Generative + Evaluative User Research
to inform product and design decisions

User experience research is critical to understanding your digital world, and The Understanding Group excels at UX research. Successful past projects range from SAAS products, to major online retailers, to international member organizations.

An information architecture card sort
 

Answers + Confidence + Understanding Delivered
Insights from user research made usable through modeling

See how we've delivered meaningful and lasting user-research insights that inform product, business, and design decisions for years.

Answers for Autodesk

A user journey map

A user experience journey map.

Autodesk needed to know why a critical app flow was not supporting conversion. Read the Improving Trial Conversion Rates for Mobile case study.

Understanding for SoftCo

A journey map for a self-service onboarding experience

A user journey map of self-service onboarding

A software company “SoftCo” needed a research-backed view of users to inform their product growth. Learn more in our Understanding Self-Service User Behavior case study.

Full-Service User Research
Flexible for any scale and need

TUG is your research partner, whether you need a comprehensive program or targeted study. We adapt to your context and deliver actionable insights that drive results.

Our Expertise Covers:

  • Research Design
    Clear plans and efficient processes

  • Participant Recruiting
    Finding the right people for your study

  • Research Facilitation
    Expertly conducted using mixed research methods

  • Prototyping and Validation Testing
    Translating insights into tested recommendations

  • Research Ops
    Systems to maintain research at scale

Ways We Work With You:

  • Collaborating
    We partner with your team to enhance research capabilities

  • Supplementing
    We integrate with your team to increase capacity and expertise

  • Enabling
    We help you build a practice of research for ongoing learning and continuous improvement

 
 
“Proven experts who blew us away with the modeling of their research. It was a game changer.”
— Product Manager
 
 
“The relationship and collaboration are two of the things that I value most about TUG. There is a real matching of staff and skills to our project needs.”
— UX Manager
 

Scalable User Research Packages
An easy way to get started

Jobs-to-be-Done + Archetypes

Task-oriented research and a model of user postures to inform structure, content, and feature creation.

Delivered in as few as 3 weeks

Deliverables:

Jobs Audit
An inventory of tasks users can accomplish on a website

Archetypes User Model
A tool for understanding what places users need in your system.

Usage Guidelines
For decision-making and structural design.

 
 

Expert Review

An evaluation of a system based on industry best practices

Delivered within 1 week

Deliverables:

Detailed Report
Outlining findings with annotated screenshots of the system.

Prioritized Recommendations
based on the severity of the issue

Critique Focus Groups

Rich and actionable insights from target users about what does and doesn’t make sense about a website, process, or system.

Delivered in as few as 4 weeks

Deliverables:

Categorized Feedback
from the research sessions

High-Level Findings
Slide deck highlighting the most important points and a summary of findings

Prioritized Recommendations
From the perspective of the participants

User Interviews + User Models

Deep insights are delivered as models that stand the test of time. No more reports shoved into a drawer.

Delivered in as few as 5 weeks

Deliverables:

User Models
Depict the user’s situation, needs, and tasks in a consumable and referenceable format.

High-Level Summary
Themes, findings, & recommendations from the research.

User Research Methods
We help you choose the right methods based on need and context.

Generative Research

  • Ethnography to uncover how users interact with their environment

  • 1:1 Interviews to dive deep into individual user experiences

  • Critique Focus Groups to get insights from a variety of users about a specific experience

  • Open Card Sort to understand how users think, categorize, and describe a collection of things

  • Surveys to solicit general input and sentiment to guide further research

Evaluative Research

  • Closed Card Sorts to understand how users categorize information

  • Tree Tests to assess the clarity and findability of your site structure

  • First-Click Tests to see if your main navigation labels work

  • Prototype Tests to ensure people can find what they need on your site

  • Usability Tests to evaluate the overall user experience of a system