Industry Guide7 min read

3 Ways Researchers Can Use ProtoPie for User Research

Discover why ProtoPie is great for user research and usability testing.

Iulia Sorodoc
Iulia Sorodoc, Product Marketing Manager at ProtoPieLast updated on November 16, 2022
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User research is a critical component of the product design stage. Designers can expose problems and vulnerabilities early on by placing the prototype into the hands of real-life users. User hitches are uncovered, noted, and rectified.

In an ideal world, this would be an indefinitely long process – a seamless and flexible back and forth between user and designer.

But the world isn’t like that. Business moves fast, competitors are always on your tail, and designers are under ceaseless pressure from stakeholders to put workable prototypes into the hands of real-life users as quickly as possible.

That’s why ProtoPie comes into play. ProtoPie—the best rapid high-fidelity prototyping tool on the market.

Why is ProtoPie great for user research?

ProtoPie lets designers create prototypes that look and feel like the real thing—all code-free. This turbocharges product development. Allows teams to conduct user research faster. And ultimately, iterate faster.

Moderated usability testing costs time and money. Businesses have to find the right participants and go through the arduous process of scheduling those participants to test the prototype.

prototypes for user testing heatmaps

That’s why many companies are increasingly opting for remote unmoderated usability testing through the use of user testing service platforms. Users perform predetermined tasks on their own and researchers watch the footage at a later date. This is a more cost-effective option that also enables faster turnaround times.

ProtoPie can be seamlessly integrated with the popular remote unmoderated user testing platforms. That means that whatever the type of user research you’re conducting, ProtoPie will integrate with it perfectly.

Without further ado, here are 3 ways researchers can use ProtoPie for user research.

Seamlessly conduct usability testing

What streamlines usability testing more than anything else? More realistic prototypes. ProtoPie is unsurpassed in its ability to enable the creation of high-fidelity prototypes—replete with complex interactions and rich animations.

Think about it. Real-life users can experience the look and feel of an app before the engineering team has even got their hands on it. Designers can resolve problems before a sequence of code has been inputted.

user testing tools with protopie

Sit back and enjoy the results. Realistic user testing and usability testing—both moderated and unmoderated. The more realistic your prototypes are, the more valuable and actionable the insights will be.

You can set up unmoderated user testing with ProtoPie and industry-leading user testing tools such as:

  • Lookback
  • UserTesting
  • UserZoom GO
  • Useberry

Want to learn more? Check out this article.

Validate complex ideas fast

The market is full of brilliant high-fidelity prototyping tools that enable designers to create rich and realistic prototypes.

Only, there’s one problem—the tools are often heavy and as a result, they significantly slow down the product design stage. This stops UX designers from getting workable, realistic prototypes into the hands of stakeholders as soon as possible.

low fidelity prototyping vs high fidelity prototyping

The market moves fast these days and complex ideas must be validated faster if you want to get your product onto the market before your competitors. With ProtoPie, designers can expose assumptions and biases quickly by validating complex ideas earlier in the process.

Let’s be honest. The product design stage is faster if users can interact and engage with an actual, realistic prototype.

With ProtoPie, designers can:

  • Expose assumptions and biases quickly.
  • Convince others faster.

Share prototypes easily and safely

ProtoPie enables designers to get their prototypes into the hands of relevant parties with simplicity and ease—by simply using shareable links. With ProtoPie, it’s so easy to control who has access to prototypes and how someone views a prototype.

Let’s have a closer inspection.

1. Share prototypes with anyone easily

Who can access your prototype? The power is in your hands. Designers can choose who can view and download it—from team members to stakeholders.

Simply click the Share button in the upper-right corner of the recording page, and select Access Settings.

password protection for prototypes

Want to learn more? Click here to find out more.

2. Sharing without distractions

ProtoPie is great for stakeholders. It allows them to focus on your prototype without any visual distractions.

Doing this is easy. Simply enable Scale to Fit, and disable ProtoPie UI (and optionally Device Frame).


3. Choose how to display a prototype when sharing

ProtoPie allows users to share prototypes with multiple display options. You can customize these before sharing. Simply click the Gear icon and choose.

Why is this brilliant? This feature allows you to see how your prototype will appear to stakeholders.

Enable Hotspot Hints to highlight the touchable areas and guide stakeholders throughout your prototype.

choose how to display a prototype for user testing

4. Sharing for usability testing

Sharing for usability testing is as easy as pie. As mentioned above, you can share your prototype without any visual distractions—indeed, this is the optimal means by which desktop users can experience a prototype.

Mobile or tablet users are different. If you’re testing on mobile or tablet, we encourage you to use ProtoPie Player—it will allow users to have the richest and most realistic experience.

Make your research findings more actionable with ProtoPie

Need help convincing researchers from your organization that ProtoPie is worth a try? Here’s how you can do it.

Discover ProtoPie is a collection of ProtoPie’s best Unique Selling Points, to help you persuade your stakeholders - researchers, designers, developers, and product managers - to get on board with ProtoPie. Share this Pie link with the research team and help them discover how they can make their research findings more actionable with ProtoPie.

Iterate faster with ProtoPie

More than 15,000 companies trust ProtoPie to fulfill their prototyping needs. Schedule a demo to discover ways ProtoPie can help your teams succeed.