Product updates and latest releases
We’re excited to launch our video recording functionality for prototype testing, enabling you to dive deeper into the “why” behind user actions and empowering you to make data-informed decisions faster and with greater confidence.
This feature is available for Enterprise, Teams, and Individual+ plans. To get started, go to a Prototype test > Setup > Settings to set your preferences for audio, video, and screen recording.
We’re grateful to our early adopters and beta testers for shaping the future of video recording and prototype testing. Based on your valuable feedback, we’ve made the following updates:
Video recording updates
One of your highly requested features is here!
When enabled, tasks will automatically end 0.5 seconds after a participant reaches a correct destination, removing the need for participants to manually confirm that they've completed the task.
This can help improve the overall participant experience, removing extra steps and making tests faster to complete.
To enable this setting, go to a Prototype Test > Setup > Task > Task options > Task end automatically.
Ambiguous or overly complex wording can confuse respondents, making it harder to get reliable, accurate responses. Plus, refining survey and question language is manual and can be a time-consuming process with little guidance.
To solve this, we built an AI-powered tool to help study creators craft questions that resonate with participants and speed up the process of designing studies.
Our new AI Simplify feature helps with:
We’re excited to share that Optimal has now been added to the User Interviews integration marketplace! 🤝
If you’re using User Interviews to recruit for your Optimal studies, you can now easily track participant progress in User Interviews as participants start and finish their studies. Learn how to set up.
Prefer to have Optimal handle your recruitment? We’ve got you covered—from feasibility to reminders and personalized study checks. We work with top panels like User Interviews to ensure faster, seamless completions and meaningful insights for your product development and designs. Learn more.
2025 is shaping up to be an incredible year for UX research—and we’re just getting started!
From richer insights with Video Recording for Prototype Testing to faster study creation with our new Study Flow, Optimal is empowering research, product, and design teams to make confident decisions in days, not weeks.
✨ Ready to see what’s here and what’s coming next? Check out the latest product update.
Inspired by insights from Optimal users, we’ve reimagined study creation to bring you a beautifully streamlined experience with the new Study Flow tab.
With the new Study Flow, you’ll:
⚡ Enjoy faster study set up: Messages & instructions and Questionnaire tabs are combined in a single tab - called Study Flow - for faster editing and settings customization.
✨ See it all at a glance: Easily visualize and understand the participant experience—from the welcome message to the final thank-you screen—every step of the way.
🎯 Duplicate questions: Save time and quickly replicate questions for surveys, screening questions, and pre- and post-study questions.
⭐ Experience enhanced UI: Enjoy a modern, clean design with intuitive updates that minimize scrolling and reduce mental load.
🗂️ Collapse and expand sections: Easily navigate studies by collapsing and expanding sections, making it easier to build out specific parts of your study.
This Study Flow tab is available across all Optimal tools, except for Qualitative Insights.
After months of collaboration with our incredible community, we're thrilled to announce that Prototype Testing has officially graduated from beta and is now available to everyone on the Individual+, Team, and Enterprise plans!
Over the past few months, we've worked alongside a diverse group of customers and UX leaders— who provided invaluable feedback, completed many Usability Tests, and helped us refine this new tool.
Together, we’ve tackled challenges, explored creative solutions, and built something that truly aligns with user needs.
Here’s a look at what we delivered
Learn more about what's next with Prototype Testing
Recruiting high quality participants can be a hassle and time-consuming. That’s why we’ve relaunched Optimal Recruitment with expanded profiling capabilities, enhanced quality controls, and full-service support—to let you focus on what matters most: powerful insights to drive better decisions.
Let us handle recruitment from start to finish - from feasibility, study reminders, confirmations, and incentive management - so that you can focus on analyzing and gaining insights.
You can access our services anytime via the Recruit tab of your studies. Available now for Card Sorting, Tree Testing, First-Click Testing, Prototype Testing, and Surveys.
We're thrilled to announce the re-launch of our Qualitative Insights tool, formerly known as Reframer, featuring two new powerful upgrades:
And don’t forget—you can now import and tag transcripts for even quicker analysis!
From usability studies to customer success and employee experience and beyond, the Qualitative Insights tool is designed to capture notes and observations from any interview, focus group, or discussion. When paired with other Optimal tools, you can uncover even deeper insights. The possibilities are endless-and now's the perfect time to dive in!
Since launching the Beta, we've been collaborating closely with hundreds of customers to gather feedback and run usability testing.
Here’s what’s new:
Improved security with password management: A new "Password settings" button allows users to manage stored passwords, which participants receive before starting their Prototype Study. Additionally, users are prompted for a password when importing protected prototypes.
Results sharing: You can now easily share specific sections (e.g., analysis, tasks, clickmaps) via a URL with your stakeholders in just a few clicks. With the added protection of a password for secure access.
Participant data view: To speed up your data analysis and improve your workflows we’ve added task metrics in the "Results > Participants" table, showing tasks completed, skipped, and success percentage.
Notes Tab in Analysis: Users can now take notes directly in the Analysis section for Task Results, Click Maps, Paths, and Questionnaires.