New case study! We helped sleep accessory brand Manta Sleep through a 10% ARPU bump, a redesign, two product launches, and their best BFCM ever.

Is usability testing ever not chaotic? You’d expect a research method that generates outsize value to be relatively stable. It is not, and that is largely because of recruitment.

Your tests are only as good as the people who take them, no matter how well-written the script may be. So it’s hard finding quality people to take your tests. Platforms know this, and usually things go as follows:

• Platform promises pay-per-use testing
• People run well-recruited tests, things go well
• The platform incorrectly goes subscription with its existing robust recruitment base

Or:

• Platform promises pay-per-use testing
• People run poorly-recruited tests
• The platform dies off

Or:

• Platform promises pay-per-use testing
• People run well-recruited tests, things go well
• The platform collapses because pay-per-use doesn’t support a sufficiently large market

All of these are very sad! We lost two platforms to these outcomes this past year, making for 7 recommendations that we’ve had to discard as the industry evolves. Now Userbrain has become our standard. Will it last longer than it takes me to write this sentence? Who knows, y’all.

So that aside, what does the state of usability testing look like in 2026?

First, do we even need to run usability tests? Of course we do. After interviews, they remain the second-most powerful research method, focusing on bugs & product features as well as marketing. Research techniques are evergreen, no matter the shifts in our industry. In fact, if you’re using LLMs to build now, then usability testing has become more important.

Knowing that, what do you ask in a usability test? Right now we’re testing:

• Price sensitivity. We’re asking the four Van Westendorp questions in both usability tests & deep-dive surveys in order to understand how pricing might have changed due to macroeconomic conditions.
• Bugs. Did you notice that software quality has cratered over the past five years? Did you know that bugs actively harm conversion? I know, shocking. Maybe we can fix some of that.
• Product direction. There will never be a replacement for the discernment expressed by value-based designers. How do you know what features to build out, and in what order? With usability testing, you can figure out what matters to customers and address their needs.
• Credibility. Is your product trustable? Will people actually want to pay you for it? We find that trust has broadly declined for tech over the past few years. Given that and the current recession, it’s vitally important to ensure that people feel excited about supporting your business.

What are you testing? Have you found any other platforms that operate in right relationship to their customers? Hit reply and let us know.