Review: Userbrain.com — A quality, affordable user testing platform
Over the last few years, I’ve racked up hundreds of unmoderated user tests on various projects and collected almost 100 hours of user insights.
Having had enterprise plans on platforms like Userzoom and Usertesting.com, I’m about as big of an advocate as you can get for their products and suggest that any product or UX leader picks the best platform you can get your hand on.
There is however one problem with these platforms, the upfront costs which can run into thousands of pounds a year and normally require a 12-month commitment.
I’m not here to say it’s not worth the spend. It certainly is once your test volumes rise and your wider company UX maturity grows. But for individuals, small teams without a large budget, and those unfortunate enough to be in a company that hasn’t quite understood the value of user testing, it can be quite a barrier to entry.
Enter Userbrain.com
Disclaimer. I’m not in any way affiliated with userbrain.com. They have not paid or incentivised me to make this review and I’ve paid full price for the tests documented here.
Working in a startup and leaving my previous large corporate employer with big teams and budgets, I’ve had to work smart when it comes to our budgets.
I’ve got a lot of use out of usabilityhub.com which is cheap, fast and fantastic for quick feedback or survey data, but has no user-recording function and only allows tests to be served in their UI.
What was needed was all the features I was accustomed to in the larger platforms but in a pay-as-you-go offering and this is where Userbrain.com (UB) came in.
UB had been recommended to me before but was lacking in some of the key features I needed. The team behind the product come from a UX background and has clearly been keeping an eye on user feedback and really brought the product on a long way.
This is my experience now.
The good stuff
1. Pricing and terms
Signup is easy, you get your account in a few quick steps and they even throw in a free test credit.
Once you need more credits you have two choices. Either a Pay As You Go option where you only pay for what you need upfront or a discounted subscription plan which delivers a meaningful discount without long term contracts.
2. Creating a test
There’s a lot to like here. Simple and fast to use, clean uncluttered design and more advanced features like templating when needed.
One design feature I really like here is how they’ve pre-filled the test template for you. At first, I thought this was just notes to me and all needed replacing. But it’s actually a good general website feedback test script that is nicely written and illustrates what the user will be asked to do.
It even prompted me to adapt my test script in a positive way.
All the task options you’ll likely need are here and you can re-order, duplicate and delete tasks with ease.
Ordering testers is straightforward too. If you have credits from a subscription it’ll draw down from these and if you don’t you can purchase the amount needed.
Recruitment options include:
- Device
- Country (US, UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa)
- Age
- Gender
3. The results
My participants for my simple website usability test were allocated within minutes and I was kept updated in the app and email on their progression.
Once complete I had access to their sessions straight away. Both recordings had high-quality video and audio(It’s actually a Wistia player, why not!) and the users took their time to navigate through the test script and provide more than enough detail on the element I asked them to review.
The player interface is simple to use, has playback speed options, share options including video download and a notes facility that can be exported across all recordings.
Another nice touch is the player remembers the last played point if you leave and come back to the video, which I often find I do.
4. Customer support
At first, I was a bit disappointed not to see a live support chat function but I found the support site and email form okay and submitted a test question. The response I got via email was fast, detailed and friendly.
Some improvements?
There really isn’t a lot to dislike here! I know the team is looking at new features often, so these would be on my wish list.
- Lack of screener questions* — At the moment there is no (native) ability to screen participants before they access your test. This can be key when targeting a demographic. They do have access to other participant pools that allow this, but in my view, it removes the simplicity and ease of use of the app.
- Player milestone — The player interface could do with way of clicking to a specific question timecode in the video. This is a great time-saving feature when navigating to and from a point.
- Automatic transcription — This would save writing out user feedback if only given verbally.
- A clip or collection feature — something Usertesting.com introduced recently and works really well is a “showreel” style feature to collate similar/related feedback and share as a single video URL. Great for sharing with stakeholders.
*Update — Markus the CEO has been in touch with me and I’m pleased to say this feature is on the roadmap!
And that’s it. None of these would detract me in any way from using the product further. I certainly plan on staying as a customer and I look forward to seeing how far the team can take the platform.
Summary
Userbrain.com brings real remote unmoderated user testing access to users that can’t afford (or don’t need) an annual subscription and would prefer a PAYG model in a simple to use platform that covers all of the essential testing features and then some.
