April 10, 2022
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5 ways to measure UX return on investment

Return on investment (ROI) is often the term on everyone’s lips when starting a big project or even when reviewing a website. It’s especially popular with those that hold the purse strings.  As UX researchers it is important to consider the ROI of the work we do and understand how to measure this. 

We’ve lined up 5 key ways to measure ROI for UX research to help you get the conversation underway with stakeholders so you can show real and tangible benefits to your organization. 

1. Meet and exceed user expectations

Put simply, a product that meets and exceeds user expectations leads to increased revenue. When potential buyers are able to find and purchase what they’re looking for, easily, they’ll complete their purchase, and are far more likely to come back. The simple fact that users can finish their task will increase sales and improve overall customer satisfaction which has an influence on their loyalty. Repeat business means repeat sales. Means increased revenue.

Creating, developing and maintaining a usable website is more important than you might think. And this is measurable! Tracking and analyzing website performance prior to the UX research and after can be insightful and directly influenced by changes made based on UX research.

Measurable: review the website (product) performance prior to UX research and after changes have been made. The increase in clicks, completed tasks and/or baskets will tell the story.

2. Reduce development time

UX research done at the initial stages of a project can lead to a reduction in development time of by 33% to 50%! And reduced time developing, means reduced costs (people and overheads) and a speedier to market date. What’s not to love? 

Measurable: This one is a little more tricky as you have saved time (and cost) up front. Aiding in speed to market and performance prior to execution. Internal stakeholder research may be of value post the live date to understand how the project went.

3. Ongoing development costs

And the double hitter? Creating a product that has the user in mind up front, reduces the need to rehash or revisit as quickly. Reducing ongoing costs. Early UX research can help with the detection of errors early on in the development process. Fixing errors after development costs a company up to 100 times more than dealing with the same error before development.

Measureable: Again, as UX research has saved time and money up front this one can be difficult to track. Though depending on your organization and previous projects you could conduct internal research to understand how the project compares and the time and cost savings.

4. Meeting user requirements

Did you know that 70% of projects fail due to the lack of user acceptance? This is often because project managers fail to understand the user requirements properly. Thanks to UX research early on, gaining insights into users and only spending time developing the functions users actually want, saving time and reducing development costs. Make sure you get confirmation on those requirements by iterative testing. As always, fail early, fail often. Robust testing up front means that in the end, you’ll have a product that will meet the needs of the user.

Measurable: Where is the product currently? How does it perform? Set a benchmark up front and review post UX research. The deliverables should make the ROI obvious.

5. Investing in UX research leads to an essential competitive advantage.

Thanks to UX research you can find out exactly what your customers want, need and expect from you. This gives you a competitive advantage over other companies in your market. But you should be aware that more and more companies are investing in UX while customers are ever more demanding, their expectations continue to grow and they don’t tolerate bad experiences. And going elsewhere is an easy decision to make.

Measurable: Murky this one, but no less important. Knowing, understanding and responding to competitors can help keep you in the lead, and developing products that meet and exceed those user expectations.

Wrap up

Showing the ROI on the work we do is an essential part of getting key stakeholders on board with our research. It can be challenging to talk the same language, ultimately we all want the same outcome…a product that works well for our users, and delivers additional revenue.

For some continued reading (or watching in this case), Anna Bek, Product and Delivery Manager at Xplor explored the same concept of "How to measure experience" during her UX New Zealand 2020 – watch it here as she shares a perspective on UX ROI.

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1 min read

How many participants do I need for qualitative research?

For those new to the qualitative research space, there’s one question that’s usually pretty tough to figure out, and that’s the question of how many participants to include in a study. Regardless of whether it’s research as part of the discovery phase for a new product, or perhaps an in-depth canvas of the users of an existing service, researchers can often find it difficult to agree on the numbers. So is there an easy answer? Let’s find out.

Here, we’ll look into the right number of participants for qualitative research studies. If you want to know about participants for quantitative research, read Nielsen Norman Group’s article.

Getting the numbers right

So you need to run a series of user interviews or usability tests and aren’t sure exactly how many people you should reach out to. It can be a tricky situation – especially for those without much experience. Do you test a small selection of 1 or 2 people to make the recruitment process easier? Or, do you go big and test with a series of 10 people over the course of a month? The answer lies somewhere in between.

It’s often a good idea (for qualitative research methods like interviews and usability tests) to start with 5 participants and then scale up by a further 5 based on how complicated the subject matter is. You may also find it helpful to add additional participants if you’re new to user research or you’re working in a new area.

What you’re actually looking for here is what’s known as saturation.

Understanding saturation

Whether it’s qualitative research as part of a master’s thesis or as research for a new online dating app, saturation is the best metric you can use to identify when you’ve hit the right number of participants.

In a nutshell, saturation is when you’ve reached the point where adding further participants doesn’t give you any further insights. It’s true that you may still pick up on the occasional interesting detail, but all of your big revelations and learnings have come and gone. A good measure is to sit down after each session with a participant and analyze the number of new insights you’ve noted down.

Interestingly, in a paper titled How Many Interviews Are Enough?, authors Greg Guest, Arwen Bunce and Laura Johnson noted that saturation usually occurs with around 12 participants in homogeneous groups (meaning people in the same role at an organization, for example). However, carrying out ethnographic research on a larger domain with a diverse set of participants will almost certainly require a larger sample.

Ensuring you’ve hit the right number of participants

How do you know when you’ve reached saturation point? You have to keep conducting interviews or usability tests until you’re no longer uncovering new insights or concepts.

While this may seem to run counter to the idea of just gathering as much data from as many people as possible, there’s a strong case for focusing on a smaller group of participants. In The logic of small samples in interview-based, authors Mira Crouch and Heather McKenzie note that using fewer than 20 participants during a qualitative research study will result in better data. Why? With a smaller group, it’s easier for you (the researcher) to build strong close relationships with your participants, which in turn leads to more natural conversations and better data.

There's also a school of thought that you should interview 5 or so people per persona. For example, if you're working in a company that has well-defined personas, you might want to use those as a basis for your study, and then you would interview 5 people based on each persona. This maybe worth considering or particularly important when you have a product that has very distinct user groups (e.g. students and staff, teachers and parents etc).

How your domain affects sample size

The scope of the topic you’re researching will change the amount of information you’ll need to gather before you’ve hit the saturation point. Your topic is also commonly referred to as the domain.

If you’re working in quite a confined domain, for example, a single screen of a mobile app or a very specific scenario, you’ll likely find interviews with 5 participants to be perfectly fine. Moving into more complicated domains, like the entire checkout process for an online shopping app, will push up your sample size.

As Mitchel Seaman notes: “Exploring a big issue like young peoples’ opinions about healthcare coverage, a broad emotional issue like postmarital sexuality, or a poorly-understood domain for your team like mobile device use in another country can drastically increase the number of interviews you’ll want to conduct.”

In-person or remote

Does the location of your participants change the number you need for qualitative user research? Well, not really – but there are other factors to consider.

  • Budget: If you choose to conduct remote interviews/usability tests, you’ll likely find you’ve got lower costs as you won’t need to travel to your participants or have them travel to you. This also affects…
  • Participant access: Remote qualitative research can be a lifesaver when it comes to participant access. No longer are you confined to the people you have physical access to — instead you can reach out to anyone you’d like.
  • Quality: On the other hand, remote research does have its downsides. For one, you’ll likely find you’re not able to build the same kinds of relationships over the internet or phone as those in person, which in turn means you never quite get the same level of insights.

Is there value in outsourcing recruitment?

Recruitment is understandably an intensive logistical exercise with many moving parts. If you’ve ever had to recruit people for a study before, you’ll understand the need for long lead times (to ensure you have enough participants for the project) and the countless long email chains as you discuss suitable times.

Outsourcing your participant recruitment is just one way to lighten the logistical load during your research. Instead of having to go out and look for participants, you have them essentially delivered to you in the right number and with the right attributes.

We’ve got one such service at Optimal Workshop, which means it’s the perfect accompaniment if you’re also using our platform of UX tools. Read more about that here.

Wrap-up

So that’s really most of what there is to know about participant recruitment in a qualitative research context. As we said at the start, while it can appear quite tricky to figure out exactly how many people you need to recruit, it’s actually not all that difficult in reality.

Overall, the number of participants you need for your qualitative research can depend on your project among other factors. It’s important to keep saturation in mind, as well as the locale of participants. You also need to get the most you can out of what’s available to you. Remember: Some research is better than none!

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Efficient Research: Maximizing the ROI of Understanding Your Customers

Introduction

User research is invaluable, but in fast-paced environments, researchers often struggle with tight deadlines, limited resources, and the need to prove their impact. In our recent UX Insider webinar, Weidan Li, Senior UX Researcher at Seek, shared insights on Efficient Research—an approach that optimizes Speed, Quality, and Impact to maximize the return on investment (ROI) of understanding customers.

At the heart of this approach is the Efficient Research Framework, which balances these three critical factors:

  • Speed – Conducting research quickly without sacrificing key insights.
  • Quality – Ensuring rigor and reliability in findings.
  • Impact – Making sure research leads to meaningful business and product changes.

Within this framework, Weidan outlined nine tactics that help UX researchers work more effectively. Let’s dive in.

1. Time Allocation: Invest in What Matters Most

Not all research requires the same level of depth. Efficient researchers prioritize their time by categorizing projects based on urgency and impact:

  • High-stakes decisions (e.g., launching a new product) require deep research.
  • Routine optimizations (e.g., tweaking UI elements) can rely on quick testing methods.
  • Low-impact changes may not need research at all.

By allocating time wisely, researchers can avoid spending weeks on minor issues while ensuring critical decisions are well-informed.

2. Assistance of AI: Let Technology Handle the Heavy Lifting

AI is transforming UX research, enabling faster and more scalable insights. Weidan suggests using AI to:

  • Automate data analysis – AI can quickly analyze survey responses, transcripts, and usability test results.
  • Generate research summaries – Tools like ChatGPT can help synthesize findings into digestible insights.
  • Speed up recruitment – AI-powered platforms can help find and screen participants efficiently.

While AI can’t replace human judgment, it can free up researchers to focus on higher-value tasks like interpreting results and influencing strategy.

3. Collaboration: Make Research a Team Sport

Research has a greater impact when it’s embedded into the product development process. Weidan emphasizes:

  • Co-creating research plans with designers, PMs, and engineers to align on priorities.
  • Involving stakeholders in synthesis sessions so insights don’t sit in a report.
  • Encouraging non-researchers to run lightweight studies, such as A/B tests or quick usability checks.

When research is shared and collaborative, it leads to faster adoption of insights and stronger decision-making.

4. Prioritization: Focus on the Right Questions

With limited resources, researchers must choose their battles wisely. Weidan recommends using a prioritization framework to assess:

  • Business impact – Will this research influence a high-stakes decision?
  • User impact – Does it address a major pain point?
  • Feasibility – Can we conduct this research quickly and effectively?

By filtering out low-priority projects, researchers can avoid research for research’s sake and focus on what truly drives change.

5. Depth of Understanding: Go Beyond Surface-Level Insights

Speed is important, but efficient research isn’t about cutting corners. Weidan stresses that even quick studies should provide a deep understanding of users by:

  • Asking why, not just what – Observing behavior is useful, but uncovering motivations is key.
  • Using triangulation – Combining methods (e.g., usability tests + surveys) to validate findings.
  • Revisiting past research – Leveraging existing insights instead of starting from scratch.

Balancing speed with depth ensures research is not just fast, but meaningful.

6. Anticipation: Stay Ahead of Research Needs

Proactive researchers don’t wait for stakeholders to request studies—they anticipate needs and set up research ahead of time. This means:

  • Building a research roadmap that aligns with upcoming product decisions.
  • Running continuous discovery research so teams have a backlog of insights to pull from.
  • Creating self-serve research repositories where teams can find relevant past studies.

By anticipating research needs, UX teams can reduce last-minute requests and deliver insights exactly when they’re needed.

7. Justification of Methodology: Explain Why Your Approach Works

Stakeholders may question research methods, especially when they seem time-consuming or expensive. Weidan highlights the importance of educating teams on why specific methods are used:

  • Clearly explain why qualitative research is needed when stakeholders push for just numbers.
  • Show real-world examples of how past research has led to business success.
  • Provide a trade-off analysis (e.g., “This method is faster but provides less depth”) to help teams make informed choices.

A well-justified approach ensures research is respected and acted upon.

8. Individual Engagement: Tailor Research Communication to Your Audience

Not all stakeholders consume research the same way. Weidan recommends adapting insights to fit different audiences:

  • Executives – Focus on high-level impact and key takeaways.
  • Product teams – Provide actionable recommendations tied to specific features.
  • Designers & Engineers – Share usability findings with video clips or screenshots.

By delivering insights in the right format, researchers increase the likelihood of stakeholder buy-in and action.

9. Business Actions: Ensure Research Leads to Real Change

The ultimate goal of research is not just understanding users—but driving business decisions. To ensure research leads to action:

  • Follow up on implementation – Track whether teams apply the insights.
  • Tie findings to key metrics – Show how research affects conversion rates, retention, or engagement.
  • Advocate for iterative research – Encourage teams to re-test and refine based on new data.

Research is most valuable when it translates into real business outcomes.

Final Thoughts: Research That Moves the Needle

Efficient research is not just about doing more, faster—it’s about balancing speed, quality, and impact to maximize its influence. Weidan’s nine tactics help UX researchers work smarter by:


✔️  Prioritizing high-impact work
✔️  Leveraging AI and collaboration
✔️  Communicating research in a way that drives action

By adopting these strategies, UX teams can ensure their research is not just insightful, but transformational.

Watch the full webinar here

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1 min read

Tips for recruiting quality research participants

If there’s one universal truth in user research, it’s that at some point you’re going to need to find people to actually take part in your studies. Be it a large number of participants for quantitative research or a select number for in-depth, in-person user interviews. Finding the right people (and number) of people can be a hurdle.

With the right strategy, you can source exactly the right participants for your next research project.

We share a practical step-by-step guide on how to find participants for user experience research.

The difficulties/challenges of user research recruiting 🏋️

It has to be acknowledged that there are challenges when recruiting research participants. You may recognize some of these:

  • There are so many channels and methods you can use to find participants, different channels will work better for different projects.
  • Repeatedly using the same channels and methods will result in diminishing returns (i.e. burning out participants).
  • It’s a lengthy and complex process, and some projects don’t have the luxury of time.
  • Offering the right incentives and distributing them is time-consuming.
  • It’s hard to manage participants during long-term or recurring studies, such as customer research projects.

We’ll simplify the process, talk about who the right participants are, and unpack some of the best ways to find them. Removing these blocks can be the easiest way to move forward.

Who are the right participants for different types of research? 🤔

1. The first step to a successful participant recruitment strategy is clarifying the goals of your user research and which methods you intend to use. Ask yourself:

  • What is the purpose of our research?
  • How do we plan to understand that?

2. Define who your ideal research participant is. Who is going to have the answers to your questions?

3. Work out your research recruitment strategy. That starts by understanding the differences between recruiting for qualitative and quantitative research.

Recruiting for qualitative vs. quantitative research 🙋🏻

Quantitative research recruiting is a numbers game. For your data analysis to be meaningful and statistically significant, you need a lot of data. This means you need to do a lot of research with a lot of people. When recruiting for quantitative research, you first have to define the population (the entire group you want to study). From there, you choose a sampling method that allows you to create a sample—a randomly selected subset of the population who will participate in your study.

Qualitative recruiting involves far fewer participants, but you do need to find a selection of ‘perfect’ participants. Those that fit neatly into your specific demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioral criteria relevant to your study. Recruiting quality participants for qualitative studies involves non-random sampling, screening, and plenty of communication.

How many participants do you need? 👱🏻👩👩🏻👧🏽👧🏾

How many participants to include in a qualitative research study is one of the most heavily discussed topics in user research circles. In most cases, you can get away with 5 people – that’s the short answer. With 5 people, you’ll uncover most of the main issues with the thing you’re testing. Depending on your research project there could be as many as 50 participants, but with each additional person, there is an additional cost (money and time).

Quantitative research is obviously quite different. With studies like card sorts and tree tests, you need higher participant numbers to get statistically meaningful results. Anywhere from 20 - 500 participants, again coming back to the purpose of your test and your research budget. These are usually easier and quicker to implement therefore the additional cost is lower.

User research recruitment - step by step 👟

Let’s get into your research recruitment strategy to find the best participants for your research project. There are 5 clear steps to get you through to the research stage:

1. Identify your ideal participants

Who are they? What do they do? How old are they? Do they already use your product? Where do they live? These are all great questions to get you thinking about who exactly you need to answer your research questions. The demographic and geographic detail of your participants are important to the quality of your research results.

2. Screen participants

Screening participants will weed out those that may not be suitable for your specific project. This can be as simple as asking if the participants have used a product similar to yours. Or coming back to your key identified demographic requirements and removing anyone that doesn’t fit these criteria.

3. Find prospective participants

This is important and can be time-consuming. For qualitative research projects, you can look within your organization or ask over social media for willing participants. Or if you’re short on time look at a participant recruitment service, which takes your requirements and has a catalog of available persons to call on. There’s a cost involved, but the time saving can negate this. For qualitative surveys, a great option can be a live intercept on your website or app that interrupts users and asks them to complete a short questionnaire.

4. Research incentives

In some cases you will need to provide incentives. This could be offering a prize or discount for those who complete online qualitative surveys. Or a fixed sum for those that take part in longer format quantitative studies.

5. Scheduling with participants

Once you have waded through the emails, options, and communication from your inquiries make a list of appropriate participants. Schedule time to do the research, either in person or remotely. Be clear about expectations and how long it will take. And what the incentive to take part is.

Tips to avoid participant burnout 📛

You’ve got your participants sorted and have a great pool of people to call on. If you keep hitting the same group of people time and time again, you will experience the law of diminishing returns. Constantly returning to the same pool of participants will eventually lead to fatigue. And this will impact the quality of your research because it’s based on interviewing the same people with the same views.

There are 2 ways to avoid this problem:

  1. Use a huge database of potential participant targets.
  2. Use a mixture of different recruitment strategies and channels.

Of course, it might be unavoidable to hit the same audience repeatedly when you’re testing your product development among your customer base.

Wrap up 🌯

Understanding your UX research recruitment strategy is crucial to recruiting quality participants. A clear idea of your purpose, who your ideal participants are, and how to find them takes time and experience. 

And to make life easier you can always leave your participant recruitment with us. With a huge catalog of quality participants all at your fingertips on our app, we can recruit the right people quickly.

Check out more here.

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