An iron survey, user experience consulting and research start-up (UX) for site improvement, mobile applications and omnichannel projects, reveals deep gaps in user testing, but an obvious awareness of the need to develop them in the future.
How do French companies manage the user experience of their site or application ? This is the question that Ferpection asked more than 1,040 professionals. Key results : for their sites or applications, 38% of companies never do user testing ! 72% have no budget, 70% no testers, 54% no time and 53% no skills. More than one in two companies admit to not having a mature level of UX. Among the good students, companies that do monthly user tests are only 18% and the vast majority, or 44%,takes at least two tests per year. Why so few UX tests ? The four main reasons that explain this lack of action in favor of UX research are clear : 72% mention a lack of budget, 70% don’t have testers to do it , 54% due to lack of time and 53% admit to having no skills to carry out these analyzes. “We have observed an emergence of UX in large companies in recent years, but projects often remain difficult to implement and integrate into the design or optimization processes” notes Thibault Geenen, CEO and founder of Ferpection.
What types of actions do companies take? ?
80% of companies carry out user tests on a prototype or model (46% often and 34% occasionally), 62% of user tests on an existing product or service (41% often and 21% occasionally) and 58% carry out exploratory studies to understand their targets or identify a need (23% often and 35% occasionally). On the other hand, data analysis using analytics tools, co-creation workshops, les AB tests, data analyzes and quantitative studies are below the 45% mark. “It is interesting to note that the majority of tests carried out by companies are on existing sites or prototypes. They are therefore more in the reaction than in the anticipation, which is a shame when we know that the fixes made during the development phase are very costly for the company” comments Thibault Geenen. The predominance of the existing to the detriment of anticipation is reinforced by the vision that companies have of the essential aspects of UX. To the question, “What aspect of user experience is, according to you, the most important ? », 56% of companies respond “Architecture : a clear and readable interface ». The strategic vision (positioning and development of the offer and navigation (sequences, interactions, etc.) come in second and third choice with 23% and 11% respectively. Everything related to the functionality of the site or application (5 %) as well as the visual appearance (4 %) concern very few companies.
Actions carried out primarily internally
All actions dedicated to UX research are 69% managed by internal teams and only 47% use freelancers.. Very few companies turn to external service providers or consultants (28 %) or management consultants in their company (19 %). Among all the possible indicators that make it possible to measure the return on investment of UX research actions, satisfaction comes first with 66% representativeness, closely followed by the conversion rate with 61%, then the productivity gain of 54%. There is still a long way to go. Are French companies aware of their delay in relation to the subject? ? 23% think they have reached a level of maturity on this subject by having put in place a complete strategy. More than 52% therefore believe they still have a lot of work to do on this topic. : 29% consider themselves not very mature and 23% not at all.
*Ferpection, mirror of the user experience*
Founded in November 2014, Ferpection collaborates with many major companies such as Samsung, L'Oréal, Lacoste, Leroy Merlin, LVMH, Vinci, Société Générale… in order to optimize the user experience on their websites, mobile and in-store apps. Its survey was carried out among 1,043 professionals on LinkedIn networks, Facebook and Twitter between October 12 and 19, 2021, all sectors of activity and company profiles combined and spread across the entire French territory.
