The think-aloud protocol is a rich and insightful method that has been widely used in moderated usability studies for decades. Its use in unmoderated online research is more recent, less common, and best practices are not yet widely known. In a moderated session, whether remote or in-person, a facilitator can train a participant and provide feedback, which presents challenges in asynchronous online studies. Consequently, some researchers have observed higher abandonment rates in studies that use this protocol. In this talk, we’ll discuss how we’ve reversed that trend — showing lower abandonment rates in think-aloud studies — and explore some of the best practices that we’ve learned for conducting them effectively.