Transcripts: Pro tips

Earlier this month we announced our newest feature, Transcripts. The feature automatically transcribes verbal comments from user tests and appear right alongside videos, making reviewing videos and gaining valuable insights faster and easier than ever before! 

Now that many of our customers have had a chance to try out the feature, the feedback has been great!

The best #UX tool just got better: I'm loving the new transcripts feature on @usertesting! I can deliver insights faster, better. #delighted

— Kate Lawrence (@bykatelawrence) March 13, 2017

.@usertesting Seriously, I LOVE you for this. https://t.co/2JJZLZvhen

— Velloseraptor (@KatVellos) March 16, 2017

And since our customers are great researchers, we wanted to share some pro tips to highlight how Transcripts can be integrated into your existing research process, enabling you to get to the good stuff faster and easier.

Here are a few tips to help get the most out of the Transcripts feature.

Insights in an hour or less

A company wanted to gain first impression insights on a new marketing campaign. The study filled with 10 participants quickly, and in less than two hours, the research team had over four hours of video to review.

Before Transcripts, team members would’ve had to review every minute of each video, requiring a minimum of four hours just to watch the videos. But it was late in the day. How do you get through four hours of video without pulling an all-nighter?

With Transcripts, reviewers were able to quickly scan through each participant's comments, noting the most important insights. This method reduced the initial review time to less than one hour to review 10 videos! Reviewers were able to easily create clips of the most insightful moments, giving them a great first impression of the results without being sleep-deprived the next day.

How to do it

Before launching your study, note a few key phrases that will indicate important insights. For example, if you’re interested in what participants think about prices, make note of that. Then you’ll know to search for the words “price” and “pricing.” This will help minimize the time needed to identify important keywords or phrases when you get your videos back.

Pinpoint areas for improvement with metrics

Another company was interested in understanding the search and shopping experience on an e-commerce website. Specifically, they wanted to identify where in the shopping experience people were getting stuck or frustrated, and why. But the team didn’t have a lot of time for reviewing videos. So it combined transcripts and metrics questions to zero in on the problems quickly.

How to do it

The test took shoppers through the shopping process, one step at a time, from the initial search to finding an item, to putting it in the shopping cart, and then managing the cart. After each test, the team inserted a metrics question asking the participant whether they were confident that they had completed the task successfully.

When the test results came in, the team was able to use the metrics results to quickly identify problem areas. For example, most participants found most of the tasks easy to complete. However, when reviewing the metrics from the completed tests, a few participants’ answers stuck out.

The researchers immediately knew to zero in on this section of the test and used the corresponding transcript to quickly and easily summarize the participant’s challenges with the task. And because the team had the metrics questions as a guide, every comment had enough context to make the transcribed comments relevant and actionable. By selecting the relevant text in the transcript, the team was able to quickly create a highlight reel of clips showing the problem.

Speedy follow-up

It’s not unusual for user tests to raise as many new questions as they answer. In one case, a company’s key stakeholders had additional questions after the research team had delivered its initial report.

Fortunately, the research team had access to Transcripts and were able to quickly respond with solid feedback.

How to do it

Keyword searches are a researcher’s best friend when you have Transcripts. Every video becomes a searchable treasure map that can lead you right to the insights you need most. All in a matter of minutes, not hours.

If additional requests or questions come up, simply search each video’s transcript for key phrases or words. When you find them, you can quickly skip to that portion of the video to create a clip or pull a quote to help strengthen a finding.

Transform your research with Transcripts

Whether you’re conducting 10 tests per day or 10 per month, incorporating the Transcripts feature to your user research strategy will enable your team to quickly find the key insights they need to create better products, better experiences, and happier customers.

We’d love to get your feedback on Transcripts. Tell us what you like and what we could do better by emailing support@usertesting.com.