PlaybookUX - Competitor Analysis
This was one of my 'fast food' UX competitor analysis reviews for remote work I did on Medium in June 2024. Since then, I have revisited the site from the perspective of a job seeker. I started with my persona, and framed the analysis on the basis of the job seeker user journey. Playbook UX is trying to compete with the likes of Maze and Usertesting.com, but has a long way to go given recent feedback, and really, is more likely to not go at all. However, one thing PlaybookUX did do well and what many larger companies don’t, is execute well on its UI/UX. Whether the product is a honest offering suffering from a lack of content and testing, or simply a data harvester, remains to be seen.
Task
Can PaidworkUX deliver an income opportunity for someone seeking remote work? Is the site real?
Collaboration
This was a solo effort (assisted by a cat).
User Persona
I used my own persona, as the persona of the job seeker.
User Journey
The user journey of the job seeker was drawn from a combination of personal experience and a little AI to fill in any gaps.
Discover
The first thing I look to is the auto-fill search results in Google, this gives an indication as to the nature of the site. The auto-fill search for PaidworkUX does not fill one with positivity.
Initial impressions of the website are positive. I’m interested in joining as a tester, so the skill requirement isn’t relevant, all that is needed is life experience. Survey sites aren’t renowned for their high pay, so this is an endeavour of curiosity rather than wealth generation. The website has received a refresh since June 2024 and includes new content and imagery. The site is well laid out and if this was a “scam site” it’s one where a good deal of time and effort have been put into it. However, there is a substantial omission from the page and it’s an “About Us” section; whoever backs this wants to be anonymous. And there is no way any of the companies featured as clients would use its services when it wasn’t clear who they were paying; maybe it’s the Mafia... Who knows. This is a big red flag.
Evaluate
If you join, you are working for yourself. There is no community or even a suggestion of one; e.g. no forum page, newsletter sign-up, message board. As a site that requires people to join it would have been good had it attempted to create some form of community for members to come back to between surveys, or some social media presence for people to follow.
Things get a little dicey when you start to look at third-party reviews, such as the ones from Trustpilot.
The Trustpilot reviews are troubling as all of the recent reviews have been negative. If you wanted to be a glass half-full person you could argue it simply hasn’t the job pool to keep people engaged, and doesn’t make any attempt to keep you engaged.
However, to add to the malaise, a researcher; i.e. a paying business client, wrote:
Things have skewed negative on this fast. At this stage, I would be giving this as pass. But in the interest of the analysis I will continue.
Manage
The registration process was straightforward until I reached the end point, when I couldn’t login and instead was returned to the start of the registration process. This was resolved later, but this was a serious blocker.
Registration required the download of Desktop app screen recorder, and required me to do a screening test. The screening test was clear.
Monitor
This is a second point of failure for PaidworkUX. Once I completed registration I received no notification that I had registered, or indeed, any communication from the company. There was no effort to engage with me or offer job tasks.
There was also no requirement to complete demographic information that would be necessary for businesses to screen candidates against for their studies. If this was a true “scam” site I would expect this requirement to be prominent, and really, this type of site is an ideal cover for identity theft. If I was to be sympathetic, I would say this isn’t well thought out.
Advocate
Where PaidworkUX ultimately falls down is the lack of tasks to do. Over the six months there was one potential task for $10 that was offered, and I didn’t even clear the pre-screen for that. Reviewers have suggested these pre-screens are the scam, but there isn’t much value to be gained for anyone from a one question pre-screen test.
For all of its well-designed UI/UX, the site felt sterile and lacking in what should be a vibrant community. I suspect it’s not long for this world.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Quick Study - PaidworkUX from a Researcher's Perspective
My focus for PaidworkUX was from the standpoint of a tester, but I did take a quick look from the point of view of a business looking to do research. I didn’t think the commercial side of the business was going to be up to much, given the lack of tasks available for testers to do.
For all of its well-designed UI/UX, the site felt sterile and lacking in what should be a vibrant community. I suspect it’s not long for this world.
Registration
Credit to the UX, this was quick to do and finished with a simple dashboard where you could create projects.
New Project
Researchers could create a number of different project types, and the structure of the project wizard was good.
Where it got interesting was the section on filtering your audience. It offered numerous demographic options, but during tester registration, I was not asked to fill out any of this information – so how are these filters meant to work?
Conclusion
Parts of the site are well executed - particularly the UI and UX - but it hasn’t been adequately tested, and there are glaring issues that are leading to bad reviews. I wouldn’t call it a scam, but until it addresses the simple things like collecting demographic information on its testers, and adding a clear About Us section, it’s not going to survive.