Usability testing is an evaluation of a product’s usability or an assessment of the intuitiveness of a design. It’s important to perform usability testing to ensure users of websites and mobile apps have a great experience.
Many usability testing tools are out there, so choosing the right one can be a challenge. But several of them stand out as strong tools for testing the usability of websites and apps.
Hotjar.com
Hotjar started out in 2014 as a self-funded, fully distributed company “dedicated to helping people make websites their users love.” Heat maps are among Hotjar’s tools, and the company says they can “show you where users move, click and scroll, so you can remove friction and convert with confidence.” Hotjar’s heat maps use “rage clicks maps” to show where users get frustrated. Hotjar also uses recordings to find issues “hiding in plain sight.”
UsabilityHub
UsabilityHub is a remote user research platform that promises to take the guesswork out of design decisions. It does that by validating those decisions with real users. The company describes its services as “your user research Swiss Army knife,” and those services include first click tests, survey tests, preference tests and five-second tests, which assess comprehensibility by measuring first impressions.
Large-scale A/B and multivariate testing: VWO
Businesses use provider VWO to analyze, optimize and personalize their websites, apps and features. At VWO, enterprises can decode their customers’ evolving behaviors, fine-tune with A/B testing and personalize experiences. One of the services the company offers is to enable its customers to “experiment,” or to “test anything across your digital properties.” Businesses can integrate their customer data to run targeted experiments that align with their unique business goals.
Small-scale testing: usertesting.com and userbrain.com
User Testing promises to help businesses “understand what it’s like to be your customer.” The company captures perspectives “with the broadest set of test methodologies.” It uses AI and machine-learning assisted analytics to identify insights.
With Userbrain, businesses can tap into a pool of more than 100,000 quality-assured testers and screen them for prior experiences, habits or preferences. Then in just a few hours, companies can view videos of real people interacting with their digital products.
In-person or remote usability testing
Companies can also use a manual method for usability testing, or observe users in person or remotely. Companies can conduct remote usability tests over the internet or by phone. In-person testing takes place just as the name suggests: It is completed in the physical presence of a researcher or moderator.
In-person tests can yield more data compared to remote tests because in-person researchers can observe and analyze body language and facial expressions. In-person testing also tends to be more expensive and time-consuming, as researchers might have to find a suitable space, come up with a specific date, and recruit and pay participants.
Remote testing allows testing of more people in different geographical areas using fewer resources, but it typically can’t go as deep into a participant’s reasoning.
People might be familiar with the acronym ABT, which stands for “Always Be Testing.” Companies should perform usability testing regularly, especially during different phases of development — and Brandon can help. Contact us today. We can help make your website or mobile app more friendly to users … and help your brand and business grow.