Session Rate Card

For further guidance on managing your testing capacity when planning your tests, check out our Managing Admin Controls on the UserTesting Flex Plan UserTesting University course and read our "Guidance for Admins on the Flex Plan" article.

• What is the Session rate card?
• How to read the Session rate card
• How to calculate session rates

What is the Session rate card?

In the Flex plan, UserTesting tracks the amount of testing capacity used on the Platform. Since each test can vary based on the test type, session length, number of test contributors, and type of network they use, we created a unit-based metric called the Session Unit (SU).

Measuring Platform activity at the Session Unit-level ensures that you get the most value from every test. The Session rate card highlights the number of Session Units consumed per session by test type.

How to read the Session rate card

*The Short Test feature must be selected before test launch. Contributors may end a short test after five minutes.

**Live Conversation sessions are scheduled and consumed in 30-minute increments. The session begins when the contributor or anyone on the account joins. To allow for setup, there is a 15-minute grace period in case the session goes over 30 minutes. After this grace period, the session incurs additional SUs in 15-minute increments (i.e., 5 SUs for UserTesting Contributor Network, 2 SUs for Custom Network, and 1 SU for Invite Network). We advise that moderators keep as close to the originally booked time as possible for the interview part of the session.

***The Fuel Cycle and UserTesting integration is aligned with Invite Network SU rates. Currently, only unmoderated website tests can be launched via the Fuel Cycle integration, so the session rate is 2 SUs. To learn more about Fuel Cycle integration, please read more in this article. 

Contributor type

• Under Contributor type, you can find Session rates by network, such as the UserTesting Contributor Network, Custom Network, or Invite Network.

Unmoderated session

• Under Unmoderated session, you can find Session rates for a Short Test, a standard test (e.g., a prototype evaluation, website comparison, tree test, card sort), and Quick Answers tests.
• Note that if you want to run a Short Test, you must select this feature before the test launches. Contributors then may end a short test after five minutes. 

NOTE: It is crucial to keep standard tests within 20 minutes. Tests lasting longer than 20 minutes usually produce lower-quality responses because of contributor fatigue. Be sure to factor in this time limit when creating your test plan. 

Moderated session

• Under Moderated session, you can find Session rates for the first 30 minutes of a test and for each additional 30 minutes.
• A session consists of the video and metrics of a recorded test, or the video of a single Live Conversation interview.
• Live Conversation sessions are scheduled and consumed in 30-minute increments, with a grace period of 15 minutes factored in. Please ensure that all contributors exit the Live Conversation session when it is completed so that no additional SUs are consumed. Even a minute past the grace period will incur extra SUs.

NOTE: We advise that moderators keep as close to the originally booked time as possible for the interview part of the session.

How to calculate session rates

The Session rate is calculated per session, and the rate varies by the test type and length, as well as session type (or how the contributor was recruited). After launching a test, each session that a contributor completes consumes a specific number of Session Units.

For example:

• If you launch a Quick Answers test with six contributors from the UserTesting Contributor Network, that test is 60 SUs. 
• A 60-minute Live Conversation with five contributors from your Custom Network is 70 SUs. 

While Live Conversations are ordered in increments of 30 minutes, UserTesting assesses Session Units based on the actual duration of the video. There is a 15-minute grace period if the session runs over its scheduled time. After this grace period, sessions begin assessing SUs in 15-minute increments (five SUs for UserTesting Contributor Network, two SUs for Custom Network, and one SU for Invite Network). 

For example:

• If you launch a Live Conversation with one contributor from the UserTesting Contributor Network and that interview lasts 45 minutes, your test will be metered at the 30-minute cutoff and you will incur a usage of 20 SUs.
• If you launch a Live Conversation with one contributor from the UserTesting Contributor Network that lasts 46 minutes, your test will be metered at the 45-minute amount (30 minutes plus the 15-minute increment). You will then have used 25 SUs (20 SUs for the first 30 minutes, and an additional five SUs for the extra minute after the 15-minute grace period).

Note: The default cap for Live Conversations launched on the Flex plan is 100 contributors. This cap can be set to a different amount at the account level; contact Support to change the cap.

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