UserTesting success story: Code for America

Roughly 5 million adults in the U.S. are under community supervision at any given time; this translates to 1 in 53 adults being on probation, parole, or pre-trial supervision. Roughly half of those on probation eventually exit each year, and of those, 3 out of every 5 exits are deemed successful. The remainder are re-incarcerated or end in some other unsatisfactory outcome. As a recipient of a UserTesting OneWorld grant, the Code for America team was able to leverage the UserTesting human insight platform while developing a web app that would improve communication between probation officers (POs) and their clients. The end product, ClientComm, enables POs to exchange text messages with their clients from their computer, tablet or mobile device.   The team was able to create studies and receive the feedback they needed to create an app that served the diverse requirements of their wide constituency of users. Rachel Edelman, Product Designer at Code for America, notes, “It’s amazing that I can sit in my office and set up a UserTesting study and get all the results back within 30 minutes….It’s an amazing time saver.” Initial results have been promising: the pilot program in Salt Lake City, Utah saw a 32 percent improvement in pre-trial success with POs saving 5 hours per week per client while also increasing monthly communications per client by 8x.

Want to learn more?

Download our case study to learn how Code for America used UserTesting to reduce recidivism, creating an innovative solution that upholds safety and justice in communities across the US. You can also learn more about and apply for a UserTesting OneWorld grant here.