I've tried many user testing companies and this has been the best for me so far. I've made some bucks on this site, and they have been paid, as promised, within a week of performing the tests. This company is the only one that, at least for my demographic, provides me with tests mostly every day.
Some major business and companies use this site, and not the others, and I think they are already established and well organised, so one can see how things flow here and not elsewhere, at least for me.
HOW TO BECOME A TESTER
Like most user testing companies, you have to perform an entry test, which isn't paid, to see if you qualify. What they ask you to do is similar to what you would be doing as remote website tester.
Once you are accepted, you will be given access to your member dashboard and see a list of tests offered to you, from which you can choose from. There is a constant stream of tests, and it is up to you if you try any or all of them.
HOW IT WORKS
The first paid test you do is examined by the UT team. They will give you the initial rating. It takes them between 6 and 9 days to do that, but they do it; not only that, they even comment on your performance, and things needing of improvement in the future. Getting a high rating from them is very important because, the higher your rating is, the more in demand you are, and the more tests you are offered to take part in. You will be rated for each of your tests, but after the first one, the ratings will come from the companies that paid for them.
Like similar sites, customers are companies with specific requirements. They won't tell you what they want directly, but will screen you to see if you are what they are looking for. They do so by asking you a series of questions with answers to choose from. You need to answer honestly or might find yourself in trouble. If you qualify you can take the test. The screening takes just a few seconds to perform.
Before you enter the test, your task is mentioned. The system gives you 15 minutes to start the test. That's great if you have your kids around, you are cooking and need to put things aside, or have to go to the loo. Also great in case the recording program is misbehaving and you have to reinstall it. You have to allow their desktop app (actually a Chrome extension) to run, that is, to record your micro sound and share your screen. Once you do that, you press enter and the test starts. You have to read the instructions out loud, and verbalise your thoughts on the tasks you are doing, and do that continuously.
In the member area settings you can decide whether you want to receive emails for incoming tests, or just hear the ding when you are logged in. I think the latter is best, because, as I've said, there are plenty of tests coming in at times and you don't want to flood your inbox with emails. To hear the beep, needless to say, you have to have a tab open, logged into your account and the dashboard "Take Tests' open.
DOWNSIDES
>> The extension/program they use on the Chrome desktop is not always reliable. I lost plenty of tests for which had qualified because the recorder was malfunctioning. They always tell you to check this and that, but most testers have already done that when complaining to CS; they are testers after all! When it works, it is great, but when it does not, it makes testers lose money and UT customers get annoying silent recordings and waste their time. Just fix the recording or just provide with an alternative.
>> You might have problems with your microphone or the app during the session, and if the recording cannot be heard or has poor quality, your test will be rejected and you won't be paid. Or they will give you the lowest rating, which directly damages your prospectives of getting good tests offered to you. I mean, why not allowing the tester to repeat the test for free?
>> You don't qualify for 90% of the tests coming at you, as they are targeted to specific industries and consumers. They might want a person who is bilingual in Korean. A person who uses a certain airline, bank, supermarket or store. A person who doesn't know anything about a certain product, or a person who has kids, just to mention a few examples. This varies from test to test. You have to take the screener and be honest because, otherwise, you will be in trouble and won't be paid.
>> I have the strong impression that many of those screeners are archived and added to your profile, so they profile you to the core and quite accurately. I am never happy with that, especially because you aren't really working for the company, you are working for rewards not for a salary. Yet, they will have so many details about you, besides your voice. If something goes wrong, the site is hacked for example, your whole life info could be used for fraudulent purposes. I am not sure if their security system is really good, either.
>> Some tests have between 12 or 60 steps and, although enjoyable, they are time consuming; you might spend 30 to 60 minutes on a test and still be paid 10 bucks. That is unacceptable. I dont blame the site for allowing that to happen. I also blame those customers from big companies and corporations that run on the cheap when it comes to paying, and expect a tester to go through their demands for alms. Dear UX designer if you test is 50+ steps is because you don't know how to design an US remote usability test, as simple as that.
>> Unless you live in a country where 10$ USA is a lot of money, that's a very low per-hour fee. At the moment, the duration of the test is not mentioned, so it could take you 10 minutes, which is the best case scenario, or 60+.
>> They mostly work on Chrome, so you can't perform the tests on any other browser unless the test is specific for that browser.
THEIR PHONE APP
>> In addition, the app didn't allow me to log in, rejecting my login email as incorrect, which is totally bananas!
>> I removed the app and I don't do tests on the phone, which is a pity, because there are tons of phone tests coming in.
>> There are simple apps out there that capture sound and screen and aren't invasive at all. I actually tested one of them for another company, and it was fantastic. Why not using that instead?
CUSTOMER SERVICE
CS is useless. It takes ages for you to get a reply, and although they reply, eventually, it is first with a Zen desk robotic message that shows that the officer hasn't really read your query and acted on an impulse by reading the subject. When you complain about some of the companies testing requiring a huge amount of time for little money and for not explicitly saying that at the beginning, they blame you for staying in the test; but for some people this income is necessary and they put up with bad behaviour out of desperately needing extra cash. I had CS officers who needed four of my messages being as blunt as it gets for them to actually read my emails and respond to what I was asking not what they wanted to reply to. It is not acceptable that a company that trades in the stock market has such poor service for those who make possible the site, which are the testers. The worst part is that customer service has grown worse at the same pace as the company is growing up and cashing in.
