Find out what's really confusing your users

We run structured usability testing with real users, uncovering the friction points and confusion that surveys and assumptions alone can't reveal.

Overview

Teams building a product almost always develop internal assumptions about where users get stuck, and these assumptions feel confidently correct right up until usability testing reveals something entirely different is actually happening. Users frequently can't articulate what confused them in a survey, they'll report a flow felt fine while their actual behavior, hesitation, backtracking, unexpected workarounds, tells a genuinely different story.

We run structured, moderated usability testing sessions with carefully recruited participants who genuinely match your target user profile, observing real behavior as users attempt real tasks rather than relying on self-reported impressions alone. This reveals the gap between what users say worked and what actually happened as they tried to use your product, which is consistently where the most valuable and most surprising findings emerge.

Every session translates into a clear, prioritized report of friction points ranked by severity, paired with concrete design recommendations your team can act on immediately rather than an interesting but underutilized research document. Whether testing an early prototype or an already-live product, the goal is replacing internal assumption with genuine evidence about how real users actually experience what you've built.

What we do

Evidence-based insight into how real users actually experience your product, not how you assume they do.

01

Participant Recruitment

A usability testing session is only as valuable as the participants involved, and testing with people who don't genuinely match your target user profile produces findings that feel credible but don't actually reflect how your real users would experience the product, which can be worse than skipping testing entirely if decisions get made based on misleading findings. We handle careful recruitment and screening to ensure participants genuinely match your target user profile, whether that means specific job roles, technical proficiency levels, or familiarity with similar products, since the validity of every subsequent finding depends entirely on getting this foundational step right rather than treating participant recruitment as a convenience-driven afterthought.

02

Moderated Testing Sessions

Users frequently can't articulate what confused them, they'll say a flow felt fine even while visibly hesitating, backtracking, or attempting workarounds that reveal genuine friction their words don't capture. We run structured, moderated sessions observing real users attempting real tasks on your product, watching actual behavior rather than relying solely on self-reported impressions that tend to be more polite and less revealing than watching someone actually struggle with a specific step. This is where the real value of usability testing lives, in the gap between what users say and what they actually do when given a genuine task to complete, and that gap is precisely what structured observation is designed to surface.

03

Findings & Recommendations Report

A usability testing report that lists every observation with equal weight gives your team no genuine guidance on where to actually focus limited design and development resources, which defeats much of the purpose of running the research in the first place. We deliver a clear, prioritized report of friction points, ranked by severity and by how many participants encountered each specific issue, paired with concrete, actionable design recommendations rather than vague general impressions your team would need to interpret into specific next steps themselves. This prioritization is what turns usability testing findings into an actual roadmap for improvement, rather than an interesting but ultimately underutilized research document.

How we reveal what users actually experience, not what they report

A process built around observing real behavior, since what users do reveals more than what they say.

  1. 01

    Task Scenario Design

    We define the specific tasks participants will attempt, designed to mirror how real users would realistically approach the product rather than artificially guided scenarios that wouldn't reveal genuine friction an unguided user would actually encounter.

  2. 02

    Participant Recruitment & Screening

    We recruit and screen participants genuinely matching your target user profile, since the validity of every subsequent finding depends entirely on testing with people who actually represent your real user base.

  3. 03

    Moderated Session Execution

    We run moderated testing sessions, observing real behavior as participants attempt genuine tasks, paying close attention to hesitation, backtracking, and workarounds that reveal friction participants may not directly articulate.

  4. 04

    Cross-Session Pattern Analysis

    We analyze session recordings and notes across all participants, identifying patterns in where and why friction occurred, distinguishing issues encountered by multiple participants from isolated, lower-priority observations.

  5. 05

    Findings Prioritization

    We prioritize findings by severity and frequency, ensuring the report distinguishes genuinely critical usability issues from minor observations, so your team knows exactly where to focus first.

  6. 06

    Report Delivery & Implementation Support

    We deliver the findings report with concrete, actionable design recommendations, and can support your team in interpreting and implementing changes based on what the testing genuinely revealed.

Usability testing tools we use

We use industry-standard platforms for remote and in-person usability testing.

Figma logo
Maze logo
UserTesting logo
Lookback logo
Zeroheight logo
Typeform logo

Frequently Asked Questions

Usability testing involves observing real users attempting genuine tasks on your product, revealing the friction points, confusion, and workarounds that surveys and internal assumptions consistently miss, since users often can't articulate what confused them but their actual behavior while attempting a task reveals it clearly.

A typical usability testing round takes 2 to 3 weeks, including participant recruitment, running the actual sessions, and delivering a findings report, with the recruitment phase often taking longer than the sessions themselves if your target user profile is fairly specific.

Yes, we recruit participants genuinely matching your target user profile, since testing with the wrong participants produces findings that feel legitimate but don't actually reflect how your real users would experience the product.

Yes, we test prototypes, live products, or even competitor products depending on what's most useful at your current project stage, since early-stage concepts and already-shipped products call for genuinely different testing approaches.

We deliver a clear findings report highlighting specific friction points, prioritized by severity and how many participants encountered each issue, along with concrete design recommendations rather than a vague summary of general impressions.

Yes, we recommend testing at key milestones throughout a product's life, particularly before major launches, since a single testing round early in a project doesn't catch issues that emerge as new features get added or as the product evolves beyond its original scope.

Yes, we conduct both moderated sessions, where a facilitator guides and observes in real time, and unmoderated remote testing where participants complete tasks independently, choosing the approach based on your specific research questions and timeline.

Yes, we design task scenarios that mirror how your actual users would realistically approach the product, avoiding artificial or overly guided tasks that wouldn't reveal genuine friction points a real, unguided user would actually encounter.

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Usability Testing | Shiromi