Research for every question you've got.
A new idea that needs validating. A checkout nobody finishes. A market you're eyeing but can't quite size. Tell us the question and we'll design the study that answers it.
What does a UX and market research agency actually do?
UX Refinery is an independent UX and market research agency, remote-first from South Africa. We test products with real users, size markets, and report back plainly.
No design work. No development. No agenda. Most engagements mix two or three methods: a market sizing study tells you where the opportunity sits, then usability tests check whether people can use what you build for it. Findings come back as ranked recommendations, not a data dump. That pairing is the reason we offer both sides under one roof. See how engagements run or see the four lenses we assess.
Which research method fits your question?
Start from the decision, not the method. Behaviour questions need watching, scale questions need surveys, demand questions need market research. Find yours below.
| Your question | The service that answers it | What lands on your desk |
|---|---|---|
| Why do visitors abandon our checkout? | Moderated usability tests | Session evidence plus a fix list ranked by impact |
| What do our users actually want? | In-depth interviews | Motivations, workarounds, and unmet needs in their own words |
| Is this market worth entering? | Market research & sizing | Opportunity size, competitor map, and demand signals |
| Which concept should we launch? | Brand & concept testing | A winner with reasons, before you commit budget |
| Who are our distinct user groups? | User segmentation | Behaviour-based segments for design and targeting |
| Will our ads land or flop? | Advertisement testing | Pre-launch reads and post-launch measurement |
| How does our UX compare? | UX Score indices | One benchmark across usability, equity, enjoyment, and usefulness |
| Can users trust our AI feature? | AI feature usability testing | Trust gaps found, with fixes specified |
Moderated usability tests
Real users work through your product while one of our researchers watches quietly and asks questions at the right moments. You find out exactly where people stumble, and most teams leave with a fix list they can start on that same week.
In-depth interviews
A proper conversation, one on one, in person or over a call. People reveal motivations, workarounds, and quiet frustrations in these chats that never show up in your analytics.
Market research & sizing
How big is the opportunity, really? We size markets, map competitors, and talk to the very people you hope to win over, so your next move rests on numbers that hold up.
Surveys
Good surveys are harder than they look. One leading question and the whole dataset leans. We design, field, and analyse surveys that ask clean questions of the right people, then tell you what the answers actually mean.
User segmentation
Not everyone wants the same thing from you. We build segments from demographics, attitudes, and behaviour, with a bit of machine learning doing the heavy lifting, so you can stop designing for everyone at once.
Brand & concept testing
Got a name, a logo, or a campaign idea you are half in love with? Test it before you print it. We put concepts in front of the right people and find out what lands, what confuses, and what quietly offends.
Expert reviews
Sometimes you do not need users yet. You need a trained eye. Our researchers go through your product against established usability principles and hand back what is broken, ranked by how much it matters.
Heuristic analyses
A structured once-over against recognised heuristics. Quick, honest, and often uncomfortable in the best way. Ideal when you need a punch list fast.
UX Score indices
Our own yardstick. The UX Score grades your product on usability, equity, enjoyment, and usefulness, then lets you track it over time or stack it against competitors. One number, four lenses, plenty of arguments settled.
Advertisement testing
Campaigns cost too much to guess on. We test ad concepts before launch and measure them after, so you know what pulled people in and what just burned budget.
How do you research AI products people must trust?
Nobody hands real work to an assistant they do not trust. We put agents, copilots, and generative interfaces in front of real users, then watch closely for the moment confidence wobbles. Why the fuss? Because one strange AI failure costs you more goodwill than a dozen broken buttons. We cover it four ways: feature usability testing, experience audits, agent interaction research, and concept validation.
AI feature usability testing
Chatbots, assistants, copilots, whatever you are shipping. We watch real users try them, note where they get misled or lose trust, then tell you how to fix it. AI fails in weirder ways than buttons do.
AI experience audits
An expert teardown of your AI interface against usability and trust heuristics. We hunt down the failure modes now, while they are still cheap to fix.
Agent interaction research
Agents ask something new of users: delegation. We study how people understand, direct, and second-guess your agent, then shape the interaction so handing things over feels safe.
AI concept validation
Building the thing costs a fortune. Asking people first costs very little. We test appetite and comprehension for your AI idea with exactly the users you would need to win.
Research with no axe to grind.
We only do research, so no finding ever threatens our revenue. When you need design too, we bring in independent specialist partners and stay firmly in our lane.
This matters more than it sounds. A team that both researches and designs will soften awkward findings and defend favourite concepts, usually without noticing. Separation keeps everyone honest, which is why we wrote about it at length. Read why specialisation wins.
How does a research engagement run?
Nine steps, all of them visible. A thirty-minute kick-off at one end, a live readout at the other, and your sign-off at every gate before fieldwork starts.
Ask and plan. Kick-off call, sharpened objectives, agreed sample criteria, and a written research plan. If a cheaper method would do the job, we say so here.
Prepare. Discussion guides, test scripts, surveys, and screeners built by us and approved by you. Recruitment briefed, platforms tested, pilots run.
Fieldwork and analysis. Sessions and surveys run to plan and on schedule, with updates as it happens. Then recordings become patterns: coded, clustered, counted, and checked again.
Answers. A report you would actually read, with recommendations ranked by impact. Add a live readout and we will walk your team through it and handle the hard questions.
What do UX research services cost?
No price list. No two studies cost the same, so the price follows the work: method, participants, depth of analysis. Name your budget. We build the strongest study it allows and quote exactly that.
- Scoped to your study, never a price list
- Priced on participants and depth of analysis
- Competitive rates, no hidden extras
- A custom quote built around your actual goals
Questions we're asked a lot.
It is how you stop guessing about users. Watching, asking, measuring, then turning what you learn into a better product. Tests, interviews, surveys, expert reviews, all of it counts.
It depends what you need, honestly. Usually a mix: some usability testing, some interviews, maybe a survey, all handled by us from planning to final report. You approve each step, then get on with your week.
Both, and they pair well. Market research tells you where the opportunity is. UX research tells you whether people can use what you build for it. Most of our clients end up wanting the two together, so we built the offer that way.
Yes. We work with research partners across a whole spread of languages. Tell us which ones and we will sort it.
Yes, for teams and individuals. Practical stuff, not lectures. Get in touch and tell us where your team is starting from.
Our rates are already set to stay reachable, and yes, we look after non-profits and schools where we can. Tight budget? Say so. We will find a shape that works.
Email us. A few lines about what you are building and what is keeping you up at night is plenty. We reply within a day, most days faster.
Service list reviewed October 2026.
Let's talk
Ready to stop guessing?
Tell us what you're trying to figure out. We'll design the study that answers it: UX, market, or both.