Evolution + UserTesting

Anete Serečenko, UX Researcher based in Riga Latvia, joined Evolution’s Product Design Team as the first and only UX research hire. Before Anete, the sales and customer service teams received ad-hoc feedback about the user experience but there was no way to dig deeper into the friction points. Not only did the de-centralized feedback model increase support and development costs, but it also contradicted Evolution’s mission to deliver games players love. 

Her assignment was clear: make the player experience a differentiator. But as an experienced UX researcher, architect, lecturer, and army of one, she knew a robust platform would be critical to her success. Enter UserZoom.

Features like built-in global recruitment, broad research capabilities, and speedy and helpful customer support were ultimately why Anete chose UserZoom as a platform and partner. 

With UserZoom’s experts by her side, she quickly scaled Evolution’s UX research function, creating a centralized department that empowered stakeholders from across the business to take action on user and operator feedback or find the ‘why’ behind their data with research. 

"When I do research for one issue, I find so many other problems or potential questions that we almost always research further. And that's great because we don't really know how customers experience the product from their side and sometimes we might even not imagine asking those questions or not have imagined that there is a problem at all."  Anete Serečenko, UX Researcher

Anete maximizes her time and resources by conducting unmoderated studies - mostly click testing, think-out-loud, and surveys. She finds that participants are more comfortable providing honest feedback in an unmoderated environment because it closely resembles the normal experience of playing an online game. 

And because she leverages UserZoom’s vast participant network, she can rest assured her participants are of high quality and will provide a wealth of insight for each study. Anete says this is one of the most important aspects of her work. Not just providing data but increasing stakeholder empathy with recordings and session replays that clearly demonstrate the challenges players face.

In the fast-moving world of casino-style online gaming, competitors quickly see and implement solutions to common UX challenges. Anete helps Evolution stay at the forefront by weaving user research into the fabric of the company so they can get to the next big innovation first. Which, ultimately, drives game sales because operators are more successful and turn into repeat customers when players love the gaming experience. 

Because of this drive to provide highly valuable games, Anete has become a prolific user of the platform, conducting studies, surveys, and running tree and click tests daily. This year, Evolution is in the top 10 for most studies conducted across the UserZoom customer base. 

Her insights are so powerful and in demand that she has a dedicated Slack channel to efficiently share new findings across the organization. It has become a research conversation hub where stakeholders can find insights, discuss challenges, or share ideas. 

"Seeing videos from testing sessions is so great for my stakeholders,” says Anete. “Not just to show that a participant has completed a task, but show why they are doing certain things; where the struggle is, and how it looks in real life."

Looking ahead, the UX function in the Product Design team at Evolution is on track to continue thriving, growing, and supporting the organization’s commitment to delivering the highest quality gaming experience available. With a UX writer set to join this fun and dynamic team (they’re always looking for passionate colleagues to join the Product Design team) and a UX research anthology in the works, it’s clear that Anete’s colleagues understand that UX research is not a nice-to-have, it’s mission critical.