Video-based human insight company UserTesting has released new templates for its Human Insight Platform, enabling fast, opt-in feedback from any metaverse or virtual reality user, including those using Meta (formerly Facebook).
"The metaverse is an entirely new product experience for companies and users alike," says UserTesting CEO, Andy MacMillan.
"Our new templates can help any organisation get rapid, opt-in feedback from real users on how their products and services show up in Meta's Horizon Worlds (or any metaverse), what those users value in those experiences, and how those users prefer and expect to transact in this emerging environment."
With that critical information, companies, including traditional physical goods companies like shoe and apparel brands that are just starting to expand into the metaverse, can quickly and easily create immersive user experiences.
UserTesting says its templates are designed by experts and provide out-of-the-box sample questions that can be used as-is or customised to fit an organisation's exact testing requirements.
The company's new metaverse and VR templates enable businesses in the process of building games, products, and other metaverse/VR experiences to obtain rapid user feedback in the form of Customer Experience Narratives (CxNs). These are video recordings of actual users who have opted to share their perspectives and experiences as they execute a pre-built series of tasks and instructions online.
CxNs enable organisations to:
- Understand what target audiences want and expect from a VR app or metaverse experience.
- Witness a target audience's first impressions and reactions to the environments, characters, and other app elements featured in early VR/metaverse concepts.
- See and hear what target audiences think while engaging with a live VR app or the metaverse.
- Discover if the store listing they created for their VR app or metaverse resonates with target audiences.
UserTesting has also released several new and expanded features designed to help organisations reach new audiences, develop new use cases, and better optimise their use of the UserTesting platform.
The company says the ability to tap into essential insights from new audiences using the UserTestings Invite Network feature lets organisations capture perspectives and experiences from their network of contacts by sharing with them a link to a user test. It says this product release streamlines the Invite Network feedback process even more with a recorder that enables organisations to quickly and easily solicit input from anyone on any browser.
"It's hard to prioritise quantitative insights because the process is time-consuming," says DLR Group design research leader, B. Sanborn.
"But everyone at our organisation still needs to know what users want and feel. UserTesting has enabled us to incorporate client feedback into our process. Invite Network saves us time, and now, with the addition of the seamless recorder, we can reach even more stakeholders, making it so easy for them to participate (in our tests) and give their perspectives."
Other initiatives announced include new template filtering and categorisation and improved usage monitoring and optimisation.
"The innovations we're announcing simplify and expedite how different departments across an organisation can gather rich customer insights while making it easier for them to reach new testing audiences," says UserTesting CTO, Kaj van de Loo.
"It's all imperative in today's world of continually changing customer attitudes and behaviours. Only companies that deeply understand how their customers think and feel can deliver the products, apps, and services that win customers and retain their loyalty."
