Top 20 Usability Testing Tools for Better UX

Usability testing is a crucial aspect of creating user-centric digital experiences. It helps identify potential issues, gather valuable insights, and improve overall user satisfaction. Hence, leveraging the right usability testing tools can significantly streamline this process, saving time and resources.

Impact of Usability Testing on Market Revenue by MarektingSherpa

According to a study conducted by MarketingSherpa Ecommerce Benchmark, companies that were reactive only when there was a problem reported in user experience were less likely to meet revenue goals. To be precise, 40% of these marketers fall into the “slower than forecast revenue growth” group. These statistics highlight the immense value that usability testing tools can bring to the table.

In this article, we will explore the top 20 usability testing tools that have gained popularity. These tools enable teams to deliver exceptional user experiences while maximizing productivity.

What are Usability Testing Tools?

Usability testing tools are designed to measure how well users can navigate and interact with a product. They help identify potential issues and gather feedback to inform design improvements. They play a vital role in evaluating the user experience of digital products, websites, and applications. By employing usability testing tools, businesses can gain valuable insights into user behavior, preferences, and pain points. This ultimately leads to enhanced user satisfaction and engagement.

Top 20 Usability Testing Tools for Better UX

In the following sections, we will delve into the top 20 usability testing tools available today. These tools offer a range of features, functionalities, and approaches to help you optimize your user experience. Let’s explore each tool in detail to understand how it can contribute to creating better UX for your digital products and services.

Testsigma

Testsigma is an AI-powered automated testing tool that offers comprehensive features for automation of your usability tests. With its intuitive interface and robust functionality, Testsigma enables teams to conduct efficiently and effectively automate tests aimed at testing usability.

With Testsigma, you can quickly get started with test automation in minutes. It is available as both an open-source and a premium version on the cloud.

Key Features Of Testsigma:

1. Codeless Test Automation in Simple English: Testsigma offers a codeless test automation approach. It enables users to create and execute tests without writing complex code. This simplifies the usability testing process, making it accessible to both technical and non-technical team members.
2. Cross-Browser and Cross-Platform Testing: It supports testing across multiple browsers and platforms. This ensures your digital product performs seamlessly across various environments.
3. Test Scenario Management: It allows you to manage test scenarios efficiently by providing a centralized platform to create, organize, and maintain test cases. This streamlines the usability testing process and ensures comprehensive coverage of user interactions.
4. Test Data Management: With Testsigma, you can easily manage test data, including user inputs and expected outcomes. This feature allows you to simulate real-world scenarios and test the usability of your product under different data conditions.
5. Easy and efficient test execution on the cloud: It provides an option to execute all your tests on cloud-based device labs. Thus enabling usability testers to execute tests easily and efficiently. This feature eliminates the need for local infrastructure setup, making the testing process more accessible and flexible.
6. Collaborative Testing Environment: It offers a collaborative environment where team members can work together, share insights, and collaborate on usability test cases. This fosters effective communication and collaboration, leading to better UX outcomes. It provides the convenience of accessing usability tests from any location and at any time. 
7. Detailed Reporting and Analytics: Testsigma provides comprehensive reports and analytics on test results. Thus empowering you to make data-driven decisions to enhance the user experience of your digital product.
8. Save time on your test maintenance with AI-supported built-in features: Testsigma incorporates AI-supported built-in features that assist in reducing the effort and time required for test maintenance. This feature allows testers to focus on analyzing test results and making improvements rather than spending excessive time on test maintenance tasks.
9. Debug with the help of screenshots, videos, and logs easily: It offers robust debugging capabilities by capturing screenshots, videos, and logs during usability testing. This feature allows testers to identify and troubleshoot usability issues effectively, ensuring a smoother and more refined user experience.
10. Easily integrate with CI/CD tools: Testsigma offers seamless integration with Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) tools. Thus allowing testers to incorporate automated testing into their development pipelines. This feature promotes faster feedback cycles and ensures consistent usability testing throughout the software development lifecycle.

Helpful support that is there for you 24×7: It offers round-the-clock support to assist usability testers whenever they encounter issues or require guidance. This ensures that testers receive timely assistance, minimizing any disruptions during the testing process.

Want to know more about different automated testing tools? Check out this comprehensive list-automated testing tools.

Maze

Maze is a powerful platform for continuous product discovery. It provides researchers with the ability to gather and analyze user insights during usability testing. It caters to the needs of research professionals at every stage of the design process. This includes post-launch testing through Live Website Testing.

It enables seamless integrations with popular design tools like Adobe XD, Figma, InVision, and Sketch. This allows teams to effortlessly import existing prototypes. The platform offers a range of pre-made templates to enhance productivity. It facilitates the creation of comprehensive quantitative and qualitative usability tests that are easily accessible to research participants.

Key Features:

1. Intuitive Test Creation: Maze offers an intuitive interface that allows users to easily create and customize usability tests. With drag-and-drop functionality and pre-built templates, usability testers can quickly set up tests tailored to their specific requirements.
2. Interactive Prototyping: It enables usability testers to conduct tests on interactive prototypes, providing a realistic user experience. This feature allows testers to identify usability issues and gather valuable feedback before the product is fully developed.
3. In-Depth Metrics and Analytics: It provides detailed metrics and analytics to evaluate usability test results. Testers can analyze quantitative data, such as task success rates and completion times, as well as qualitative feedback and user comments. Thus enabling them to gain valuable insights into user behavior and preferences.
4. Remote User Testing: Maze offers remote user testing capabilities. This allows testers to conduct usability tests with participants located anywhere in the world. This feature eliminates geographical barriers, making it convenient to gather feedback from a diverse range of users. Check here – Remote Usability Testing
5. Heatmaps and Click Tracking: It includes heatmaps and click-tracking functionality. Thus fostering testers to visualize user interactions and identify areas of interest or usability issues. These visualizations help pinpoint design flaws, optimize user flows, and enhance the overall user experience.
6. Collaborative Feedback and Reporting: It facilitates collaboration among team members by providing features for sharing, annotating, and discussing usability test results. Testers can easily collaborate with designers, developers, and stakeholders, ensuring effective communication and decision-making.

By leveraging the features offered by Maze, usability testers can conduct comprehensive and insightful usability tests. They can identify pain points and make data-driven improvements to create a seamless and delightful user experience.

LookBack

Lookback is an innovative usability testing tool designed for designers and product managers. It aims to gain insights into user interactions with their applications. With Lookback’s comprehensive testing features, teams can observe user behavior in real-time through recorded sessions. Thus allowing them to understand how users navigate their interfaces and capture their reactions.

By using Lookback, teams can foster collaboration as researchers have the ability to invite other members of the product team to view the tests, leave comments, and tag colleagues within an internal hub. This collaborative approach ensures seamless communication without interrupting the participant’s progress. Thus helping the team to collectively analyze the findings and make informed decisions to improve the user experience.

Key Features of Lookback for Usability Testing

1. Remote User Testing: Lookback offers remote user testing capabilities, allowing usability testers to conduct tests with participants located anywhere in the world. This feature eliminates geographical constraints, making it convenient to gather feedback from a diverse range of users.
2. Screen and Face Recording: It enables usability testers to record the screen and face of participants during usability tests. This comprehensive recording feature captures both user interactions and facial expressions. It provides valuable insights into user behavior and emotional responses.
3. Live Observations and Note-Taking: It facilitates live observations during usability tests, enabling testers to observe participants in real time. Testers can take notes, highlight important moments, and mark usability issues directly within the platform. It assures accurate documentation and streamlined collaboration.
4. Time-Stamped Annotations: It allows testers to add time-stamped annotations to recordings. This, in turn, provides context and additional insights into specific moments during usability tests. This feature simplifies the analysis process, enabling testers to pinpoint important events and gather meaningful data.
5. Collaborative Analysis and Sharing: It provides a collaborative environment where usability teams can analyze test recordings, share insights, and collaborate on improving the user experience. This feature promotes effective teamwork and facilitates knowledge sharing among team members.
6. Quantitative and Qualitative Data: Lookback offers both quantitative and qualitative data analysis capabilities. Testers can review quantitative metrics, such as task completion rates and click-through rates, alongside qualitative feedback and user comments, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of user experiences.

UserTesting

UserTesting is a unique and versatile usability testing tool that enables businesses to gain invaluable insights by gathering real-time feedback from real users. With its extensive participant network and robust platform, it empowers organizations to understand user behavior, identify usability issues, and optimize their digital experiences for maximum engagement and satisfaction.

While UserTesting offers a combination of moderated and unmoderated testing options, its primary emphasis is on facilitating virtual conversations. The platform stands out with its extensive participant pool, one of the largest in the market. However, it’s important to note that there may be additional costs associated with testing your tool on pre-screened and qualified users.

Key Features of UserTesting

1. Diverse Participant Network: It boasts a vast network of diverse participants. This allows businesses to target specific demographics and personas for their usability tests. This feature ensures that feedback is collected from a representative sample of the target audience. Thus furnishing valuable insights into different user perspectives.
2. Real-Time Feedback: With it, businesses can obtain real-time feedback from users as they navigate through their digital products. This feature provides immediate insights into user interactions, blockers, and areas of improvement. This facilitates teams to make timely adjustments and enhance the user experience.
3. Remote and Unmoderated Testing: It offers the flexibility of remote and unmoderated usability testing, eliminating the need for in-person sessions. This feature allows businesses to reach a wider audience and gather feedback from users in their natural environments. It provides authentic insights into real-world user experiences.
4. Video and Audio Recordings: It captures both video and audio recordings of participants’ interactions with digital products during usability tests. This comprehensive recording feature allows usability testers to observe users’ actions, listen to their thoughts, and gain a deeper understanding of their behaviors and preferences.
5. Customizable Test Scripts: UserTesting enables testers to create customized test scripts tailored to their specific research objectives. This feature allows businesses to ask targeted questions, set specific tasks, and gather feedback on particular aspects of the user experience. It facilitates focused analysis and actionable insights.
6. Advanced Metrics and Analytics: It provides comprehensive metrics and analytics to evaluate usability test results. Testers can access detailed reports, heatmaps, and click-tracking data. It enables them to identify patterns, trends, and areas of improvement for a more optimized user experience.

Optimal Workshop

Optimal Workshop offers a range of user research tools, including Treejack, OptimalSort, and Chalkmark. These tools enable usability testers to conduct card sorting exercises, tree testing, and click testing, respectively. By leveraging these research tools, usability testers can gather data on user navigation, information hierarchy, and user perception. Subsequently helping them optimize the structure and organization of their designs.

Key Features of Optimal Workshop

1. Remote and Unmoderated Testing: It allows for remote and unmoderated usability testing. This makes it convenient for usability testers to gather feedback from a geographically diverse pool of participants. This flexibility eliminates the need for in-person sessions and enables testers to reach a wider audience for more comprehensive insights.
2. Interactive Prototyping: Optimal Workshop integrates with popular prototyping tools, such as Sketch and Figma. It lets usability testers import interactive prototypes seamlessly. This feature enables testers to conduct realistic usability tests on fully functional prototypes, simulating user interactions and providing accurate feedback on the user experience.
3. In-Depth Analytics and Reporting: It provides detailed analytics and reporting features that enable usability testers to analyze and interpret test results effectively. Testers can gain insights into participant behavior, view heatmaps, and access qualitative data, facilitating data-driven decision-making and actionable recommendations for improving the user experience.
4. Collaborative Workspaces: Optimal Workshop offers collaborative workspaces where usability teams can collaborate, share insights, and work together on usability testing projects. This feature promotes seamless communication and facilitates efficient teamwork. This ensures that all team members are aligned and engaged in the usability testing process.
5. Participant Recruitment: It provides participant recruitment services, allowing usability testers to find and recruit targeted participants for their usability tests. This feature guarantees that testers can access a diverse pool of participants with specific demographics or characteristics. It promotes more representative and insightful usability testing results.

UsabilityHub

UsabilityHub is a user research and usability testing platform that empowers businesses to gather valuable feedback and insights on their digital designs. Its popular Five Second Test feature allows testers to quickly evaluate the effectiveness of their designs by presenting them to users for a brief duration. This feature helps testers assess the clarity, impact, and memorability of key elements within their designs. It feeds valuable insights into first impressions and overall user engagement.

Key Features of UsabilityHub

1. Click Test: The Click Test feature enables testers to assess the intuitiveness and effectiveness of interactive elements within their designs. Test participants are asked to click on specific areas of a design, providing valuable feedback on the visibility, positioning, and clickability of important elements such as buttons, links, and navigation menus.
2. Navigation Test: With UsabilityHub’s Navigation Test, testers can evaluate the overall usability and intuitiveness of website navigation. Test participants are given a set of tasks to complete, allowing testers to gather insights into the ease of finding information, navigating through different sections, and overall user flow.
3. Preference Test: The Preference Test feature allows testers to compare and gather feedback on different design variations or options. Test participants are presented with multiple designs and are asked to provide their preferences, helping testers understand user preferences, and perceptions to inform design decisions.
4. Question Test: Its Question Test feature enables testers to gather user feedback through open-ended questions. Test participants can provide qualitative insights, opinions, and suggestions, offering valuable perspectives and uncovering potential usability issues that may not be captured through other testing methods.
5. Collaborative Feedback: It facilitates collaboration and feedback sharing among usability teams. Testers can easily invite team members, stakeholders, or clients to review and provide feedback on the test results, fostering effective communication and collaboration throughout the design iteration process.

Check here – Open Source Testing Tools

UserFeel

UserFeel allows usability testers to conduct remote user testing, eliminating geographical limitations and enabling testers to reach a diverse pool of participants. Testers can observe and record participants’ interactions with the website or application, gaining valuable insights into user behavior and identifying areas for improvement.

Key Features of UserFeel

1. Video Recordings and Screen Capture: It provides video recordings of the testing sessions, allowing usability testers to visually observe participants’ interactions and behaviors. The screen capture feature enables testers to capture specific moments or actions during the testing process, aiding in the identification of usability issues and facilitating effective analysis.
2. Think-Aloud Protocol: UserFeel encourages participants to use the think-aloud protocol, where they verbalize their thoughts, impressions, and feedback as they navigate through the website or application. This feature provides valuable insights into participants’ cognitive processes, allowing testers to understand their decision-making, frustrations, and overall user experience.
3. Task-Based Testing: It allows testers to create specific tasks for participants to complete during the testing session. These tasks help assess the usability and effectiveness of key features, workflows, or user journeys. Testers can gather feedback on participants’ success rates, completion times, and difficulties encountered, providing actionable insights for design improvements.
4. Mobile Testing: UserFeel supports usability testing on mobile devices, ensuring that businesses can evaluate the user experience across various platforms. Testers can gain insights into the responsiveness, navigation, and overall usability of mobile applications or responsive websites, optimizing the experience for mobile users.
5. Detailed Reporting: It provides comprehensive and detailed reports summarizing the findings of usability tests. Testers can access quantitative metrics such as task success rates, completion times, and user ratings, as well as qualitative feedback and observations. These reports help usability teams present findings, identify patterns, and prioritize improvements for a better user experience.

Check here – Mobile Usability Testing

Hotjar

Hotjar enables usability testers to optimize the user experience and make data-driven decisions to drive better engagement and conversions. It offers features such as heatmaps, recordings of sessions, surveys, and analytics. Its comprehensive suite of tools enables testers to optimize websites and applications for better engagement, conversions, and overall user satisfaction.

Key Features of Hotjar

1. Heatmaps: It offers heatmaps that visually represent user interaction and behavior on a website or application. Heatmaps provide a clear understanding of which areas of a page receive the most attention, clicks, or scrolling, helping testers identify potential usability issues or areas of improvement.
2. Session Recordings: Hotjar allows usability testers to record and replay user sessions, providing valuable insights into user behavior, navigation patterns, and interactions. Testers can observe how users engage with the interface, identify stumbling points, and gain a deeper understanding of the user experience.
3. Feedback and Surveys: It offers various feedback and survey tools, such as on-site surveys and feedback polls, which allow testers to collect direct feedback from users. Testers can ask specific questions to gather user opinions, preferences, or suggestions, providing qualitative insights for usability improvements.
4. Funnel Analysis: With Hotjar’s funnel analysis feature, testers can track user journeys and identify drop-off points in a conversion funnel. This helps identify potential barriers or friction points in the user experience, enabling testers to optimize the flow and improve conversion rates.
5. Form Analytics: It provides form analytics to evaluate the usability and effectiveness of online forms. Testers can analyze form completion rates, field engagement, and form abandonment, helping identify usability issues or areas where users may face challenges during the form submission process.
6. User Recruitment: It offers user recruitment features, allowing testers to recruit specific user segments for usability testing. This enables testers to target their tests to specific user demographics or user personas, ensuring more accurate insights and feedback. 

Loop11

Loop11 is a well-known web-based usability tool that enables you to conduct website usability testing, A/B testing, and prototype testing. Utilizing the advanced capabilities of GPT-4, Loop11 incorporates AI-powered technology to generate automated summaries, audio transcripts, and reports, streamlining the analysis process. 

With Loop11, your team can seamlessly integrate tasks and questions within tests, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches to gather comprehensive insights. The tool also provides a variety of recording features, including video, audio, and screen recordings, making it an ideal choice for unmoderated usability testing. Furthermore, Loop11 offers a pool of participants, streamline the hiring process and ensuring a diverse range of user feedback.

Key Features of Loop11

1. Remote Unmoderated Testing: It allows usability testers to conduct unmoderated testing, which means participants can complete tests at their convenience without the presence of a moderator. This flexibility enables testers to reach a larger pool of participants and gather feedback from diverse user segments. Check here – Remote Usability Testing
2. Task-based Testing: With Loop11, testers can create and assign specific tasks for participants to complete during the testing process. These tasks simulate real-world scenarios and user journeys, providing insights into usability, navigation, and overall user satisfaction.
3. Clickstream Analysis: It provides clickstream analysis, allowing testers to track and analyze participants’ interactions and click patterns within a website or application. This feature helps identify common paths, dead-ends, and navigation issues, uncovering usability bottlenecks and areas for improvement.
4. Surveys and Questionnaires: It offers the capability to include surveys and questionnaires within the usability test. Testers can gather qualitative feedback and opinions from participants, helping to understand user perceptions, preferences, and suggestions for enhancing the user experience.
5. Heatmaps and Click Heatmaps: Loop11 generates heatmaps and click heatmaps that visually represent user interaction and behavior. Heatmaps highlight areas of interest and engagement, while click heatmaps reveal where users click most frequently, aiding in identifying popular features, potential usability issues, or areas of improvement.
6. Reporting and Analytics: It provides comprehensive reporting and analytics features to analyze and visualize test results. Testers can generate reports with quantitative metrics, such as success rates, task completion times, and error rates, as well as qualitative feedback. These reports enable testers to identify trends, patterns, and actionable insights for optimizing the user experience.

Crazy Egg

Crazy Egg is a dynamic and innovative usability testing tool that offers a wide range of visual analytics features to help businesses gain deeper insights into user behavior on their websites. By utilizing unique features, Crazy Egg empowers testers to understand how users engage with their website, identify areas of improvement, and drive meaningful enhancements.

Key Features of Crazy Egg

1. Heatmaps: Crazy Egg provides dynamic heatmaps that visually represent user activity on a website. These heatmaps highlight areas of high engagement, such as where users click, scroll, and spend the most time. Testers can quickly identify hotspots and areas of interest, enabling them to optimize the layout, content, and functionality of their website.
2. Scrollmaps: Scrollmaps in Crazy Egg show how far users scroll down a webpage, helping testers understand the visibility and effectiveness of the content. By analyzing scroll maps, testers can determine if important information is being missed and make adjustments to improve the overall user experience.
3. Confetti Reports: Its confetti reports offer a detailed breakdown of user clicks based on various attributes, such as referral source, device type, or browser. Testers can gain insights into specific user segments and understand how different user groups interact with their website. This information can be invaluable for tailoring the user experience to different audience segments.
4. User Recordings: It allows testers to record and replay user sessions, providing a comprehensive view of how users navigate through a website. Testers can observe user interactions, identify usability issues, and gain insights into user behavior. User recordings offer a firsthand perspective on the user experience and can reveal valuable insights for optimization.
5. A/B Testing: Crazy Egg offers A/B testing capabilities, allowing testers to compare different variations of their web pages to determine which version performs better. By testing different designs, layouts, or content, testers can make data-driven decisions to enhance the user experience and drive better conversions.
6. User Feedback: It provides tools for collecting user feedback directly on web pages. Testers can gather input from users through surveys, feedback forms, or poll widgets. This feedback helps identify pain points, gather suggestions for improvement, and gain a deeper understanding of user needs and preferences.

TestBirds

As a usability testing platform, TestBirds specializes in crowd testing, enabling teams to test apps and websites with real users. The tool facilitates access to a large community of human testers, who can offer real-world feedback on applications, usability, functionality, and the overall UX. 

Key Features:

Diverse tester base: The tool provides access to a diverse range of human testers coming from different locations and demographics. These testers can validate the app’s usability in real-world conditions, and their reactions will differ based on their location and preferences—a direct reflection of the production environment.

Wide testing capabilities: Testers can run both moderated and unmoderated usability tests for better insights into user interactions.

Real device access: The platform equips testers with multiple devices, OSes, and browsers for improved responsive design and compatibility.

Detailed feedback: Get reports detailing software performance along qualitative and quantitative lines, accompanied by visual logs and suggestions for improving errors and the overall UX. Track and report bugs with detailed descriptions, screenshots, and video evidence.

True production environment: Testers can create customizable tasks and user scenarios to mimic real-world conditions. The app has to pass muster in the hands of actual human users, which is the whole point of developing them.

UX surveys: Design and send post-test surveys to get testers’ opinions and experience with an app. Often users have thoughts they didn’t necessarily convey in test reports, often because they didn’t know what questions to answer.

Supports flexible testing: The platform is equally competent when it comes to running usability, functionality, and exploratory tests. This helps save financial resources for QA teams without compromising test quality. 

TryMyUI (now Trymata)

TryMyUI is an online usability testing platform that businesses use to get feedback on their websites and apps. Real users test these apps and report usability issues–insights essential for optimizing digital assets. 

Key Features:

Real User Testing: Execute moderated and unmoderated tests for comprehensive testing. Testers can record their thoughts by speaking them out while testing. This lets businesses know the first impressions of their sites and apps.

Diverse tester pool: Testers come from different demographics such as location, age, gender, and so on. Creating such a cohort would cost most businesses thousands of dollars and man-hours, but the tool simplifies the process at a much lower cost.

Detailed feedback with video and text: The tool provides video recordings of end-users trying out the site/app. You can observe real-time behaviors and immediate reactions. 

Specific task creation: Teams can create specific tasks for users to perform during testing. These tasks should reflect real user goals, and replicate real-world circumstances. You can also design test plans aligning with your project goals and deadlines.

User-friendly UI: The easily navigable platform makes it easy to set up tests, even without much technical expertise. Tests can be set up and finished quickly; the fast TAT helps accelerate a product’s time-to-market. 

Qualaroo

This is primarily a customer feedback and survey tool built to gather insights about user experience directly from site visitors. Businesses can target users with specialized surveys, and ask value-driven questions about their behavior, preferences, and dislikes. 

The tool gives its clients immediate and most relevant impressions of user experience from the end-users themselves. 

Key Features:

Targeted, customized surveys: Build surveys mapped to specific user segments based on goals, behavior, referral source, locations, and so on. Customize survey design–multiple questions, multiple choice questions, numbered ratings, open-ended questions—to align with branding expectations.

Testers can also customize surveys based on previous answers, leading to more granular responses.

Exit surveys for in-the-moment feedback: Is a user about to leave the website? Get their feedback right at the moment with a survey form that pops up when they click out. It’s possible to use a similar approach for other critical operations; a survey form emerges when a user completes a task, for example.

Nudges users for feedback: The tool lets you nudge users to offer feedback. This keeps the UX non-intrusive, which prevents annoyance and leads to higher response rates. 

Analytics and integrations: The solution provides exhaustive analytics and reports on responses, tracking trends over time, grouping common responses, and highlighting key areas of optimization.

Qualaroo is also compatible with most popular tracking and diagnostic tools like Google Analytics, HubSpot, and Intercom. You can easily transfer data between them and derive combined insights. 

Pendo

Pendo primarily works as a product experience platform. Its features help businesses and clients understand user behavior and experience on their digital products. It offers robust tools for user onboarding, collecting feedback, tracking feature adoption, and detailed analytics. 

It is an easily usable tool, with an intuitive UI that works perfectly well for users with non-technical backgrounds. 

Key Features:

Elaborate analytics: Pendo provides detailed analytics to study user behavior–how users interact with each feature, specific bottlenecks for every leg of the user journey, and high-level usage patterns. Track which features are used, how often and by whom. 

You can also segment users based on behavior, demographics, or other criteria for streamlined feedback collection and data-driven evaluation.

Easy feedback collection: Create in-app surveys and polls to gather feedback directly within the app. Get in-the-moment user impressions, and gain immediate insight into user satisfaction and potential for improvement. 

Wide-ranging customization: Leverage the tool’s features to create in-app messages and tutorials. Tailor the user experience based on project requirements and product goals.

Building onboarding flows and road-mapping: Pendo can help create onboarding flows as well as informative material to help users navigate new features, workflows, and processes. This helps enhance usability and is important to test before the final release. It also leads to high user engagement with the end product. 

You can also build roadmaps for features and products based on user feedback. This directly contributes to growth in the product’s commercial value. 

Integrations: The platform integrates with Salesforce, Marketo, and Slack so that testing teams can integrate insights from Pendo into their workflows. 

TestingTime

TestingTime facilitates advanced user research. It stands out for its ability to recruit the right participants for usability tests. By helping businesses create interviews, in-app tests, and surveys, the tool connects researchers with product teams. It aims to extract the right feedback from the right users of any digital asset before and after the prod release. 

Key Features:

1. Choose the right testers for your app: Businesses can use TestingTime’s recruitment services to pick testers based on specific behaviors, demographics, and interests. This enables product managers to target a particular audience for their prototype. 

2. Multiple data gathering tools: Gather user feedback via remote usability tests, interviews, surveys, focus groups, and other instruments. Choose what works best for your team and project. 

3. User-friendly UI with capabilities for scheduling & quality control: The UI is exceptionally easy to navigate. It lets you schedule user sessions with chosen participants. You can also set up screening processes to ensure that the right participants are chosen for the tests. Integrate video conferences into your sessions for greater convenience.  

4. Detailed Analytics Data: Leverage extensive analytics data to understand user experience. The tool structures the data into understandable, actionable formats, enabling quick comprehension by all stakeholders.  

PlaytestCloud

This tool is mostly used for playtesting mobile games during the conceptualization phase. It supports prototyping, development, software launch, and post-release testing. It is ideal for introducing in-development games to a closed pool of players for initial testing. Dev teams can make designs based on actual player behavior, even if they only have limited content to showcase. 

Key Features:

1. Single-session playtests: These sessions show 5, 10, 15, 3,0, and 60 minutes of a game being played by human testers. You can see how the end-users interact with the prototype as they see and use it for the first time.
   
2. Multi-session playtests: These sessions include two to five rounds of gameplay. They are best suited to understanding players’ reactions to complex gameplay and loops that take a while to pick up. Generally, each session is between 15 to 60 minutes.
   
3. Concept tests: If you don’t have an operational game yet, simply upload slides, photos, videos, music, and detailed descriptions to get real players’ opinions at very early stages of brainstorming.
   
4. Advanced prototyping and testing features: PlaytestCloud supports prototyping with proto.io, Marvel, and InVision.
   
   When a prototype is tested, its operations can be viewed with gameplay videos attached to a commentary track to capture players’ immediate thoughts (spoken aloud) as they play a game. Testers can also see the players’ actual finger touches and clicks after they have finished playing.
   
   You can also include a survey of up to ten questions with every playtest. 

5. Customizable playtests: Customize playtests to meet a variety of goals. You can run playtests with children (for kids’ games), tests in which players interact with each other, A/B tests, tests with only professional game researchers, agnostic playtests, and much more.

6. Longitudinal studies: These playtests run for multiple days, mimicking the experience a user would have if they downloaded the game from the App Store or Play Store. Such studies delve even deeper into long-term user behavior and help identify possible causes for uninstallation. 

Userlytics

Userlytics helps businesses run remote usability tests with human users across the world. They can verify user behavior and interactions with websites, apps, and any other digital assets. 

Key Features:

1. Large Tester Pool: Choose from Userlytics’ pool of testers from around the world. You can gather feedback from diverse users without any limitations in age, gender, location, and other metrics.
   
2. Record session video and audio: Capture video and studio recordings of user sessions. This includes users’ screen activity and audio commentary as they use the site/app. See and hear what users do and think in real time.
   
3. AI-powered video session analysis: Use in-built AI engines to find patterns, trends, and insights from session transcripts. You can find actionable data points automatically, without having to invest hours going through long session recordings.
   
   The tool also provides video transcripts in many languages with time stamps and hyperlinks for quick reference. It highlights certain attributes that can be shared and enables picture-in-picture imaging.
   
4. Comprehensive analysis: The tool evaluates software based on 18 essential metrics such as Usability, Affinity, and Distinction. You’ll receive a deep-dive index with granular detail on the user experience.
   
5. Sentiment Analysis: Zero in on specific user sentiments and their tone–positive, negative, neutral. The tool returns instant insights for improved A/B tests and competitive analysis.
   
6. Usability score for easy assessment: Get the software scored on a 0–100 scale with pre-set tasks for quick feedback from testers. Any score above 68 indicates an above-average user experience. The tool is easy to set up, and checks for an application’s usability by comparing it with multiple designs and competitors. 

Usabilla

Usabilla helps businesses collect feedback on the user experience of sites, apps, and online products. Businesses can evaluate user behavior, preferences, and dislikes by getting their direct feedback. The data garnered from the platform is best suited for making informed design decisions.

Key Features:

1. Different feedback mechanisms: Teams can use feedback buttons, surveys, and customized forms. Use the format your users are most likely to respond to and get more answers.
   
2. In-app feedback: By asking for feedback while users are browsing, you’ll get their first impressions and more relevant reactions. This makes the data more accurate and actionable.
   The tool has a native SDK for in-app feedback on Android and iOS.
   
3. Customizability: Create customizable surveys with open-ended or multiple-choice questions. Rating skills (numbers or stars) are also available. Choose the survey format that makes the most sense for your target users.
   
4. Analytics and Segmentation: The tool can group users into certain segments like new visitors, users with high task completion, recurring users, and so on. The user-friendly analytics dashboard visualizes data for easy interpretation.
   
5. Detailed heatmaps: Get heatmaps showing where users have clicked, scrolled, and engaged on the UI. These are the high-priority areas that must be cleared of all usability issues. 

UserPeek

UserPeek is a platform designed to facilitate unmoderated usability tests for businesses to get insights about user behavior on their digital products. Clients can test websites or prototypes with a URL. It is best suited for high-level website testing, especially new pages or features. 

Key Features:

1. Video sessions of user feedback: Get video recordings of real human testers using your product. As they browse and complete tasks, they can comment directly on the UX and usability. You can  see and listen to their reactions, comments and feedback.
   
2. Choose targeted testers: Choose from UserPeek’s large pool of human testers. Select testers that represent your targeted audience (age, gender, location, etc.), and have them navigate and opinionate on your app.
   
3. Easy setup: The first setup takes minutes–just enter the URL. No coding is required.
   
   You can also build scenarios and tasks, based on precise test specifications to avoid biases. Choose from several tests and tasks–corresponding to industries like SaaS, Booking, eCommerce, etc.—from UserPeek’s template library.
   
4. Test all site elements against competitors: Test everything with a URL—apps, copy, ads, images, prototypes. What’s more, you can test all of this in comparison to the online assets of your competitors. Get ratings for how your products stand against all major industry players.
   
5. Spot usability issues in real-world environments: Have your prototypes tested in natural environments. Users will browse through your site on real devices at home, work, or even on the go.
   
   Consequently, you can spot all usability issues, missing features, and broken functions that real users deal with. No bugs that impact the UX can get past this layer of human checks and balances.
   
6. Features for easy feedback collection: UserPeek’s converts all speech to text automatically. You can also smart tag and filter videos to manage feedback from video and audio. Organize tests into projects and products to keep track of them as they grow in number and scope. 

Ballpark

Ballpark is a user-testing platform that helps with testing websites, copy, and prototypes. It also helps create and deploy surveys to a business’s target audience. It doesn’t offer many features, but it does allow cleaners to record testers’ screens as they test the website in question. 
Key Features:

1. Multiple methods for testing: Ballpark has features to test Figma prototypes, websites, copy, the larger UX, and much more. You can also create surveys for testers to explore their experiences with your app more deeply.

2. Global tester pool: Choose from among 3 million testers worldwide. Get test results in hours instead of days. Narrow down the right audience with more than 200 targeting options – executives, doctors, accountants, developers and many more experienced testers.
   You can even bring your own testers onto the platform for free.
   
3. Multiple survey templates: Ballpark provides a number of default templates for tests and surveys. A few common ones are templates for design preference tests, NPS surveys, price sensitivity surveys, and product-market fit surveys. Simply enter the right data (questions and options for answers) and deploy fully-formed surveys in minutes.
   
4. Simple test and task setup: Set up tests quickly thanks to an intuitive UI that needs no technical expertise. Customize the test flow, as required, by setting up tasks to be completed on your online product.
   Select testers by demographics, behaviors, and other criteria. Ensure that you are investing in opinions from your target audience, and no one else. 
5. Extensive insights into user behavior: Feedback reports will indicate metrics around user behaviors, problems, and positive impressions. The tool will automatically analyze test results and identify major usability bugs.

All feedback is time-stamped for easy reference, so that teams can directly find the most critical parts of the user session.

Usability Testing Tools – Few Features and Advantages

• Realistic Test Scenarios: Usability testing tools allow researchers to create realistic scenarios that mimic user interactions with the product. This provides authentic testing environments.
• User Interaction Tracking: These tools track and record user interactions. They capture valuable data on how users navigate, click, and interact with the product.
• Quantitative and Qualitative Data: Usability testing tools provide both quantitative and qualitative data. They offer insights into user behavior, preferences, and opinions.
• Heatmaps and Clickstream Analysis: Some tools offer heatmaps and clickstream analysis, visualizing user interactions and highlighting areas of interest or concern.
• User Surveys and Feedback: Usability testing tools often include features to collect user feedback through surveys, questionnaires, and interviews, providing valuable insights for improvements.
• Task Completion Metrics: These tools measure task completion rates, time taken, and success rates, helping identify usability issues and areas for improvement.
• Collaboration and Annotation: Usability testing tools facilitate collaboration among team members, allowing researchers, designers, and stakeholders to share findings, annotations, and comments.
• Iterative Design Improvements: By using these tools, teams can iterate on designs based on user feedback. This ensures the final product meets user expectations.
• Time and Cost Savings: These tools help identify and address usability issues early in the development cycle. This reduces the need for extensive rework and saves time and resources.
• Enhanced User Satisfaction: By uncovering and addressing usability issues, these tools contribute to creating a more intuitive and seamless user experience. This leads to higher user satisfaction.

Why are Usability Testing Tools Helpful for High-Converting Websites?

Usability testing tools are pivotal in enhancing website performance and conversion rates by providing valuable insights into user interactions and experiences. High-converting websites prioritize usability to ensure a seamless and satisfying user journey, and these tools contribute significantly to achieving that goal.

There are multiple ways these tools help businesses. It starts with identifying and rectifying potential usability issues, facilitating quantitative and qualitative data regarding user behavior, and understanding user preferences and expectations. All of this comes without having to make notes manually and passing them to the next person/team in charge. Expand on these fronts further to receive the best results for the websites using the right user experience testing tools.

Important Questions to Ask Before Choosing Usability Tools

When you know that a user testing platform will impact your business tenfold, you just don’t pick any and move on. You spend time choosing the one tool that fits right with your business. Ask these questions to make the selection process easy for yourself:

• What are Your Objectives?

Clearly define your usability testing objectives. Whether it’s improving navigation, optimizing conversion rates, or enhancing overall user experience, knowing your goals will help you choose tools that align with your specific requirements. 

Also, pay attention to the testing you need to run. If remote usability testing, A/B testing, heatmaps, or session recordings are some of your testing requirements, select the software for usability testing that consists of these features.

• What is Your Budget?

The right budget can make or break your tool selection process. If not taken seriously, you can miss out on the perfect UX testing tools for your business and not get the results even after considering the other important selection factors. Thus, assess the cost structure of the usability tools, including any subscription fees, licensing costs, or additional charges for advanced features, and determine whether the tool aligns with your allocated budget. Check here – UI/UX Testing

Additionally, consider the potential return on investment in terms of improved user experience, increased conversions, and user satisfaction

• How Much Data is the Tool Gathering and Managing?

For some businesses, executing a few usability tests is sufficient. However, the same might not be the case for a high-end website/business. If this is the case, choose a tool that efficiently collects and manages your data in whatever capacity, to support your requirements.

• What is the Level of Customization?

This may not be for everyone and gets overlooked for that very reason. Assess the level of customization the tool offers. Your website or application may have unique features that require tailored testing scenarios. Look for tools that allow you to customize test parameters to meet your specific needs.

• How User-Friendly is the Tool?

While focusing on the UX of your website, don’t forget that the user testing platform should also be user-friendly for your teams. Evaluate the usability of the usability tool. 

An intuitive and easy-to-use tool will streamline the testing process, whereas a complex one may pose a learning curve that affects the efficiency of testing.

Check here – Usability Testing vs User Acceptance Testing

How to Choose a Usability Testing Tool That’s Right for You?

Selecting the right usability testing tool is crucial for businesses aiming to enhance the user experience of their digital products. With a wide array of options available, it’s essential to consider certain factors before making a decision. By carefully evaluating your requirements and aligning them with the features and capabilities of the available tools, you can ensure that you choose a usability testing tool that best fits your specific needs.

Key Considerations for Choosing the Right Usability Testing Tool

1. Test Methodology: Determine the type of usability testing you need, such as remote testing, moderated or unmoderated testing, session recordings, or task-based testing. Assess if the tool offers the desired testing methodologies to match your testing objectives.
2. User Recruitment: Consider the tool’s participant recruitment options. Does it provide access to a diverse pool of participants? Can you specify your target audience for testing? Evaluate if the tool offers suitable participant recruitment capabilities.
3. Reporting and Analytics: Examine the reporting and analytics features of the tool. Does it provide detailed and customizable reports? Can it generate quantitative metrics and qualitative insights? Ensure that the tool offers the necessary reporting functionalities to analyze and interpret test results effectively.
4. Integration and Compatibility: Check if the usability testing tool integrates smoothly with your existing tech stack. Assess its compatibility with your preferred design tools, prototyping software, or development frameworks. Seamless integration ensures a streamlined workflow and efficient collaboration.
5. Cost and Scalability: Evaluate the pricing plans and scalability options offered by the tool. Consider your budgetary constraints and growth plans. Choose a tool that offers a flexible pricing structure and scalability to accommodate your evolving usability testing needs.
6. Support and Training: Consider the level of support and training provided by the tool’s vendor. Is there a dedicated support team available? Are there resources, documentation, or training materials to help you get started and make the most of the tool’s features?

By carefully evaluating these key factors and considering your specific requirements, you can make an informed decision while selecting a usability testing tool that aligns with your goals and helps you achieve better user experiences.

Above considerations were for tools for enabling usability testing. But you also need tools to automate the usability tests for your software. These are the tests that come up during the usability testing. For this you would need a test automation tool that works well for your project and your team. Above, we also talked about such a tool – Testsigma.

Conclusion

In conclusion, choosing the right usability testing tool is essential for businesses aiming to create exceptional user experiences. The ever-evolving landscape of digital products demands efficient testing processes that can uncover valuable insights and drive meaningful optimizations. Throughout this article, we explored the top 20 usability testing tools that can significantly enhance your UX initiatives.

These tools offer a range of features and capabilities to cater to diverse testing needs. From Testsigma’s automation prowess to Lookback’s real-time user interactions and Maze’s continuous product discovery, each tool brings its unique strengths to the table.

In the end, it’s crucial to remember that the choice of usability testing tool depends on your unique use cases, objectives, and budget. So, take the time to explore these top tools, evaluate their features, and consider how they align with your specific needs. With the right usability testing tool in your arsenal, you can unlock the potential for remarkable user experiences and stay ahead in today’s competitive digital landscape.