Sir Francis Bacon once said that knowledge is power. He would have made a great product owner. That said, manufacturing knowledge in the modern tech landscape is no easy feat. Oftentimes, the best way to empower your product decisions with data is to delegate research to external experts.

In this article, we've shortlisted 10 UX research firms in different geographies, specialties, and budget ranges, so that you can pick what suits your needs best.

N.B.:

• All information we've gathered is publicly available online.

• The firms are listed in no particular order.

Adam Fard UX Studio

Our product design agency's focus revolves around FinTech, SaaS, and Enterprise Apps. Over the years, we’ve developed a strong professional interest in working with complex B2B products—this is where we thrive. 

Our research team boasts a wide range of UX research methods in their tool belts. Adam Fard Studio's expertise spans both qualitative and quantitative, behavioral and attitudinal. On top of that, we've adapted the most potent research methods toward the new remote reality long before the pandemic hit.

🌎 Location: Globally Distributed

👥 Company Size: 10-49

💰 Pricing: minimum project size – $12,000. Hourly rates – $50-99.

💼 Industry Focus: complex B2B products, SaaS, Fintech & enterprise.

Visit our website here.

Nielsen Norman Group

Nielsen Norman Group is a UX consultancy, whose expertise earned the company a global name. Founded by Don Norman and Jakob Nielsen are among the UX pioneers, who have been honing their expertise since the early days of UX.

The company is famous for preparing industry UX reports, its educational content, training events, and certifications. On top of that, the consultancy boasts a wide range of A-tier clients.

🌎 Location: United States

👥 Company Size: 10-49

💰 Pricing: Single Platform (website, intranet, or application) – $38K, can vary depending on complexity Multi-Platform (2-3 screen sizes): $45,000-65,000. Competitive Review (Your website + 3 competitors): $75,000

Visit Nielsen Norman Group's website here.

ath Power

Founded in 1997, ath Power has undertaken the task of improving retention, building brand loyalty, and advocacy, while ultimately driving profitability. On top of offering consultancy in UX for digital products, the company works with physical goods.

Another vertical, to which the firm caters its services, is government bodies. This line of work helps institutions improve metrics such as improve customer, employee/stakeholder/citizen/patient experience, etc.

🌎 Location: United States

👥 Company Size: 51-200

💰 Pricing: undisclosed.

Visit Ath Power's website here.

Answer Lab

Since its inception in 2004, Answer Lab has been committed to providing insights into user behavior for user interfaces, wearables, AR/VR, and other digital products.

The company boasts of having more than 250 researchers ready to generate insights into digital experiences. On top of that, the company offers numerous educational materials such as webinars, trainings, articles and other resources.

🌎 Location: United States

👥 Company Size: 101-250

💰 Pricing: undisclosed.

Visit Answer Lab's website here.

Phase 5

Phase 5 is a market research, user and customer experience, innovation, and design studio that helps clients realize customer value.

The firm empowers clients on their journey to customer-centricity by focusing on Innovation and Experience and bringing together expertise in marketing research, user and customer experience, innovation and design, and advanced analytics

🌎 Location: United States, Canada

👥 Company Size: 10-49

💰 Pricing: undisclosed.

Visit Phase 5's website here.

UX Studio

The UX Studio is a group of 40 UX design and research specialists passionate about what they do. They focus predominantly on working with tech startups and enterprises in the FinTech, fashion, travel, education, and healthcare industries. 

Aside from providing their clients with end-to-end design solutions, they also create their own products. They find that it gives them a deeper, more hands-on understanding of the industry as a whole, as well as plenty of actionable insight into the latest tech and design trends. 

🌎 Location: Hungary

👥 Company Size: 10-49

💰 Pricing: Minimum project size – $50,000. Hourly rates – $100-149.

Visit UX Studio's website here.

Loop UX

Loop UX is a full-cycle UX research agency with an impressive global reach. Loop UX’s expertise areas are user experience of technologies such as medical and mobile devices as well as consumer electronics and web.

Having been founded in 2011, the agency does UX studies both locally and internationally. Loop UX boasts of having completed research projects in 26 countries.

🌎 Location: Denmark

👥 Company Size: 10-49

💰 Pricing: undisclosed

Visit Loop UX's website here.

Experience UX

Experience UX is a team of researchers and consultants committed to simplifying digital experiences by understanding user behavior. The company specifically focuses on usability testing, user research, and UX architecture.

🌎 Location: United Kingdom

👥 Company Size: 1-9

💰 Pricing: undisclosed

Visit Experience UX's website here.

Blink

Blink is a product design and UX research company that creates meaningful digital products, experiences, and brands. Having established studios in multiple cities across the US, the firm brings over two decades of experience to clients of the highest caliber such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Starbucks.

🌎 Location: United States

👥 Company Size: 51-200

💰 Pricing: Minimum project size – $25,000. Hourly rate: $200-300.

Visit Blink's website here.

Gartner

Gartner is a world-renowned consultancy that empowers executives with business insight. The company boasts of having completed more than 14,000 projects in more than 100 countries, which earned the firm a global name.

Gartner offers its clients a wide spectrum of services ranging from audit & risk to supply chains for a variety of industries.

🌎 Location: United States

👥 Company Size: 10,000-20,000

💰 Pricing: Minimum project size: $30,000.

Visit Gartner's website here.