Important Tools for your User Experience (UX) Research

The following tools are very useful for your User Experience (UX) Research

Heatmap software. This is a tool that shows researchers where the users move around the website with their mouse and where they hover their mouse and for how long. It gives the researchers an indication of where the appeal for most users comes from and what are elements of the page the users are more interested in. The following image is an example of heatmap software used on the Scales4research.com website. The Blue dots provide an indication of where the appeal for most users comes from and what are elements of the page the users are more interested in.

Heat Map Example

Usability testing. This is when the researcher and the users are together while the users use the website, and the user will test the UX and will let the researcher know of any improvements needed and what are the strengths and weaknesses of the UX, and what can be improved.
Eyeball tracking. This is when the users’ eyes are tracked to see where they are looking on the screen. It lets the researcher know what more appealing aspects of the page are and what users are more attracted to.
Split A/B testing. This is useful when two different versions of the same webpage are running simultaneously to see which one is the better performer and is more suitable for the UX.
Web analytics. This is used across all websites to provide detailed numbers of visitors to the site and how long they spent on it and how they got there and where.