User testing can be an invaluable part of any UX design project, as it helps ensure your design will be practical and user-friendly. User testing involves evaluating a product or service by trying it out with real clients. It allows you to gather feedback about the usability of your product and helps you improve the user experience. 

The goal of usability testing is to identify any problems that users may have for fixing before the product is released. However, there are many different types of user testing, each with its strengths and weaknesses depending on the project. 

Knowing which tools to use and when will make all the difference in the success of your UX design. Today, we highlight the eight best user testing tools you can incorporate into your design process.

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The most common user testing methods 

You can accomplish user testing in various ways. Here are the standard methods: 

First click testing 

A first-click test involves assessing how quickly test participants can figure out your interface and what parts of the interface seem confusing to them. First click testing is a way of evaluating the comprehensibility of the app and the relatedness of the elements of the app.

Five-second test 

The five-second test allows you to test how easily users can understand your design. To do this, you show your design to a user for five seconds and then ask them questions about what they saw. The five-second test is a great way to get quick feedback on your design.

A/B testing 

A/B testing compares two web page versions to see which one performs better. It is an essential tool for any UX designer, as it allows you to test different design elements and see which ones impact users most.

User survey

The user survey helps collect feedback and quantifies the information based on what the user does and how they feel, but not on the circumstances.

Navigation test

Users navigate your website or application to perform a task in a navigation test. This user testing method helps record user actions to understand how users navigate the interface.

8 best usability testing tools for your successful UX design project

Usability testing is one of the best ways to ensure your UX design works when launching your app, website, or product. Here are some of the best usability testing tools to help you conduct thorough and efficient tests.

VWO

VWO is the world’s leading website testing and conversion optimization platform, mainly used by growing businesses to deliver an authentic experience across various devices and screen sizes. Thousands of world-leading enterprise brands, such as Samsung, Toyota, and others, rely on VWO for running and scaling their digital experiments.

VWO is your go-to place to plan a website’s future and determine how best to improve its performance. The platform aids in gathering user insights, prioritizing hypotheses, designing a roadmap, conducting tests, and analyzing results.

The platform allows you to request pricing for growth, pro, or enterprise plans.

Pros

  • The platform guarantees 100% uptime for customer satisfaction. 
  • VWO has a thoughtful design to provide a quick, painless experience.

Cons

  • The platform depends on many visitors for results, which is time-consuming.

Applause

Applause is the world leader in testing and digital quality. Applause provides authentic feedback on the quality of digital assets and user experience. The Applause platform connects more than one million digital experts worldwide. 

The platform’s testing methods, including lab-based testing and offshoring, respond with the speed, scale, and flexibility that digital-focused brands demand and expect. 

Applause only provides individualized plans for its customers.

Pros

  • Applause enables development teams to build better and test faster. 
  • Over 3,000 brands rely on Applause, making it a credible platform.

Cons

  • Services provided by Applause are expensive.

UserTesting

UserTesting is a quick and easy video-first understanding of why target audiences behave in specific ways and their experiences. UserTesting helps you understand the pain points of your customer experience and ways to improve your product. The platform ranks best in User Research, Software Testing, and Consumer Video Feedback.

UserTesting provides customized plans at individual and enterprise levels. The platform also provides a free trial at the enterprise level.

Pros

  • Video test recordings run automatically, and you can add them to your slideshows.
  • UserTesting allows you to choose your target users and get quick feedback.

Cons

  • A per-test pricing option is unavailable, affecting those who need to run usability tests infrequently.

Optimizely

The Optimizely platform is a leading digital experience optimization technology provider, offering a complete set of AI-driven personalization and experimentation tools, including A/B testing, multivariate testing, and server-side testing. Optimize customer experiences such as format and messaging, which provides a data-driven approach to preferences.

Using Optimizely web experimentation, more than one million experiments reveal what works and does not, eliminating guesswork. Numerous brands rely on Optimizely, including Gap and IBM.

The platform provides users with custom plans.

Pros

  • Optimizely is a very practical, functional, and flexible tool.
  • Excellent for A/B testing and site personalization.

Cons

  • The platform might be costly for some users compared to other user testing tools.

UserZoom

The user-friendly UserZoom platform streamlines the research process and helps you produce high-quality research fast, consistently, and at scale for all stages of product development.

With UserZoom, you can demonstrate the real-world impact of UX on your company’s goals and create better experiences for your customers.

UserZoom’s UX research capabilities, click testing, and usability testing features allow you to reveal which factors matter most to your customers.

Pricing varies based on the features you receive from UserZoom.

Pros

  • UserZoom covers quantitative and qualitative remote research methodologies.
  • The platform provides various test features, including card sorting and surveys.

Cons

  • An absolute beginner will find the tool hard to use.

UsabilityHub

UsabilityHub is a product development tool that helps you validate your designs and product concepts with real users by creating intuitive interfaces, interaction flows, and more. Design validation helps your customers have a wonderful experience using your products.

UsabilityHub uses usability tests, including first-click, navigation, and design surveys. These tests optimize landing pages, marketing campaigns, and new product launches.

The platform offers a free plan for free standard tests, an essential subscription at $79 per month, a pro plan at $199 per month, and an enterprise plan through bespoke pricing.

Pros

  • UsabilityHub provides an affordable way to generate qualitative feedback.
  • The platform’s website navigation is excellent.

Cons

  • The platform does not offer audio or visual feedback representation.

Loop11

Loop11 is a UX research and testing platform that provides you with research and ideas that help improve your digital user experience. The platform lets you quickly and effortlessly set up and conduct a test on any website to gain insights through metrics like task completion rate, heatmaps, and clickstream analysis.

Loop11 makes it simple to get user input for insights for user researchers, UX designers, and product managers to build products your customers will love.

Pricing comprises three plans. Rapid Insights costs $199 billed monthly or $179 per month billed annually. Pro costs $399 billed monthly and $358 billed monthly per year. Enterprise goes for $599 billed per month and $533 per month billed annually.

All plans have a 14-day free trial.

Pros

  • An unlimited number of users can take surveys and complete them at their own pace.
  • A wider audience can use it as it runs on all internet-capable devices.

Cons

  • The platform is daunting to navigate for new users.

Lookback

Lookback lets you interact with customers through features like LiveShare, which allows you to have virtual meetings with other users worldwide.

Additionally, Lookback lets you bring colleagues in to watch your session, test your prototypes, broadcast research, and collect recordings with just one click. The platform allows you to observe your audience’s faces, voices, and mannerisms when using your product. 

Lookback offers three annual subscription plans with a 60-day free trial. Freelance, Team, and Insights Hub cost $17, $99, and $229 per month, respectively, billed annually. 

Pros

  • A lookback is an excellent tool for getting the entire crew onboarded on the user side.
  • The user testing platform is cost-effective for small teams.

Cons

  • The majority of users experience technical difficulties.

The benefits of usability testing 

User testing helps identify issues early in the design process before they become expensive problems. You can also find out how easy or difficult it is for users to use your product and what areas need improvement. 

Usability testing also helps build user confidence in the product. Users are more likely to use and recommend the product when their feedback gets considered. It saves money by preventing the need for redesigns further down the line.

Usability testing also allows you to test with real people, which will give you far better insights than any form of focus group testing.

Wrapping up

To create a successful UX design project, you need to put in the effort to test and iterate your design through usability testing. Pick the best tool for you, depending on your specific project needs.