What is Azi? The Solution to SA’s User Research Problem
South African UX Has a User Research Problem - But Now There's a Solution
What if there was a way that I could test the apps and websites I’m building with the actual users I’m building them for?
What if I could get feedback from real South Africans, so I can make sure they actually enjoy or find what I’m building useful, instead of just guessing?
And what if it didn’t have to cost an arm and a leg or require me to beg for budget?
Well, that’s exactly why we built Azi.
## So, what is Azi?
In a nutshell, Azi is an online user research platform.
It’s an online tool that allows businesses to create surveys and tasks and send them to their actual target audience: South Africans who are notified, complete the tasks, and get paid for their time.
Azi has been designed specifically for the South African and broader African context. We’ve created it with all the constraints, frustrations and situations in mind that South African product teams, and the people participating in their research, have to consider.
## How does it work?
A business or product team might have an idea, design, prototype, live app or website. They want to make sure the ideas they’re bringing to life actually make sense. They may want to validate that something is a good idea and worth spending money to build, or identify problems in an existing product before beginning another project.
They’ll come onto Azi and create what is essentially a survey, but with specific questions and tasks relating to the user experience and design-thinking process.
Once it’s created, they can send it live to either:
* Their own users, using a list of people they already have access to; or
* The Azi Crew, our own pool of participants.
When a study is sent to the Azi Crew, participants are notified through their portal. They can look through the available surveys and tasks, decide which ones apply to them, and complete them.
They’ll work through the different steps, complete tasks, interact with prototypes and answer questions. At the end, they’re rewarded for their time with a voucher.
That’s the general process. There are plenty of other details, like how businesses select the demographics they want to reach, how participant invitations are sent and how participants get rewarded. I’ll be creating more videos that go into those topics in detail.
For now, thank you so much for joining me on this journey. It’s been a long one, and I’m so excited to see what we can build together to make the South African digital ecosystem the best it can be.
We have so many talented, amazing, intelligent, smart, funny and capable people in our country. We can do incredible things if we’re simply given the chance to connect.
Please sign up for the business waitlist, or join our growing community as a participant, and help us make our digital ecosystem truly world-class.