sales-skills/sales-optimalworkshop

Optimal Workshop Platform Help

Optimal Workshop (optimalworkshop.com) is the category-defining information-architecture (IA) research suite — the "reference standard" teams reach for when the question is how should content be organized and can users find it. Its named tools carry the category: OptimalSort (card sorting), Treejack (tree testing), Chalkmark (first-click), Reframer (qualitative interviews / notes / tagging / affinity mapping), and Questions (surveys) — plus newer prototype testing (Figma import), live-site testing, moderated interviews, and AI qualitative analysis. Recruit from its own panel ("10M+, 150+ countries") or bring your own. Closest self-serve peer: UXtweak (/sales-uxtweak); other peers Lyssna, Maze, UserTesting.

Two things to say almost every time:

• A clean tree test or card sort proves the structure works, not that anyone will pay. IA is not validated demand — if the user is still deciding whether to build, take that go/no-go to a real behavior test (smoke test, pre-sale) via /sales-idea-validation.
• Optimal Workshop is UI-first — no public API, webhooks, Zapier, or MCP. Any "pipe results into my CRM/warehouse" ask is manual CSV/spreadsheet export (or Figma import), not REST; an API-native pipeline is /sales-userintuition.

Step 1 — Gather context

If references/learnings.md exists, read it first for accumulated platform knowledge.

Ask only what you can't infer:

1. What do you want from Optimal Workshop?
   • A) Pick a study type — card sort (OptimalSort) vs tree test (Treejack) vs first-click (Chalkmark) vs qualitative (Reframer) vs survey (Questions) vs prototype/live-site test
   • B) Recruit participants — the own panel (pay-per-participant / credit bundles) vs recruiting your own users via a share link
   • C) Read results — similarity matrix / dendrogram (card sort), pietree + success/directness (tree test), click heatmaps (first-click), themes/tags (Reframer)
   • D) Get data out — export CSV/spreadsheet or import a Figma design (no API — manual only)
   • E) Choose — Optimal Workshop vs UXtweak / Lyssna / Maze / UserTesting, or Starter vs Enterprise
2. Are you testing something you've already built/designed, or still deciding whether to build? The second is an idea-validation question, not an IA question — flag it in Step 2.

Skip-ahead: if the prompt already names the study type and the question is specific, go to Step 3.

Step 2 — Route or answer directly

| If the user's question is about… | Route to | |---|---| | Comparing research/idea/synthetic tools across the market, or the validate-before-building method | /sales-idea-validation {question} | | An API / webhook / MCP-native research or interview pipeline (Optimal Workshop has none) | /sales-userintuition {question} | | Running a real behavior demand test (smoke-test page, waitlist, pre-sale) instead of an IA test | /sales-idea-validation or /sales-funnel {question} | | The self-serve all-in-one usability peer (broader battery, own panel, lower entry price) | /sales-uxtweak {question} | | Analyzing existing NPS/CSAT/VoC/review feedback (post-launch, not new tests) | /sales-customer-feedback {question} |

When routing, give the exact command: "This is a {domain} question — run: /sales-idea-validation {original question}"

Otherwise, answer Optimal Workshop-specific questions using Step 3.

Step 3 — Optimal Workshop platform reference

Read references/platform-guide.md for the full reference — the tool-by-tool study catalog (what each measures + how to read its output), the module/automation-surface table (what's exportable vs UI-only), best-effort pricing and plan gates (Starter study-launch cap, Enterprise, recruitment credits, panel minimum spend), the Study → Question/Task → Participant → Response data model, recruiting (own panel vs self-recruit share link), and the no-API data-out playbook. Optimal Workshop has no public API, so there is no API-reference file.

Answer using only the relevant section — don't dump the full reference.

Step 4 — Actionable guidance

• Say the caveat: an IA metric is not demand. Make explicit that Optimal Workshop measures whether a structure/design works (findability, category agreement, first-click accuracy) — it does not prove strangers will pay. If they're still deciding whether to build, keep the IA findings but take the go/no-go from a real behavior test (smoke test, pre-sale) via /sales-idea-validation.
• Flag it as UI-first when any automation/export comes up. Optimal Workshop has no public API, webhooks, Zapier, or MCP (verify — it may change). "Sync results to HubSpot/Snowflake" is a manual CSV/spreadsheet export or a Figma import, not REST. If they need a programmatic pipeline, say so and route to /sales-userintuition.
• Match the tool to the question. Recommend by job: OptimalSort (card sorting) = how users group/label content (open = discover, closed = validate → similarity matrix / dendrogram); Treejack (tree testing) = can users find things in your nav (findability + first-click path, no visuals → pietree + success/directness); Chalkmark (first-click) = where users click first (heatmap); Reframer = tag/theme qualitative data; Questions = surveys. Design the tree with a card sort, then validate it with a tree test — don't run a tree test to judge visuals.
• Warn about recruitment cost and the Starter study cap before they hit them. Panel participants are billed per participant (standard ≈ 1 credit; managed more), so for a handful of testers self-recruiting via a share link is far cheaper. And Starter caps studies launched per year (best-effort ~5) even though responses per study are unlimited — a many-study program needs bundles or Enterprise.
• Present all pricing as best-effort — Starter is the entry tier, Enterprise is custom (SSO/workspaces/admin/CSM); point the user to optimalworkshop.com/pricing.
• Set participant counts realistically. Quantitative IA (card sort / tree test) needs ~30+ for a stable similarity matrix / findability score; qualitative (Reframer) surfaces most themes with a handful. Say it's a rule-of-thumb, not a guarantee.

If you discover a gotcha or tip not in references/learnings.md, append it there with today's date.

Gotchas

Best-effort from research (2026-07) — pricing, the Starter study-launch cap, recruitment credit costs, the panel minimum spend, and the (absent) API/export surface move; verify at optimalworkshop.com.

• IA success ≠ demand. Optimal Workshop proves a structure/design works, not that anyone will buy — the go/no-go on building still belongs to a real behavior test (smoke test, pre-sale). Route that to /sales-idea-validation.
• No API, no webhooks, no Zapier, no MCP. Optimal Workshop is UI-first; data-out is manual CSV/spreadsheet export or Figma import. Don't design a live REST pipeline around it — route pipeline needs to /sales-userintuition.
• The tools have legacy names — don't get lost. OptimalSort = card sorting, Treejack = tree testing, Chalkmark = first-click, Reframer = qualitative research, Questions = surveys. Users and docs still say the product names; translate to the method so you recommend the right one.
• Starter caps studies launched, not responses. Best-effort ~5 studies/year on Starter with unlimited responses per study and unlimited seats — the opposite of a per-response cap. Buy study bundles or go Enterprise for a high-volume program; confirm the current number at pricing.
• Card sort vs tree test is the #1 confusion. Card sorting discovers/validates categories & labels; tree testing validates findability in an existing structure. Run the card sort first to design the tree, then the tree test to validate it. (Recruitment is billed separately — panel credits ≈ 1/participant — so self-recruit via a share link for small samples; workspaces / SSO / CSM are Enterprise-only.)

Related skills

• /sales-uxtweak — The closest self-serve all-in-one peer: the same IA battery (card sorting, tree testing, first-click) plus five-second/preference, prototype/website tests, session recording, surveys, and moderated interviews in one seat, with its own 130-country panel — often a lower-entry-price alternative to Optimal Workshop when you want breadth beyond pure IA. Route here to compare, or when the job is broader mixed-methods usability. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-uxtweak -a claude-code
• /sales-lyssna — The ex-UsabilityHub usability + IA twin with a larger 690k+ panel and a usable free plan (3 seats, unlimited quick studies) plus AI follow-ups/summaries — route here to compare, or when free-tier generosity / panel size matters. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-lyssna -a claude-code
• /sales-useberry — The prototype-first usability peer (deep Figma/Sketch/ProtoPie import); route here when prototype-flow depth matters more than deep IA (no panel of its own — recruits via Prolific). Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-useberry -a claude-code
• /sales-validatethat — The budget, MCP-native IA/usability micro-tool: the same card-sort/tree-test/first-click battery far cheaper (Free tier → ~$19/mo), plus an Idea-Validation Engine and — unlike Optimal Workshop — an MCP server (run studies from Claude/Cursor), on-site embeddable studies, and Prolific recruitment; route here when price or agent-driven workflows matter more than benchmark IA depth (it still has no REST API/webhooks). Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-validatethat -a claude-code
• /sales-idea-validation — The tool-agnostic validate-before-building method + the full research/usability/validator landscape (use this to decide build-or-not; a passing IA test is not demand). Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-idea-validation -a claude-code
• /sales-userintuition — The API/webhook/MCP-native real-human interview peer — the pick when you need a programmatic research pipeline Optimal Workshop can't offer. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-userintuition -a claude-code
• /sales-customer-feedback — Real-customer NPS/CSAT/VoC strategy across tools (analyze existing feedback; Optimal Workshop proactively runs new IA/usability tests). Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-customer-feedback -a claude-code
• /sales-funnel — Build the smoke-test / fake-door landing page that turns an IA/design hypothesis into a real demand test. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-funnel -a claude-code
• /sales-do — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do -a claude-code

Examples

Example 1: "Users can't find things in my site's menu — what should I run?"

User says: "People keep missing our pricing page in the nav. How do I test the menu structure in Optimal Workshop?" Skill does: Recommends a tree test in Treejack (findability without visual design — success rate + first-click path), optionally preceded by an open card sort in OptimalSort if the labels/categories are in question. Explains reading the pietree + success/directness, suggests ~30+ participants for a stable result, and notes self-recruiting via a share link beats paying panel credits. Adds that a clean tree test proves the nav works, not that the offer sells — take the build-or-not call to a real behavior test. Result: The user runs a Treejack tree test with the right participant count and reads the pietree correctly.

Example 2: "How do I get Optimal Workshop results into Notion / my warehouse automatically?" (developer/automation)

User says: "I want every completed study's results to flow into our data warehouse and a Notion page." Skill does: States plainly that Optimal Workshop is UI-first — no public API, webhooks, Zapier, or MCP — so there's no automated REST path. Data-out is manual CSV/spreadsheet export (+ Figma import for designs in); the warehouse leg is an ETL over the exported CSV, and Notion is a manual paste or a Zapier "Email/Webhook → Notion" glue around the export, not a native trigger. If a live pipeline is a hard requirement, routes to /sales-userintuition (REST API + HMAC webhooks + MCP), noting that's interviews, not Optimal Workshop's IA battery. Result: The user stops hunting for an API that doesn't exist and wires up a scheduled CSV export instead.

Example 3: "Is Starter enough, or do I have to pay to recruit testers?"

User says: "I'm a solo founder. Can I run a real card sort on Starter, and how much are participants?" Skill does: Lays out Starter as best-effort — an entry plan capping studies launched per year (~5) with unlimited responses and seats — so one card sort fits easily. Explains recruitment is billed separately (panel ≈ 1 credit/participant, managed more), so the economical path is self-recruiting via a share link (no per-participant fee), and points to optimalworkshop.com/pricing to confirm numbers. Flags every figure as best-effort. Result: The founder runs a card sort within Starter using self-recruited testers and avoids panel credits.

Troubleshooting

"Which tool do I use — OptimalSort or Treejack?"

Symptom: The user isn't sure whether to test categories/labels or navigation findability (the product names hide the method). Solution: Use OptimalSort (card sorting) when the question is how users group and name content (open = create/label to discover a structure; closed = sort into your categories to validate them). Use Treejack (tree testing) when the structure exists and the question is whether users can find an item (findability + first-click path, no visual design). Run the card sort to design the tree, then the tree test to validate it — read the card sort via similarity matrix / dendrogram, the tree test via pietree + success/directness.

"Why did my study stop letting me launch a new one?"

Symptom: A new study won't go live even though existing studies still collect responses. Solution: The Starter plan caps studies launched per year (best-effort ~5) while responses per study are unlimited — it's a study-count limit, not a response cap. Finish/close studies you no longer need, buy a study bundle, or move to Enterprise (custom volume + workspaces + admin). Confirm the current number and bundle pricing at optimalworkshop.com/pricing (best-effort).

"How do I automate exports / connect Optimal Workshop to my stack?"

Symptom: The user wants results flowing into a CRM, warehouse, or Slack automatically. Solution: Optimal Workshop has no public API, webhooks, Zapier, or MCP — it's UI-first. Use manual CSV/spreadsheet export for handoff/ETL and Figma import for designs in; there's no native results-out trigger, so glue an export into a scheduled job or a Zapier "Email/Webhook parse → destination" flow. If an automated programmatic pipeline is required, use an API-native tool instead — route to /sales-userintuition (REST API + HMAC-signed webhooks + MCP server).