Our Work

Our small remote agency works with enterprise and mid-size organizations across many industries. We specialize in building and running long-term research programs. Within these custom programs, we lead collaborative discovery research and iterative UX testing to help teams build better digital products. From time to time, we also lead one-time research projects for new clients. Here’s some of our past work.

Ongoing Research Programs

Recurring research programs make up our core work. See examples of past and current programs that we’ve led for enterprise and mid-size organizations.

Thales

10 large research studies over 2 years for this $20 billion multinational. Product/market validation and usability testing for enterprise software. Learn more: Applying User-Driven Strategy Across Multiple Projects and Goals for Thales.

GEICO

10 years of partnership with this insurer’s digital experience team. 300+ UX and discovery research projects, 100+ ideation workshops, and 5 recurring research programs. Learn more: A Year in the Life of an Enterprise User Research Program.

Epsilon

4 years of projects with this global ad agency and its clients in banking and pharma — from iterative usability testing to heuristic evaluations. Learn more: How a Top-5 Ad Agency Brought UX Research to Top Clients.

Banner Health

Multi-year user research program to drive UX improvements for a division of this 50,000-employee health system. Ran monthly remote workshops where stakeholders observed research, analyzed problems, and brainstormed solutions. Learn more: How Banner Health Reached Consensus on Design Decisions with Recurring Research.

PetSmart Charities

Built and ran a multi-year quarterly user research cycle. Each cycle, we conducted usability testing, quantitative analysis, and A/B testing of a different application flow or content area. Learn more: How PetSmart Charities Combined Usability and A/B Testing to Increase a Signup Rate from 27% to 71%.

CAS

About 1 study per month since 2022 for this 1,000-person division of the American Chemical Society. Through user interviews, concept testing, usability testing, and journey mapping, we help software product teams understand the needs of chemists and other scientists.

One-Time Research Studies

In addition to ongoing programs, Marketade also leads a small number of standalone research studies for clients. Typically these are complex projects with multiple rounds of research or a mix of methods. While there’s often overlap, we broadly group these projects into 2 categories: discovery research and UX research.

UX Research

Malwarebytes — Usability Testing

Usability testing with IT pros who manage security software at midsize organizations. 10 moderated interviews followed by a half-day analysis workshop. Learn more: Usability Testing with IT Security Managers for Malwarebytes.

McDonald’s — Prototype Testing

Early-stage UX testing of a new mobile ordering flow for McDonald’s in 2022. Prototype testing with 19 users, rapid design changes, and live app testing with another 19 users. Learn more: Prototype UX Testing of a New McDonald’s Mobile Ordering Flow.

Smithsonian — IA Research

Information architecture research to create a more intuitive navigation structure during a redesign of the Smithsonian Global website. Testing with 24 participants. Learn more: How the Smithsonian Improved Content Findability with Tree Testing.

Discovery Research

Tonal — Journey Mapping

Discovery research to inform a product strategy and roadmap. Included in-home observation sessions in 4 cities plus a 2-day workshop. Learn more: How Tonal Turned Customer Journey Mapping into a Team Sport.

United Nations — Strategic Research

Strategic research for 3 data platforms used by statisticians in over 200 countries. Contextual observation, quantitative analysis, and an ideation workshop. Learn more: Strategic User Research for 3 UN Data Platforms.

Herman Miller — Personas

Persona research for HM’s Design Within Reach furniture brand. Featured a persona-building workshop based on 1:1 user interviews. Learn more: Creating Research-Based Personas for Herman Miller.

"A fantastic little agency that does amazing work."

Jared Spool

Founder, UIE

Our Work by Industry

We work with organizations across all major industries, including travel, e-commerce and retail, industrial machinery, and consumer products. We have especially deep experience in the 6 industries below:

Financial Services

Banking | Insurance | Credit Unions

Nonprofit

Associations | NGOs | Foundations

Health & Medical

Health Systems | Medical Trials | Pharma

Software & Technology

Enterprise & SMB | Consumer Products

Government

Global | Federal | State & Local

Education

Higher Ed | K-12 | Early Childhood | EdTech

Client List

Financial Services

  • BankFinancial
  • CIT Bank
  • Coin Cloud
  • First Citizens Bank
  • GEICO
  • Generali
  • International Monetary Fund (IMF)
  • PenFed Credit Union
  • Union Bank
  • Vanguard

Software & Technology

  • Alarm.com
  • BI Inc.
  • CAS
  • Cision
  • Doma
  • Guidewire
  • Malwarebytes
  • Network Solutions
  • Podium
  • Thales
  • Thryv
  • Tonal
  • Verizon

Health & Medical

  • Banner Health
  • Daiichi Sankyo
  • Genentech
  • GoodRx
  • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • Satcher Health
  • Statespace
  • Takeda
  • UVA Health
  • WCG
  • ZS

Nonprofit

  • AARP
  • American Chemical Society
  • Gates Foundation
  • Humentum
  • March of Dimes
  • NAACP
  • NFPA
  • PetSmart Charities
  • Rainforest Alliance
  • SIYLI
  • Smithsonian

Education

  • Emory University
  • George Mason University
  • Goddard School
  • Morehouse School of Medicine
  • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
  • PBS
  • Southern New Hampshire University
  • Stanford University
  • University of Virginia

Consumer Products & Services

  • 1-800-PACK-RAT
  • American Water
  • Herman Miller
  • McDonald’s
  • Midtown Athletic Club
  • Nu Skin
  • Reynolds Consumer Products
  • Travel Leaders Group

B2B Products & Services

  • Aggreko
  • Baileigh
  • Epsilon
  • Highwire PR
  • Phillip Jeffries