See and hear how users experience YOUR website
Find out what they like and what they don't. What's working and what isn't. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Getting Started
What is whatusersdo?
whatusersdo is an online User Experience research service. You can set a task for our users and we record their screens and spoken thoughts as they complete that task. You can then watch online videos of their screens and voices.
You can even test mobile websites and apps using our new mobile testing service.
Our clients use whatusersdo to test usability, benchmark competing websites, better understand user behaviour and get feedback on their online propositions.
Who is it for?
whatusersdo is used by Internet Marketers, Design Agencies, Website Owners, Developers, Public Sector web teams and Market Researchers across all sectors.
Some clients use the service to usability test their own live sites, others test prototypes in development and some benchmark their site against competitors. We've Agencies using it as a pitching tool to show videos of real people struggling with a prospective client's site (followed by how they'd improve it).
The rapid turn-around of whatusersdo means it's used by many Agile development teams.
Our clients know that:
"45% of users abandon sites with poor navigability, slow download times, or confusing content."(Boston Consulting Group)
What can I research?
You can find out about your own website's user experience, benchmark it against a competitor's and see how people naturally search and select websites. You can even test mobile websites and apps using our new mobile testing service. In fact, we've over 20 test examples for you to choose from on the order form, or you can find out more about what you can test here.
How much does it cost?
The pay-as-you-go service starts at £30 per user. That's about $45 or €30 (plus VAT at 20%).
Save money with a Test pack.
How long are test packs valid for?
Any user test credits you buy - whether as a Test Pack or our Insight Service - are valid for 12 months from the date of order
What do I get?
For each participant you get:
- - a showing the user's screen and mouse clicks synchronised with their voice (as they "think aloud") for fixed web tests or a video of the user's mobile device synchronised with their voice for mobile tests
- - tools to time-mark specific points of interest on the online video
- - an easy way to share your online video with colleagues or clients
- - to download each video for offline viewing or editing
- - (for Website User Experience research) a usability metric (out of 100) using the Website Usability Scale
- - (for benchmarking) each participant's preferred website.
Find out about our Test packs.
How many should I order?
We recommend 5. You can read why on Jakob Nielsen's site.
Some new clients just try a single participant before ordering more.
How long does it take?
We aim to complete UK orders within 2 working days and all other orders within 5 working days - you will be notified by email as soon as the results become available.
How should I write instructions for users?
If you are writing your own instructions try to keep them simple and short - you'll get results sooner and the flow will be more natural.
Don't be too prescriptive. "Book a short break for you and a friend or partner" is better than " Book a trip to Dublin for 5 people on 3rd October".
Here are some examples:
- 1. "Use the site to book a holiday."
- 2. "Find a gift for a close friend or family member and proceed to the checkout pages."
- 3. "Register with the site. What was easy and difficult?"
- 4. "Search for an upcoming event in your area. Then notify your friends."
Take a look at our Task examples or learn more with our Usability Testing Guides.
User Panel
Who are your users?
Most of our users have been recruited through word of mouth.
Each user has passed a pre-qualification test which checks whether they are able to speak their thoughts while browsing and can stay on task. We reject about a quarter of applicants.
Our global user panel includes people from the UK, USA, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.
You can apply here to join our user panel.
We pay users to complete tasks but they are not employees. We only pay them if you are happy with their video.
Which browsers do your users use?
Our users use their own computers and usual browsers (like Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome or Firefox) from their home: not a lab. You will see what websites look like on a normal user's computer in their natural browsing environment.
Our screen recording software runs on Windows PCs, Netbooks and Apple Macs. We don't support older browsers like IE6. For mobile research we support both tablets and Smartphones.
Can I demographically select users?
You can select users by age and gender or screen our panel for users in your target market using a custom filter.
Learn more about target market filtering.
Results
How long do you store videos?
Your videos are available on-line to stream (or download) for 6 months. After that they are available to download only.
Can I download videos and work with them offline?
You can download your videos and watch them offline or link to them from other applications like presentation software. Videos are in the widely used MP4 format. You may need to install a free player (like QuickTime) to use them on your computer.
There's a new feature in beta that lets you create and download MP4 clips of video tags or you could try an inexpensive MP4 editor like QuickTime Pro and create clips offline.
Can I set time-markers in the online videos?
Yes. If you want to mark and then jump to specific points of time in a video click the "Show tools" button and insert a tag as you watch. You can add comments to each tag. There's a new beta feature that lets you download MP4 video clips from tags that you've made.
What is the Website Usability Scale?
The Website Usability Scale (WUS) is a Likert scale-based questionnaire to grade the usability of websites. For each single website usability test our users complete a short questionnaire and we calculate the WUS score from that.
The score is out of 100 and a score of 100 indicates best usability. Some studies have shown websites average a WUS score of 72.
You can use individual WUS scores to prioritise which test videos to watch first - those with the lowest scores are likely to reveal the biggest problems.
WUS is based on SUS (System Usability Scale). SUS was developed as part of the usability engineering program in integrated office systems development at Digital Equipment Co Ltd., Reading, United Kingdom
Where can I read more about User Experience research?
We highly recommend Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug.
Your Account
Account management
You can add multiple logins to your account and easily share results.
Can I get a refund?
If you are not totally satisfied with your results or our service, please contact us for a refund.
Special Requests
Can I get a discount for a volume order?
Yes. You can save money by buying a Test pack online, or contact us.
Can you invoice me?
For pay-as-you-go research we want to keep the cost as low as possible and so ask for payment in advance by credit or debit card, or by PayPal. If you can't pay by card then please contact us.
Can I bring my own users?
Yes. We've clients who use whatusersdo to conduct research using testers that they have sourced. Please contact us to discuss your requirements.
