Optimal Blog

In the fast-paced world of tech startups and scale-ups, having a strong set of core values is crucial for sustainable growth and success. As the CEO of Optimal Workshop, a best-in-class research and insights platform, I've learned firsthand the importance of establishing and nurturing the right company culture. Today, I'd like to share our journey of revisiting and refining our values, and how these principles are shaping our path forward.

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The power of values in leadership 🫶

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This is my third run as a CEO, following leadership roles at the digital consultancy Tigerspike and the EdTech company Education Perfect. Each time, I've faced the challenge of taking the business to a whole new level. From experience, I've learned that this transformation begins with getting all the right pieces in play for future growth.

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At Optimal Workshop, we've been busy laying the groundwork for our next phase of expansion:

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1. Forming a new leadership team

2. Launching a fresh brand identity

3. Developing a new strategy and product direction

4. Introducing our refined team values

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These elements, particularly our values, are not just words on a wall. They underpin our future way of working and set the standard for the behaviors we expect from every team member. By doing so, we're creating a culture of high performance with solid foundations to build upon and scale globally.

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Our core values: The heart of Optimal Workshop 💖

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In April 2024, we embarked on a journey to revisit and refine our company values. This process was collaborative and thoughtful, involving input from team members across all levels of the organization. The result is a set of four core values that truly represent who we are and who we aspire to be:

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1. Live in our customers' shoes

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At Optimal Workshop, we believe that our success is intrinsically tied to the success of our customers. This value emphasizes empathy, understanding, and a customer-centric approach to everything we do. Team members who embody this value:

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• Deeply understand our products and champion user research and data-driven methodologies
• Go above and beyond to support our customers, ensuring they derive maximum value from our products and services
• Show a profound understanding of customer pain points and challenges, always seeking ways to enhance the customer experience
• Prioritize customer satisfaction and strive to provide the highest level of service in all their endeavors

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2. Own it

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We take pride in our expertise and resilience. This value is about taking initiative, holding ourselves to high standards, and fostering an environment of trust and commitment. An "Own It" mindset means:

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• Demonstrating reliability and accountability, stepping up to challenges and delivering on promises
• Being solution-focused, supporting others, and finding the best outcomes for all stakeholders
• Bringing a high level of quality to daily work, advancing projects while maintaining excellent standards
• Communicating openly and transparently, and professionally challenging the status quo when necessary

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3. Game On!

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In the dynamic world of tech and user research, adaptability and continuous learning are key. Our "Game On!" value encapsulates our readiness to pivot, our curiosity, and our commitment to constant improvement. Team members who exemplify this value:

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• Demonstrate the ability to change direction quickly and adapt to new circumstances
• Actively contribute to discussions, ask insightful questions, and share information effectively
• Continuously learn and challenge the status quo, always seeking innovative ways to improve our processes and offerings

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4. In It Together

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Last but certainly not least, we believe in the power of collaboration, mutual support, and compassion. This value underscores our commitment to fostering a positive, respectful work environment where everyone can thrive. "In It Together" means:

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• Creating a collaborative work environment and showing respect to all team members and individuals
• Bringing colleagues and customers together to achieve better results and reach common goals
• Demonstrating honesty, transparency, and integrity in team settings
• Speaking openly but respectfully, always listening actively, and being present and ready to participate

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Celebrating our values in action 🥳

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To bring these values to life, we recently celebrated our inaugural Value Awards. It was inspiring to see team members being recognized for exemplifying these principles in their daily work:

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• GabeYoung, Head of Engineering for "Game On"
• Sarah Flutey, Head of Product Marketing for "Live in Our Customer's Shoes"
• Christine Chow, Senior Product Marketer for "Own It"
• Loren Whithair Senior Business Intelligence Advisor (Data) for "In It Together"

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These winners have set a great benchmark for all of us to follow, showing how our values translate into tangible actions and outcomes.

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Looking ahead 🔭

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One of the most crucial lessons I've learned as a CEO is the immense value of establishing clear core values and guidelines early in a company's journey. When these fundamental pieces are in place, scaling becomes not just easier, but significantly faster – especially when it comes to global growth. 

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By setting these core values and guidelines early, we've created a strong foundation that will enable Optimal Workshop to scale more efficiently and effectively on a global level, maintaining our identity, culture, and high standards of performance, no matter how large we become or how far we expand geographically.

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Here's to the journey ahead – onwards and upwards, across borders and beyond!

Alex Burke

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Today, we’re thrilled to announce the arrival of the latest member of the Optimal family:  Prototype Testing! This exciting and much-requested new tool allows you to test designs early and often with users to gather fast insights, and make confident design decisions to create more intuitive and user-friendly digital experiences. 

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Optimal gives you tools you need to easily build a prototype to test using images and screens and creating clickable areas, or you can import a prototype from Figma and get testing. The first iteration of prototype testing is an open beta, and we’ll be working closely with our customers and community to gather feedback and ideas for further improvements in the months to come.

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When to use prototype testing 

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Prototype testing is a great way to validate design ideas, identify usability issues, and gather feedback from users before investing too heavily in the development of products, websites, and apps. To further inform your insights, it’s a good idea to include sentiment questions or rating scales alongside your tasks.

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Early in the design process: Test initial ideas and concepts to gauge user reactions and feelings about your conceptual solutions. 

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Iterative design phases: Continuously test and refine prototypes as you make changes and improvements to the designs. 

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Before major milestones: Validate designs before key project stages, such as stakeholder reviews or final approvals.

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Usability Testing: Conduct summative research to assess a design's overall performance and gauge real user feedback to guide future design decisions and enhancements.

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How it works 🧑🏽‍💻

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No existing prototype? No problem. We've made it easy to create one right within Optimal. Here's how:

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1. Import your visuals

Start by uploading a series of screenshots or images that represent your design flow. These will form the backbone of your prototype.

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2. Create interactive elements

Once your visuals are in place, it's time to bring them to life. Use our intuitive interface to designate clickable areas on each screen. These will act as navigation points for your test participants.

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3. Set up the flow

Connect your screens in a logical sequence, mirroring the user journey you want to test. This creates a seamless, interactive experience for your participants.

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4. Preview and refine

Before launching your study, take a moment to walk through your prototype. Ensure all clickable areas work as intended and the flow feels natural.

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The result? A fully functional prototype that looks and feels like a real digital product. Your test participants will be able to navigate through it just as they would a live website or app, providing you with authentic, actionable insights.

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By empowering you to build prototypes from scratch, we're removing barriers to early-stage testing. This means you can validate ideas faster, iterate with confidence, and ultimately deliver better digital experiences.

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Or…import your prototypes directly from Figma 

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There’s a bit of housekeeping you’ll need to do in Figma in order to provide your participants with the best testing experience and not impact loading times of the prototype. You can import a link to your Figma prototype into your study,  and it will carry across all the interactions you have set up. You’ll need to make sure your Figma presentation mode is made public in order to share the file with participants. If you make any updates to your Figma file, you can sync the changes in just one click. 

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Help Article: Find out more about how to set up your Figma file for testing

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How to create tasks 🧰

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When you set up your study, you’ll create tasks for participants to complete. 

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There are two different ways to build tasks in your prototype tests. You can set a correct destination by adding a start screen and a correct destination screen. That way, you can watch how participants navigate your design to find their way to the correct destination. Another option is to set a correct pathway and evaluate how participants navigate a product, app, or website based on the pathway sequence you set. You can add as many pathways or destinations as you like. 

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Adding post-task questions is a great way to help gather qualitative feedback on the user's experience, capturing their thoughts, feelings, and perceptions.

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Help Article: Find out how to analyze your results

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Prototype testing analysis and metrics 📊

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Prototype testing offers a variety of analysis options and metrics to evaluate the effectiveness and usability of your design.  By using these analysis options and metrics, you can get comprehensive insights into your prototype's performance, identify areas for improvement, and make informed design decisions:

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Task results 

The task results provide a deep analysis at a task level, including the success score, directness score, time taken, misclicks, and the breakdown of the task's success and failure. They provide great insight into the usability of your design to achieve a task. 

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• Success score tells you the total percentage of participants who reached the correct destination or pathway that you defined for this task. It’s a good indicator of a prototype's usability. 
• Directness score is the total completed results minus the ‘indirect’ results.
• A path is ‘indirect’ when a participant backtracks, viewing the same page multiple times, or if they nominate the correct destination but don’t follow the correct pathway
• Time taken is how long it took a participant to complete your task and can be a good indicator of how easy or difficult it was to complete. 
• ‍Misclicks measure the total number of clicks made on areas of your prototype that weren’t clickable, clicks that didn’t result in a page change.

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Clickmaps

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Clickmaps provide an aggregate view of user interactions with prototypes, visualizing click patterns to reveal how users navigate and locate information. They display hits and misses on designated clickable areas, average task completion times, and heatmaps showing where users believed the next steps to be. Filters for first, second, and third page visits allow analysis of user behavior over time, including how they adapt when backtracking. This comprehensive data helps designers understand user navigation patterns and improve prototype usability.

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Participant paths 

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The Paths tab in Optimal provides a powerful visualization to understand and identify common navigation patterns and potential obstacles participants encounter while completing tasks. You can include thumbnails of your screens to enhance your analysis, making it easier to pinpoint where users may face difficulties or where common paths occured.

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Coming soon to prototyping 🔮

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Later this year, we’re running a closed beta for video recording with prototype testing. This feature captures behaviors and insights not evident in click data alone. The browser-based recording requires no plugins, simplifying setup. Consent for recording is obtained at the start of the testing process and can be customized to align with your organization's policies. This new feature will provide deeper insights into user experience and prototype usability.

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These enhancements to prototype testing offer a comprehensive toolkit for user experience analysis. By combining quantitative click data with qualitative video insights, designers and researchers can gain a more nuanced understanding of user behavior, leading to more informed decisions and improved product designs.

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Start prototype testing today

At Optimal Workshop, we've always prided ourselves on being pioneers in the field of UX research tools. Since our inception, we've been the go-to platform for UX researchers and designers looking to conduct card sorting, tree testing, and other critical user research activities. Our tools have helped shape the digital experiences of some of the world's leading companies.

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The digital landscape is ever-changing, and with it, the needs of the professionals who create and optimize digital experiences. As we've grown and evolved alongside the industry, we've recognized the need to expand our reach and refine our value proposition to better serve not just UX researchers, but all professionals involved in delivering exceptional digital experiences.

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That's why we're excited to announce a significant brand refresh and value pivot for Optimal Workshop. This evolution isn't just about a new coat of paint – it's a fundamental shift in how we position ourselves and the value we provide to our users and the broader digital experience community.

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Why fix it if it ain’t broke? 💔🔨

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Expanding Our User Base

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While we've built a strong reputation among UX researchers, we've recognized that there's a broader audience of professionals who benefit from our tools and expertise. Product managers, marketers, customer experience specialists, and others involved in shaping digital experiences often lack access to professional-grade user research tools or the knowledge to effectively implement them.

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Our brand refresh aims to make Optimal Workshop more accessible and relevant to this wider circle of professionals, without losing the deep respect we've earned from UX experts.

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Adapting to market changes

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The UX research landscape has evolved significantly since we first entered the market. With the proliferation of prototyping tools and the increasing speed of digital product development, there's been a shift away from extensive upfront research. However, we firmly believe that incorporating the voice of the customer throughout the development process is more critical than ever.

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Our pivot allows us to emphasize the importance of integrating user research and insights at various stages of the digital experience lifecycle, not just during initial design phases.

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Leveraging our expertise

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As pioneers in the field, we have accumulated a wealth of knowledge about best practices in UX research and digital experience optimization. Our brand refresh positions us not just as a tool provider, but as a trusted partner and thought leader in the industry. We're doubling down on our commitment to sharing knowledge, standardizing best practices, and elevating the work of exceptional practitioners in the field.

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Meeting evolving business needs through effective UX

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The UX industry is evolving rapidly, with increasing investment and a diverse range of roles getting involved. From junior designers leveraging AI to seasoned researchers with deep expertise, the landscape is rich with talent and tools. However, the true value lies in how effectively these resources translate into business outcomes.

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Optimal Workshop recognizes that exceptional digital experiences are no longer just nice-to-have – they're critical for engagement, conversion, and overall business success. Our tools bridge the gap between UX insights and tangible ROI by:

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• Democratizing research: Enabling teams across experience levels to gather valuable user data quickly and efficiently.
• Accelerating decision-making: Providing fast, actionable insights that reduce design iterations and time-to-market.
• Enhancing team effectiveness: Facilitating collaboration and knowledge sharing between junior and senior team members.
• Driving business value: Directly linking UX improvements to key performance indicators and bottom-line results.

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In a landscape where basic UX practices are becoming table stakes, Optimal Workshop empowers organizations to go beyond the basics. We help teams leverage the full spectrum of UX expertise – from AI-assisted analysis to seasoned human insight – to create digital experiences that truly set businesses apart and deliver measurable returns on UX investment.

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What's changing at Optimal Workshop 🐛🦋

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1. Best-in-class research & insights platform

While our core tools remain a critical part of our offering, we're broadening our focus to position Optimal Workshop as a best-in-class research & insights platform for digital experience professionals. This means developing new tools, workflows, and integrations that cater to a wider range of use cases and user types.

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2. Accessibility without compromise

We're committed to making our professional-grade tools more accessible to a broader audience without sacrificing the depth and rigor that our expert users expect. This means developing new onboarding experiences, creating more intuitive interfaces, and providing educational resources to help users at all levels get the most out of our platform.

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3. Championing best practices

As part of our evolution, we're placing a greater emphasis on identifying, sharing, and standardizing best practices in digital experience research and optimization. Through case studies, partnerships with industry leaders, and our own thought leadership content, we aim to elevate the entire field of digital experience design.

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4. Fostering a community of excellence

We're doubling down on our commitment to building and nurturing a community of digital experience professionals. This includes expanding our educational offerings, hosting more events and webinars, and creating opportunities for our users to connect and learn from each other. 

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5. Emphasizing outcomes and ROI

We're aligning our messaging and product development with the real-world impact our users are seeking. That’s why the new names for our tools emphasize what each tool helps you achieve, rather than the technical methodology behind it. This outcome-focused approach helps users quickly identify which tool is right for their specific needs.

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How our evolution benefits you 🚀

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For our long-time users, rest assured that the tools and features you know and love aren't going anywhere, but their names are changing to plain English terms to be more approachable for professionals who may not have a background in UX research. In fact, our UXR platform is only going to get better as we invest in improvements and new capabilities. You'll also benefit from an expanded community of practitioners and a wealth of new resources to help you continue to grow and excel in your field.

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For professionals who may be new to Optimal Workshop or to formalized user research in general, our refresh means it's easier than ever to get started with professional-grade tools and methodologies. We're here to support you at every step, from your first card sort to building a comprehensive, data-driven approach to optimizing digital experiences.

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Join us in shaping tomorrow's digital experiences 🌟

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This brand refresh and value pivot mark an exciting new chapter for Optimal Workshop. We're committed to continuing our tradition of excellence while expanding our reach and impact in the world of digital experiences.

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As we move forward, we'll be rolling out new features, resources, and initiatives that align with our refreshed brand and value proposition. We're excited to partner with our users – both new and long-standing – to push the boundaries of what's possible in creating truly exceptional digital experiences.

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Thank you for being part of the Optimal Workshop community. Whether you're a UX research veteran or just starting your journey in optimizing digital experiences, we're here to support you with the best tools, knowledge, and community in the industry. Together, we can shape the future of digital experiences and make the online world more intuitive, efficient, and enjoyable for everyone.

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Onwards and upwards,

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Alex Burke, CEO Optimal Workshop

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We’re excited to announce the latest updates to our platform to help teams test, validate and gain insights early in the design process. Looking ahead to the rest of 2024, stay tuned as we expand Optimal’s research capabilities with new tools and features, including Prototype Testing, Qualitative Insights, and upgraded Surveys along with enhanced admin management and user roles!

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What’s new at Optimal? 🤩

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Managed Recruitment 🙋🙋🏾

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We’re thrilled to share the launch of our new Managed Recruitment offering with high quality and expanded profiling capabilities for hard-to-reach audiences. Managed Recruitment leverages our in-house recruitment team and a new powerful, award-winning panel — PureSpectrum — to give you access to millions of participants across 100+ countries. Optimal handles recruitment logistics from start to finish, guaranteeing quality responses and replacing low-quality participants at no extra cost.

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Early access is now available. To get started, submit your criteria via the request form. Starting in early August, you’ll be able to access Managed Recruitment via the Optimal Recruit tab. Recruitment is available for all Optimal tools except for Qualitative Insights (Reframer).

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What’s coming next? 🔮🧙

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Test your designs early and often with our latest tool:  Prototype Testing ⚙️
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The newest edition to the Optimal toolkit is just around the corner.  Prototype testing will allow you to quickly  test designs with users throughout the design process, to help inform decisions so you can build on with confidence.

You’ll have the option to easily import low or high-fidelity prototypes directly from Figma or build your own prototypes from scratch  by uploading images or screenshots and creating clickable areas. Prototype testing allows you to Identify usability issues and areas for improvement throughout the design process to iterate and improve your designs quickly with your users.

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Video Recording 🎬📽️🎞️
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After we launch Prototype testing, we’ll be adding Video Recording to allow you to record a participant completing a prototype test. You can capture nonverbal cues like eye rolls and frustration, screens and voices to better understand user experiences, and gain deeper insights for Prototype Testing. Video recording is browser-based, with no plug in required eliminating setup complexities. Consent to record is captured upfront in the testing process and can be tailored to meet your organization’s policies.

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Qualitative Insights & AI 🤖✨‍

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You’ll be able to capture meaningful insights faster and more efficiently with the new Insights feature under our Qualitative Insights (Reframer) tool. Create Insights — takeaways or key findings from a study — and keep them organized under the new Insights tab. Create a new Insight from observations or use AI to generate Insights. Each Insight will contain a title, description, and associated observations.

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Note that you and your organization will always maintain complete control over any AI engagement. All AI-generated results are editable. Leverage AI as needed for your studies or decide to turn off access completely for your organization.

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Surveys Upgrade 📋
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We’ll be transforming surveys with enhanced usability, advanced survey logic, and AI integration, empowering you to create, launch, and analyze surveys with ease. Our focus on improving usability will make creating, editing, and launching surveys easier than ever, including new question types, question cloning, question grouping, and AI assistance to streamline survey creation.

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Help us build a better Optimal Workshop 🧰

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We’re looking for customers to join our research and beta panel to help influence product development. From time to time, you’ll be invited to join us for interviews or surveys, and you’ll be rewarded for your time with a thank-you gift.  

If you’d like to join the team, email product@optimalworkshop.com.

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Every month we have fun and informative “bite sized” presentations to add some inspiration to your lunch break. These virtual events allow us to partner with amazing speakers, community groups and organizations to share their insights and hot takes on a variety of topics impacting our industry.

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Susanna Carman

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Speaker Bio 🎤

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Susanna Carman is a Strategic Designer and research practitioner who helps people solve complex problems involving services, systems, and human interactions. Specializing in design, leadership, and learning, Susanna brings a high-value toolkit and herself as a Thinking Partner to design leadership and change practitioners who are tasked with delivering sustainable solutions amidst disruptive conditions. 

Susanna holds a Master of Design Futures degree from RMIT University. She has over a decade of experience delivering business performance, cultural alignment, and leadership development outcomes to the education, health, community development, and financial services sectors. She is also the founder and host of Transition Leadership Lab, a nine-week learning lab for design, leadership, and change practitioners who already have a sophisticated set of tools and mindsets but still feel these are insufficient to meet the challenge of leading change in a rapidly transforming world.

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Grab your lunch, invite your colleagues and we hope to see you at our next Lunch n’ Learn! 🥪

Have you ever used a self-service checkout at the supermarket, or scanned your own bags onto the belt at the airport? As much as these interactions seek to follow the same principles we apply to web and mobile interactions, often there comes a point where we need to improvise and come up with novel ways to apply what we know in a new context.

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In this talk, we’ll explore what happens when the things we take for granted as digital designers go out the window and how you can adapt your design to the different needs of ‘phygital’ interactions.

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Every month we have fun and informative “bite sized” presentations to add some inspiration to your lunch break. These virtual events allow us to partner with amazing speakers, community groups and organizations to share their insights and hot takes on a variety of topics impacting our industry.

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Caitlin Pilcher and Ben McCarthy

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Speaker Bios 🎤

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Caitlin Pilcher is a digital experience designer driven by the belief people have a critical role to play in tackling the challenges we face today and building the world we want to see tomorrow. Her background in industrial and digital design has allowed her to investigate how people interact with both physical and digital environments, developing a keen interest in how we can design the space in between. Her work seeks to deeply understand and has focused on exploring complex problems with a sense of curiosity to create simple, human-centred solutions that work towards bringing exciting possible futures to life.

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Ben McCarthy is driven to create incredibly positive outcomes for both people and the planet and speed up the inevitable transition to a low carbon future. Ben unpacks the complexity of human-centred systems to aid others in achieving this, looking for key interactions we have with each other, our services, and our institutions to unlock our ability to make the most meaningful change. Ben is unafraid of using novel and proven methods to tackle the most significant societal and environmental challenges we face today.

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Grab your lunch, invite your colleagues and we hope to see you at our next Lunch n’ Learn! 🥪