Product updates and latest releases
Bring your research data into the tools your business already uses with the new Optimal API.
The API provides secure, read-only access to your research data, making it easier to integrate with data warehouses, business intelligence platforms, internal dashboards, analytics tools, and custom applications.
Instead of relying on manual exports or static reports, you can connect research insights to your existing workflows and combine them with broader business data.
With the API, you can:
This initial release includes read-only access to:
Available now for multi-team organizations on Enterprise plans.
To get started, authenticate with OAuth and connect your Optimal account to your preferred application.
Based on user feedback, we’ve made a small update to live site tests to help provide a more intuitive experience for participants.
Previously, the initial task call to action was to Open task in new tab. We heard that participants weren’t always sure whether this action started the task or simply opened it.
We’ve updated the call to action to Start Task to make the next step clearer. When participants select Start Task, the task officially begins and opens in a new tab to helping set clear expectations and keep the experience moving smoothly.
You’ll find this update across Live Site Testing and the Live Site Testing sections of Optimal’s Usability Testing tool.
You can now manage your entire interview workflow in Optimal, from participant recruitment through to research repository.
With Moderated Recruitment for Optimal Interviews, you can:
Once interview sessions are complete, they’re automatically uploaded to Optimal Interviews, where you can review automated insights, highlight reels, and key quotes and use AI Chat to further explore your data.
Everything stays connected, giving you more visibility, less admin, and greater control throughout your research process.
To get started with a new study, go to Interviews > Recruit.
Set clear expectations and secure consent with a new Participant Agreement option in Interviews. Add your own terms covering topics like privacy, data use, and what participants can expect from the session.
A clear participant agreement can help improve participant quality by making study requirements clear upfront. This helps screen out people who aren’t comfortable with your requirements and help ensure the right people get into the right study from the start.
When enabled, invited participants must read and agree to the terms before they can book an interview.
You'll find this option under Automated emails under Manage.
You can now use MCP to search and explore the automated transcripts of responses to your AI moderated survey questions.
Connect Optimal with your preferred AI tool and ask questions about your sessions, without manually searching through transcripts.
Use MCP to:
You can also use MCP to instantly search, analyze, and talk to your Optimal data, including participant results, study setup and metadata, interview insights, task results, and study insights & analysis.
Learn more about how you can use MCP to uncover new insights, create deliverables, and automate workflows.
With the new redaction editor in Optimal Interviews, you can now redact content before any AI-powered insights are created, giving you greater confidence and control over what information is included in your analysis.
To get started, go to Details > Privacy and enable Suspend auto-generation of insights. This allows you to redact recordings (audio & transcript and/or video image) before any insights are generated.
The redaction editor is designed specifically for removing content from recordings and analysis outputs. It does not currently support additional editing or correcting of transcript text.
This release builds on our existing automatic PII redaction capabilities. For English and Spanish (US & Latin America) interview recordings, Optimal can automatically detect and redact certain types of sensitive information e.g. phone numbers, bank details across audio, transcripts, AI-generated insights, AI Chat, and key quotes. Learn more.
Together, manual and automatic redaction capabilities help research teams better protect participant privacy, support compliance requirements, and use AI-powered analysis with greater confidence and control.
We’ve updated Interviews calendar availability to give you more control over how your Google or Microsoft calendar availability is reflected in the Interviews scheduler.
These updates only apply to connected calendars with Full Sync permissions.
A new Unaccepted events prevent bookings setting lets you control whether certain calendar invitations block your availability. This setting is turned on by default.
Here’s how it will work:
You can find this setting under advanced settings via the gear icon under Collaborators.
Build profiles and define exactly who you need from demographics, location, job title, seniority, company size, industry, B2B, and more.
Explore the expanded targeting options for self-service recruitment and new recruitment capabilities with Profiles:
Profiles is now available in Usability Testing and will be rolling out to other study types later this year. Start by selecting Optimal Panels under the Recruit tab.
You can now use MCP to search and explore your automated transcripts from your Optimal Interviews and Usability Testing studies.
Connect Optimal with your preferred AI tool and ask questions about your sessions, without manually searching through transcripts.
Use MCP to:
You can also use MCP to instantly search, analyze, and talk to your Optimal data, including participant results, study setup and metadata, interview insights, task results, and study insights & analysis.
Learn more about how you can use MCP to uncover new insights, create deliverables, and automate workflows.
It's now easier to review and communicate compelling insights to drive informed decisions with automated highlight reels in Usability Testing.
Review highlight reels that bring together key moments from multiple participants to support findings and citations.
To access a highlight reel, select an insight and click on Show citations. Then click on the three dots (⋮) by a highlight reel to Download video.
We've also recently added options to add branding and end tasks automatically for prototype tasks to Usability Testing. Learn more about these updates.