People like to walk on paths. They don’t like to wade through mud to get where they are going. Navigating a website should offer an easy-to-find path.
Each of the following 11 tools are an affordable way for you to test your website paths and determine if customers and prospects are having a nice, relaxing stroll through your site or if they are wading through the mud. These tools should help you improve your website traffic and click-through-to-sales conversion rates, too.
With Feedback Army, you can start a usability test in less than two minutes. You’ll get 10 responses about your site, often within a few hours. Built on Amazon Mechanical Turk. I’ve not found an easier or more affordable way to do a quick site test. $15 flat fee.
This program allows you to earn points by participating and then use those points to do testing of your own. Otherwise, starts at $20/mo.
3. Uservoice
Uservoice does feedback for your site and also offers a neat helpdesk component to manage a technical support desk. Pricing starts at $19/mo for feedback and some full service options.
4. Usertesting
The big difference with this site is that they give you feedback in video form with a person explaining what was found. You also get a direct, cut-to-the-chase written report. Starts at $39.
5. Userfly
Provides a free plan that lets you take the system for a real test drive. You see videos of real users navigating your site, every click, every mouse movement. Great customer testimonials and endorsements. Paid plans start at $10/mo.
This program has a unique payment model—pay per image. They assume you know what you want to test and so have a low-cost attention analysis approach. Offers an easy way to test an ad or a particular section of your site. Pricing starts at $25, which is $5 for 5 images.
7. Crazyegg
This is one of the best known services in the usability space. Their eye-tracking heatmaps show you where your visitors are looking, then clicking. It's sophisticated and plans start at $9/mo.
8. Clicktale
Clicktale offers a limited free plan, then jumps to $99/mo, but don’t rule them out yet just because of a slightly higher fee. They offer a very sophisticated tool set and it might be a perfect fit for a complex e-store and e-mail efforts.
9. Gazehawk
This program offers another eyetracking, heatmap technology. It keeps track of where your users look on your website which allows you to test landing pages, registration/checkout flows, homepages. Starts at $495 for a 10-participant study.
10. Unbounce
Unbounce is unique in that it lets you create and publish an actual landing page with its service. You are then able to optimize and test those landing pages. They offer a free plan, then start at $25/mo.
11. Optimizely
If you’ve ever used Google Website Optimizer, think of this as its older and wiser sibling. It allows users to improve their website through A/B testing. Easy to use. Starts at $19. Think of it as a more sophisticated Google Website Optimizer.
With inexpensive tools like these, you can test almost every aspect of a customer’s experience on your website. I’ve used several of these and will continue to leverage them. You need every advantage in keeping a customer’s attention in today’s hyper-connected busy world. Start testing today and start attracting more visitors, more sales, and greater profits!