If you are an experienced web designer or developer then I am sure that you understand that creating an eye catching website with a stunning design is the easy part of the job.
Making it user friendly is the part that will really test your skills. If you create a website that looks awesome but has poor usability then mark my words, that specific client is not coming back to you for services ever again. Usability testing becomes even more important when it comes to the big projects where you are working along with several other designers and developers. In such a case it will be important for the designer to communicate with not only the usability tester but also with the other people who are involved in the project. This can help you to detect issues faster and also to avoid them.
For personal websites or blogs usability testing is often not considered as important. Such an analysis is only done when a specific blog post or a poll is not getting any feedback from the clients.
There are a number of tools available online that can check for the sections of the website that needs relocation or improvement. Today we will be sharing some of these tools with you and we hope you will find them helpful.
Website Optimizer
It is a free tool from Google that can test and optimize your website for you and as a result increases the value of your current website and also the traffic coming to it. And the great thing about Website Optimizer is that it is completely free. With this tool you can easily increase your revenue and ROI and you don’t need to be a marketing expert to use it.
Userfly
This is another usability testing tool that is easy to install and use. You will have to copy a little of the JavaScript and place it into your website and then you can track the user’s activity from mouse movements to clicks and keystrokes, of course you will not be able to get the password entries. It also plays the user’s session back to you exactly the way it happened across the entire website. The service is free for the first 10 captures but you will have to pay for any extra ones. The basic plan allows 100 captures for a cost of $10.
Attention Wizard
This is a great tool for web designers and marketers who want to validate their designs before making them live. You will also get valuable information that will help you in optimizing the colors, images, branding, layout and buttons on your landing pages before you put them online.
Concept Feedback
What is the better way of making your website more usable than by asking the experts to test its usability for you. With Concept Feedback you can ask certified experts in design and usability to provide their analysis and recommendations for your website.
Five Second Test
This is a free usability testing tool with three different ways of testing. The Classic test shows the screenshot of your website and then hides it and asks the users to recall the elements that they remember. The Compare test shows two screenshots to the users and asks them which one do they prefer. The last way called the sentiment test shows one page and asks the users to pick their most and least favourite elements. The users have five seconds to provide the feedback after seeing the question.
4Q Survey
This free online survey tool allows you to find out just why the visitors are at your website and whether they are completing their tasks like filling out and submitting forms or not. It will also give you an idea of just why your website is not converting.
Clickdensity
Clickdensity is a usability testing tool that will record the position of every click on a page that will create a virtual heat map of visitor activity.
Silverback
Sliverback is for the Mac users and is an easy and cheap way to perform usability test. You will not require any setup and it is totally free, a great choice if you are testing your personal website or small blog.
Usabilla
As they say, Usabilla helps you to learn more about your customers not only through the data but also by providing valuable insights into their behaviour. It offers a fast way to collect visual feedback on webpages, mock-ups or any other images.
Loop11
It is a remote usability tool for usability professional to test the user experience of any website.
