Use caseTest a new feature
Before a feature ships, ask the admins and power users it was built for where it would fit in their week, and whether it is worth giving up the habit or workaround they rely on today.
A feature can pass design review and usability checks and still go unused, because the people it targets already have a way of doing the job.
The study is aimed at the people whose work the feature changes, such as the admin who configures accounts or the analyst who builds a report every Friday, because their verdict decides adoption.
The brief sets out what the feature does and the workaround it is meant to replace, and from that brief Pulse sets up an interview in which each participant weighs the new way against their current one.
Participants walk through when they would reach for the feature, what they would stop doing to make room for it and who else on their team would have to change too.
The world's most ambitious teams research with Pulse.
GrowwA release date is fixed once the team knows whether the value outweighs the habit it asks users to break, and for which users.
Customers say whether the feature solves a problem big enough to change how they work, and which part of it earns the switch, so the team knows whether to release widely, pilot with one segment or hold it back.
Every power user's session is available in full, recording and transcript, so the engineers on the feature team read how an expert describes the edge cases the specification never mentioned.
Where participants misread what the feature does or doubt it will work with their data, the team fixes the description, the defaults or the onboarding before release, ahead of the support tickets.
Testing a new feature asks two questions: can people use it, and do they want it. Usability evaluation answers the first, with intended users working through realistic tasks on a prototype, from a clickable mock-up to a working build, while a researcher watches where they hesitate. Interviews answer the second, asking whether the feature solves a problem customers care about enough to change their behavior and how it fits the work they already do. Beta programs add real use over days or weeks, and product analytics show adoption after launch. Good practice defines success before testing, recruits the users the feature is for, and runs small rounds with fixes in between, ending with a decision to release, refine or rethink. Prototype testing is the method for the first question, and it pays off most when it happens early, before engineering time has gone into the build.
People who do this job in a spreadsheet or a rival tool have never bought from you, and their habit is the one the feature must beat. Pulse recruits them to that profile, so the release call includes whether the feature would win accounts.
A feature built for global accounts should be judged by admins wherever they work. No call needs arranging, so an admin on the far side of the world answers in daylight, and the verdict is not tilted toward headquarters' time zone.
The product manager who built the feature is its biggest fan and may launch its test. The team reviews the questions before launch, and every admin gets the same questions from one guide, with follow-ups built on their own answers, so the verdict belongs to the admins.