How it works
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Website owners ask for users to test their site. Whenever your demographic
profile matches their target audience, you're given the opportunity to test
their website.
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You use software to record a video of what's happening on your screen - mouse movements, clicks, and keystrokes - and your spoken comments while you use the website you're testing. (Videos are typically 15 minutes long.) You'll need a PC running Windows and a fast Internet connection.
Watch a sample video.
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You answer four questions about your experience.
See a sample review.
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You'll earn $10 (paid with PayPal).
How to become a tester
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Fill out a one-page form
with your demographic information (gender, computer experience, etc.).
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Browse a sample website and speak your thoughts as you browse. Your verbal comments will be recorded by telephone.
Earn $10 for 20 minutes of work at home? What's the catch?
This is not a get-rich-quick scheme. Most
people shouldn't plan on earning a steady income from UserTesting.com.
Why? You might not receive many (or any)
work opportunities. There are three reasons for this:
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Your demographics.
If your demographic profile doesn't match the target audiences of the websites
being tested, you won't receive work opportunities.
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An oversupply of user testers.
Because this is such a high-paying opportunity, we have more user testers
in our database than we have work opportunities.
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Your ability to provide useful feedback. To be a helpful user tester, you should be good at:
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Thinking out loud. In other words, speaking your thoughts as you browse.
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Taking the point of view of the customer.
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Finding things that are confusing, difficult to accomplish, or other problems
that might make you leave the site.
If your feedback is considered useful, then you're more likely to receive work opportunities.
What people are saying
"UserTesting.com is a really nice little side job. I'm a grad student, and extremely busy, so I like that I can just do a batch of two or three user tests each week. This translates to roughly $50 every other week for sitting with my laptop and telling people why their websites are good, bad, or ugly :-) I suspect you could earn more if you were really on top of claiming jobs, but I'm busy enough that I really only grab them when I have time."
Work Place Like Home
"I’ve been doing some site reviews through UserTesting.com. It’s like taking paid surveys but it pays a bit more. You use recording technology on your computer to capture your site navigation (they provide it) and review the site while recording comments on your phone. Then you write a review answering four short questions. You earn $10 per site tested. I think it’s a pretty good rate, since you only need to record 5-10 minutes of comments and then write up answers to the 4 standard questions."
Mrs. Micah
"UserTesting.com provides quick and cheap website usability testing. Website owners can access a network of pre-screened testers who are articulate and observant and who meet specified demographics. Testers visit and navigate through a website and have their screen activity and verbal comments recorded for the website owner to review."
Amazon.com