What is the URC?

The User Research Council (URC) is our name for the pool of 401(k) plan participants who agree to provide feedback to Financial Engines, Inc. through user research sessions.

What happens in a study session?

We conduct a variety of studies each week, all of which are aimed at improving our services, based on feedback from customers like you. Most studies are 1:1 sessions. Occasionally we'll organize small groups for a discussion or activity.

• Our studies often involve calling into a web conferencing system and having a conversation with a member of our staff, while looking at draft web pages or an interactive prototype.
• For other studies, we may ask people to work on their own with an interactive prototype and record comments while doing it. (We will provide the microphone/headphones if you don't have ones that are compatible with the system we use.)
• Sometimes we get a group of people together to have a discussion on retirement, investing, or similar topics.
• Also, we might ask you to respond to questionnaires about your attitudes or habits related to retirement preparation, use of digital products, paper statements or telephone communication.

It's hard to predict today which of the studies would be suited to you over the next several months. When we invite you, we'll tell you more about the format and how long the study session will last.

How often will I be invited?

You will be invited as often as once a month to join a study. You can participate in up to 2 studies in a 12 month period.

What if I'm not available at the time you need someone like me?

We'll either find another study happening at nearly the same time, or we'll invite you in another month or so. We have multiple teams all wanting to test their ideas with real people.

What do I have to do before participating in a study?

We ask you some screening questions to find out if you fit all the characteristics we're looking for that week.

We ask you to sign 2 documents for each study:

• The non-disclosure agreement (NDA). This document reminds you that you may not save or share the materials we show you, since we'll likely be showing drafts – whether documents, instructional videos or sketches – which may or may not turn into actual Financial Engines' webpages, emails or printed documents.
• The consent to record document, so that we can record your actions on the screen and your voice. These recordings are for our internal use only: If team members want to confirm their notes, they can review the session. Or, if someone has a scheduling conflict and can't listen to your session live, we let them time-shift it. This assures that everyone who needs to can benefit from your session.

I work during the daytime – when are these sessions?

We schedule our study sessions outside of your work hours, whenever possible. As our offices are on the West Coast, late afternoon and evening hours are often convenient for us. And we'll stretch our hours to fit your schedule. (Of course, if you work at times other than the usual 9am - 5pm hours, we can accommodate you also.)

How long is a single session?

Our studies vary in length from 15 minutes up to 90 minutes. The briefer ones are more often what's called for – 30 minutes is typical – and of course you can decline any invitation, no explanation needed. We'll let you know at the time we schedule you how long to expect the session to last.

What if I don't want to participate in studies anymore?

You can opt-out at any time. Or we can put you on hold for a while, if you have a demanding project at work that won't allow any distraction. Just let us know.

How do you use what I tell you?

Please note that if you are currently receiving investment advisory services from Financial Engines (Professional Management members, or Online Advice participants), the responses you give us during a session or on a survey will not be used as personalization preferences for the purposes of providing investment advice.

If you're not currently receiving investment advisory services from us, you can consult our privacy policy which applies to our research activities as well as other interactions with you.

These studies are intended for improving our services, not to solicit or to offer any investment securities, products or services. If you have questions about your retirement investments, we'll refer you to the Financial Engines' Advisor Center for guidance.

Sounds fun! And you pay?

Payment is typically $25 for each quarter hour (15 min) of your time in the form of a gift card.

Occasionally we have longer engagements (e.g., 15 min conversations each week for several weeks, or a couple of longer sessions), in which case we would arrange payment by a different method.

If you are not permitted to accept payment, we have selected several charities that we can donate to on your behalf. Let us know when we schedule you, and you can choose from among 3 different non-profit organizations to receive the "thank you" gift.

Okay! I'm ready now!

I have a question you haven't covered here

Please send us your questions and we'll do our best to answer them promptly! research@financialengines.com