USABILITY TESTING TOOLS

. UserTesting.com

UserTesting.com gives video recordings, which show people who use your website. This tool is used by such huge corporations as Dell, the Walt Disney Company, Sony and others. You can provide users with info about the website; give them some questionnaire or tasks. A special set of filters will help users in choosing your target group, including age, gender, country, family income and technology. Normally prices start from 39$ for every user, but bulk orders cause fall in prices. At first sight the prices seem to be expensive, but when you are about to run and just need the real video of testers, who use your product, then you realize that the price is worth it.

2. Feedback Army

Feedback Army is another kind of testing web site and has shown really great results. This user site can charge a flat 15$ for 10 commentators to reply about 5 questions on the given URL. As opposed to UserTesting.com, here you don’t have an opportunity to choose demographical characteristics of the audience and can’t get back the video. You can only get answers to your questionnaire. If you are searching for a fast and dirty usability testing tools, we recommend you to use this tool.

3. UserFly

With the help of UserFly you can make a recording of everything the user does on your site: how he scrolls pages, types; you are even able to play again the same session the user had on your website to examine their exact actions and reasons for doing it in details. The only thing you need to do is to paste a line of Java Script to the page header, the rest is the responsibility (troubles) of Userfly. You need just enter the system and check over a replay. You are also offered a free plan, which gives you a chance to test their services with 10 recordings per month.

4. Concept Feedback

Concept Feedback is the tool which helps you to receive immediate feedback on sites, mockups or wireframes from experts in hand-selected industry. Concept Feedback makes possible to present your site/design to a society (society is free), individual or professional group of reviewers, who will give you their opinions and advices on your website and its structure. Pricing differs depending on the level of services: premium services, such as private feedback plan, start from $10/mo, when 3 professional reviews cost 100$.

5. ClickTale

Principe of ClickTale is rather like UserFly. ClickTale gives you an opportunity to review all actions of the users made on your home page. They’ve got an impressive list of corporate users and their pricing policy shows that their target is larger companies. Though, they do not provide a free plan for 400 recordings of page views a month (the price of the next one is $99/mo). Such free plan provides only the first two page views of the user.

6. Clixpy

Clixpy is one more accessible tool that records mouse movements and operations of the user by launching JavaScript file in the header. Services of Clixpy are even cheaper than UserFly: they provide certain number of recordings paid via PayPal (100 recordings cost 5$), including 10 recordings to test their quality of service.

7. CrazyEgg

CrazyEgg is one of really well-known services, which allows you to keep track of where users click using heat maps. As the online demonstration shows, CrazyEgg also gives you a valuable info about user on every link. Pricing starts from $9/mo, including 10 thousand hits over 10 pages, and this is quite reasonable price for the usability data you can get from this kind of tool.

8. Feng-Gui

Feng-Gui differs from the tools described above as it doesn’t use real people. Feng-Gui imitates individual vision for the first 5 seconds of appearance to visuals, and develops heat maps on the basis of an ALG that foretells probable behavior and actions of a real person. But you need to be aware of the fact that Feng-Gui only studying images/screenshots of web pages; it charges per image to study and develop heat map. You need to pay 25$ for 5 images and this is the cheapest service. But nevertheless you can test their services with not big images.

9. FiveSecondTest

Principle of FiveSecondTest is in its name: it allows users to see a screenshot of the site or mockup for only 5 seconds and then users are provided with some questionnaire. This is made to reproduce how much time the real users spend gauging a web site and whether they will leave or stay. Even if you can’t receive any info about the users who are performing your test, good news is that with FiveSecondTest you are earning credits by filling in tests for others, which is known as karma system. They provide you a plan at the price of 20$ per month for 100 responses (this is initial price).

10. Silverback

Silverback is a kind of OS X application which gives an opportunity to perform some easy tests for the users of the iMac or MacBook. The peculiarity of this program both in recording all actions performed on the screen by the users and faces of users, which serves as an extra key for examining behavior of the user. You are able to download a free trial for 30 days or purchase it for 70$.

To conclude, no matter if you’ve or haven’t already launched, usability testing can be really useful for improving your pages of product and sales, conversions will also go up. It takes not so much time, but the result is impressive! The usability testing tools presented above will make your business more successful.