Connect with your customers and learn ways your product can better suit their needs

Good usability is the foundation of modern software. Working with you, we’ll take a strategic approach to diagnosing usability issues and optimizing user experience journeys to ensure your users are satisfied.

Let's Talk

Customer Interviews

Let us help you connect with your users and surface their insights

Constant communication with your customers is essential. thoughtbot has the experience to facilitate a connection with your users and conduct a discovery into their needs. We can help you empathize with your most valuable customers and gather consistent feedback from them during development.

Photo collage and hand drawn elements from left to right; designer working at their desk and a large monitor, two consultants working on their laptops with post-its next to them

Clutch quote

All of our existing users thought the new version was a major upgrade. The interface is much friendlier and easier to use.


VP of Engineering, Health Care Coordination Company

Read full review on Clutch

Our Blog

We share how we approach user experience on our blog

User Testing Gone Wild: A Guide to Course Correction

No matter how much you prepare for an interview or usability test, you still need to keep on your toes and quell some hiccups along the way. These hiccups can come from you, your team, your materials, your environment, the users themselves, etc. Some are obvious, and some are not so obvious. The following are ways to address these common problems, in the hopes of avoiding them altogether.

Read about common testing issues

Empathize with Your Customer

By hearing first-hand how customers feel about your product, what compels them to use your product, and even why they stopped using your product, you’ll have more of a personal stake because those experiences will stand out. With this context, what seemed like a tedious solution might make total sense!

Read about empathy in product

The Stuff Users Can't See Matters Too

Internal products don’t have to go stale, and are worth the time investment, even if your users cannot see the improvements directly. Good internal products can improve your external product, and the experience of your users. Good internal products can make your company a better place to work, and save money that would have been spent on training.

Read about investing in your tools

Advice for our user

You might find that you have a knack for giving feedback, and that you like helping out in this stage of the design process. If that’s the case, keep your eyes peeled for usability testing posts on sites like TaskRabbit, or sign up to be a tester on a service like Usertesting.

Read about how to be a user in a test

Best practices for designing apps people actually use

At thoughtbot, we pride ourselves not just on making products, but on making products people actually use. To accomplish this, we employ a human-centric design process that embraces uncertainty and iteration. We know we don’t have all the answers upfront, so we lean on our respective processes to illuminate the path to success.

Read about best design practices

Test-Driven Product Design

I love the assurance the tests give me when I make design changes. It’s clear to me what I might have broken when implementing design for new features and makes sure I don’t introduce bugs into the application. I want to carry over the same calculating testing process to the design of the application as well, to make sure that the features the team is building are solving for the user’s job-to-be-done.

Read about TDPD

ROI of Usability

Good usability means your users get what they need faster, and are happier while they do it

Studies show that products with good user experiences can improve conversion rates by as much as 400%. If the experience you provide resonates with your users, they’ll keep coming back for more--as many as 75%. thoughtbot can help you connect with the right users, collect their feedback, define what success looks like, and find out what steps you can take towards the experience your users are looking for.

A collage of images and hand drawn elements. At the top, an image of a designer working at their laptop and monitor. Bottom left a developer working at their monitor. Bottom right a designer sketching.

Quote on growth enabled by usability

We have seen very very rapid growth. thoughtbot is part of all those discussions about where do we go from here, not just from a product standpoint but how do we grow this business

A headshot of Brian Gardiner

Brian Gardiner
COO, Splitfit

Read the case study

Let's talk

What does success look like for your Interface Design project?

A photo collage depicting people at work consisting of four photos and three hand-drawn elements, from top to bottom; two people pinning up storyboard sketches during a design sprint, two developers working side by side at their desks in a well lit office, a designer sitting on a video call at a desk below a wall calendar, the backs of a designer and developer working together on code at the same desk