Magnifying Output and Time Savings: Usability Sciences on Tableau

Usability Sciences specializes in user experience research. Founded in 1988, the company helps a diverse range of clients develop seamless experiences for their customers. And since its analysts began using Tableau, they’ve been gaining insights into online user experiences more quickly than ever before.

We talked to Rebecca Ratliff, Director of Operations at Usability Sciences. In this video, she explains how Tableau helps Usability Sciences zoom in on the tiny details that cause visitors to leave a website.

Zooming in on the full user experience is Usability Sciences' specialty. With Tableau, the company can look at more details in less time.

According to Ratliff, "What Tableau has done for us is allow analysts to really magnify what they can do for their clients in a very short period of time." For example, Tableau’s drill-down capabilities have helped their researchers develop deeper insights for clients looking to improve their website usability.

Many factors affect website usability, and a single detail can have a huge financial impact. As Ratliff says, "If we can move the needle just a little for our large clients, it can mean millions of dollars a year."

While working with a client that sold clothing online, Usability Sciences learned that its customers were returning after purchasing items they liked. However, those visitors were unable to easily search the site for the products they had previously purchased. Adding an additional search feature to its website increased sales by millions each year.

Tableau helps Usability Sciences develop strong relationships with customers like this one. “Clients are very impressed when they see Tableau,” Ratliff explains. But Tableau doesn't just magnify Usability Sciences’ research output—it also increases the speed at which insights can be reached.

Before Tableau, analysts at Usability Sciences were spending less than 20 percent of their time exploring data. Today, that proportion has flipped—analysts are spending 80 percent of their time on data analysis. Says Ratliff, “Tableau has changed not just our clients' lives, but Usability Sciences' life.”

So what are you waiting for? Watch the full interview now.

Photo credit: "Magnifying glass 1/5" by John Lester via Flickr; licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.