Usability Sciences

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the COO of a software company called VIIZR. We are a spinoff from Ford Motor Company, and we focus on productivity apps for small businesses in the trades and construction space.

For what projects/services did your company hire Usability Sciences?

We partnered with Usability Sciences to pressure test our product design with our target customers — primarily for usability but also for overall percieved value.

How did you select this vendor?

Usability Sciences came highly recommended by Salesforce. When Mark tell you that these are the folks you should work with, you know you’re going to be working with some real pros.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We started as a collaboration between Ford and Salesforce, and are building our core product on the Salesforce platform. This has given us some great advantages but also some real challenges to overcome, particularly around user experience. Our product needs to feel a lot more like consumer software — something that our users can just pick up and use without a lot of training or explanation.

​​​​​What was the team composition?

Not much to report here. Originally we were told that we’d be able to reach out to our research participants for future studies or if they were interested in trying our product. But Usability Sciences ended up working with an external recruiter who “owns” the contacts. Understandable, but there was a bit of a miss on communication there.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We found dozens, possibly hundreds, of ways to improve our product to make it more intuitive.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The collaboration and communication process were pretty seamless to my eye. The teams met regularly to plan and prepare for the research. We worked together to iterate things on the fly. And the final report was super thorough and actionable.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The recruiters, researchers, and analysts were all stellar. I think the most impressive thing was their ability to take our not-fully-baked software and design a research protocol that allowed target users to get a feel for what it would be like to use it in their daily life. That preparation, along with very skillful session facilitation was very impressive.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

Not really.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a technology company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Usability Sciences?

We needed help with business consultancy for our company.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Usability Sciences leads usability research and design strategy for a related UI/UX design component. We had a very complex problem at salesforce on how to combine software, people, and processes, so Usability Sciences’ job is to research it, meet all the stakeholders, discover all the parts of that problem, and recommend a pattern on how to address that issue moving forward. To solve this issue, they’re looking into how teams provide and account for financial information among a large organization of sales professionals to come up with a streamlined solution to make a transparent payment structure for users — that’s the discovery phase that they’ve been diving into.

In terms of strategies, they’ve been doing workshops, usability research sessions, contextual inquiry interviews, and focus groups.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with two members of their team, including an account manager and a field researcher.

How did you come to work with Usability Sciences?

We’ve worked with them on previous projects.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $100,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2021, and the engagement is still ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They’ve met every deadline that we’ve set. They also work well within a rapidly changing environment where they adapt to reach our goals and expectations to ensure that we provide high-quality products to our customers. Overall, I’m delighted with their work as a vendor.

How did Usability Sciences perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done well in sticking to schedules and budgets in terms of project management. In terms of communication, we use Slack and emails.

What did you find most impressive about them? 

Their research powerhouse is very efficient, which distinguishes them from other providers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’d recommend that they continue to work on the quality of their stakeholder presentations. I’ve shared this with them, and they’ve made adjustments to it. 

Any advice for potential customers?

You should understand that they’re not a creative design agency and apply them when looking to unpack problems that require a lot of research.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Food delivery company

For what projects/services did your company hire Usability Sciences?

We wanted to understand if we were improving the User Experience of our applications over time. Additionally, we wanted to pinpoint the friction points for our users within the app, and understand how our user experience and service compared to our competitors.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Obtained 3 quotes. Usability Sciences provided a good price and had a extensive history and proven success delivering research studies like the one we needed.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Identify core tasks within each application that we wanted to evaluate and benchmark. Work w Usability Sciences to refine and create the testing protocol across the 3 applications. While doing that USC managed and fulfilled a user recruit for us in a respectable timeframe. They then facilitated the study over a period of two weeks. Upon conclusion the delivered an amazing written report and presented it to our entire organization.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Sales, a lead and support researcher, and a primary recruiter. (4)

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The project allowed us to identify and prioritize areas for improvement within our user experience. Additionally, it allowed us to see and the design solutions our competitors implemented performed against our own.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Incredibly effective. We set them up, and they managed and facilitated the research effort from their w minimal feedback needed. After a quarterly cadence it became a very routine and easy process.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They do good work. Incredibly talented, knowledgeable researchers. Their deliverables were top-notch, and they were easy to engage with and take action from.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Not really. It was a great experience and I’d use them again at any company there is a need and I have the budget to.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Dir Brand & Customer Insights

For what projects/services did your company hire Usability Sciences?

To capture customer & associate feedback to a prototype our team had developed. What works and doesn't for those stakeholders?

How did you select this vendor?

We sought proposals from three familar UX/UI research firms. Usablity Sciences collaborative approach set them apart.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We held a scoping session with Usability Sciences, aligning on objectives, deliverables, and timelines. Usability Sciences developed discussion guides and recruiting strategies, we reviewed, edited, and approved. Usability Sciences recruited participants and conducted the sessions. Usability Sciences shared the intial findings, and full report with the internal team.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Six, COO, Sr Researcher, Dir Recruiting, Associate Researcher, Dir Admin, VP Sales

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Their findings, espcially in the voice of customers and quick feedback allowed us to revise the next phase for the prototype. The results shared directly impacted what happened next.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Good workflow. The team was flexible when needed, without compromising the research (the right feedback from the right users, on time).

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They had great balance of personal touch/customization, while leveraging proven research methods.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Everyone could improve at something, but I didn't notice it. They're great.