Perception regarding the usability testing prevails that says it’s not only time consuming but also expensive. If you are looking for usability testing, it can be said that it is definitely not much expensive as predicted. To help you achieve the best results, there are multiple online tools on which you can be sure that you will get to witness different aspects of the website in the multiple ways. They don’t do the same thing – be rest assured.
Here are five of the best tools that are well known and can also help you get the most out of your user testing without you actually having to invest in the larger budgets.
Userfly
It is a usability tool that is based on the browser. After you have signed up, it becomes easy to set it up and run it. You will be able to track what and how exactly your users have browsed. What they have clicked and how they can finally browse on your website. Since all of this can be accessed from your own browser, there is really no requirement for signing up with software and the good thing is that you can access it from just anywhere.
Advantages: There are several advantages but to mention the highlights, we would say that this is easy to set up, encourages free test recordings, is extremely cheap and offers immediate results which should be taken as a good thing. However, it does not really work with the AJAX interactions.
Usertesting.com
They ensure that they are paying the users for performing the tests and then the results are passed on. You are also able to select target audience by actually selecting the age, country, gender as well as the annual income of the household. This also includes the expertise with the web and the computers. After you have completed the test, you get to see the complete video of the user screen along with your audio recording and this is possible within an hour. Testers offer the running commentary along with the performance of the test which would further allow you to hear what is actually going into their mind.
Advantages: It is quite thorough, no set up is required beyond the sign up. It can be used for testing just any website and not just the one that belongs to you. If you are looking to test the large and the most complex sites, this is just beyond perfection and much suitable. However, one of the major concerns or rather the disadvantage with this one is that it is not possible to create your own set of questions for the purpose of feedback.
Crazy egg
This is one solution that has a focus on the single pages rather than on the whole website. The overlay in this one focuses on the frequency of the links that have been clicked. It can be said that this is going to offer a more accurate visualisation. Areas in which the users have clicked are the easiest to spot with this one. For better details, you need to ensure that you are visiting for a quick demo.
Advantages: One of the most attractive advantages with this one is that it is easy to install. However, it should be kept in mind that this one is available with limited set of features and the fact that it can test not more than single page in one time may not sound very convincing.
Open Hallway
With this one, you get the feedback in the form of audio and video recordings. However, one point that should be noted here is that you will be required to source the testers for yourself. Once the test has been performed, you are going to receive link relating to the instructions. When someone is able to fulfil the test, you will be able to view their full screen video along with the audio recording and not just the browser.
Advantages: It can be used for testing just any website which is a good thing and the full screen along with the voice of the user is properly recorded. It can also be used for testing the desktop applications along with the websites. However, the disadvantage can be that you will be required for testing your own tester and the tests may also be limited to some 10 minutes.
So go ahead and explore. Make sure that you don’t settle for just one! See what works the best for you according to your requirements.
