Pimsleur + UserTesting
About Pimsleur
Pimsleur is a premier language learning program and offers audio-based language learning programs in 50 languages, ranging from Albanian to Vietnamese. Pimsleur is named for Dr. Paul Pimsleur, an applied linguist who spent years researching how long students remember new information and how often they need to be reminded of it to get it to stick in their longer term memory
Pimsleur achieved
Challenge
Pimsleur is a premier language learning program, developed nearly 50 years ago and based on a proven methodology of conversational learning. Pimsleur offers audio-based language learning programs in 50 languages, ranging from Albanian to Vietnamese.
Over the decades, the program has evolved from audio tapes, to CDs, to MP3s and more recently to a mobile app.
Pimsleur needed to ensure its mobile app met the needs of today’s modern learner. What was the user experience like? Were there innovation opportunities? Where were users getting stuck? What did users love?
Solution
The Pimsleur team performed tests using the UserTesting Contributor Network to test current and former Pimsleur customers, as well as users who were new to the brand but interested in learning languages.
They tested users’ learning plans and behavior, desired tools to plan their learning, competitive benchmarking, as well as reviewed prototypes and concepts for future product updates.
Pimsleur’s digital product manager wears many hats, including that of a UX researcher. It helped that the UserTesting platform was intuitive, so the team could quickly build tests, launch them, and analyze results. They were also able to readily access UserTesting’s user community and customer support team to answer any questions.
“Testing users is a very big lift in terms of finding your users, contacting them, putting it in front of them, and getting those responses back,” said Mitch Scuzzarella, Digital Product Manager at Pimsleur. “But UserTesting makes it just so accessible to do all that. UserTesting provided a very, very simple platform for me to just go in and start testing immediately.”
“I love the fact that if I wake up on Monday and I have a wonderful idea for a test, I don't have to go find these users and plan it out and contact people," he said. "I can log into UserTesting, draft the test, send it out and get responses back probably within the same day. Honestly, it makes it very easy.”
Outcome
Pimsleur identified areas of friction within the app, aligned its product road map with customer needs, and significantly reduced UX design planning through the fast feedback from UserTesting.
They also discovered new opportunities to create deeper engagement with users.
He said the user insights are shared throughout the organization, from management to the dev team.
“When it comes down to having a conversation with our users, UserTesting has been fantastic to find out a little bit more of the nitty gritty and understand why our users feel and how they might be coming to their conclusions,” Scuzzarella said.
Mitch ScuzzarellaDigital Product Manager at Pimsleur"UserTesting provided a very, very simple platform for me to just go in and start user testing immediately"
