What Is User Sense? A Practical Guide 

This post about what is User Sense will definitely be of significant help to anyone who would want to get to know more about this company, given that there are other players with years of history in the business of testing apps and websites.

What Is User Sense

Out of the many platforms on the internet today where you could find opportunities for making money by being a user tester, User Sense is among the youngest players since it only began in early 2019. 

Their headquarters is in Rotterdam, South Holland.

Quality Guidelines

Every usability testing company aims to provide quality work to their clients and at User Sense, there is a quality assurance team that seriously checks usability videos of testers.

From its quality guidelines for ensuring top quality usability tests, you could gain an insight about what you must do as a tester.

You need to pay attention to the details and the job so you know what responsibilities you need to perform.  Familiarize yourself with its quality guidelines.

What The Job Of A Tester At User Sense Involves

Your testing job involves:

1. Thinking out loud (speaking loud and clear) as you experience using the website, app or prototype.

2. Constantly explaining what you do, why you do it and what you feel about it.

3. Stating how you feel or think (confused or unable to find anything) about the product you are testing. 

4. You must describe every encounter you might have, especially what makes you feel frustrated when using a website.

For example, if you are testing an e-commerce website and found that some links or buttons for the payment methods do not work, speak about this in your test and tell that this could make potential shoppers leave or abandon their shopping cart.

5. Suggesting improvements that can help perform a task faster or better.

6. Taking a test inside a quiet room with no background noise. Take this as one requirement you must meet for the job. 

If there are things you must do, there are also things that you must not do, such as:

1.  Explaining what you see on the app or website since the User Sense customer also knows this.

2.  Saying that everything on the website is okay.

3.  Showing that you can speedily finish a task.

4.  Only complimenting the appearance of the website.

5.  Performing tasks aside from what the customer requires.

6.  Providing too technical (unless required) feedback. The idea is to make an app or a website user-friendly, especially to first-time users.

Therefore, if you will test a product as if you were an expert, you will divert away from this goal of usability testing.

Take note that the quality assurance team will grade or rate your recording.

It will look at whether you are in a quiet room while you take the test, if your face is visible in the recording and if you are articulating properly.

Therefore, have an idea that User Sense will also require you to record your face or appearance when performing a task.

If you do not feel comfortable about working in front of a webcam, then this might put you off.  

The facial recording makes it possible for User Sense to claim that it can offer customers a “glimpse into the subconscious through emotion recognition and eye tracking,” in my opinion.

After all, if you allow the webcam/software to record yourself as you do the test, you will inevitably show your facial expressions so the User Sense team and its customers will probably see what emotions you feel when you go through each task.

There is also a questionnaire you must accomplish for your tasks and the quality assurance team will also include this in assessing your work.

Be sure to provide relevant and comprehensive answers to questions. If you discover any problems, provide a viable solution.

To better perform your responsibility as a user tester, you must always think what your job entails, which is to live by the goal of User Sense to provide better user experience.

Based on how remote usability testing works, you will also understand what you will encounter in case you finally apply as a tester for User Sense.

A customer of User Sense will first assemble the test by setting a specific part of the website or app that real users will need to test. He will choose from his own testers or from the testers at User Sense.

They will base the choice of respondents on unique characteristics. This means that in order for you to be one of the chosen testers, meet what the customers require.

This will affect the number of tests you could do since you will most likely not fit every tester requirements.

If your demographic details fit the characteristics of the target group, then you might be among those who will perform the pre-prepared tasks by the customer.

Realize that this job calls for a camera. Other required tools are desktop computer/laptop or mobile device (Android or iOS).

Scenarios That Require Testing

The general notion of usability testing is that there is a website that a developer will soon launch and he wants to first test this website for functionality so he will hire the services of companies like User Sense.

However, there are certain scenarios that will show you when User Sense customers will require your services as a tester for their prototypes.

Prototype testing may still have different scenarios. There is prototype testing for products with interactive elements, for mock-ups and for non-interactive prototypes.

There is exploratory user testing wherein real users test non-interactive prototypes and sketches. Such a test requires testers to follow the lead of a moderator to guide the session.

An assessment test is for products that have built-in functionalities that you can use to navigate through the app or website.

This may or may not have a test moderator, depending on the complexity of the process and the design of the product.

Usability testing is not only for not yet launched websites or apps. Sometimes, even those digital products that customers have already launched may still require usability testing.

For such products, you need to look for ways on how its user experience factors may still improve.

While a digital product is still in its development stage, it needs to undergo optimization, which calls for more frequent testing.

Larger companies may have an in-house team to do this, but smaller organizations will seek the services of companies like User Sense.

How To Apply

The first step of the sign-up process for User Sense takes place here.

User Sense claims that the registration process will take only 2 minutes, but I believe that this is only for the first step of registration.

You first need to create an account by providing your name, email address and telephone number, then verify your email address. The system will ask for your personal details in compliance with the tax regulations.

Provide your complete name, address and birth date. Then take the qualification test (unpaid). The last step involves answering the questionnaire.

There is a quick usability test in the qualification test, which you can complete in 10-15 minutes. This test serves several reasons:

1. To make sure that User Sense software works on your device.

2. To see your visibility in the recording and your fluency in speaking English.

3. To ensure your ability to read, understand and follow the test instructions.

This part points to another requirement of User Sense, which is to download and install its software in your device, which could be another possible turnoff for some people.

Once done with the qualification test, you must wait up to 5 working days to receive an email if you gained acceptance or rejection to become a User Sense tester.

When you become admitted to the pool of testers, you have yet another step to complete, which is to answer the questionnaire.

Completing the questionnaire will allow you to get more invitations to paid usability tests and you will get 50% more payment for each test you perform.

Potential Income

It is important to take note that usability testing jobs will not pay you enough money to support even your basic needs.

From the sign up page of User Sense, you could read that you will only earn extra money when you test apps and websites.  

For every 20 minutes test you complete, you could get 10-15 euros or about USD 11-16. You will get only 10 euros if you do not complete the questionnaire. Completing the questionnaire will let you receive 15 euros.

When the quality assurance team approves your recording, expect your payment via bank transfer in Euro within 5 working days.

Work Schedule

The advantage of this online job is flexibility in work schedule. You will work only when there is an available test you could participate in. You could also work when you feel like working.

This means that even when there are available tests for you, it is still up to you if you will participate in it or not. However, once you take the paid test, allot an adequate amount of time to finish it.

A test may take up to 20 minutes.

Is User Sense Legit?

PROS

CONS

User Sense is a young company you could check out. However, since it is on its start-up phase, there are possibly only a few opportunities available and only to Dutch testers.

Therefore, this is not a platform you would want to become a part of unless you think your credentials are acceptable.