SAN JOSE, Calif. & LISBON, Portugal--(BUSINESS WIRE)--youXtools™, a new venture startup of UEGroup, a premier user experience (UX) design and research consultancy, today debuted the youXtools platform to transform access to real-time customer insights. The integrated, cloud-based, user research and analytics platform deploys artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, enabling novice to expert product teams — startup to enterprise — to rapidly visualize and analyze real-time customer interactions and move to action.
“One of the biggest challenges facing enterprise companies is agility — the ability to align business strategy, market climate and what is best for the customer,” said Julie Zagorniak, senior UX manager at Symantec. “youXtools represents a revolutionary change in how we can automate UX decisions and prevent costly development reworks of design issues.”
youXtools is demonstrating the youXtools platform at Web Summit 2017 in Lisbon, Portugal through Nov. 9, 2017, where the company is participating and exhibiting as part of the prestigious ALPHA startup program.
As UX design rises to the forefront of product success across websites, applications and services — whether on desktop or mobile — there is an urgency to apply new technologies and automation to speed up decision-making and time-to-market. To date, user experience professionals and market researchers require hours and days to manually gather and analyze video or audio-recorded content, working across multiple unconnected tools to obtain results.
youXtools leverages machine learning via Ami™ (Autonomous Moderator Interface), an AI-based virtual observer to visualize the results in moments. Users can see a report in real time that identifies the tasks that produce the best and worst usability, dramatically improving time-to-market. For example, if Ami observes a low rating, it will ask for an explanation in one of six languages. It provides an integrated solution that rapidly reduces the risk of customer rejection for any product or service that has a digital user interface.
Product research team members simply define the scope of their project, and the platform presents integrated modules based on their goals and needs. youXtools will automatically recruit users for their feedback based on target demographics, freeing researchers to focus on the insights, not the process. In sharp contrast to current market offerings, youXtools allows users to rapidly create and manage user research as a single comprehensive project, rather than combining unconnected tools from multiple vendors.
youXtools Platform Highlights
Designed by UX experts at UEGroup with more than 20 years of experience working on the needs of big brands from Google to Red Bull, the youXtools platform launches with the following integrated suite of UX research and analytics capabilities:
- youXreaction™: online usability testing
An online, unmoderated usability testing tool, enabling developers, designers and researchers to get immediate reactions and answers to user feedback through real-time responses and video recordings. The tool features a voice prompt option to easily assist in walking research participants through the test.
- youXdiscovery™: online diary study
A diary multi-study tool to track research participant activity over extended periods of time. It enables product teams to understand patterns of behavior through testing participant self-reporting and to gain a more comprehensive picture of the consumer.
- youXconversation™: in-lab solution
Access to live moderated, lab-based studies that allow for controlled environments when confidentiality is needed or special networking environments need to be set up.
- youXscore™: user experience rating
An automated analysis scoring tool, based on a youXtools proprietary and patent pending algorithm, integrates emotional responses, ratings after performing tasks, and other factors to systematically identify problem areas without having to review individual responses.
- Comprehensive language support
User research conducted in English and six European languages, including French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Swedish.
- Desktop and mobile device support
Android and iOS support allows for user research and testing of cross-platform solutions.
“Our mission is to translate decades of UX experience into the next generation of automated UX products that are accessible to everyone,” said Tony Fernandes, CEO of youXtools and founder of UEGroup. “In our consultancy, we needed greater speed and automation, but the tools on the market just didn’t cut it, so we created something better for ourselves. This led to integrating those tools onto a cloud platform built from the ground up for that purpose, and now we are ready to extend our expertise to others through youXtools, removing the barriers of ease-of-use, speed and cost of accessing customer insights.”
The Back Story: The Rise of UX Design in the Age of Automation
In terms of UX, companies struggle to move at the pace of market change as consumer digital experience rises in device volume, sophistication and expectation.
So what gets in the way?
Research efforts are often manual and siloed, consisting of analyzing the results of biometrics, multiple videos for facial and verbal coding, focus groups and surveys. Bottom line, product owners struggle to get a quick visual story of what people did, how they felt and what needs attention. They are challenged by the following limitations:
- UX expertise
- Easy-to-use and integration of UX tools
- Access to high-quality UX participants
- Alignment of business priorities and user requirements
- Budget
However, technology advances in software-as-a-service (SaaS), predictive analytics, machine learning and AI are providing a new substructure that is enabling the next generation of products.
Pricing and Availability
The youXtools platform is available today on a pay-as-you-go basis at www.youXtools.com.
About youXtools
youXtools transforms access to real-time customer insights with a user experience (UX) research and analytics platform that empowers startups and enterprises to easily, quickly and cost-effectively deliver the ultimate customer experience. youXtools is a startup venture of UEGroup, a premier UX research and design consultancy serving the world’s best-known global brands since 2001. Applying artificial intelligence and machine learning, the integrated, cloud-based youXtools platform enables novice to expert professionals to manage the entire customer feedback cycle from collection to analysis to action. Web developers, designers, researchers, recruiters, product managers and marketers can rely on the next-generation platform to optimize the future of informed product design decisions. Privately held and headquartered in San Jose, California (U.S.), youXtools supports user research in English and six European languages. Connect with us at www.youxtools.com, Twitter.com/youxtools, Facebook.com/youxtools and LinkedIn.com/youxtools.
youXtools, youXreaction, youXdiscovery, youXconversation, youXscore and Ami are trademarks of UEGroup. All other brand names and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Tags: youXtools, UEGroup, Web Summit, user experience, UX, UX research, UX design, machine learning, AI, artificial intelligence, customer experience, web developers, product design, product management
