UserTesting Review – Can you actually make money with it?

UserTesting is a legit website (and app) that allows you to earn money by performing reviews of websites and apps. Often on behalf of some big name brands.

Let’s take a look at what it really involves, whether there’s money to be made and ultimately if it’s worth spending your precious time on.

But before we begin, I’ll start by saying that this is an independent review of UserTesting. I’m not being paid anything to write about them, or for any customer referrals. My only involvement with them comes from having performed jobs on the platform and earning income from doing so.

So what does UserTesting involve?

You have to first sign up and create an account on the UserTesting website. In doing so, you’ll be asked some basic questions about yourself: age, gender, how much you earn (your chance to pretend you’re a millionaire! Actually, don’t) so that they can see what sort of high-rolling dude they’re dealing with.

After that, you’ll be given some information about what the service is. And it’s a simple concept. They need people to look at websites (or sometimes apps), complete some specific tasks and provide feedback on the experience.

If you’ve got a computer and a microphone attached, or if you’ve got a mobile phone, you can complete these tasks. Let’s face it, if you are living like anyone normal in the 21st century, you can complete these tests.

Baboons can’t do user testing jobs. But most humans should be able to.

These tasks can vary widely, but they’re all pretty standard things. For example you might be asked to comment on the look and feel of a website; compare two websites; or maybe try to complete a task on a particular app.

Now comes the bit you will find a bit weird as you get stuck into your first test: you’re going to need to speak all your thoughts out loud.

That’s right, in order for them to get an exact picture of what you think about, you need to tell them your thoughts as you complete the task. They will study this information, make improvements and you’ll have helped improve the user experience for other customers in the future. Simple.

My ratings on my first 4 tests…. the higher the rating you get, the more chance of getting future jobs on the site. Notice that ‘keeping a running commentary’ was one of the things they valued. 

What tasks will I be doing on user testing?

Tasks are device specific. You can do them either on a (i) PC, (ii) Mac or (iii) smartphone. If you’ve got access to all 3 then you are well and truly in business because you’ll have access to the maximum number of job opportunities.

If you’re doing the tests on computer then you need to download their software. They will need this in order to record your screen as well as your voice so close down any – how shall we put this – ‘websites you might not want them to see’.

If you’re doing tests on your phone you’ll need to download an app. I had to override a load of recommended security settings on my phone to get this to work which did make me wonder if it was some sort of scam, but I haven’t had any issues with it.

Once you’re logged in you’ll see a range of tests that you might be able to take. Click on any of them and you’ll be faced with a ‘screener’ (a very short eligibility questionnaire) which you need to pass to begin the test.

Tests typically take anywhere between 10 minutes and 30 minutes. But the ones I’ve done so far have been interesting. In some of them, you’re seeing prototypes of new designs and are bound by confidentiality agreements, but so far I have:

• Reviewed a prototype foreign currency exchange website.
• Test-driven an online document-signing app.
• Compared two travel websites.
• Reviewed a music-related app.

Yeah, it’s not exactly the stuff that memoirs are written off the back of, but it’s more interesting than a load of other work you could be doing. Generally I enjoyed it, it was really interesting to see what companies are working on.

How much money can you make with the Usertesting website and app?

Successfully completing each test pays $10. Money will be paid into your PayPal account exactly 7 days after completing the test (as long as your test is approved). It’s always paid in dollars regardless of where you are sitting the test.

The amount you can make on UserTesting depends on how many tests you can do. And that, in turn, depends on a couple of things:

• How much free time you have
• How many tests you are eligible for (you’re not eligible to do all the tests – more on that frustration below).
• Your reviewer rating. The higher your rating the more likely you are to be offered tests.

But what’s the bottom line about how much you can make? Look at this as a side hustle that’s going to pay you a bit of pocket money each month. A couple of tests a month is going to be roughly what you’ll end up doing. Personally, I’m averaging 2 a month but it all depends on how much time I spend in front of my computer checking to see if there are new tests.

The problems with Usertesting

So right now it probably all seems rosy with this little earner. And it’s good, don’t get me wrong. But I do find two aspects of it extremely frustrating.

Frustration 1 – the technology

Firstly, the technology can drive you right to the verge of insanity. Make sure you’ve got a decent microphone (I use a Rode podcaster microphone* so my voice quality is so good that the listener will find it bordering on erotic – no lie), that it is connected properly and that you’ve got the UserTesting screen recorder set up correctly. First time you do this, you’ll be paranoid it’s not actually on.

If your microphone isn’t working properly then the test will be worthless and you won’t get paid. So make sure you have things set up right.

Also, the tests take up an enormous amount of space on your computer. Possibly hundreds of megabytes. I found this out the hard way when I got through 90% of a test and then it told me I’d run out of memory on my computer! I had to spend the next 30 minutes culling storage space on my computer as I cursed the name of UserTesting.

And then there’s the fun of trying to upload this large file to the internet (which is done at the click of a button). Prepare for a wait if your internet isn’t fast!

In my experience, you’re going to spend a fair bit of time looking at this sort of thing…

Fortunately when the test uploads to UserTesting it automatically removes the file from your computer / phone.

Frustration 2 – finding tests to do

The second big problem is actually finding tests to do.

Tests aren’t specifically reserved for you. Anyone can do them so if some keen-bean gets in ahead of you then that’s just tough luck.

But this results in you having to continually check if new tests have been made available and act fast if they have. The best way is to be at your computer and have the UserTesting jobs page open in a window, refreshing it from time to time. It’s a bit of a pain.

When a job does become available, click it fast. At this point you’ll think you’re onto something. But don’t get too excited as you still need to get past the screener. And that’s the source of endless disappointment.

A job screen. As you can see, all of the tests have the dreaded ‘take screener’ option. Don’t get your hopes up until you’ve passed that.

For lots of tests they’re wanting specific individuals. So they will ask you a relevant question. For example, if you haven’t booked a holiday online in the last 12 months then you might not be what they’re looking for in a review of a hotel website.

The idea makes sense but the screeners can be three or four questions long and get impossibly specific…. “Do you smoke?” … yes. “Do you smoke cigars?”… Yes. Then, just as you think you’re in, they will snatch it away with something like. “Are you a dwarf named Colin?” ….no dammit. And the test will disappear leaving you wondering whether you should have just answered differently.

But there’s no point trying to guess the right answers to the screener. Sometimes ‘no’ really is the right answer. Sometimes, it seems, they really are trying to weed out dwarves named Colin.

Is it worth using UserTesting?

Bottom line is you’re not going to make huge amounts of money with UserTesting. But you can get a nice bit of pocket money from doing several jobs a month. Maybe several a week if you’re really committed – especially if you’re in a position where you spend a lot of time on a computer anyway (for example if you work from home).

Yes, it can be a frustrating thing to use. You’ll spend a fair bit of time chasing jobs that you’re not eligible for, but it’s not a huge deal.

The technology too can also have you tearing your hair out if it doesn’t work. But that’s not a problem most of the time (and most of the problems are when you’re first using it, after that you’ll start to figure it out).

But overall this is something I think is worth using. Compared to other stuff this has big advantages:

• You can do it from the comfort of your own home without chasing all over the place (I’m looking at you when I say that, mystery shopping).
• The jobs are interesting and get you thinking.
• The pay is pretty good. $10 for a task that will take 10-30 minutes is very good for side-hustle money.

So, overall it’s a yes from me. I’ll keep plugging away with this over the weeks and months ahead. It’s not the solution to our money troubles here at the money mountain, but it definitely feels like a useful tool.

Have you used it? Let us know what you think about it in the comments below!

*Amazon affiliate link – just want to be clear with you. Won’t cost you any more if you use it, but we will get some pennies through if you make a purchase.