User Research & Testing

User Research & Testing


Discovering User Needs Through In-Depth Research

We dig beneath the surface to empower our clients to better understand their customers. This deeper understanding enables you to enhance experiences, increase conversion rates, boost digital tool adoption, lower bounce rates, and minimize cart and form abandonment– leading to more meaningful interactions and stronger business results.

In-Depth Research
Stephanie Hopper, Sr. Director of CX Strategy and Research

Customer Experience research and strategy are the backbone of building meaningful connections. When we meet people where they are, we create experiences that are ultimately more useful, more helpful, and closer to the solution to their problem. Taking the time to understand your customer is the absolute best way to get to that optimal journey. You can’t design a solution for a customer without knowing who they are as people—inside and outside of their interactions with you. 

Stephanie Hopper, Sr. Director of CX Strategy and Research

Our Expertise

User Research & Testing

We expertly craft research plans tailored to uncover the specific insights you need, recommending the best methods to engage your customers and get meaningful answers.

  • Heuristic Evaluation

    We conduct expert-driven evaluations of your website’s customer experience, guided by an extensive list of CX best practices and a comprehensive tool that evaluates 370+ key elements of a website. Our evaluations are designed to meet your specific needs, whether through a comprehensive assessment that provides a holistic view of the entire user journey—from the homepage to post-purchase follow-up—or through focused evaluations targeting specific areas, such as search & findability or checkout optimization. This approach helps identify quick wins for immediate improvement and highlights long-term opportunities.

  • Competitive Analysis

    A detailed analysis of competitors allows us to identify industry trends, strengths, and weaknesses. Benchmarking against competitors helps uncover opportunities to differentiate yourself and elevate the user experience.

  • Surveys & Interviews

    We uncover user needs, frustrations, and goals through targeted surveys, interviews, and collaborative sessions with stakeholders. Workshops, internal and external focus groups, and rapid user feedback testing allow us to gather insights that help shape a more valuable digital experience.

  • Personas

    We create detailed, research-driven personas that bring your customers to life. Understanding their goals, motivations, and pain points helps design experiences that speak directly to the needs of your target audience.

  • Customer Journey Mapping & Visioning

    We visualize the end-to-end customer experience, identifying challenges and opportunities across every interaction. Through collaborative workshops, we define a clear path forward to create seamless, user-centered experiences that align with long term goals.

  • Standard Usability Testing

    We offer a variety of usability testing methods, whether you’re refining early designs or optimizing for conversions. Moderated and unmoderated testing uncover user thought processes, while A/B testing compares design variations. Eye-tracking and heat maps show where users focus, and task-based usability testing identifies pain points in user journeys. Remote testing provides insights from participants globally, and formative and summative testing guide product development from early stages to final evaluations. These methods are carefully selected based on your goals, budget, timeline, and product stage to provide the most valuable insights for your team.

  • Information Architecture Testing

    Information architecture is key to how users navigate and find content on your site. We optimize these structures through specialized methods like card sorting, which reveals how users naturally categorize content, and tree testing, which evaluates the ease with which users find information in your navigation. These tests ensure your site’s structure feels intuitive, reducing frustration and improving overall usability.

  • Adapting to Your Research Needs

    We understand that not every organization has immediate access to customers for research. Our team will collaborate with you to explore alternative ways to gather the critical insights you need. Whether it’s recruiting participants for user testing or tapping into creative strategies, we’ll ensure you get meaningful feedback to inform your decisions.

Looking for more information about how we approach User Research & Testing?

Contact Us

Case Studies

Case Studies

“They understand the power of being able to see through the customer’s eyes and leading with empathy… They really get us to think differently.”

– Jon Axtman, Director of Digital CX, Border States  

B2B Commerce and the customer journey are complex. 

So, we’ve built end-to-end commerce capabilities, expertly delivered, to help businesses transform how they operate and engage their customers across digital channels. The result? Better results.
Realize Performance Commerce – with Smith.