How is this different from Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity?

Hotjar and Clarity show you aggregate behaviour on live traffic. They are excellent for spotting where users drop. OpenScouter runs moderated remote sessions with a recruited panel and captures voice and facial expression alongside the clicks, so you learn why the drop happened. The two are complementary.

Do you replace UserTesting, Maze, or Dovetail?

No. We complement them. Teams use UserTesting and Maze for broad panels and quick task tests, Dovetail to store research, and OpenScouter when they need behavioural depth on a specific journey, particularly where cognitive load or comprehension is suspected to be the issue.

Is this an accessibility audit?

Not in the WCAG conformance sense. Cognitive accessibility is one part of a complete accessibility programme, and we are deliberately specialised in that part. Our reports are behavioural evidence, not legal opinion. For WCAG 2.2 audits or EN 301 549 conformance statements you will want a dedicated accessibility auditor.

We are an FCA-regulated firm. Can this support Consumer Duty evidence?

Yes, for FCA-regulated firms in scope of PS22/9, our reports document how real users, including those with cognitive differences, understand and act on your marketing communications and journeys. That is useful supporting evidence for the consumer understanding and consumer support outcomes. It does not replace your compliance function's own assessment.

How long does a study take?

From signed brief to human-confirmed report is typically days rather than months. The exact timing depends on the panel profile you need and how many journey steps you want covered.

Behavioural user research for marketing leads who need evidence, not anecdotes

OpenScouter runs remote sessions with neurodivergent participants and captures clicks, voice, and facial expression in parallel. For marketing leads, that means clearer answers on why paid traffic stalls at the form, why the hero variant lost, and which friction points are quietly draining campaign ROI.

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What this means for marketing leads specifically

You own the funnel from paid click to qualified lead, but the evidence you can show the CMO is thin. Session replays in Hotjar tell you where users drop off the demo request flow or the pricing page, not why. A/B tests in Optimizely or VWO need traffic you do not always have on lower-funnel pages, and they cannot explain the hesitation behind a non-click.

Stakeholders push back in predictable ways. Sales questions lead quality before questioning the landing page. Brand questions whether the headline really confused anyone. Finance questions the cost per acquisition before approving another channel test. You need behavioural evidence that ties a specific friction point, a confusing form label, a CTA that reads as a commitment rather than an option, an unclear pricing tier, to the campaigns and segments it affects.

Marketing leads in FCA-regulated firms have an added layer. Under Consumer Duty (PS22/9), FCA-regulated firms are expected to evidence good customer outcomes in their communications and journeys, which puts comprehension and vulnerability considerations directly into marketing's remit. Behavioural research gives you that evidence in a format compliance and legal will actually accept.

Our approach

Run on the journey steps that move pipeline

We test the specific steps marketing owns: paid landing pages, gated content forms, pricing pages, demo booking flows, and onboarding emails rendered in-browser. Not generic site usability.

Three streams, one explanation

Clicks tell you where. Think-aloud voice tells you what the participant was trying to do. Facial expression flags confusion or frustration the participant did not verbalise. AI correlates the three, and a human researcher confirms the report before it reaches you.

Higher-signal panel for nuance work

Neurodivergent testers, people with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and low vision, surface friction in copy clarity, form sequencing, and cognitive load that neurotypical panels miss. That friction usually hurts your mainstream conversion rate too.

What you receive

Prioritised list of behavioural friction points across a named campaign journey, paid click to lead capture or activation
Annotated clips showing the moment of confusion or hesitation, voice and facial signal aligned to the click stream
Copy and form recommendations mapped to the specific step they affect, ready to brief into your CRO or content team
Evidence pack suitable for sharing with compliance and legal, useful for FCA-regulated firms documenting Consumer Duty outcomes
Comparative read across neurodivergent and wider participants so you can separate accessibility fixes from broad conversion fixes

Evidence

Disabled people and their households abandon UK businesses entirely worth 17.1 billion pounds in a single year because of inaccessible websites

Click-Away Pound Report 2019 · 2019

For marketing leads, this figure is the part of the funnel that never shows up in your analytics. The users who bounced from the paid landing page, abandoned the lead form, or quietly closed the pricing tab do not appear as a line item in your campaign report, they appear as a softer cost per acquisition and a weaker channel ROI. The Click-Away Pound figure is the aggregate UK signal that inaccessible and cognitively confusing journeys are routing real revenue to competitors, and behavioural research on the specific steps you own, hero, form, pricing, demo booking, is how you start recovering it.

Frequently asked

How is this different from Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity?: Hotjar and Clarity show you aggregate behaviour on live traffic. They are excellent for spotting where users drop. OpenScouter runs moderated remote sessions with a recruited panel and captures voice and facial expression alongside the clicks, so you learn why the drop happened. The two are complementary.
Do you replace UserTesting, Maze, or Dovetail?: No. We complement them. Teams use UserTesting and Maze for broad panels and quick task tests, Dovetail to store research, and OpenScouter when they need behavioural depth on a specific journey, particularly where cognitive load or comprehension is suspected to be the issue.
Is this an accessibility audit?: Not in the WCAG conformance sense. Cognitive accessibility is one part of a complete accessibility programme, and we are deliberately specialised in that part. Our reports are behavioural evidence, not legal opinion. For WCAG 2.2 audits or EN 301 549 conformance statements you will want a dedicated accessibility auditor.
We are an FCA-regulated firm. Can this support Consumer Duty evidence?: Yes, for FCA-regulated firms in scope of PS22/9, our reports document how real users, including those with cognitive differences, understand and act on your marketing communications and journeys. That is useful supporting evidence for the consumer understanding and consumer support outcomes. It does not replace your compliance function's own assessment.
How long does a study take?: From signed brief to human-confirmed report is typically days rather than months. The exact timing depends on the panel profile you need and how many journey steps you want covered.