As one of the core metrics for digital product success, usability has to be an object of careful testing. Here I want to share my experience in software helpful for that.

There are various tools that I use. Some of my preferences changed over the years.

I have no affiliation with any of these tools.

Moderated Usability Testing

I’ve learned that Skype works best. Everybody has Skype, so you can go straight to the testing your UX (rather than testing the screen sharing tool, which is often horrible, take Zoom).

I also use Ecamm Call Recorder. Hint: your participant has to switch off the video to start capturing the shared screen.

This thing grabs the image, then saves it in mp4 format, well compressed. If you know anything that can grab both the screen and the participant’s face, please let me know in the comments.

Non-Moderated Usability Testing

I used to use UserTesting at ~$45 per test, but they’ve got expensive since.

UserTest.io is the same but $23 per test, participants included. This is how it looks:

Card Sorting

I used to use Optimal Workshop in the past, but it’s expensive now (I wonder if they improved anything over the years).

I had to look for a replacement and here’s my article on Card Sorting in 2018. Long story short, Usabilititest is ok (no misspelling).

It looks somewhat old, and it has its own problems. I had to hack it with Google Spreadsheets, so read my story before subscribing.

Recruiting

I used to use ethn.io. It’s kind of Intercom plugin with a sole purpose of recruiting the users. If you have a popular website and don’t mind users who are exposed to your software, it’s good.

Recently, I switched to Upwork. Here’s an example of my job posting.

I pay the regular hourly rate, usually for one hour.

Finally, I like Vyte (here’s my calendar) for scheduling.

Other Tools

Although I checked (at least to the point of prohibitive pricing) most analytics platforms, A/B testing, and heatmaps, I don’t use them anymore. It’s a good topic for another post though.

About the author: Ivan Braun, UX designer, founder of Icons8
Title photo by Moose

Check the definition of usability, read the case study on card sorting and review the most hated UX patterns.