user testing 2015 industry survey report

UX INDUSTRY SURVEY REPORT 2015

Could there possibly be a better time to be involved in UX? Brilliant experiences have crept from the fringes of business best practices to front-and-center for many companies throughout the world.

Customer experience has become a growing focus for companies of all sizes, including all of the interactions the customer has with the brand—not just the digital ones.

Along with this, organizations are taking a more mature approach to collecting and utilizing customer feedback. Many companies are realizing it’s no longer enough to run surveys or user tests a couple of times a year. Instead, they’re working constantly to build a consistent experience across channels and on all devices, and customer feedback is the driving force behind that work.

In our third annual UX Industry Survey, we sought to dig deeper into some of these trends and uncover more insights on how companies approach user experience (and customer experience). Here are the responses, along with some insights on the important changes we’ve noticed from previous years.

1. WHAT IS YOUR GENDER?

2. WHAT IS YOUR COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE?

We’re in the midst of an emerging movement around building products, campaigns, and experiences based on continuous feedback from customers.

INDUSTRY SURVEY REPORT INSIGHTS 2015 | 02

7,725survey participants

44% 55% 1%

Australia 2.29%

South Africa 0.71%Canada 5.33%

United Kingdom 7.7%

Ireland 0.61%

United States 64.83% New Zealand 0.62%

Other 17.9%

3. WHAT IS YOUR AGE?

4. WHAT’S THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF EDUCATION YOU’VE ACHIEVED?

5. WHAT IS YOUR JOB FUNCTION? (What department or team are you a part of?)

6. WHICH OF THESE CHOICES BEST DESCRIBES YOUR ROLE?


In-house Consultant atan agency

Independentconsultant /freelance

Business owner0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

OTHER INCLUDES:• Education• IT• Design

56.4%

13.14%20.27%

10.18%


7. WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING BEST DESCRIBES THE PRINCIPAL INDUSTRY OF YOUR ORGANIZATION?

TOP 5 PRINCIPAL INDUSTRIES:1. Advertising and Marketing2. Education3. Consumer High Tech Services4. Business High Tech Services5. Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals

OTHER INCLUDES:

IT and Software


8. WHICH TEAM IN YOUR COMPANY FINDS THE MOST VALUE IN UX RESEARCH?

This indicates that while UX research has traditionally been constrained to certain individuals or teams within a single department in any given company, teams of all kinds are starting to discover the value of evaluating and measuring the user experience they provide. It also suggests that marketers and product teams may be weaving customer feedback into their processes more extensively than in the past.

9. WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL BE THE MOST IMPORTANT ONLINE TRENDS AFFECTING UX RESEARCH IN THE NEXT 5 YEARS?

Multi-device interaction has held the lead in this question for the past three years. It supports the idea that the line between digital and physical experiences is blurring*, with more and more brand interactions spanning multiple devices and extending into the real world. Consumer journeys frequently span devices and channels, yet consumers don’t view these as separate experiences. What does this tell us? Companies can’t treat digital and physical channels as separate entities anymore—and it underlines the importance of providing a consistently excellent experience across all channels.

*Source: Navigating the New Digital Divide: Capitalizing on Digital Influence in Retail, Deloitte Digital, 2015.

Compared with previous years, there was a much more even distribution between Marketing, Product, and UX teams in 2015.

10. ON AVERAGE, WHAT IS YOUR COMPANY’S MONTHLY BUDGET FOR UX RESEARCH? (Converted to USD)

Year over year, we’ve watched the majority of responses shift away from small to mid-sized monthly budgets. This suggests companies are allocating more resources to UX research on a monthly basis, allowing for more ongoing user feedback, testing of more initiatives, and even benchmarking their UX over time.

11. OUT OF THE BUDGET YOU JUST INDICATED, WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING METHODOLOGIES DO YOU INVEST IN?


In 2014, the largest segment was the $1 to $500 budget range. This year, the largest was $1,001 to $5,500.

There were increases in all ranges above $500, and decreases in all ranges below $500. *Excluding participants who selected “We don’t have a fixed budget” and “I’m not sure.”


12. HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE YOUR COMPANY’S UX RESEARCH BUDGET IN 2015 TO 2014?

13. WHAT WAS THE REASON FOR THE CHANGE IN YOUR COMPANY’S UX RESEARCH BUDGET?

14. WHAT PERCENT OF YOUR TIME IS SPENT CONDUCTING USABILITY TESTS?

15. WHAT PERCENTAGE OF YOUR COMPANY’S USABILITY TESTING IS DONE IN-PERSON?

Increase or decrease in projects

13.17%

Increase or decrease

in personnel

8.43%

Other

6.03%N/A

(no change)

51.66%

Change in attitude towards usability testing

20.72%

0% 1-25% 26-50% 51-75% 76-100%0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

15.48%

62.70%

14.85%5.03% 1.94%

0% 1-25% 26-50% 51-75% 76-100%0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

23.26%

36.84%

15.30% 10.94% 13.66%


16. WHAT PERCENTAGE OF YOUR COMPANY’S USABILITY TESTING IS DONE REMOTELY?

17. WHAT PERCENTAGE OF YOUR COMPANY’S REMOTE USABILITY TESTING IS MODERATED?

18. HOW DOES YOUR COMPANY RECRUIT PARTICIPANTS FOR YOUR USABILITY TESTING?

0% 1-25% 26-50% 51-75% 76-100%0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

23.18%29.53%

17.13% 13.22% 16.95%

0% 1-25% 26-50% 51-75% 76-100%0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

34.11%28.38%

13.65%8.69%

15.16%

19. ON AVERAGE, HOW MANY USERS DOES YOUR COMPANY RECRUIT PER USABILITY STUDY?

20. HOW OFTEN DOES YOUR COMPANY RUN USABILITY TESTS?

This year, we saw a rise in more frequent testing. The percentage of respondents who ran tests daily doubled from 2014 to 2015. The number of professionals who ran tests weekly increased moderately, while those who ran tests monthly or less frequently decreased.

21. HOW DOES THE FREQUENCY OF YOUR COMPANY’S TESTING IN 2015 COMPARE TO 2014?

22. WHAT WAS THE REASON FOR THE CHANGE IN YOUR COMPANY’S TESTING FREQUENCY?


The percentage of respondents who ran tests daily doubled from 2014 to 2015.


23. LOOKING AHEAD INTO 2016, HOW DO YOU THINK THE FREQUENCY OF YOUR COMPANY’S TESTING WILL CHANGE?

24. WHAT SOURCES DO YOU USE TO IMPROVE YOUR USABILITY KNOWLEDGE?

In 2016, more than half (59.94%) of respondents say their company will test more frequently.

Increase significantly

18.77%

Increase moderately

40.77%

About the same

36.84%

Decrease moderately

2.54%

Decrease significantly

1.08%


25. HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE EMPLOYED AT YOUR COMPANY?

26. DOES YOUR COMPANY HAVE A DEDICATED TEAM FOR UX RESEARCH?

27. HOW MANY PEOPLE IN YOUR COMPANY, PART-TIME AND FULL-TIME, WORK ON USER EXPERIENCE?

24.24%

8.27%

17.72%

21.60%

10.74%

17.44%

35.47%

51.36%

13.17%


28. WHAT DOES YOUR COMPANY CURRENTLY RUN USABILITY TESTING ON?

CLOSING THOUGHTS Given the rise in budgets, the expansion in types of teams doing UX research, and an even greater focus on improving omni-channel experiences, it’s evident to us that providing an outstanding experience to customers is at the forefront for many organizations.

We predict that in the coming years, companies will invest more heavily in creating products and experiences based on continuous feedback from their customers, and customer experience will become a shared responsibility among all teams in an organization.

For years we’ve been hearing that customer experience is a priority for executives, but for the first time this survey reveals that companies of all sizes are finally making significant investments in CX.” Chris Hicken, UserTesting President


“

A GUIDE TO BUYING THE RIGHT USER RESEARCH PLATFORM | 10

Create great experiences

UserTesting is the fastest and most advanced user experience research platform on the market. We give marketers, product managers, and UX teams on-demand access to people in their target audience who deliver audio, video,

and written feedback on websites, mobile apps, prototypes, and even physical products and locations.

2672 Bayshore Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043www.usertesting.com | 1.800.903.9493 | [email protected]