A New Way to Give Your Feedback to Anaplan

At the core of Anaplan is our ‘customer first’ principle, as we have recently highlighted in our Anaplan Listens program. It revolves around creating products and features that improve the Anaplan experience for our customers. Through research, such as speaking to you about your day-to-day processes and asking you to test our new ideas, we can best understand customers like you. In order to do this, we have recently introduced a new method to test design prototypes. This process is called unmoderated usability testing, as opposed to the traditional moderated sessions.

Why We Use Unmoderated Testing

Unmoderated testing has a number of benefits for the user:

• It allows you to respond whenever is most convenient for you (which may be early mornings or late evenings).
• It will be in the form of short studies that takes less than ten minutes of your time.
• It is an easy way for us to receive feedback on new ideas and improve them for our customers.

For Anaplan, this is an easier way to gather feedback quickly and more frequently to ensure what we design is in line with your needs.

How Does Unmoderated Testing Work?

If you are part of the User Research Program or if you receive an email invitation (it is not spam), it will confirm the kind of study you have been selected for. If it is an unmoderated test, you will be given a link to the study. This method is safe to use because:

• You don't need to download any software on your computer directly, although you'll need to install a Chrome extension (that will take a few seconds and if you have already taken place in other studies, you may already have it).
• It will only record your screen and voice while you are running the study.

You can stop the test at any time if you want to, and you will see clear instructions on how to do so within the study.

This is a screenshot of the tutorial that helps you to understand how the session works. You will be given tasks to complete and see a clickable prototype in which you can complete the task. There will be questions between the tasks that ask you for feedback about the functionalities.

Why We Record Your Screen and Voice

In typical moderated sessions, Anaplan researchers are present so they can talk to you, ask you questions, and see what you are doing on the screen (if you share your screen). They can therefore take notes of your comments and of how you interact with a design prototype. However, with unmoderated testing, you do the session on your own at any time of the day so there is nobody from Anaplan to guide you and see what you are doing. Instead, we record your screen and voice, and watch the video and take notes later. What this means is that we cannot ask you questions during the session so we need you to talk out loud to explain what you are doing (it may feel weird the first time to talk to your computer but don't worry, you'll get used to it) and what you think. All of the recordings are treated confidentially and stored secured as with all research undertaken at Anaplan. To be even more secure, Anaplan asks you to use only one tab when running the test (the tab you are on) and complete the test in one seating.

Do You Want to Try it Out?

Join our User Research Program and watch out for future opportunities. And be the first Anaplanners to try out this new method for the Extensions by joining the Extensions feedback group.

Here is what some of our top Anaplanners have said about their experience:

"This was the first time I experienced unmoderated testing. Before I began, I felt some trepidation about having to articulate what I’m thinking but after a few minutes, I was surprised to find how much fun it was. So, a win/win. I learned something about Anaplan Extensions and the Anaplan development team got some testing feedback. Great work! I hope to see more." @JaredDolich 

“That was really good. Nice, quick bits of research combined with the longer form will be a great way forward. Just had to remember to talk as I go - strange not having someone at the other end of the line!" @andrewtye 

Final Tips for Participants

The most important thing to remember is to think out loud. If you don't, the researcher will find it difficult to understand what you are trying to do, so the results will not be as useful. Feel free to tell us anything, from describing what you are doing to any hesitation you may have. Let us know if something is not clear and whether there are things you like and don't like. And finally, don't be afraid of making mistakes: in research, there's never a right or wrong answer. We're listening to your feedback to improve the functionalities and make them the best in order to meet your needs. We look forward to hearing from you.