From December 2013 to January 2014, we asked the UX industry to participate in a 27-question survey. 1,309 professionals told us about their current situation and shared their thoughts on what the future holds. Here is a summary of the results of this survey:
An Industry of Growth
As we continue to glide farther into 2014, it is clear from this study that there continues to be a lot of growth in the user experience industry. Job creation, tool development, and expanding budgets all point to a continued upswing in how companies perceive UX and its growing role in their success.
Increasing Use Cases
The results of this survey confirm our own impression of the new ways teams are gathering data and feedback. Even within our world of remote testing, we’ve seen a swell of interest as more and more teams turn to third party providers to gain deeper insight into their website or mobile app’s experience, usage, and profitability. Below, you’ll note the varied job functions of our survey respondents. From our perspective, more marketing and analytics teams are also relying on user experience tools to qualify their metrics. This is a category we’ll continue to monitor as UX continues to make its way into the culture of more companies.
What is your job function? (What department or team are you a part of?) Answered: 1,303 Skipped: 6
Greater Demand for User Feedback
Out of 1,123 responses to the question, “Looking ahead into 2014, how do you think the frequency of your testing will change?” over half indicated that their testing frequency would increase this year (69.55% to be exact.)
Very few respondents indicated there would be a decrease in their frequency of testing.
We surmise that there is most likely a correlation between the expansion of multi-device/new device experiences and the rise in testing. From mobile dependency to wearable technology, we continue to hear plenty of demand for more personal experiences that connect users at an emotional level, and not simply out of necessity.
Taking Action
While this survey is in its infancy, we’re excited to continue to provide pros like you with insights on where the industry is heading and what’s on the horizon for UX within product, marketing and design disciplines.
We invite you to explore the results of this survey, and please share your feedback in the comments of this post!
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About this author: Stef Miller is a former marketer at UserTesting, where she spent most of her time connecting people with content. Miller has worked for global corporations and teeny tiny studios, and believes that true happiness comes from collaborating with creative people to make awesome things happen.
