As the year draws to a close, dscout, an industry-leading customer research platform, reflects on a time of unparalleled success and innovation.

As the year draws to a close, dscout, an industry-leading customer research platform, reflects on a time of unparalleled success and innovation. From hosting thought-provoking events to achieving industry recognition and unveiling groundbreaking product advancements, dscout has solidified its position as a leader in experience research.

“2023 has undoubtedly been a year of change for user research,” said Michael Winnick, Founder and CEO of dscout. “With fast deadlines, changing team structures, new technology, and other hurdles across the industry—our customers expect us to stay flexible and support their evolving practice.

“By launching a usability solution, elevating our participant panel & bringing on Kevin Johnson to spearhead responsible AI development, we’ve continued to be a tool that researchers can partner with.”

— Michael Winnick, Founder and CEO, dscout

By launching a usability testing solution, further elevating our participant panel with the PanelFox Private Panels acquisition, and bringing on Kevin Johnson to spearhead our responsible AI development, we’ve continued to push ourselves to be a tool that researchers can partner with. Not just to meet them where they’re at, but to provide continuous value as their organization grows and changes. We’ve covered a lot of ground this year and we’re excited to share more in 2024.”

Growing the business

In 2023, dscout reached a number of key milestones, including:

– Record delivery: dscout saw a record number of research studies in 2023. Express, dscout’s quick-turn feedback tool, doubled in growth from the previous year after it was re-launched with usability capabilities.

– International expansion: To meet international demand, dscout has established a presence in the UK, marking a significant milestone in its global growth strategy.

– Private Panels: The strategic acquisition of Panelfox has enhanced dscout’s private panel capabilities, expanding its reach and reinforcing its commitment to delivering comprehensive research solutions.

– Headcount: dscout welcomed several strategic executive hires, including Julie Norvaisis as Vice President of Research, Kate Johnson as Vice President of Marketing, Brad Talkington as Vice President of Finance, Ben Hogg as Managing Director International, and Kevin Johnson as Head of AI.

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Continued product innovation

dscout released new features that enhanced flexibility within the platform, powered more collaborative research, and continued its commitment to privacy and security. 2023 platform highlights include:

– Flexibility: From completely redesigning its fast-feedback tool to introducing usability testing and making card sorting available, dscout has added even more to its platform to support evaluative and generative research needs. Notably, the addition of heat maps via an integration with collaborative interface design tool, Figma, allows both researchers and designers to better analyze their usability tests.

– Collaboration: dscout introduced the contributor seat, a new user type, to help growing teams meet the increased demand for research. Similarly, dscout released the ability to have multiple moderators within its Live interview tool. Researchers can now pair up on interviews or invite stakeholders from design and product teams to join in. dscout also partnered with the digital collaboration platform, Miro, on an integration. With it, users can import video clips and highlight reels from dscout directly into Miro to bring more life and real-world examples to their findings.

– Privacy and security: To continue protecting participant privacy, dscout introduced the capability to blur participants’ faces when creating a video playlist. This allows researchers to share participants’ insights more broadly without compromising personal identifiable information. The company also made it easier for users to permanently delete their past projects and all data associated with them. Further demonstrating its commitment to security, dscout completed its SOC 2 Type II audit and maintained HITRUST and ISO 27001 certifications.

Industry recognition

As the need for high-quality experience research platforms continues to rise, dscout received notable third-party validations, including:

– Forrester: In The Forrester Wave™: Experience Research Platforms, Q2 2023, dscout was named a Leader and achieved the highest possible scores across 15 criteria, including managing participants, innovation, and community.

– G2: dscout continues to be a preferred choice for folks seeking top-notch research solutions, having been named a leader in G2’s User Research category for three quarters in 2023. In the most recent Winter Report, dscout received an astounding 92% recommendation rate from users, many of whom praised dscout for its ease of use and quality of support.

– Co-Lab: dscout brought together research leaders from around the globe for their first Co-Lab Conference in Chicago. The two-day gathering hosted conversations on UXR’s most pressing topics including GenAI, the state of UXR, proving research impact, and more.

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