Optimal Blog

2025 is already proving to be an exciting year for UX research, and we’re just getting started! With a range of new features and updates that empower teams to move from design to decisions faster, Optimal is bringing the best tools to the table for everyone and making research accessible across all teams. Let’s dive into what’s already here and what's coming next!
‍

Video Recording for Prototype Testing

We’re excited to announce that the closed beta for video recording for prototype testing has launched. By capturing screen, audio, and/or video, this feature takes research beyond metrics to give you a deeper understanding of user intent and pain points. Our Optimal Recruitment service also ensures you connect with the right participants for video recording, driving meaningful insights from the start.

‍

New Study Flow for Faster Study Creation

Say hello to the new Study Flow, an intuitive tab that helps to accelerate study creation, combining the Messages & instructions and Questionnaire tabs into one. Visualize every step of the participant’s journey, from the welcome screen to the final thank-you message with the Study Flow panel. Save time by quickly duplicating questions across Surveys and other study types. Navigate through studies with ease by collapsing and expanding sections as needed.

‍

What We’re Working On Next

Here’s a sneak peek at some exciting features in the works:

‍

AI-Powered Survey Question Simplification
We’re unleashing an AI-powered feature to help users simplify complex question wording and improve clarity. Users can quickly accept, reject, or regenerate more suggestions with a click. By improving clarity and simplifying your questions, you’ll gather more accurate, higher-quality insights that drive better results.

‍

This AI feature is available for surveys questions as well as screening, pre and post study questions for surveys, prototype tests, card sorts, tree tests and first-click tests. This is just the beginning of even more AI-driven improvements to come, all aimed at helping to accelerate your time to insights.

‍

Advanced Logic Capabilities
We’re working on bringing more advanced logic capabilities to Optimal - one of the most highly requested features for surveys. With display logic, the study changes dynamically - showing or hiding answer options or subsequence questions based on a participant’s previous responses. Apply display logic to Surveys, screening questions, and pre- and post-study questions. This is just the beginning. We’ll be exploring additional advanced logic capabilities in 2025. 
‍

‍‍
Join Us on the Journey
‍Stay tuned for regular updates, and let us know how we can make your research experience even better. Have feedback or feature requests? We’d love to hear from you so we can continue to shape the future of Optimal.

Inspired by insights from Optimal users, we’ve reimagined study creation to bring you a beautifully streamlined experience with the new Study Flow tab.

With the new Study Flow, you’ll: 

‍

⚡ Enjoy faster study set up: Messages & instructions and Questionnaire tabs are combined in a single tab - called Study Flow - for faster editing and settings customization.

‍

✨ See it all at a glance: Easily visualize and understand the participant experience—from the welcome message to the final thank-you screen—every step of the way. 

‍

🎯 Duplicate questions: Save time and quickly replicate questions for surveys, screening questions, and pre- and post-study questions. 

‍

⭐ Experience enhanced UI: Enjoy a modern, clean design with intuitive updates that minimize scrolling and reduce mental load.

‍

🗂️ Collapse and expand sections: Easily navigate studies by collapsing and expanding sections, making it easier to build out specific parts of your study.

‍

This Study Flow tab is available across all Optimal tools, except for Qualitative Insights. 

‍

What’s next?

‍

We’re not stopping there. We have some significant improvements on the horizon designed to give you even greater flexibility and control.

‍

Advanced logic: Enhanced logic capabilities is one of our most highly requested features, and we’re thrilled to introduce new capabilities to help you build your ideal study experience – available for surveys and other tools. We will first introduce “display logic”, allowing for: 

• If answer is X for Question Y, then hide/show Question Z.
• If answer is X for Question Y, then hide/show specific answer options.

‍

Customizable sections: Organize your questions into different sections to build a better study experience for your participants. For example, segment your questions into relevant groupings, such as demographics or product usage. With custom sections, you can add new sections, rename, reorder, duplicate, and move questions between different sections.* 

*Note: Questions cannot be moved to/from the screening questions section.

‍

These upcoming features will empower you to create dynamic, tailored study experiences for different audiences with ease for more valuable insights. 

‍

Start exploring the new Study Flow now.

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

‍

Investing in prototype testing and user-focused design isn't just about creating better products—it's a proven strategy to save costs, accelerate timelines, and drive customer loyalty. According to Forrester Research, companies that incorporate prototype testing in their design process can reduce development costs by 33% and cut collaboration time by 25%. UX-focused companies also see products hit the market 50% faster and loyalty rise by 240% (Forrester Research, Nielsen Norman Group)!

‍

Whether you're refining user flows, testing new concepts, or optimizing your onboarding experience or conversion flows, prototype testing helps ensure your designs hit the mark—before you invest too heavily in the build.

‍

With those benefits in mind, let's dive into how prototype testing can help you deliver user-centered designs efficiently and effectively. 

‍

Common Use Cases for Prototype Testing
‍

1. Test Onboarding and Sign-Up Flows
   How intuitive is your onboarding process? Prototype testing can help identify friction points, ensuring users can navigate and complete sign-ups seamlessly. For example, you can simulate different scenarios to determine whether users can easily register, set up accounts, or retrieve forgotten passwords.
   
   
2. A/B Test Email Designs
   Test different layouts, calls-to-action (CTAs), or visual elements in your email prototypes to discover what resonates best with your audience. Measure metrics like click-through rates or time spent engaging with content to refine your design.
   
   
3. Evaluate User Flows and Wireframes
   Whether you're testing a new feature, redesigning a user journey, or validating a wireframe, prototype testing gives you real-world insights. Observe how users interact with your design and identify areas for improvement before you move to development.
   
   
4. Test Concepts
   Before launching a new idea, validate it through prototype testing. Let users interact with your concept to gauge feasibility and potential impact. This can save time and resources by helping you focus on ideas that resonate.
   
   
5. Evaluate Conversion Flows
   Are users completing purchases or achieving desired outcomes? Use prototype testing to analyze conversion flows and pinpoint where users drop off. From landing pages to payment processes, you can optimize every step for success.
   
   
6. Test User Interfaces (UI)
   Ensure your UI elements—buttons, navigation menus, or forms—are intuitive and accessible. Prototype testing can help you identify design inconsistencies or usability challenges early in the process.
   
   
7. Conduct Usability Tests
   Have a new feature in development? Prototype testing lets you see how users interact with it, revealing insights that can guide refinements and improve overall satisfaction.

‍

Real-Life Prototype Testing Scenarios

Airline
Imagine your flight has been canceled. Ask how your customers self-service on the airline website to find new flight options. 

Bank
Have a prospect or customer interact with a prototype to open a business account online. Uncover usability issues and streamline the process.

Insurance
Imagine you’re interested in switching car insurance. Explore how intuitive it is for customers to view coverage details in an app, helping insurers improve navigation and accessibility.

‍

Prototype Testing Analysis & Insights

Optimal’s prototype testing gives you a variety of analysis options to help you to evaluate the effectiveness and usability of your prototypes. Use these to see exactly how users navigate, where they face challenges, and what areas are proving to be successful.
‍

• Task-based scenarios: Observe how users complete tasks like purchasing a product or updating account settings and set correction paths and destinations.
  ‍
• Clickmaps: See how users navigate and locate information. See hits and misses on designated clickable areas, average task completion times, and heatmaps showing where users believed the next steps to be.
  ‍
• Task results: Gather insights into how long it took to take a task (time taken), misclicks, directness score (considering backtracks or incorrect pathways), and success score.
  ‍
• Participant paths: The Paths tab provides a powerful visualization, including thumbnails, to understand and identify common navigation patterns and potential obstacles participants encounter while completing tasks.
  ‍
• Video, audio, and/or screen recording: See how your users interact with and respond to your prototype. Listen to their thought process and pick up on nonverbal cues, like hesitation, frustration, or confusion to pinpoint areas for improvement or exploration.  

Ready to use prototype testing to help your team reduce development costs and get a faster time to market? Get started in your account by creating a new prototype test.

Not yet a user of Optimal? Sign up for a free 7-day trial.

As we approach the end of 2024, it’s a great time to reflect on the progress we’ve made as a community and at Optimal. This year, Optimal users launched over 100,000 studies with over 1.2 million participants sharing insights to drive better business decisions and experiences.

Here's how we’ve worked to make research more accessible, speed up insight discovery, empower enterprise teams, and grow our platform’s capabilities in 2024.

‍

Democratizing Research

‍

Research for All
Research shouldn’t be limited to specialists or select teams—it should be accessible to everyone. In 2024, we focused on breaking down barriers to user research so that individuals across all divisions and teams can uncover actionable insights. Our tools are built to help anyone make confident, user-centered decisions, and this year, we’ve seen Optimal users from across all different types of teams, including product, marketing, content, research, design, information architecture, and education. We work to make our platform easy to use and learn, ensuring everyone can dive into research without barriers, regardless of their role or experience.

‍

A Milestone Year for UX Maturity
Understanding and improving UX maturity became a key focus for organizations this year. We launched our comprehensive UX Maturity Framework, complete with assessment tools that help teams identify their current state and plot a path forward. To support this journey, we developed detailed playbooks for each maturity level, offering practical guidance for teams looking to level up their UX practice. ‍‍‍

‍

Demonstrating the Value of UX
The conversation around UX value also took center stage in 2024. Our groundbreaking research into quantifying UX impact provided organizations with concrete data to support their UX investments. Through our popular webinar and blog series, we explored different approaches to communicating UX value to stakeholders, giving practitioners the tools they need to advocate for user-centered design.

‍

Accelerating Insight Discovery

‍

Prototype Testing
This year, we introduced Prototype Testing, enabling teams to test designs early and often. Teams can iterate quickly and ensure their ideas resonate with users before committing to development.

Video Recording (Beta)
We added a new feature to Prototype Testing that captures screen, audio and nonverbal cues—such as frustration—providing deeper insights into your users' experiences.

‍

Figma Integration
We also launched Figma integration for First-Click Testing and Prototype Testing, allowing users to connect design prototypes directly to Optimal studies. This integration makes it easier than ever to test, refine, and align designs with user needs—all without leaving Optimal.

‍

AI-Powered Insights
Our AI-Powered Insights help to uncover patterns and themes in qualitative and interview data. By analyzing large datasets, AI helps you discover key trends and accelerate decision-making.

‍

Optimal Recruitment
Recruiting high-quality participants can be a huge hassle and very time-consuming. That’s why we’ve relaunched Optimal Recruitment with expanded profiling capabilities, enhanced quality controls, and full-service support—to let you focus on what matters most: powerful insights to drive better business outcomes

Enabling Enterprise Teams

‍

Workspaces
For organizations with complex structures, we’ve introduced Workspaces and Projects to give admins greater control, improved organization, and increased privacy controls. Whether you're part of a large enterprise or a growing team, these enhancements simplify governance and amplify impact.

‍

Expanding Platform Capabilities in 2025

‍

Looking Ahead
As we head into 2025, our roadmap is packed with exciting features and improvements to make research more accessible, efficient, and impactful. Expect advancements across our platform, including video recording for prototype testing, a brand new survey tool with improved usability, advanced logic, and AI-powered capabilities to meet the evolving needs of teams worldwide. The best is yet to come - stay tuned and see you in 2025!

After months of invaluable collaboration with our incredible community, we're thrilled to announce that Prototype Testing has officially graduated from beta and is now available to everyone on the Individual+, Team, and Enterprise plans!

‍

Reflecting on the Beta Journey ⭐

‍

The Prototype Testing Beta was launched with a singular mission: to gather feedback from our community to help shape the future of the tool. Over the past few months, we've been privileged to work alongside a diverse group of customers and UX leaders— who provided invaluable feedback, completed many Usability Tests, and helped us refine the tool.

From the initial rollout to the most recent updates, your input has shaped our decisions, from design tweaks to functional improvements. Together, we’ve tackled challenges, explored creative solutions, and built something that truly aligns with user needs.

‍

Highlights from the Beta 🥳
‍

• Figma OAuth Integration: One of our most anticipated features, this seamless integration enabled testers to connect their design workflows directly with our platform, paving the way for smoother collaboration.
  
  
• Improved security with password management: A new "Password settings" button allows users to manage stored passwords, which participants receive before starting their Prototype Study. Additionally, users are prompted for a password when importing protected prototypes.

‍

• Improvements to usability: Your feedback was taken onboard, and we’ve updated the buttons, including "Re-sync to file" and "Change prototype," to improve usability.

‍

• Results sharing: You can now easily share specific sections (e.g., analysis, tasks, clickmaps) via a URL with your stakeholders in just a few clicks. With the added protection of a password for secure access.
  ‍

• Participant data view: To speed up your data analysis and improve your workflows we’ve added task metrics in the "Results > Participants" table, showing tasks completed, skipped, and success percentage.

‍

• Notes tab in analysis: Users can now take notes directly in the Analysis section for Task Results, Click Maps, Paths, and Questionnaires.

‍

What's next for Prototype Testing ❓

‍

Introducing Video Recording

‍

We're thrilled to announce our most requested feature is coming to Prototype Testing: seamless video recording that captures the full depth of user experiences.

‍

A Frictionless Experience

‍

• Browser-based recording - no plugins needed
• Automatic consent management for screen, face, and voice recording
• Seamless integration with your existing test flow
• Secure storage and easy access to recordings

‍

Why video changes everything

‍

Video recording transforms your research by:

• Capturing authentic user reactions and emotions
• Understanding the "why" behind user behaviors
• Sharing compelling user stories with stakeholders
• Building deeper empathy across your team

‍

Beyond video: The road ahead

‍

Your feedback during the beta has shaped an exciting roadmap for 2025 and beyond. While we can't reveal everything just yet, know that every feature and enhancement planned has been inspired by your needs and suggestions.

‍

A thank you from our team 🫶

To our incredible beta participants: your partnership has been invaluable. You've shared your expertise, challenged our assumptions, and helped us build something truly special. Every piece of feedback, every suggestion, and every bug report has contributed to making Prototype Testing a tool that truly serves the UX research community.

‍

Join us on the journey

This is just the beginning of our mission to make expert research accessible to all. Stay tuned for regular updates as we continue to evolve Prototype Testing based on your needs and feedback. Here's to the next chapter of creating exceptional digital experiences together!

‍