Free Tools for UX Research to Help with the 4 Parts of Research
Here are some free tools for ux research to get your start on perfecting and updating your work. Since statistics say that every $1 invested in UX implementation results in a return of $100 in profits, adding UX can be the best choice for improving your service, product, or company.
User experience (UX) is the methodology of creating and adapting products, services, etc. focused on making the user’s trek when using the easiest and most enjoyable it can be. This is mainly done through user experience research, trial and error, and comments from consumers. User experience research searches for pain points (problems) and opportunities for improvement, development, or expansion of services, tools/apps, and products.
This article lists free tools for ux research for:
- Getting an starting idea of what to expect
- Researching or getting actual data
- Organizing the data and information
- Presenting the data
1. Start: Make a hypothesis and set expectations.
The scientific method starts with making a hypothesis before experimenting or researching. I advise following this part of the method since it helps get to the heart of what you are researching or what exactly you want to know. It will also help narrow down what type of users you want info about.
One of the best ways to start is to make a user persona to stand in for a main group of your users or, at least, the ideal customer that you can easily and naturally picture going through the process you want to research. A user persona represents a group within the target audience that a company/individual is trying to attract. Many personas are based on assumptions and are stereotypical.
Starting with a persona will help you get an idea of what users may want and need and how much they can afford. Try to base your persona on real data if possible; sites like data.gov, datahub.io, and WHO are a good place to find basic statistics on demographics.
After making a persona, make a Journey map for the process of using the tool, product, or service that you want information on. This should include the main steps for completing the process and expected pain points in it.
Use tools such as UXPressia’s software and Extensio’s templates to make the persona and journey map look as polished as possible. You can use other design software like MS Paint, PowerPoint, etc., but make sure that the persona and journey map can be changed and updated after you get real data on the process.
2. Research: Getting real data!
Initial impression
Getting the first impression just right can be both the most important thing you do and one of the hardest. Find out what impression someone gets from a website by using UsabilityHub’s free two minute test for a page’s or entire website’s first impression.
Usability Test
One of the best free tools for ux research is the usability test. This is just watching a user go through the process and hearing their thinking process as they do so. Software like CamStudio will help record the test while Chalkmark has a free version that will run and tell you where users are clicking or getting stuck on a website.
You could also use a video-conference software that records meetings like Zoom, Teams, Skype, etc. with a way to take notes like Evernote, Google Docs or Word if you have it to watch a user go through a series of tasks.
Survey
Another among the free tools for ux research is to conduct a survey among users. Make sure to make the survey on the short side and easy to fill out to make people willing to fill it out. Surveys that are longer, more detailed, and require critical thinking on the user’s part should have a reward for filling them out like a discount, coupon, or free item or demo. You can make a basic survey using:
- Google Forms,
- Survey Monkey,
- SurveyGizmo,
- Survicate, and
- SurveyAnyPlace (this one is mobile focused).
A/B Testing
Lastly, one of the most common free tools for UX research is A/B testing. This is basically a test to see which of two versions of something users like and/or use more, A or B. You can do this passively by using one version for a set amount of time and then switching to the other version to see which version works better.
3. Organize: What did you learn?
You have data now, but what goes with what? You found an unexpected pain point; where do you put it. Before you think about displaying what you found, make sure that you have your data organized so details are easy to find and judge.
Use Google Spreadsheet or Excel if you have it to line up information or crunch numbers to find averages. Products like Trello, Microsoft Teams, and Slack are great to get everyone on the same page and get all the information to one person or the whole group. (I recommend you do this when you have multiple people running different tests or different versions of tests; you never know what test will get you the best data.)
At this point you may need to convert file formats to be able to show it. Cloud Convert will convert most file formats for free, but it may take a while (particularly for pictures and videos) so be sure to alot time to it to do this.
4. Present: Make the data clear and fun to read!
Now you need to display and explain your findings for others or yourself later. Make the main ideas easy to find and the details clear. Graphs and simple numbers for statistics are a good way to do this.
Make a presentation using Canva, Google Slides, or PowerPoint if you have it to display and explain your findings. If you need photos for your presentation, you can find many generic ones on Pixabey. For complex topics, use Coggle to build a large graph to show how topics are connected.
Also, don’t forget to update personas and journey maps to real life data! You could even show before and after personas or journey maps to highlight unexpected data or other information.
Summary
User experience research searches for pain points (problems) and opportunities for improvement, development, or expansion of services, tools/apps, and products.
This article lists free tools for ux research for:
- Getting an starting idea of what to expect
- Researching or getting actual data
- Organizing the data and information
- Presenting the data
