a user testing platform trusted by over 500 organizations. It allows users to find real users' problems, develop informed hypotheses, and run more focused and targeted A/B tests. With Userfeel, customers can discover the issues, doubts, hesitations, and needs of their target audience, leading to improved website usability, conversion rates, and revenue.

9. Testbirds

• Website: testbirds.com
• Headquarters: Munich, Bayern, Germany
• Founded: 2011
• Latest funding type: Debt Financing

Testbirds is a crowdtesting company that offers tailor-made quality assurance and user experience solutions for digital products. They provide remote QA and UX testing services for websites, mobile apps, games, IoT devices, and more. With a global community of experienced testers, Testbirds helps businesses deliver bug-free and user-friendly digital solutions.

10. Userlytics

• Website: userlytics.com
• Headquarters: Miami, Florida, United States
• Headcount: 11-50

Userlytics.com is a platform that offers performance website feedback and usability testing services. With a global panel of almost 2 million testers, they provide analytics and insights to help businesses improve user experiences and increase customer loyalty. They offer professional services and advanced methodologies to optimize user experience research.

11. TryMyUI

• Website: trymyui.com
• Headquarters: San Mateo, California, United States
• Founded: 2014

TryMyUI is a digital experience analytics company that offers remote usability testing solutions. Their Stitchology product suite allows users to analyze user behavior on their websites through features like visitor logs, session replays, and performance tracking. With TryMyUI, product professionals can obtain valuable insights from user videos, surveys, and metrics within hours.

• Website: antrop.se
• Headquarters: Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
• Founded: 2001

Antrop is a service design and UX agency that helps companies create user value, business value, and societal value. They analyze real customer experiences to design services that truly meet people's needs, behaviors, and motivations. They drive business development and creative problem solving with a focus on sustainability.

13. Optimal Workshop

• Website: optimalworkshop.com
• Headquarters: Wellington, Te Aro, New Zealand

Optimal Workshop is a user research platform that provides 5 specialized tools to support critical parts of the research workflow. It offers card sorting, tree testing, first-click testing, online surveys, and qualitative research.

• Website: sprig.com
• Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States

Sprig is a product research platform that helps companies gain valuable insights about their customers. It offers tools to record participant screens, collect user feedback, and analyze data. With advanced targeting and AI analysis, Sprig enables businesses to optimize their product development process and improve user satisfaction.

15. User Research International

• Website: uriux.com
• Headquarters: Redmond, Washington, United States
• Founded: 2005

URIUX is a user research company that specializes in providing insights about product usability and enhancing the user experience. With state-of-the-art facilities and a highly experienced team, we offer services such as in-person or remote observation, qualitative and quantitative research methods, and conceptual and interaction design expertise.

16. NetBramha - Global UX Design Studio

• Website: netbramha.com
• Headquarters: Bangalore, Karnataka, India
• Founded: 2008

NetBramha Studios is a UI/UX design studio that crafts digital products and experiences for various industries. They offer services such as design thinking, user research, product strategy, interface design, and branding. With a methodical and consistent approach, they deliver top-notch design experiences across platforms and emerging media.

17. Flying Bisons

• Website: flyingbisons.com
• Headquarters: Warszawa, Woj. Mazowieckie, Poland
• Founded: 2016

Flying Bisons is a full-service digital consultancy that defines, designs, and builds digital products for businesses. They offer digital consulting services, specializing in research, digital strategy, UX/UI design, technology, and digital project management. They have expertise in various industries and have worked with clients globally on high-stakes projects. Their team of experts delivers tailor-made solutions to complex digital challenges.

• Website: uxpin.com
• Headquarters: Gdańsk, California, Poland

UXPin is a design platform that allows designers to create prototypes that feel like the end product. It offers a design tool with hundreds of built-in UI elements and integration with Storybook, Git repo, and NPM package. With features like States, Variables, Conditional Interactions, and Auto Layout, UXPin ensures prototypes mimic the end product experience during usability testing.

19. UsabilityHub

• Website: usabilityhub.com
• Headquarters: Collingwood, Victoria, Australia

UsabilityHub is a user research and usability testing platform that helps design professionals and product managers improve their products. It offers various testing methods, such as preference tests, first click tests, and card sorting, to gather feedback from a diverse panel of participants. With coverage in over 100 countries, UsabilityHub provides valuable insights to improve user experience and design decisions.

20. usability.de

• Website: usability.de
• Headquarters: Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany
• Founded: 2004

Usability.de is a UX agency specializing in usability testing, UX design, and user experience. They offer services such as user research, UX management, and UX training. With a focus on the user-centered design process, they have successfully worked with various companies and industries. They strive to bring usability to businesses and provide comprehensive guidance on all aspects of UX.

21. Usability Sciences Corporation

• Website: usabilitysciences.com
• Headquarters: Irving, Texas, United States
• Founded: 1988

Usability Sciences is a user experience research firm that helps companies understand how their customers interact with their brand across multiple touchpoints and throughout the customer journey.

22. MeasuringU

• Website: measuringu.com
• Headquarters: Denver, Colorado, United States

MeasuringU is a company that provides quantitative-qualitative services and software to measure the user and customer experience. They offer a variety of products, including their MUIQ® Platform, which helps in conducting task-based studies and data collection & analysis. Their advanced survey platform, MUIQ®, allows for integrated surveys with advanced logic and branching. MeasuringU also offers services such as participant recruiting with access to a global participant pool of over 20 million. They cater to some of the world's best-known brands, helping them measure and improve the user experience.

23. Checkealos - UX Testing Platform

• Website: checkealos.com
• Headquarters: Seville, Andalusia, Spain
• Latest funding type: Non Equity Assistance

Checkealos is a digital experience insight platform that allows businesses to understand, validate, and measure customer expectations and experiences. With powerful research methods, businesses can transform insights into action and make confident decisions. Checkealos offers usability testing, surveys, live conversations, card sorting, and smart TV user experience research. It provides solutions for product teams, design and UX teams, and marketing teams. With Checkealos, businesses can build products and services that delight their customers and drive growth and innovation.

24. EchoUser

• Website: echouser.com
• Founded: 2006

EchoUser is a user experience (UX) research and design firm that helps companies optimize their products and services. They specialize in understanding user behavior and preferences to create intuitive and engaging experiences.

25. Key Lime Interactive, LLC

• Website: keylimeinteractive.com
• Headquarters: Doral, Florida, United States

Key Lime Interactive is a CX/UX research consultancy firm that specializes in qualitative and quantitative research. They offer services such as UX strategy, competitive benchmarking, user research, ethnographic research, formative usability testing, user validation testing, UX/UI design strategy, and data visualization. With a focus on customer experience, they help businesses make smarter product decisions and accelerate growth and engagement.

26. Bridge UX Design Studios (Hiring UI Designer)

• Website: bridgeux.com

BridgeUX is a company that focuses on user experience (UX) methods and research. They provide services such as heuristic evaluation, usability testing, user interviews, and stakeholder interviews. Their expertise helps businesses improve the usability and overall user experience of their products or services.

Want to find more user experience research companies?

If you want to find more companies that offer user testing, prototyping, and data analysis you can do so with Inven . This list was built with Inven and there are hundreds of companies like these globally.

With Inven you'll also get to know the company's:

• Ownership: Which of these are private equity backed? Which are family-owned?
• Contact data: Who are the owners and CEO's? What are their emails and phone numbers?
• Financials: How do these companies perform financially? What are their revenues and profit margins?

...and a lot more!

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UX research services that deliver user insights at scale across every stage of product development.

full-service ux research from AnswerLab

Creating experiences people love starts with listening. We leverage qualitative and quantitative UX research to get companies the firsthand insights that shape better products and better results at the scale and speed business demands. 

Qualitative to quantitative UX research , we provide custom research solutions to answer your questions and uncover what drives your users.

We make it easy to reach your ideal participants by handling all research operations and logistics and bringing all of our experience to bear for your project. 

With decades of UX expertise, we can help you shape an ongoing, scalable customer insights program to support your product roadmap.

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Our insights help clients deliver better customer experiences that deliver businesss value.

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A global tech company asked us: What are the top negative and positive experiences related to privacy, security, and safety moments among Android users?

Google asked us: How do we help our clients increase conversions from mobile traffic so they continue to invest in and see value in mobile advertising?

A Fortune 500 company asked us: How can we increase our influence in the organization and scale our UX team?

make the most of our industry expertise

At AnswerLab , we look at the big picture and take the deep dives. Our industry-specific practices and methodologies ensure you talk to the right people and get a breadth of the most valuable perspectives. And with the agility to see where sectors intersect and overlap, we can help you find more robust answers.

uncovering your best answers

Our specialized teams are fully immersed in the latest advances and ongoing trends in their practice areas. From building more inclusive user research practices to exploring emerging domains, we help you explore how your digital interactions shape your customer connections.

We have invested ahead of the curve in emerging technologies, like voice, AR/VR, and AI.  When you’re ready to expand your research approaches, our emerging technologies practice is ready to help with experience and expertise in a range of new modalities, platforms, and features.

Our extensive experience in recruiting diverse participants and uncovering insights to make products more inclusive has given us specialized expertise in DEI research. Our approaches will help you better understand how underrepresented populations experience your products and services.

Our UX research and research ops specialists have experience across platforms, assistive technologies, industries, and populations to solve critical accessibility concerns. 

Hardware products should be tested with potential users early and often. Our iterative research approach can provide your team with hardware and human factor recommendations.

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When it comes to the difference AnswerLab can make in the human-centered design process, our clients say it best.

AnswerLab’s quality has been top notch "AnswerLab’s quality has been top notch. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with AnswerLab and hope for the opportunity to do so in the future." Director | User Experience Design, LinkedIn

Their research design provided actionable insights "From our initial discussions to the final presentation of findings, AnswerLab demonstrated a strong understanding of our industry, our business needs, and our customers. Their research design provided actionable insights. We were able to benchmark our site, validate the changes we made, and identify areas for future improvement. They are truly a strategic partner." Steven Abatiello | Manager, Web Operations at National Grid

Critical in guiding our global website redesign "AnswerLab's ongoing benchmarking research has been critical in guiding our global website redesign, and now we will have a continuous reference point for our decision-making going forward." CMO | Global Retailer

Helped my team understand where and how we should most effectively prioritize our resources "UX benchmarking has provided my org with a more nuanced and descriptive means to track our progress towards our annual objectives. Through two rounds of benchmarking, AnswerLab has helped my team track how well new feature launches are supporting user needs – or where they’re falling flat. AnswerLab’s insights have helped my team understand where and how we should most effectively prioritize our resources to ensure we’re best supporting our users across our product." UX Researcher | Google

news & perspectives

Join fellow product leaders to learn how you can successfully weave UX research into product roadmaps

Wondering where to start with UX research for AI-powered experiences? Luckily, established UX research methods like diary studies, concept testing, and journey maps still work great.

Is accessibility UX on your mind? Download our new guide of tried-and-true strategies, best practices, and helpful resources.

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User Research Services

Full-Service user research firm with in-house recruiting, moderators, and usability labs.

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Gaming (PC/ Console/ App)

Inclusive Design (Ethnography & Hispanic Research)

Research when and WHERE you need it.

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We know what you’re looking for. It’s not a list of research methods. It’s the insights, answers, confidence and the direction that comes from understanding your users better. That’s our specialty. These are just some of the tools that help us get there.

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Diary study, exploratory interviews, field study, focus groups, omni-channel research, persona development, stakeholder interviews, strategic innovation workshops, design thinking workshops, continuous improvement workshops, agile usability, usability testing, our clients.

Great companies understand the importance of taking guesswork out of the equation when it comes to planning, creating, deploying and improving their products and services. And we’ve been fortunate enough to work with some of the world’s best.

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We are continuously recruiting people to participate in paid usability tests, focus groups, and other research studies. All levels of Internet experience are welcome, and you will be compensated.

Your opinions will help companies create better experiences!

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Take action in the moments that matter most along the employee journey and drive bottom line growth

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User experience (ux) research: definition and methodology.

17 min read To build outstanding products and services for your customers, you need a thorough understanding of who they are, what they need and where their pain points and priorities lie. UX research helps you fully step into your customers’ shoes.

What do we mean by user experience?

User experience (UX) is a customer’s-eye view of your business as it relates to completing tasks and using interactive platforms and services.

It’s closely tied to the idea of customer experience (CX) , but rather than being a holistic view of your brand, it’s more focused on utility and usability testing – the hands-on side of things. You can think of UX as a sub-discipline of CX .

For example, CX research might consider how customers perceive a company’s customer service levels and how confident they feel in having their issues resolved. Meanwhile, UX research would focus on how successfully those customers navigate a self-service website, whether the language on that site is clear and how easy it is to use.

Free eBook: The essential website experience & UX playbook

What is user experience (UX) research?

User experience (UX) research is about diving deep into how customers interact with your brand on a practical, functional level, and observing how easily they can complete their tasks and meet their goals.

User research is the process of discovering the behaviors , motivations, and needs of your customers through observation, task analysis, and other types of user feedback . It can involve working directly with members of your target audience through UX testing sessions, remote session observation using digital tools, surveys to collect user feedback, and many more UX research methods and techniques.

Why is UX research important?

So what exactly is the value of user experience research? After all, you understand your business and its workings better than anyone. How can uninformed external users help you learn more?

The fresh perspective of your end-users is exactly why UX research is so valuable. Because they’re not already immersed in your language, processes, and systems, user testing participants are in the best position to help you see where things might be confusing to a newcomer who isn’t involved with your business.

Better yet, they can show you where confusion or frustration might lead a new or potential customer to miss out on product benefits, fail to convert, or even give up and look toward your competitors instead.

In areas like new product design and development , user research allows you to head off potential issues with products and services before they even hit the shelves. You can design the product correctly the first time, instead of having to fix it later when customers are unhappy.

Simply put, UX research is critical because it keeps you from wasting time, money, and effort designing the wrong product or solution. It’s valuable for all areas of your business and yields clear benefits for your product, your users, and your bottom line.

• Product benefits By asking your customers for direct feedback about a potential product, you can discover how and when customers prefer to use a product, what pain points your product will solve, and how to improve your product design .
• User benefits UX research is unbiased feedback, straight from the most valuable source: your customers. Because this type of research is not biased by investors, company leaders, or outside influences, it is the best resource for getting actionable product feedback.
• Business benefits Knowing what your users value helps you spend less time and money fixing flawed designs, speeds up the product development process , and increases customer satisfaction.

UX research helps brands and organizations to:

• Understand how users experience products, websites, mobile apps, and prototypes
• Evaluate and optimize prototypes and ideas based on UX research discoveries – and nail the design and experience early in a product’s life cycle
• Unearth new customer needs and business opportunities
• Find and fix hidden problems with products and services that arise in real-world use cases
• Make informed decisions through the product development process by testing various aspects of product designs
• Provide user experiences that outperform other businesses in your sector ( UX competitor research )
• Understand each user interaction across complete customer journeys
• Build a richer, more useful picture of your target audiences for better marketing and advertising

What’s the ROI of performing UX research?

The ROI of UX research is tricky to pin down because there often isn’t a direct, easy-to-spot correlation between time spent on it and resulting revenue. UX research can and does drive revenue, but it more directly influences metrics that show customer satisfaction, customer retention, and behavioral goals like user signups.

A simple way to draw a straight (if basic) line between UX research and its associated ROI is to calculate your conversion rate, where ‘conversion’ simply means completing the action you had in mind:

Number of people who took your desired action

—————————————————————       x 100

Total visitors/users

That percentage can be calculated and revisited over time to see how UX changes resulting from your research are having an effect.

Generally, when we talk about ROI, we’re talking about the highest possible rates of return you can attribute to an investment. But – while PWC research suggests that ROI on UX research can rise to as high as 301% – it’s better not to get caught up in absolutes with operational data like revenue.

Instead, it’s worth thinking more about the benefits that come out of tracking human behavior associated with improving your UX in general.

For example, IBM research states that 3 out of 5 users think that a positive user experience is more influential than strong advertising, while Forrester Research estimates that as many as 50% of potential sales fall through because users can’t find the information they need.

Thorough UX research can also cut a project’s development time by up to 50% .

Ultimately, when trying to track the ROI of your time spent doing quantitative and qualitative research on UX, you want to look at behavior and sentiment. If your main goal is website use, you should notice a decline in bounce rate as a sign of positive ROI. If you sell services, run regular CSAT surveys to determine how satisfied customers are with everything.

You might also find that data in unusual places. For example, if you spot a decline in chatbot requests around how to do or perform certain actions, or for information, then you know your new UX implementations are working as desired.

Those kinds of behavioral data points will shine a light on how worthwhile your UX research has been more readily than changes in revenue.

User experience research methods

The type of UX research techniques you choose will depend on the type of research question you’re tackling, your deadline, the size of your UX research team, and your environment.

There are three research dimensions to consider as you decide which methods are best for your project:

Attitudinal and behavioral

“Attitudinal” refers to what people say, while “ behavioral ” refers to what people actually do – and these are often very different. Attitudinal research is often used in marketing because it measures people’s stated beliefs and needs. However, in product design and user experience research, what people do tends to be more relevant.

For example, A/B testing shows visitors different versions of a site at random to track the effect of site design on conversion and behavior.

Another behavioral method is eye tracking, which helps researchers understand how users interact and visually engage with the design of an interface by following their gaze.

Qualitative and quantitative methods

Quantitative UX research studies collect and analyze results, then generalize findings from a sample to a population. They typically require large numbers of representative cases to work with and are structured in their approach.

Quantitative research uses measurement tools like surveys or analytics to gather data about how subjects use a product and are generally more mathematical in nature. This type of inquiry aims to answer questions like ‘what,’ ‘where’ and ‘when’.

Qualitative research methods, on the other hand, gather information about users by observing them directly, as in focus groups or field studies.

Qualitative research aims to understand the human side of data by gaining a sense of the underlying reasons and motivations surrounding consumer behavior. It tends to use small numbers of diverse (rather than representative) cases, and the data collection approach is less structured. Qualitative methods are best suited to address the ‘how’ or ‘why’ of consumer behavior.

Qualitative UX research methods

Several UX research methodologies can help UX researchers answer those big ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions, and influence the design process of any product or service you’ve got cooking. Here are just a few …

1. Participatory design

In participatory design, people are asked to draw or design their own best-case version of the tool, product, or service in question. This gives UX researchers the ability to ask qualitative questions about why specific choices have been made. If multiple participants make similar choices, it’s easy to spot patterns that should be adopted.

You might ask participants how they would redesign your website. While their responses will naturally vary, you might spot that several of them have moved your site’s navigation to a more prominent spot, or have moved the checkout from the left of the screen to the right.

2. Card sorting

Card sorting involves giving participants a range of cards that represent business-specific topics and asking them how they would sort them into groups. UX researchers are then able to probe into why their audience might group certain things, and make changes to existing offerings as a result.

If you have a wide range of products and solutions, card sorting would be a useful way to gauge how your target audience would naturally bucket them on your website. A furniture seller, for example, might use this technique to find that people are naturally inclined to group items by room, rather than by furniture type.

3. Diary studies

If you’d like to know how the UX of your product or service varies over time or throughout the length of its use, a diary study can help. Here, participants are given a way to record their thoughts as they set about using the product or service in question, noting things that occur to them as they go. This is useful as it provides real-world insight over a longer period than a one-off focus group.

Giving people access to an early build of an app and asking them to keep usability testing notes can highlight pain points in the user interface. In a one-off focus group, having to tap three times to get to an oft-used screen might seem fine – whereas participants are more likely to find it annoying in the day-to-day. This kind of longer-term usability test can provide really valuable insights.

Both quantitative and qualitative UX research methodologies can be useful when planning the design and development of your brand presence, as well as for usability testing when it comes to product and service design.

Context-of-use

By collecting and analyzing information about users, the intended use of the application, the tasks they perform with the application, and the technical constraints presented by the application, context-of-use analysis allow UX researchers to better understand the overall experience.

Typically, context-of-use analysis data is collected through research surveys, focus groups, interviews, site visits, and observational studies.

Context-of use-analysis is one method for identifying the most important elements of an application or product in the context of using that application or product. This type of UX research is typically done early in the product lifecycle and continued as data identifies which components of the product and UX are most critical.

Types of user research tools

There are many types of user research methods for discovering data useful for product design and development. Below are some common examples of tools user experience researchers may use to gather information and draw insights into mental models, or users’ thought processes.

UX research surveys or questionnaires can discover data at scale through in-person or remote polling, with specific questions designed to collate useful information about user experience.

User groups or focus groups are a form of a structured interview that consults members of a target audience on their experience, views, and attitudes towards the product or solution. They usually involve neutral parties, such as a moderator and note-taker, and are led by a researcher who asks open-ended questions focused on specific aspects of an investigation.

User interviews are one-on-one structured interviews with a target audience member, led by a UX researcher to understand more about personal experiences with the product. These user interviews can be directed to compare and contrast answers between users, or non-directed, where users lead the conversation.

Ethnographic interviews take place within the target users’ typical environment to get a better context-of-use view. Field studies and site visits are similarly observational in nature, and take place in situ where the product or service is used, but may involve larger groups.

This is not a comprehensive list of research techniques but represents some of the main ways UX researchers might perform usability testing or trial UX design.

When to conduct user experience research

Before launching a new product or service, understanding user preferences that could impact your design or development is key to success. The earlier user experience research is performed, the more effective the end product or service will be, as it should encompass the insights learned about your target audience.

As a product and service’s use and value evolve over its lifecycle, the user experience will change over time. User research should be undertaken on an ongoing basis to determine how to adapt to users’ new needs and preferences.

Five basic steps to conducting UX research

If you’re new to UX research, here’s a step-by-step list of what to consider before you begin your UX testing program:

• Objectives What do you need to find out about your users and their needs?
• Hypothesis What do you think you already know about your users?
• Methods Based on your deadline, project type, and the size of your research team, what UX research methods should you use?
• Process Using your selected UX research method(s), begin collecting data about your users, their preferences, and their needs.
• Synthesis Analyze the data you collected to fill in your knowledge gaps, address your hypothesis and create a plan to improve your product based on user feedback.

Qualtrics makes UX research simple and easy

User experience research and user testing are multifaceted and can involve a lot of both quantitative and qualitative data. To ease the process and make sure it is efficient and scalable, it’s best conducted using a highly responsive platform that allows you to collect data, analyze trends and draw conclusions all in one place.

Whether you need attitudinal or behavioral insights, Qualtrics is your go-to solution for collecting all kinds of UX data and making use of it in the context of your wider CX program .

Conduct in-person studies or send beautifully designed surveys easily and quickly, and view your results via custom dashboards and reports using the most sophisticated research platform on the planet.

Free eBook: The essential website experience & UX playbook

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User experience 20 min read, user experience surveys 9 min read, ux research tools 8 min read, user analytics 11 min read, rage clicks 11 min read, user experience analytics 10 min read, website user experience 14 min read, request demo.

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We can also create unique, custom service offerings depending on your team's needs. Our deep expertise in UX strategy , user research , service design , and UX design can be applied flexibly in both limited and extended engagements. Pricing for these engagements depend on the scope of the engagement, but typically projects range from $40K–200K USD. Contact us to learn more.

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We practice what we preach. We don’t just talk about the importance of testing with real users, on real tasks, in real life business situations: we do it. Every week, somewhere around the globe, NN/g team members are conducting research that informs the three pillars of our business: training, consulting and research. In that work we have:

• Tested over 2,000 different interfaces
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Our collective experience will save you time… and money. Making technology easier to use is no longer a nice-to-have. Useful, usable products make money. And our expertise can help your team achieve their design goals quicker and easier than going it alone. Choosing NN/g means you benefit directly from our:

• Finely tuned methodology: We have an arsenal of proven tools at our disposal and know how and where to apply each one, taking the guesswork out of how to achieve the optimal design solution to meet your business goals.
• Comprehensive body of knowledge: We've taken the results of our decades of research and testing and distilled it down into actionable guidelines, best practices and proven methodologies. Our research library, containing over 50 published reports, 30 books and an email newsletter archive dating back to 1995 is unrivaled.
• Practical approach: Our approach is 100% practical, useful and actionable. Whether you attend one of our UX Conferences or invite us to consult at your place of business, the training you will receive can be put into action immediately so that you can see the results.

Our people are the best in the business. At NN/g there is no “B Team.” When we dispatch consultants to work with you and your team, or when you attend a virtual training, you are learning directly from some of the best-educated and most experienced minds in the business.

We can help your organization deliver world-class user experiences.

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Decision Point

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Current Forward

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AnswerLab conducts user experience research to help companies improve their websites, apps, and other digital products and services.

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Civicom Marketing Research Services

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Fieldwork Network

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Leede Research

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We conduct eye tracking research to help companies improve visibility, increase sales, and make better business-critical decisions.

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My-Take is an insight technology company focused on online insight communities. My-Take deploys a proprietary platform and a team of expert analysts.

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ase specializes in the design and implementation of qualitative and quantitative studies nationally and internationally. We offer research-based consu

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ase Market Intelligence Inc.

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Top 100 User Research Agencies in the United States

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Looking for a top user research agency in the united states.

Look for user experience agencies that specialize in user research. User research is the data collection process that lays the foundation for exceptional user experiences.  Read more + While there are many advantages to user research, be wary of bad user research.

For example, when looking for a user experience agency to hire, ask about the role user research plays in its design process. A sign of good user research is when it occurs at the beginning of a project – throughout the discovery stages. User research is a tool to learn about user needs and challenges, not to validate an existing idea for a feature.

To assist you in your search for a partner, we’ve compiled this list of the top user research firm in United States. Browse descriptions, feedback, and awards to find which can best suit your company’s needs.

List of the Best United States User Research Companies

Momentum design lab.

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Momentum Design Lab is based in Silicon Valley, with offices also located in New York City and London. The approximately 30-person company, which was founded in 2002, principally works on UX/CX for digital product design. Momentum assists by delivering digital product innovation, customer experience management, and digital transformation programs using their design thinking and technology-driven approaches. Momentum specializes in financial services, healthcare, high technology and software startups, and cx/ad/marketing technologies.

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QU'ARTE is a creative design studio based in London, with offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Lviv, Ukraine. The studio, founded in 2014, has more than 50 employees and provides UX/UI design services to small and larger-sized companies and institutions in various industries.

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DePalma Studios

• Location "> Nashville, TN

Founded in 2012, DePalma is a UX/UI design and development shop headquartered in Nashville, Tenn. A team of 30+, DePalma is a veteran-owned small business (VOSB) with experience in industries including accounting and finance, electronics manufacturing, gas and oil, government, healthcare, insurance, music and entertainment, utilities, telecommunications, and transportation.

• Arts, entertainment & music " >
• eCommerce " >
• Government " >
• Telecommunications " >

Adam Fard UX Studio

• Location "> New York, NY

Adam Fard UX Studio is a digital design agency headquartered in Berlin with offices in San Francisco. Since 2016, the 9-person team has provided UX/UI and web design services to small and midmarket businesses. 

• Deutsche Telekom
• GPS, Navigation & GIS " >
• Min. Project Size "> $50,000+
• Location "> Austin, TX

Slide UX, based in Austin, TX, is a UX/UI design company with about 15 employees. The company was founded in 2012. Slide UX provides wireframing, prototyping, and visual design services, though they also offer user research, persona creation, and information architecture. Their clientele includes companies of all sizes, from enterprise to startup.

• Motion Industries
• Location "> Miami, FL

WANDR is a product strategy and UX design firm based in Los Angeles. Founded in 2016, the team of 14 specializes in UX/UI design. They work primarily with small and midmarket-level businesses, focusing on IT, business services, and healthcare and medical.

• U.S. Air Force
• Location "> Los Angeles, CA

Goji Labs is a web and mobile app development company based in Los Angeles. Founded in 2014, they have a team of about 30 that helps launch products in numerous industries ranging from business services to education. They provide product strategy, UX/UI design, mobile app, web, and IoT development services to various clients including startups, corporations, and nonprofits.

• World Health Organization
• Non-profit " >

Dualboot Partners

• Min. Project Size "> $75,000+
• Company Size "> 250 - 999 employees
• Location "> Charlotte, NC

Dualboot Partners is a product design and software engineering company founded in Raleigh, N.C. in 2018 with over 50 professionals. They offer custom software development and application testing solutions for various clients.

• Gambling " >
• Manufacturing " >
• Real estate " >
• Supply Chain, Logistics, and Transport " >

FROM: The Digital Transformation Agency

• Min. Project Size "> $100,000+
• Company Size "> 50 - 249 employees

Pixel506 (a 10Pearls Company)

Pixel506 is a branding firm. Their small team is based in Escazú, Costa Rica and New York, New York. Their team specializes in branding, cloud consulting & SI, digital strategy, mobile app development, and more.

• Location "> San Francisco, CA

Neuron is a San Francisco based digital design agency. They were founded in 2016 and have a team of 9 employees who specialize in user experience design, digital strategy, and front-end development.

Daito Design

Located in Austin, Texas, Daito Design is a research and design firm that boasts a team of just under 20 employees. Since 2016, they've provided UX/UI design, enterprise app modernization, and IT strategy consulting services to predominantly enterprise-level businesses. Their experience spans the energy and natural resources sector as well as utilities.

• Location "> Raleigh, NC

Dreamten is a product design studio based in Raleigh, NC. Founded in 2001, they comprise of fewer than 10 employees that serve startups, mid-market, and enterprise businesses across several industries. They specialize in UX/UI design.

Simple Thread

• Location "> Glen Allen, VA

Simple Thread is a development company that was founded in 2010 in Richmond, Va. It employs a team of 9 who specializes in web development, custom software development, mobile app development, and UX/UI design for mostly mid-sized companies.

• Dominion Energy

Tino Digital Agency

• Location "> Houston, TX

Founded in 2015, Tino Digital is located in Houston. With about 10 employees, they provide UX/UI design services for midmarket and small businesses.

• ZinniaHealth
• Location "> Seattle, WA

Founded in 2000, UpTop specializes in UI/UX design but also shines in web and mobile app development. Their team of 50+ are passionate about solving complex problems and increasing revenue for their clients.

• Company Size "> 2 - 9 employees
• Location "> Boca Raton, FL

FoxGroove Interactive is a UX/UI design agency in Newtown, Pa. It was founded in 2010 and has 3 employees who help clients with digital strategy and market research in addition to UX/UI design.

• HealthAdvocate
• Location "> Beverly Hills, CA

Swenson He is a mobile app development company headquartered in Marina del Rey, CA. Founded by two MIT alumni, the team of now 20+ engineers specializes in mobile app development and UX/UI design for iOS, Android, and hybrid mobile platforms.

• simplehuman

Cadabra Studio

• Min. Project Size "> $5,000+
• Location "> Wilmington, DE

Cadabra Studio is a digital design and development agency based in Dnipro, Ukraine. Founded in 2015, Cadabra has a staff of 25 specialists, most of whom are full-stack developers. Cadabra provides development for web and mobile applications, custom software, and UI/UX design.

DOOR3 is a software development company headquartered in New York, NY. Founded in 2002, DOOR3 has grown to a team of about 60 employees that serves mostly enterprise and mid-market business. They provide software, web, and mobile app development, UX/UI design, and enterprise app modernization.

• Achievement Network

Method is a strategic design firm based in New York with offices in London; Denver; Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; and San Jose, Calif. The firm, founded in 1999, has more than 130 employees and provides UX/UI design, custom software development, digital strategy, web development, and branding services. Method serves enterprise and mid-market companies in the financial services, IT, arts & entertainment, customer products & services, medical, and e-commerce industries.

• Location "> Boulder, CO

Fuego UX is a design agency founded in Boulder, Colo. in 2020. With no more than 10 experts, they offer UX/UI design, branding, and market research solutions to clients in the fields of arts, business, and financial services.

Clay is a top UI/UX and web design agency based in San Francisco. They specialize in strategy, user experience design, brand identity, and development of digital products. Founded in 2009, Clay is now a team of over 30 people working with leading brands and startups.  

Perpetual is a software product innovation and development company based in New York City. Founded in 2012, Perpetual's team of around 25 employees provides a wide range of services including UX/UI design, web design, mobile and custom software development, IT staff augmentation, product design, and more.

Since 2000, Praxent has launched over 300 unique software products. The team of 30+ is based in Austin, TX, and has experience working with small, mid-market, and large clients on their software development, web development, and mobile app development needs.

Coalesce is a New York City-based development shop with expertise in software, web, mobile app development, and UX/UI. Founded in 2006, Coalesce has a small team of about 10 employees, all of whom are committed to building exciting and engaging products for mostly mid-market companies. They also have a small business and enterprise presence.

• Air Liquide
• Location "> Chicago, IL

Intechnic is a full-service development agency Intechnic based in Chicago. The company, founded in 1997, has a team of around 20 and locations in Los Angeles, London, and Melbourne. The team is passionate about helping clients with web design, software development, UX/UI design, and web development projects.

• Johnson & Johnson

Lazarev., a product design company, is based in Kyiv, Ukraine. Launched in 2015, the small team specializes in product design and ux/ui design.

• Hewlett - Packard

Red Collar is a midsize website development firm. Launched in 2011, the firm is located in New York, New York. Their services include web development, web design, ux/ui design, product design, and more.

Big Nerd Ranch

• Location "> Atlanta, GA

Started in 2001, Big Nerd Ranch is a 50+ web and mobile app development firm headquartered in Atlanta. While not creating apps for the world’s leading brands, their team leads immersive coding boot camps.

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How to Conduct User Experience Research Like a Professional

Whether you’re looking to develop a broad UX design skillset, or you’re exploring UX research as a design specialization , here’s your complete introduction to conducting user research like a pro. 

Hello, I’m Raven, a mentor for aspiring UX designers enrolled in the CareerFoundry UX Design Course . I also work as a UX Research Assistant at IBM and studied behavioral science at the University of Texas. I have 10 years of experience studying and analyzing human behavior—user research is definitely my thing.

During the past few years, I’ve worked with major companies, academic institutions, and non-profit organizations to develop and improve impactful products and applications. I’ve moderated focus groups, designed and administered surveys, carried out usability testing, and conducted user interviews. I also know a thing or two about creating a good persona!

In this guide, we’re going to cover the basics of UX research. We’ll start with exactly what it is, and then move on to discuss the various steps and associated terminology of UX research , as well as its role and value within the broader design process . We’ll then review the most common UX research methods, diving into how they’re conducted and a few best practices.

If you’re particularly interested in one of these topics, simply select it from the list below to jump straight to it. I’ve also added videos throughout the guide for those of you who prefer to learn with both eyes and ears—and I recommend you save this set of free UX research tutorials for later, too. Sound good? Let’s get started!

Introduction To User Experience (UX) Research

• What is UX research?
• What’s the difference between good and bad UX research?
• What are the five steps of UX research?
• What’s the role of research in the UX design process?
• Whats the value of UX research?

Introduction To User Experience Research Methods

• User Groups
• Usability Testing
• User Interviews
• Online Surveys
• User Personas
• What Next? User Research Analysis

1. What is UX research?

You read my bio in the introduction. Using only this information, could you explain why I recently switched from one time management app to another? Probably not. In order to answer this question, you need more context. UX research provides that context.  So, what is UX research and what is its purpose ?

“User research is how you will know your product or service will work in the real world, with real people. It’s where you will uncover or validate the user needs which should form the basis of what you are designing.”

— Chris Mears, UXr

According to Design Modo , UX research is; “The process of understanding user behaviors, needs, and attitudes using different observation and feedback collection methods.” One of the other benefits of user experience research is that it helps us understand how people live their lives so that we can respond to their needs with informed design solutions. Good UX research involves using the right method at the right time during the development of a product.

Maria Arvidsson, Head of Product and UX at Usabilla , describes UX research as:

“The means through which you try to understand your users’ needs, behaviors and motivations and validate your assumptions and solutions.”

2. What’s the difference between good and bad UX research?

The biggest sign of an amateur UX designer is excluding end users from the design process. At the very start of my career I held the attitude that I could test any app, website, or product on myself, replacing the act of speaking with users. Never a good idea. It took time for me to learn a more professional approach, which is to start the design process by listening to the end user. Overall, UX research helps us avoid our biases since we are required to design solutions for people who are not like us.

“Insights that are received directly from user experience research are like muscle memory; the more you do research, the more insights you build up. But just like muscle memory, YOU have to be a part of the hard work in order to enjoy the lasting benefits of it that are specific to you. While it may be tempting to outsource research to a specialized team (and sometimes you can’t avoid it), you should try your utmost best to engage in at least a little bit of the research so that the insights grow under your skin instead of being handed to you from someone else who has sweated it.” 

—UX designer Ali Rushdan Tariq from ARTariq

A quick plug before we continue: If you’re looking to become a professional in this subdomain of UX, be sure to take a look at our guide to becoming a UX researcher

3. What are the five steps of UX research?

Created by Erin Sanders , the Research Learning Spiral provides five main steps for conducting UX research. The first two steps are about forming questions and hypotheses, and the last three steps are about gathering knowledge through selected UX research methods.

• Objectives: What are the knowledge gaps we need to fill?
• Hypotheses: What do we think we understand about our users?
• Methods: Based on time and manpower, what methods should we select?
• Conduct: Gather data through the selected methods.
• Synthesize: Fill in the knowledge gaps, prove or disprove our hypotheses, and discover opportunities for our design efforts.

4. What’s the role of research in the UX design process?

UX research is the starting point for a project . Research helps us learn about the users and their behavior, goals, motivations, and needs. It also shows us how they currently navigate a system, where they have problems and, most importantly, how they feel when interacting with our product.

UX research comes first in the UX design process because without it, our work can only be based on our own experiences and assumptions, which is not objective. As Neil Turner, founder of UX for the Masses told us, a good foundation is key to successful design:

“Good user research is key to designing a great user experience. Designing without good user research is like building a house without solid foundations—your design will soon start to crumble and eventually fall apart.”

5. What’s the value of UX research?

In the current digital product landscape, the real value of UX research is its ability to reduce uncertainty in terms of what users want and need , which yields benefits for the product, the business, and, of course, the users themselves.

1. Product Benefits

UX research provides data about the end user of the product, how and when the user will use the product, and the main problems the product will solve. UX research is also helpful when UX designers and the rest of the team (and stakeholders) have to decide between multiple design solutions.

2. Business Benefits

UX research brings a lot of a value to businesses. By knowing the end users and incorporating design requirements upfront, businesses can speed up the product development process, eliminate redesign costs, and increase user satisfaction.

3. User Benefits

One of the greatest values of user experience research is that it’s unbiased user feedback. Simply put, UX research speaks the user’s thoughts—without any influence from outside authority. It also serves as a bridge between users and the company.

“User experience research provides powerful insights that allow companies to humanize their customers and insert their needs, intentions, and behaviors into the design and development process. In turn, these insights enable companies to create experiences that meet—and sometimes exceed—customer needs and expectations. User experience research should be conducted well before the first sketch is drawn and integrated throughout the concept, iterative design, and launch phases of a product.”

—Janelle Estes, Director of Research Strategy at UserTesting

UX research is based on observation, understanding,  and analysis.  With the help of various UX research techniques, you will:

• O bserve your users , keeping an eye out for non-verbal clues as to how they are feeling;
• Develop an understanding of the user’s mental model : what does the user anticipate when using a certain product? Based on their previous experience, how do they expect this particular product to work?
• A nalyze  the insights you’ve gathered and try to identify patterns and trends. Eventually, these insights will inform the decisions you make about the product and how it is designed.

With that in mind, let’s consider some of the most valuable user research techniques.

1. User Groups

User groups—also called “focus group discussions” or “focus groups”—are structured interviews that quickly and inexpensively reveal the desires, experiences, and attitudes of a target audience. User groups are a helpful user experience research method when a company needs a lot of insight in a short amount of time. If you are unsure when to use a user experience research method, user groups can be a good one to start with.

Why Do We Conduct User Groups?

User groups can help your company better understand:

1) How users perceive a product

2) What users believe are a product’s most important features

3) What problems users experience with the product

4) Where users feel the product fails to meet expectations

User groups can also be used to generate ideas of what users want to see in the future.

What people say and what people do are often very different, therefore user groups do not provide an accurate measurement of behavior . And because user groups are conducted with more than one user at a time, participants may influence each other’s opinions and preferences (aka “groupthink”), thus introducing bias and producing inaccurate data.

Best Practices For User Groups

Getting the most out of your user group is straightforward if you consider the following best practices when conducting this particular user research technique.

• Ask good questions: Make sure your questions are clear, open-ended, and focused on the topics you’re investigating.
• Choose a few topics: On average, plan to discuss 3-5 topics during a 90-minute focus group.
• Include the right amount of people: A good focus group should include 3-6 users—large enough to include a variety of perspectives, but small enough so everyone has a chance to speak.

“Conducting user research allows you to dive deep beneath the surface of what your users say they want, to instead uncover what they actually need. It’s the key to ensuring that your products and features will actually solve the problems that your clients face on a day to day basis. User research is imperative if you want to create a successful, habit forming product.”

— Jennifer Aldrich, UX and Content Strategist at InVisionApp

How To Conduct User Experience Research With User Groups

Conducting user groups can be broken down into a few major steps:

• Create a schedule that provides enough time for recruiting, testing, analyzing, and integrating results.
• Assemble your team, and establish roles: choose a moderator, note-taker, and discussion leader.
• Define the scope of your research: what questions will you ask? And how in-depth do you want to explore the answers? This will determine the number of people and the number of groups that need to be tested.
• Create a discussion guide that includes 3-5 topics for discussion.
• Recruit potential or existing users who are likely to provide good feedback.
• Conduct user group testing, and record data.
• Analyze and report findings.

“It’s really hard to design products by user groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”

—Steve Jobs

2. Usability Testing

According to the usability.gov website, usability testing refers to “evaluating a product or service by testing it with representative users.” During a test, participants will be asked to complete specific tasks while one or more observers watch, listen, and record notes. The main goal of this user experience testing method is to identify usability problems, collect qualitative data, and determine participants’ overall satisfaction with the product.

Why Do We Perform Usability Testing?

Usability testing helps identify problems before they are coded. When development issues are identified early on, it is typically less expensive to fix them. Usability testing also reveals how satisfied users are with the product , as well as what changes are required to improve user satisfaction and performance .

Unfortunately, usability testing is not 100% representative of the real life scenario in which a user will engage with your product. Also, because the data is qualitative, this kind of UX testing method doesn’t provide the large samples of feedback a questionnaire might. The good news it that the qualitative feedback you receive can be far more accurate and insightful.

Best Practices For Usability Testing

• Test with five users: Testing five users is typically enough to identify a design’s most important usability problems.
• Invite your team to the testing sessions: Anyone who is involved with how fast and how well problems are addressed should be invited to the usability testing sessions. These stakeholders may include the executive team, and lead developers or designers.
• Keep the findings brief and to-the-point: When you report the findings of a usability test, limit the comments to the ones that are really important. One good rule of thumb is to include the top three positive comments and the top three problems. The overall report should be no more than approximately 50 comments and 30 pages.

How to Conduct UX Research with Usability Testing

Usability testing can be broken down into a few major steps:

• Identify what needs to be tested and why (e.g. a new product, feature, etc.)
• Identify the target audience (or your desired customers).
• Create a list of tasks for the participants to work through.
• Recruit the right participants for the test.
• Involve the right stakeholders.
• Apply what you learn.

“One of usability’s most hard-earned lessons is that ‘you are not the user.’ If you work on a development project, you’re atypical by definition. Design to optimize the user experience for outsiders, not insiders.”

– Jakob Nielsen

3. User Interviews

A well-known user experience methodology is an interview. An interview is a user experience research method used to discover the attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of users (and potential users) of a product. Interviews are typically conducted by one interviewer speaking to one user at a time for 30 minutes to an hour. Interviews can take place face-to-face, over the phone, or via video streaming.

Why Do We Conduct Interviews?

Of all the user experience design methods, interviews are typically conducted at the beginning of the product development cycle when reviewing product goals. Because of the one-to-one nature of the interview, individual concerns and misunderstandings can be directly addressed and cleared up.

Face-to-face interviews also allow you to capture verbal and nonverbal cues, such as emotions and body language, which may identify enthusiasm for the product or discomfort with the questions.

When thinking about what research methodology to use, bear in mind that interviews are also a good supplement to online surveys: conducting an interview beforehand helps you refine questions for the survey, while conducting an interview afterwards allows you to gain explanations for survey answers.

There are a few drawbacks, however. First, because interviews require a team of people to conduct them, personnel costs are usually difficult to keep low. Sample size is also limited to the size of the interviewing staff.

Best Practices For User Interviews

• Hire a skilled interviewer: A skilled interviewer asks questions in a neutral manner, listens well, makes users feel comfortable, and knows when and how to probe for more details.
• Create a discussion guide: Write up a discussion guide (or an interview protocol) for all interviewers to follow. This guide should include questions and follow-up questions.
• Get informed consent: Before conducting the interview, make sure to get permission or consent to record the session. It’s also good to have one or two note takers on hand.

How To Conduct User Experience Research With User Interviews

Conducting an interview can be broken down into a few major steps:

• Prepare a discussion guide, or a list of questions to ask participants.
• Select a recording method (e.g. written notes, tape recorder, video).
• Conduct at least one trial run of the interview.
• Recruit the right participants for the interview.
• Conduct the interview.
• Analyze and report the results.

“Curiosity is a natural outcome of caring, and it is the single greatest contributor to effective user research … Caring and curiosity engender personal investment, and investment motivates a researcher to develop a deep understanding of users.”

– Demetrius Madrigal

4. Online Surveys

A survey is a research tool that typically includes a set of questions used to find out the preferences, attitudes, and opinions of your users on a given topic. Today, surveys are generally conducted online and in various lengths and formats. Data collected from surveys is received automatically, and the survey tool selected generally provides some level of analysis, the data from which can then be used for user experience studies further down the line to inform your product.

“It is so important to avoid using leading questions when it comes to surveys. It’s a common mistake that many people make. For example phrasing a question like “What do you dislike about Uber?” assumes the user has a negative preference for the service off the bat. A more neutral phrase would be “Tell us about your experience getting around town.” – this elicits more natural user feedback and behavior instead of forcing them down a funnel.”

– Top tip from UXBeginner

Why Do We Conduct Online Surveys?

Unlike traditional surveys, online surveys enable companies to quickly collect data from a broad (and sometimes remote) audience for free—or a low price. Surveys also help you discover who your users are , what your users want to accomplish, and what information your users are looking for.

Unfortunately, what users say versus what they do are two different things and can often yield inaccurate results. Furthermore, poorly worded questions can negatively influence how users respond. Length can also be an issue—many people hate taking long surveys. This is why it’s important to create short surveys so users are more likely to complete them and participate in future research efforts.

Best Practices For Online Surveys

• Keep it short: Keep your surveys brief, especially if participants will be compensated little or not at all. Only focus on what is truly important.
• Keep it simple: Make sure questions can be easily understood: ambiguous or complex wording can make questions more difficult to understand, which can bring the data into question.
• Keep it engaging: Include a mix of both multiple choice questions and open-ended questions (or questions in which users complete the answer).

How To Conduct User Experience Research With Online Surveys

Conducting an online survey can be broken down into a few major steps:

• Identify goals and objectives of the survey.
• Create survey questions.

Note: Consider collecting information about how satisfied users are with your product, what users like/dislike, and if they have suggestions for improvement.

• Select an online survey tool (e.g. SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics).
• Recruit participants.
• Conduct the survey.

“We have to arm ourselves with data, research … and a clear understanding of our users so our decisions are not made out of fear but out of real, actionable information. Although our clients may not have articulated reasons for why they want what they want, it is our responsibility to have an ironclad rationale to support our design decisions.”

– Debra Levin Gelman

5. User Personas

A user persona is a fictional representation of your ideal customer. A persona is generally based on user research and includes the needs, goals, and observed behavior patterns of your target audience. You can find out how to create a user persona in this detailed guide .

Why Do We Create User Personas?

Whether you’re developing a smartphone app or a mobile-responsive website, any user experience research job will require you to understand who will be using the product. Knowing your audience will help influence the features and design elements you choose, thus making your product more useful. A persona clarifies who is in your target audience by answering the following questions:

• Who is my ideal customer?
• What are the current behavior patterns of my users?
• What are the needs and goals of my users?

Understanding the needs of your users is vital to developing a successful product. Well-defined personas will enable you to efficiently identify and communicate user needs. Personas will also help you describe the individuals who use your product, which is essential to your overall value proposition.

Unfortunately, creating personas can be expensive — it all depends on how deep into user research your organization is willing to go. There is also no real “scientific logic” behind persona building, which makes some people a little more hesitant to accept them.

Best Practices For User Personas

• Create a well-defined user persona: A great persona contains four key pieces of information: header, demographic profile, end goal(s), scenario.
• Keep personas brief: As a rule of thumb, avoid adding extra details that cannot be used to influence the design. If it does not affect the final design or help make any decisions easier: omit it.
• Make personas specific and realistic: Avoid exaggerated caricatures, and include enough detail to help you find real-life representation.

How To Conduct User Experience Research By Creating Personas

Creating user personas can be broken down into these main steps:

• Discuss and identify who your target users are with stakeholders (e.g. UX team, marketing team, product manager).
• Survey and/or interview real users to get their demographic information, pain points, and preferences.
• Condense the research, and look for themes to define your groups.
• Organize your groups into personas.
• Test your personas.

“Be someone else. It takes great empathy to create a good experience. To create relevant experiences, you have to forget everything you know and design for others. Align with the expected patience, level of interest, and depth of knowledge of your users. Talk in the user’s language.”

– Niko Nyman

Which User Experience Research Method Should You Use?

Now that you know more about the various user experience research methods, which one do you choose? Well, it all depends on your overall research goals.

You’ll also need to consider what stage you’re at in the design process. If you’re just starting out, you’ll want to focus on understanding your users and the underlying problem . What are you trying to solve? Who are you trying to solve it for? At this early stage in the design process, you’ll typically use a mixture of both qualitative and quantitative methods such as field studies, diary studies, surveys, and data mining.

Once you’ve established a direction for your design, you’ll start to think about actually building your product. Your UX research will now focus on evaluating your designs and making sure that they adequately address your users’ needs . So, you’ll choose research methods that can help you to optimize your designs and improve usability—such as card sorting and usability testing.

Eventually, you’ll have finalized your design and developed a working product—but this doesn’t mean your research is done! This is the ideal time to investigate how well the product performs in the real world. At this point, you’ll focus mainly on quantitative research methods , such as usability benchmarking, surveys, and A/B testing.

To help you with the task of choosing your research methods, let’s explore some important distinctions between the various techniques.

Behavioral vs. Attitudinal Research

As mentioned before, there is a big difference between “what people do” versus “what people say.” Attitudinal research is used to understand or measure attitudes and beliefs, whereas behavioral research is used to measure behaviors. For example, usability testing is a behavioral user research method that focuses on action and performance. By contrast, user research methods like user groups, interviews, and persona creation focus on how people think about a product.

UX designers often conduct task analysis to see not how users say they complete tasks in a user flow, but how they actually do.

Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research

When conducting UX research and choosing a suitable method, it’s important to understand the difference between quantitative and qualitative research.

Quantitative research   gathers data that is measurable. It gives you clear-cut figures to work with, such as how many users purchased an item via your e-commerce app, or what percentage of visitors added an item to their wishlist. “Quant methods”, as they’re sometimes called in the industry, help you to put a number on the usability of your product. They also allow you to compare different designs and determine if one version performs significantly better than another.

Qualitative research   explores the reasons or motivations behind these actions. Why did the user bounce from your website? What made them “wishlist” an item instead of purchasing it? While quantitative data is fixed, qualitative data is more descriptive and open-ended. You can learn all about qualitative research in the video guide below, in which CareerFoundry graduate and professional UX designer Maureen Herben takes you through the most common qualitative user research processes and tools.

A further distinction to make is between how qualitative and quantitative studies go about collecting data. Studies that are qualitative in nature are based on direct observation. For example, you’ll gather data about the user’s behaviours or attitudes by observing them directly in action. Quantitative studies gather this data indirectly—through an online survey, for example.

Qualitative research methods (e.g. usability testing, user groups, interviews) are better for answering questions about why or how to fix a problem, whereas quantitative methods (e.g. online surveys) are great for answering questions about how many and how much.

Ideally, you’ll use a mixture of both qualitative and quantitative methods throughout your user research, and work hard to ensure that the UX research you conduct is inclusive !

6. What Next? Conducting User Research Analysis

Once you’ve conducted extensive user research, you’ll move on to the analysis phase. This is where you’ll turn the raw data you’ve gathered into valuable insights. The purpose of UX research analysis is to interpret what the data means; what does it tell you about the product you’re designing, and the people you’re designing it for? How can you use the data you’ve gathered to inform the design process?

Watch this video to learn how to conduct user research analysis in five simple steps:

Final thoughts

“User experience research is the work that uncovers and articulates the needs of individuals and/or groups in order to inform the design of products and services in a structured manner.”

—Nick Remis, Adaptive Path

Overall, the purpose of user experience research is simple: to discover patterns and reveal unknown insights and preferences from the people who use your product. It basically provides the context for our design. Research also helps us fight the tendency to design for ourselves (or our stakeholders)—and returns the focus on designing for the user.

If you’d like to learn more about UX research, check out these articles:

• What Does a UX Researcher Actually Do? The Ultimate Career Guide
• The Ultimate Guide to UX Research Bootcamps
• Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid in Your UX Research Portfolio
• Interview Toolkit: Top 5 UX Research Questions to Prepare For

And to get inspired, check out these 15 quotes from influential designers in the industry.

Better Insights for Better Products

Generative Research • Contextual Inquiry • Subject Matter Expert Interviews • Persona Development • Participatory Design   Evaluative Research • Survey Design • Data Analysis & Reporting • Usability Testing • Simulations & Prototypes

We put people first. Through design research, we tap into human behavior to uncover new paths to the future. See how we do it.

UX research firm

Innovating UX research is at the forefront of what we do. What makes punchcut different than your other research companies is that our user research firm delivers quality and design that customers want across all industries providing valuable insights for our clients in any market

ux research agency

User experience is everything when it comes to the design process. User experience involves data collection to conduct a ux audit. Research and design is essential to creating a quality user experience. Market research and usability research are at the forefront of digital solutions. Development companies in san Fransisco are leading in the experience research side of the industry.Determine if your research project is quantitative research or qualitative research. Will you be in need of focus group facilities ot experience uxs?

user research agencies

You will want a ux expert on your team to help consult you on user experience during the design process. Developer based digital design is part of the research method. Journey mapping is another essential part of user experience research. Customized research for certain web applications may be necessary.

ux design services

ux insights show that digital experiences depend so heavily on video production that it has become a core component to any digital strategy. Design agencys have lots of research jobs available and the top ux research companies are in huge hiring periods. If you have a digital product or are currently doing app development, you may want to consider hiring a top ux research firm.

ux research services

international user research, ux research agency, ux research agencies

UX Research Services

Generative Research

• Market & Trend Research • Competitive Analysis • Contextual Inquiry • Domain Experts Interviews • Persona Creation & Journey Mapping • Participant Screening & Recruiting

Evaluative Research

• Survey Design & Analysis • Prototyping & Simulation Testing • Co-creation & Participatory Design • Usability Testing • Concept Validation • Diary & Longitudinal Studies

“I love when we have those 'a-ha' moments in research — when a participant shows us something the team hadn't considered before.”

Joy Wong Daniels, Director of UX Research

Don't Design

In the dark.

Contextual Inquiry

We meet people where they are.

ux research companies

UX designers at research consultancies design and develop based on users behavior. Research companies have research processes that their researcher teams leverage for product development and product design. UX designers at research companies take user experience research (ux research) into the design thinking process. Research consultancies are synonymous with research companies in that they both aim at the same goal: design and develop top user digital design experiences based on research studies.

ux research and design agencies

UX research is the fancy way of saying user research. User research and testing are the primary focus for research companies conducting research for design research. UX experts say that a UX audit is part of the design process, especially at an app development company for example. In digital product design, ux agencys and ux research companies follow the ux research method to support their design thinking.

ux agencies

Research consultancies have their product team and researcher teams work together and interface designers in the research processes to design and develop top user digital design.Research companies have their product team create design based on users behavior as part of product development best practices. When it comes to uiux design, research jobs are plentiful. The top ux research company for any designer and researcher is Punchcut.

research company

We get our observations where the experience is most accurate – in family rooms, during morning commutes, at the grocery store, or on devices with their kids. We know when and how to ask people the right questions. Using a variety of techniques and methods, we capture real-life experiences, which spark ideas for new products and strategies.

Why should my company do research?

We help you 
hit your target.

Testing early and often can save not only money but time and reputation. Conducting UX research into market potential, consumer needs, and usability can identify and avoid costly missteps.

Your User Research firm

Welcome to Punchcut, where the world of research design meets innovation! As a leading research design firm, we are committed to helping our distinguished clientele achieve unparalleled success in the digital landscape. With a focus on UX/UI design, Punchcut stands out among UX research agencies and user research firms for our dedication to delivering exceptional results. Our expertise extends beyond the conventional, as we specialize in human factors validation testing, ensuring that the user experiences we craft are not just intuitive but also rigorously validated. When you partner with Punchcut, you're choosing a team of seasoned professionals who excel in creating user-centric solutions that resonate with global audiences. Discover the future of design with us, where innovation knows no bounds.

Punchcut: Your Premier UX Research Agency

Welcome to Punchcut, a top-tier UX research agency where innovation meets user-centric design. Our skilled research consultants are dedicated to delivering customized information, utilizing a variety of UX research methods to gather comprehensive insights. As one of the best UX research agencies, we pride ourselves on our global network and expertise in field project management.

Market Research and Customized User Research: Uncovering Deep Insights

At Punchcut, we conduct extensive market research to understand the ever-evolving digital landscape. Our programs are tailored to meet specific business objectives, ensuring that every insight is actionable and relevant. Our UX research methodologies are diverse, ranging from qualitative research to advanced usability testing services, making us one of the top UX research agencies globally.

UX Research Projects: A Blend of Strategy and Creativity

Our UX research projects are designed to provide a thorough understanding of the user interface and user experience. With a portfolio of completed user research projects, we've demonstrated our capability in transforming insights into usable digital products. Usability research is a key component of our approach, enabling us to refine and perfect the user experience.

Usability Testing Services: Ensuring Optimal User Experience

We offer comprehensive usability testing services as part of our UX strategy. These services are essential in understanding user behavior and preferences, helping to create products that are not only functional but also enjoyable to use. Our user research study techniques are cutting-edge, ensuring that every aspect of the user interface meets the highest standards of usability and design.

Search Engine Optimization: Enhancing Online Visibility

Our services extend to integrating search engine optimization (SEO) strategies, ensuring that your digital products are not only user-friendly but also highly visible in online searches. This holistic approach positions Punchcut as a leader among digital UX research agencies.

User Recruitment: Connecting with the Right Participants

Effective user recruitment is crucial for successful UX research. Our global network allows us to connect with a diverse range of users, ensuring that our research encompasses a wide spectrum of perspectives and experiences.

Conclusion: Your Partner for Innovative Solutions

As one of the best UX research agencies, Punchcut is committed to providing innovative solutions that align with your business goals. Our team of experts leverages a blend of various methods and strategic thinking to deliver exceptional results. Whether it's a product development stage or a comprehensive UX strategy, Punchcut is your partner in navigating the complex world of user research and digital innovation.

Data Collection and Analysis

We turn data into meaningful insights.

How is Punchcut different?

With a foundation in design and strategy, our UX research team is expert at collecting data through a range of methods and tools. We generate evidence-based insights to guide design and product teams towards clear solutions.

Usability Testing

At Punchcut, our services are your gateway to business excellence. Through our expertise in UX/UI design, we empower businesses to thrive in the digital age. Our team of dedicated UX research consultants works hand-in-hand with you to uncover valuable insights, ensuring that your product or service is not just user-friendly but also aligns perfectly with your business objectives. With Punchcut by your side, you'll gain a competitive edge by delivering exceptional user experiences that resonate with your audience, foster brand loyalty, and drive business growth. We're not just consultants; we're your partners in success, committed to shaping the future of your business through the power of design and user-centric research.

Simulation Testing

We model futuristic environments.

Designing future-forward user interfaces and interaction models requires unique testing approaches. We construct interactive simulations and recreate environments to test what’s happening today and to predict what’s in store for the future.

When should we conduct research?

We're with you from idea to launch.

Conducting research is valuable throughout the product development process, from assessing market needs and identifying problems to user testing designs with prototypes.

UX Research Company

This is a game-changer for businesses seeking to maximize efficiency and reduce costs in their UX/UI design endeavors. When you partner with Punchcut, a premier UX research agency with a team of expert UX research consultants, you unlock a host of cost-saving advantages. Through meticulous work, we unearth invaluable insights into your target audience's needs and behaviors. Armed with this data-driven knowledge, you can make informed design decisions, minimizing the risk of costly design revisions down the road. By identifying potential usability issues early in the process, you save not only on development expenses but also on the resources required for post-launch fixes and updates. In essence, we act as your cost-effective insurance policy, ensuring that your UX/UI design investments are optimized for success, ultimately enhancing your bottom line while delivering exceptional user experiences.

Design Validation

We concept and validate design.

New product concepts call for rigorous design validation. We build prototypes and host lab testing sessions to ensure our solutions meet user needs and expectations

We evaluate ongoing usage.

We help companies optimize existing products through regular usability testing and evaluation. We recruit, plan, moderate, and analyze user behavior to quickly identify actionable improvements and opportunities.

The User Research Firm That Stands Out

Our user research firm separates itself from the pack with exemplary levels of service and deliverables. UX UI design is not for the faint of heart and our ux research agency is here to take your brand to the next level and beyond.

Nissan EV HMI

Navigating the electric future

Hover Hyperloop

Future vision for next-gen travel

LG Smart Home

The future of the smart home

The future of social AR

The future of voice

The future of meal prep

The future of the car

Lifebeam Vi

The future of coaching

We can engage in a variety of ways:

Spark sessions.

Short, targeted workshops or sprints that provide inspiration and guidance to jumpstart your design research process.

Product Delivery

Fixed, project engagements focused on researching and envisioning opportunities for a new product or service.

Open Support

Open, flexible team support that provides ongoing research support services to augment and scale internal team capacity.

Get to know our design researchers. Together, we can explore your users’ needs, while making an impact on yours.

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Making Your UX Life Easier with the MoSCoW

If you’re stuck trying to move a project forward because it seems like there are too many things to concentrate on then the MoSCoW method may help you get unstuck. It’s a prioritization technique which is easy to learn and simple to apply. It can also help you decide what’s really valuable for your UX projects before you get started on them.

There are many different prioritization techniques that can be employed on design projects but one of the simplest to use is the MoSCoW method. It’s used across all business disciplines to enable project teams to work with stakeholders to define requirements. It can also be used as a personal prioritization technique.

What Does MoSCoW Stand For?

MoSCoW is an (almost) acronym designed to reflect the four categories used by the technique to determine priorities; Must have, Should have, Could have and Would like but won’t get. The lower case “o’s” are added simply to give the acronym a pronounceable form. Occasionally, you may also see the whole phrase in block capitals MOSCOW to distinguish it from the name of the city but MoSCoW is more common.

What is the MoSCoW Method?

Experts Dai Clegg and Richard Barker proposed the method in their paper “Case Method Fast-Track: A RAD Approach” and while it was initially intended to be used with the Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM) it has long since been adopted throughout many areas of business. In recent times it has become very popular in the Agile and RAD (rapid application development) communities.

The MoSCoW method is most effective when it comes to prioritizing requirements in projects with either fixed or tight deadlines. It works by understanding the idea that all project requirements can be considered important but that they should be prioritized to give the biggest benefits in the fastest possible time frame.

It breaks down the requirements into four categories:

These are the requirements without which a project will fail. They MUST be delivered within the timeframe in order for anyone involved with the project to move on. In essence they make up the MVP ( Minimum Viable Product ) though it can be argued that MUST could stand for Minimum Usable SubseT too.

Should have

Should have requirements aren’t 100% necessary for delivering the project successfully but they are the “most nice to have” out of the list. They may be less time critical than “must have” or might be better held for a future release.

Could have requirements are just “nice to have” they are desirable to provide a nice user experience or customer experience but they’re not that important to the delivery of the project. They will be delivered only if there’s enough time and resources to spare to devote to them. Otherwise, they’re likely to be tabled for future releases and re-reviewed to see if they have become higher or lower priority in the interim.

These are the requirements that everyone agrees aren’t going to happen. It might be because they cost too much to implement or provide too little ROI ( Return on Investment ) for the efforts required to implement them. These are simply left to one side until they are either removed from the requirements list or become a higher priority.

The MoSCoW method provides a simple way of clarifying the priorities involved on a project. It’s most useful in time bound situations and it can be used to prioritize your own workload (usually with the buy in from a supervisor or manager if you work for someone else) as easily as it can be used for project work.

Implementing MoSCoW – A Practical Process

The easiest way to use MoSCoW is to bring together all the relevant stakeholders to the project and then:

List the requirements (on a flip chart or on a screen)

Vote on which category each requirement falls into (bearing in mind any hierarchical issues within the company itself – the CEOs vote may count for more than the votes of everyone else in the room)

Then collate the information and ensure that each requirement is presented against the relevant category in written form so that it can be used for reference by the project team

You can repeat this exercise whenever you feel it is necessary. Priorities may change mid-project or between releases. It’s important for everyone to understand what the implications of changing priorities in the middle of a project may be in terms of costs, resources, and time.

Issues with MoSCoW

It’s important to know that the MoSCoW method isn’t without its detractors. The main flaw in the method, as identified by authors Kark Weigers and Joy Beatty in their book Software Requirements, is that the method offers no means for comparing one requirement to another. This can make it difficult for those tasked with prioritizing requirements to know which category to place them in.

The Take Away

The MoSCoW method offers a simple process for prioritizing within project delivery. It can also be used to prioritize your work load. It should be used with some caution in that it may be too simple – particularly for complex projects – but it makes for a good starting point. One of the big advantages to its simplicity is that it should be easy to get buy in from other stakeholders to put it into practice.

Check out this useful study into how the MoSCoW method is used by business analysts .

You can read about the MoSCoW method as it was originally designed in: Clegg, Dai; Barker, Richard (2004-11-09). Case Method Fast-Track: A RAD Approach. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-201-62432-8.

You can read Weigers and Beatty’s criticism and their suggestion for a more complex method in: Wiegers, Karl; Beatty, Joy (2013). Software Requirements. Washington, USA: Microsoft Press. pp. 320–321. ISBN 978-0-7356-7966-5.

Hero Image: Author/Copyright holder: Agile Connection. Copyright terms and licence: All rights reserved. Img

User Experience: The Beginner’s Guide

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Research: Why People Really Buy Upcycled Products

• Sara Caprioli,
• Christoph Fuchs,
• Bram Van den Bergh

Creativity is more of a selling point than sustainability.

Researchers who analyzed consumer feedback from Etsy discovered that what consumers value most about upcycled products is not their sustainability but their creativity. Their findings offer some guidelines for companies who hope to design and successfully market upcycled products: 1) Designers should consider using components from other industries to enhance the appeal of their products and encourage cross-industry collaboration; 2) Product designers and managers should identify new uses for product components; 3) Marketers should emphasize creativity, as well as sustainability, in their messaging about upcycled products; and 4) Companies can boost the appeal of new products by emphasizing design elements that remind consumers of upcycled products.

Upcycling — the creation of new products by reusing one or more components from ones — is having a moment.

• SC Sara Caprioli is a postdoctoral researcher at the TUM School of Management in Germany. Her work focuses on the effects of creativity and artificial intelligence on human behavior.
• CF Christoph Fuchs is a professor of marketing at the University of Vienna in Austria. His research is situated at the interface of marketing, technology, and human behavior.
• BB Bram Van den Bergh is professor of marketing at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam. His research focuses on decision making and persuasion.

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EXPERT INSIGHTS

Apr-19-2024

The 2024 social media demographics guide

Khoros Staff

Editor's Note: This post was originally created in 2018 and has since been updated to reflect the latest data available.

According to Statista , 61.4% of the world’s population — a whopping 4.95 billion people — use social media.

That’s a lot of social media demographic research to sort through when you want to zero in on understanding audience characteristics of specific platforms — and we know the last thing a social media marketer has is time to spare. That’s why we’ve done all the heavy lifting for you.

Our updated 2024 Social Media Demographics Guide surfaces the demographic data you need to inform a smart strategy, like age, gender, and income — plus device usage and site behavior in one easy-to-read infographic.

View the 2024 Social Media Demographics Guide to discover more about what makes the audiences of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok unique or bookmark it now to reference anytime.

General social media demographics

Before we jump into platform-specific demographics, let’s cover some high-level insights about social media in general.

Social media usage over time

There are currently 4.95 billion social media users and 5.3 billion total internet users, meaning 93.4% of people who use the internet also use social media. What’s more astounding is the rate that social media usage has grown and is expected to continue growing. The number of social media users has grown by 79.1% since 2017 , when there were only 2.73 billion social media users. By the end of 2024, Statista predicts there will be 5.17 billion social media users which would be 5.7% growth compared to 2023. By 2027, the number of social media users is expected to reach 5.85 billion, with an annual growth rate between 3.7-5.7% each year until then.

(Source: Statista )

Social media usage by age

According to new data from eMarketer , most U.S. social media users are between the ages of 27 and 42 and fall under the Millennial generation. With 68.5 million Millennials using social media in the U.S., this group accounts for nearly one-third (30.3%) of all U.S. social media users. The next closest age group by usage is Gen Z (ages 11-26), with 56.4 million social media users, followed by Gen X (ages 43-58), with 51.8 million users. Baby Boomers between the ages of 59 and 77 are the age group with the lowest social media usage, with only 36.9 million users.

(Source: Oberlo )

Although Millennials are the age group that uses social media the most, eMarketer predicts their usage will remain relatively flat through 2027, while the number of Gen Z users is expected to grow significantly. The data also suggests that the number of Gen X and Baby Boomers who use social media will decrease over time.

(Source: eMarketer )

Daily time on social media

On average, people spend 2 hours and 24 minutes on social media each day. Combined, it’s estimated that users will have spent 4 trillion hours on social media in 2023. Not all social media platforms are equally engaging, as Statista found people spent more time on TikTok than anywhere else. On average, social media users in the U.S. spent 53.8 minutes on TikTok, with the next closest being YouTube at 48.7 minutes per day. After that, there was a steep drop off to 34.1 minutes for Twitter/X and other platforms before reaching last place, Reddit at only 24.1 minutes per day.

Despite TikTok having the most time on average per day, DataReportal found that YouTube has the highest average session duration at 7 minutes and 29 seconds. This could be because users are watching longer-form content on YouTube compared to the shorter content that TikTok is known for.

(Source: DataReportal via Exploding Topics )

Facebook demographics

Given that Facebook is the number one platform for adults , understanding its audience is crucial for devising the social media strategy for your business.

2024 Facebook demographics data

Active monthly users

Facebook has 3.03 billion active monthly users

Active daily users

Facebook has 2.085 billion daily active users

4.6% of Facebook’s users are between the ages of 13-17

22.6% of Facebook’s users are between the ages of 18-24

29.4% of Facebook’s users are between the ages of 25-34

19.1% of Facebook’s users are between the ages of 35-44

11.4% of Facebook’s users are between the ages of 45-54

7.2% of Facebook’s users are between the ages of 55-64

5.7% of Facebook’s users are 65+

43.7% of Facebook users are female

56.3% of Facebook users are male

On average, U.S. Facebook users spend 30.9 minutes a day on the platform

98.5% of users access Facebook via mobile devices

81.8% of users access Facebook via mobile devices only

16.7% of users access Facebook via mobile devices and computers

1.5% of users access Facebook via laptop or desktop only

Businesses and shopping

19% of U.S. users search for products on Facebook before shopping

The global advertising audience of Facebook is 2.249 billion

90% of social media marketers use Facebook to promote their business.

Most followed accounts

Cristiano Ronaldo: 163 million followers

Mr. Bean: 136 million followers

Shakira: 122 million followers

Instagram demographics

Instagram is the Meta-owned photo and video sharing app that continues to grow its user base, with 2 billion people using Instagram every month (up from 800 million in 2018).

2024 Instagram demographics data

Instagram has 2 billion monthly active users

Instagram has 500 million daily active users

8% of Instagram’s users are between the ages of 13-17

30.8% of Instagram’s users are between the ages of 18-24

30.3% of Instagram’s users are between the ages of 25-34

15.7% of Instagram’s users are between the ages of 35-44

8.4% of Instagram’s users are between the ages of 45-54

4.3% of Instagram’s users are between the ages of 55-64

2.6% of Instagram’s users are 65+

48.2% of Instagram users are female

51.8% of Instagram users are male

On average, U.S. Instagram users spend 33.1 minutes per day on the platform

90% of Instagram users follow a business

2 out of 3 people say Instagram enables interaction with brands

83% of Instagram users say they discover new products and services on Instagram

Cristiano Ronaldo: 613 million followers

Lionel Messi: 494 million followers

Selena Gomez: 429 million followers

Pinterest demographics

Pinterest is a visual search engine that pioneered online shopping through social media. On Pinterest, people are 90% more likely to say they’re ‘always shopping’ than on other platforms. Additionally, shoppers on Pinterest spend 80% more monthly than on other platforms. Why? Pinterest claims it’s because they take the best of shopping offline and bring it online, with strong visual connections between products and what users can do with those products. There’s a lot marketers can learn from the platform, but it all starts with gaining a better understanding of the audience.

2024 Pinterest demographics data

Pinterest has 465 million monthly active users

27% of Pinterest’s users are between the ages of 18-24

30.9% of Pinterest’s users are between the ages of 25-34

15.8% of Pinterest’s users are between the ages of 35-44

10.4% of Pinterest’s users are between the ages of 45-54

8.7% of Pinterest’s users are between the ages of 55-64

4.3% of Pinterest’s users are 65+

Pinterest is one of the most gendered social media channels, which may inform which brands target this audience and how they do so.

76.2% of Pinterest users are female

17.2% of Pinterest users are male

6.6% of Pinterest users did not specify their gender

On average, U.S. Pinterest users spend 14.2 minutes per day on the platform

85% of users access Pinterest via the mobile app

Business and Shopping

More than 25% of time spent on Pinterest is spent shopping

85% of users have bought something based on pins from brands

X (formerly Twitter) demographics

X (formerly known as Twitter) allows users to reach practically any person or business simply by tagging them in a Tweet. That’s why Twitter is such a popular platform for customer service — allowing users to air complaints in real time and for customer service teams to react quickly.

2024 X demographics data

X has 666 million monthly active users

X has 245 million monetizable daily active users

28.35% of X’s users are between the ages of 18-24

29.63% of X’s users are between the ages of 25-34

17.96% of X’s users are between the ages of 35-44

11.63% of X’s users are between the ages of 45-54

7.61% of X’s users are between the ages of 55-64

4.83% of X’s users are 65+

Like Pinterest, X is highly gendered, although this channel skews the other direction.

23.28% of X users are female

66.72% of X users are male

On average, U.S. X users spend 34.1 minutes per day on the platform

Elon Musk: 156.9 million followers

Barack Obama: 132 million followers

Justin Bieber: 111.7 million followers

Business and shopping

82% of B2B content marketers use X

79% of X users follow brands on the platform

X drives 40% higher ROI than other social media channels

LinkedIn demographics

LinkedIn is a professional networking site and the top social media platform for B2B marketing . As a result of its focus on business, it’s a great way for companies to drive leads, share news, and keep up with others in their industry.

2024 LinkedIn demographics data

LinkedIn has 310 million monthly active users

16.2% of LinkedIn’s users login to the platform daily

21.7% of LinkedIn’s users are between the ages of 18-24

60% of LinkedIn’s users are between the ages of 25-34

15.4% of LinkedIn’s users are between the ages of 35-54

2.9% of LinkedIn’s users are 55+

43.7% of LinkedIn users are female

56.3% of LinkedIn users are male

On average, LinkedIn users spend just over 7 minutes per day on the platform

58.5% of LinkedIn traffic is through desktop devices

41.5% of LinkedIn traffic is through mobile devices

More than 61 million companies are on LinkedIn

96% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn for organic social marketing

Marketers see up to 2x higher conversion rates on LinkedIn compared to other social media platforms

Most Followed Accounts

Bill Gates: 34.9 million followers

Richard Branson: 18.7 million followers

Jeff Weiner: 10.4 million followers

YouTube demographics

YouTube is as utilitarian (think “how to change a spare tire”) as it is entertaining (think funny pet videos). With 2.5 billion monthly active users, YouTube offers expansive opportunities for businesses to share and market information.

2024 YouTube demographics data

YouTube has 2.491 billion monthly active users

YouTube has 122 million daily active users

15.5% of YouTube users are between the ages of 18-24

21.3% of YouTube users are between the ages of 25-34

17.5% of YouTube users are between the ages of 35-44

12.5% of YouTube users are between the ages of 45-54

9.2% of YouTube users are between the ages of 55-64

9.2% of YouTube users are between the ages of 65+

45.6% of YouTube users are female

54.4% of YouTube users are male

On average, U.S. YouTube users spend 48.7 minutes per day on the platform

70% of viewers have made a purchase after seeing a brand on YouTube

54% of marketers use YouTube

T-Series: 254 million subscribers

MrBeast: 217 million subscribers

Cocomelon: 168 million subscribers

Snapchat Demographics

Snapchat has become popular among teens and young adults under 35, making it a great platform for marketers to reach Gen Z. Interestingly, Gen Z spends less time looking at content on Snapchat but shows higher advertising recall than other generations. After watching two seconds or less of an advertiser video, 59% of Gen Z was able to recall it. Outside of Gen Z Snapchat statistics, here’s some other information about the platform’s demographics.

2024 Snapchat demographics data

Snapchat has 750 million monthly active users

Snapchat has 406 million daily active users

19.7% of Snapchat users are between the ages of 13-17

38.1% of Snapchat users are between the ages of 18-24

23.4% of Snapchat users are between the ages of 25-34

14% of Snapchat users are between the ages of 35-49

3.8% of Snapchat users are 50+

51% of Snapchat users are female

48.2% of Snapchat users are male

On average, U.S. Snapchat users spend 30 minutes per day on the platform

Snapchat users hold $4.4 trillion in global spending power

Snapchat users are 2x more likely to share their purchases with their network

Kylie Jenner: 37 million followers

Kim Kardashian: 27.2 million followers

Khloe Kardashian: 15 million followers

TikTok demographics

TikTok’s explosive growth in recent years has marked its place as a major player in the social media world (even though it doesn’t call itself a social media platform ). Like Snapchat, younger audiences dominate TikTok’s user base with 37.3% of users being between 18-24. It’s also a great platform for brands, with spending reaching 2.5 billion globally. Here’s some other information about TikTok’s user demographics to bear in mind when creating marketing strategies.

2024 TikTok demographics data

TikTok has 1.218 billion monthly active users

TikTok has 45.1 million daily active users

37.3% of TikTok users are between the ages of 18-24

32.9% of TikTok users are between the ages of 25-34

15.7% of TikTok users are between the ages of 35-44

8.3% of TikTok users are between the ages of 45-54

5.8% of TikTok users are 55+

49.2% of TikTok users are female

50.8% of TikTok users are male

On average, U.S. TikTok users spend 53.8 minutes per day on the platform

Khabane lame: 162 million followers

Charli D’Amelio: 151.6 million followers

Bella Poarch: 93.6 million followers

Consumer spending on TikTok has surpassed $2.5 billion globally

58.2% of TikTok users said they used the platform for shopping inspiration

49% of TikTok users say the platform helped them make purchasing decisions

55% of TikTok users made a purchase after seeing a brand or product on the platform

Which social media networks should your business prioritize?

Of course, knowing who’s using each social media platform is one thing, and engaging those people is a completely different thing. If your business needs help organizing and managing your social media activity, request a demo of our social media management software to see how you can understand your audience and seamlessly manage efforts across social media channels.

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