UX INDUSTRY SURVEY

REPORT 2015

Were in the midst

of an emerging
movement around
building products,
campaigns, and
experiences based
on continuous
feedback from
customers.

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 brandnot just the
digital ones.
Along with this, organizations are taking a more mature approach to collecting
and utilizing customer feedback. Many companies are realizing its no longer
enough to run surveys or user tests a couple of times a year. Instead, theyre
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 weve noticed from previous years.

7,725

1. WHAT IS YOUR GENDER?

survey participants

44%

55%

1%

2. WHAT IS YOUR COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE?

United States 64.83%

United Kingdom 7.7%

Australia 2.29%

New Zealand 0.62%

Other 17.9%

Canada 5.33%

South Africa 0.71%

Ireland 0.61%

INDUSTRY SURVEY REPORT INSIGHTS 2015 | 02

3. WHAT IS YOUR AGE?

4. WHATS THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF EDUCATION YOUVE ACHIEVED?

5. WHAT IS YOUR JOB FUNCTION?

(What department or team are you a part of?)

OTHER INCLUDES:
Education
IT
Design

100%
6.
WHICH OF THESE CHOICES BEST DESCRIBES YOUR ROLE?
80%

56.4%

60%
40%

13.14%

20.27%
10.18%

20%
0%
In-house

Consultant at
an agency

Independent
consultant /
freelance

Business owner

INDUSTRY SURVEY REPORT INSIGHTS 2015 | 03

7. WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING BEST DESCRIBES THE PRINCIPAL

INDUSTRY OF YOUR ORGANIZATION?
TOP 5 PRINCIPAL
INDUSTRIES:
1. Advertising and Marketing
2. Education
3. Consumer High Tech Services
4. Business High Tech Services
5. Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals

OTHER INCLUDES:
IT and Software

INDUSTRY SURVEY REPORT INSIGHTS 2015 | 04

8. WHICH TEAM IN YOUR COMPANY FINDS THE MOST VALUE IN

UX RESEARCH?

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

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 dont view these as separate experiences. What
does this tell us? Companies cant treat digital and physical channels as separate
entities anymoreand 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.

INDUSTRY SURVEY REPORT INSIGHTS 2015 | 05

10. ON AVERAGE, WHAT IS YOUR COMPANYS MONTHLY

BUDGET FOR UX RESEARCH? (Converted to USD)

In 2014, the largest

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

Year over year, weve 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?

There were increases

in all ranges above
$500, and decreases
in all ranges below
$500.
*Excluding participants who selected
We dont have a fixed budget and
Im not sure.

INDUSTRY SURVEY REPORT INSIGHTS 2015 | 06

12. HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE YOUR COMPANYS UX

RESEARCH BUDGET IN 2015 TO 2014?

13. WHAT WAS THE REASON FOR THE CHANGE IN YOUR

COMPANYS UX RESEARCH BUDGET?

Increase or
decrease
in projects

Change in
Increase or
attitude towards
decrease
usability testing in personnel

13.17%

20.72%

N/A
(no change)

Other

6.03%

51.66%

8.43%

14. WHAT PERCENT OF YOUR TIME IS SPENT CONDUCTING

100%
USABILITY TESTS?
80%

62.70%
60%

40%

20%

15.48%

14.85%
5.03%

1.94%

0%
0%

1-25%

26-50%

51-75%

76-100%

100%

15. WHAT PERCENTAGE OF YOUR COMPANYS USABILITY

TESTING IS DONE IN-PERSON?
80%
60%

36.84%

40%

23.26%

15.30%

20%

10.94%

13.66%

0%
0%

1-25%

26-50%

51-75%

76-100%

INDUSTRY SURVEY REPORT INSIGHTS 2015 | 07

100%

16. WHAT PERCENTAGE OF YOUR COMPANYS USABILITY

TESTING
IS DONE REMOTELY?
80%
60%

40%

23.18%

29.53%
17.13%

20%

13.22%

16.95%

0%
0%

1-25%

26-50%

51-75%

76-100%

100%

17. WHAT PERCENTAGE OF YOUR COMPANYS REMOTE

USABILITY
TESTING IS MODERATED?
80%
60%

40%

34.11%

28.38%
13.65%

20%

8.69%

15.16%

0%
0%

1-25%

26-50%

51-75%

76-100%

18. HOW DOES YOUR COMPANY RECRUIT PARTICIPANTS FOR

YOUR USABILITY TESTING?

INDUSTRY SURVEY REPORT INSIGHTS 2015 | 08

19. ON AVERAGE, HOW MANY USERS DOES YOUR COMPANY

RECRUIT PER USABILITY STUDY?

20. HOW OFTEN DOES YOUR COMPANY RUN USABILITY TESTS?

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

IN 2015 COMPARE TO 2014?

22. WHAT WAS THE REASON FOR THE CHANGE IN YOUR

COMPANYS TESTING FREQUENCY?

INDUSTRY SURVEY REPORT INSIGHTS 2015 | 09

23. LOOKING AHEAD INTO 2016, HOW DO YOU THINK THE

FREQUENCY OF YOUR COMPANYS TESTING WILL CHANGE?

In 2016, more than

half (59.94%) of
respondents say
their company will
test more frequently.

Increase
significantly

Increase
moderately

About
the same

Decrease
moderately

Decrease
significantly

18.77%

40.77%

36.84%

2.54%

1.08%

24. WHAT SOURCES DO YOU USE TO IMPROVE YOUR USABILITY

KNOWLEDGE?

INDUSTRY SURVEY REPORT INSIGHTS 2015 | 10

25. HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE EMPLOYED AT YOUR COMPANY?

24.24%

21.60%

8.27%

10.74%

17.72%

17.44%

26. DOES YOUR COMPANY HAVE A DEDICATED TEAM FOR

UX RESEARCH?
13.17%
35.47%

51.36%

27. HOW MANY PEOPLE IN YOUR COMPANY, PART-TIME AND

FULL-TIME, WORK ON USER EXPERIENCE?

INDUSTRY SURVEY REPORT INSIGHTS 2015 | 11

28. WHAT DOES YOUR COMPANY CURRENTLY RUN USABILITY

TESTING ON?

INDUSTRY SURVEY REPORT INSIGHTS 2015 | 12

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, its 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.

years weve been hearing that customer experience is a

For
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

INDUSTRY SURVEY REPORT INSIGHTS 2015 | 13

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 94043
www.usertesting.com | 1.800.903.9493 | sales@usertesting.com

A GUIDE TO BUYING THE RIGHT USER RESEARCH PLATFORM | 10