Our History
The making of an industry leading organization
Usability Sciences was founded by Jeff Schueler, our President, after he experienced the benefits of usability testing in his position at IBM. The doors of Usability Sciences opened on Dec. 15, 1988 and the company consisted of Jeff and one part time employee.
In the early years our customers were exclusively software companies. The software industry, particularly the PC software manufacturers, became painfully aware of the consequences of delivering a product that wasn't "user-friendly." We had the good fortune of working with PC software pioneers like Lotus, Borland, and Microsoft and in many cases educated them on the benefits of usability - in response to which they created their own in-house organizations and dumped us.
In the mid-1990's the web really started to come of age. Web sites were popping up all over and were primarily built by ad agencies. The agencies had little knowledge of usability so the sites themselves closely resembled full page print ads. The user experience of these early sites was dreadful. The good news for the fledgling usability industry was that every company on the planet had become a software company - with the need to deliver a better user experience on their web site. We adapted our methodologies to accomodate web site usability testing and the company grew significantly.
In 2001 we introduced our patented WebIQ® technology to the online research world. WebIQ combines the best features of web analytics and online surveys by gathering data about where people go on your site and how they feel about it. With the maturation of our analytical tools and techniques, we introduced Attitudinal Analytics® so that we could help our customers understand what was really happening on their site, why it was happening, and how they could improve it.
One glance at our current client list demonstrates how successful our team has been. By sticking to our core beliefs, and creating an atmosphere of teamwork and fun, Usability Sciences has grown to one of the largest usability companies in the world. We now have 50+ employees and nearly 20 years of experience perfecting the process of gathering and interpreting customer experience data and providing recommendations for improvement.
While our heritage is in usability testing, our focus has always been on the user experience. We offer our clients a complete portfolio of online, lab-based, field solutions to help them compete and win in the marketplace. Contact Us today and learn how we can help you.