For a website to be successful, it must be usable by its users. Users’ goals are to accomplish tasks with little or no difficulty.
Usability testing enables web developers to understand audience needs and in return, produce stronger and more effective sites.
I was curious to see what tools are available for usability testing. I explored, read, and in some cases tested a few tools web designers are using.
Some tools available are:
- Usertesting – At Usertesting.com the purchaser can select their target audience by gender, age, country, income, and web expertise. Purchaser can define where their testers should begin, the test scenario, fill-in tasks to be completed, and design post-test questions. Results can be delivered in a written summary describing what testers found and/or a video of tester speaking thoughts as they use a website.Other usability testing sites are Uegroup and Feedbackarmy.
- Usabilla – Usabilla sets up tests and recruits users for testing. Usabilla recommends testing at any stage. This service would be good for testing new designs or layouts.
- Fivesecondtest.com – Fivesecondtest is just that – 5 seconds to view and evaluate. They provide user feedback results guided by first impressions of a website. Fivesecondtest is good for brand/logo testing and user first impressions. A plus of this site, is they have a free public community service, other options are tiered pricing.
- Silverback – Silverback provides a software that captures both video and screen of website users during usability testing. The drawback is all analysis of data must be done in-house.
All services claim the usability feedback will provide at minimum double return on investment.
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