Best User Research Tools
User research tools, also known as user experience testing software, allow organizations to create deeper empathy for their customers by understanding what they think, feel, say, and do at different points in the customer journey. These tools help an organization understand how (and why) users behave, make decisions, and interact with a brand by observing and interviewing people on digital platforms and/or in physical locations, using recorded video interviews, surveys, photos, and notes. Together, these insights can help organizations accelerate innovation, improve customer satisfaction, shape messaging, and design user experiences (UX) that are effective, easy, and enjoyable.
User research tools are leveraged by research teams, design teams, marketing teams, developers, and product managers. Participants can be intercepted in the moment or recruited through third-party panels and internal customer lists. Unlike in-person user research, which can be extremely expensive and take weeks due to recruiting and scheduling, modern user research software enables organizations to easily conduct entire studies and obtain results in as little as a few hours.
User research software is closely related to enterprise feedback management software, and products may integrate with or share features of tools in that category for gathering and analyzing customer insights. These tools may engage with users/visitors through features related to survey software, consumer video feedback software, and mobile marketing software. Information gathered from user research software may be utilized within customer journey analytics software.
To qualify for inclusion in the User Research category, a product must:
Best User Research Tools At A Glance
G2 takes pride in showing unbiased reviews on user satisfaction in our ratings and reports. We do not allow paid placements in any of our ratings, rankings, or reports. Learn about our scoring methodologies.
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
UserTesting helps organizations create insanely great customer experiences by scaling actionable human insights across teams. Combining the world’s best participant network, AI-powered analysis, and e
- UX Researcher
- Product Designer
- Computer Software
- Financial Services
- 41% Enterprise
- 38% Mid-Market
44,172 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Glassbox is the premier provider of AI-fueled customer intelligence solutions, working with the world’s smartest digital brands to revolutionize the way companies engage and connect with their custome
- Digital Analyst
- Product Manager
- Financial Services
- Insurance
- 77% Enterprise
- 18% Mid-Market
1,878 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
With User Interviews, it’s simple to run high-quality research with your target audience. Segment customers for outreach, or recruit from our panel of 5 million research participants. Target professio
- UX Researcher
- Project Manager
- Information Technology and Services
- Computer Software
- 60% Small-Business
- 23% Mid-Market
3,224 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Dscout is a qualitative remote research platform for unlocking in-context user insights. Hundreds of the world’s most innovative companies trust our suite of remote research tools to collect “in-the-m
- UX Researcher
- Senior UX Researcher
- Information Technology and Services
- Financial Services
- 60% Enterprise
- 24% Mid-Market
3,629 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Prolific is helping research teams build a better world with better data. Our platform makes it easy to access high-quality data from 200k+ diverse, vetted participants.
- Associate Professor
- Assistant Professor
- Higher Education
- Research
- 42% Enterprise
- 36% Small-Business
12,438 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Discuss stands as an all-in-one qualitative research platform, driving next-gen human centricity. We believe in the transformative impact of truly listening, understanding, and valuing customers' expe
- Project Manager
- Market Research
- Consumer Goods
- 45% Small-Business
- 30% Mid-Market
3,530 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
A real-time marketplace for sourcing and scheduling research interviews with anyone, anywhere in the world. A powerful way for conducting sales research, competitive research, identifying problems,
- Teacher
- Computer Software
- Information Technology and Services
- 64% Small-Business
- 22% Mid-Market
698 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Dovetail is an AI-first insights hub designed to help organizations centralize and transform scattered customer feedback into actionable insights. This innovative software solution streamlines the pro
- UX Researcher
- Product Designer
- Computer Software
- Information Technology and Services
- 47% Mid-Market
- 27% Small-Business
2,164 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Hi, hello, so nice to meet you. We're Marvin, the most-loved user research repository on G2! Looking for a more formal introduction? We can do that, too: HeyMarvin is a qualitative data analysi
- UX Researcher
- Computer Software
- Information Technology and Services
- 50% Mid-Market
- 34% Small-Business
309 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Rally UXR is a User Research CRM that enables Research and Product teams to recruit, manage and conduct research directly with their users.
- UX Researcher
- Computer Software
- Information Technology and Services
- 52% Enterprise
- 42% Mid-Market
117 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Sprig is an AI-powered product experience insights platform that captures and analyzes experience data from your product in real time. Next-gen companies like PayPal, Figma, and Dropbox rely on Sprig’
- UX Researcher
- Computer Software
- Information Technology and Services
- 54% Mid-Market
- 30% Enterprise
2,147 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Lyssna (formerly UsabilityHub) is a remote user research platform that allows companies to recruit, research, interview and understand their audiences so they can create better experiences. The best t
- UX Designer
- Information Technology and Services
- Marketing and Advertising
- 42% Small-Business
- 35% Mid-Market
4,547 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Wynter is an on-demand market research platform for B2B. Wynter tells you what your category buyers think, need, and want. Insights at a fraction of the speed of traditional market research. ⦿ B2B
- CEO
- Product Marketing Manager
- Computer Software
- Marketing and Advertising
- 51% Mid-Market
- 45% Small-Business
157 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Create polls to test your product designs, images and copy to find out which version your target market likes best. Whether you’re an Amazon seller, e-commerce store, mobile app developer, book autho
- Retail
- Consumer Goods
- 95% Small-Business
- 5% Mid-Market
2,881 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Suzy is an end-to-end consumer insights platform that integrates quant, qual, and high quality audiences into a single connected research cloud. Suzy’s suite of products allows you to conduct robust a
- Consumer Goods
- Marketing and Advertising
- 39% Mid-Market
- 34% Enterprise
14,127 Twitter followers
Learn More About User Research Tools
What are User Research Tools?
User research tools, also known as UX research software, are leveraged by businesses to gather feedback from customers on the overall user experience. User research is conducted for product prototypes, website usability testing and functionality, mobile app functionality, and other customer and user experiences. During these user feedback sessions, businesses gather key insights into where their product is performing well, where there are gaps, and areas for improvement.
UX research platforms can provide a few different research methods and feedback tools. Many solutions facilitate customer testing by providing access to a recruitment pool of candidates who are willing to test functionalities throughout the customer journey. Companies select the demographic criteria of the persons they would like to test their product. Test user candidates are selected by age, gender, geographic location, and other criteria. Once a test user candidate is chosen, companies select exactly what functions or features they want the user to test. This ranges from something as simple as how easy it is to check out an item on an online store to how a customer might feel about a new brand marketing campaign. During the research process, the respondent completes a screen-recorded session and provides real-time feedback to the business. User research software allows businesses to conduct these virtual focus groups and gather valuable user insights remotely. As an alternative to live sessions, many user research software solutions allow test users to complete the tasks on their own time and send the completed video recording on a deadline specified by the business sending out the test.
Instead of live or pre-recorded feedback sessions, some user research tools allow businesses to intercept active website visitors or app users to capture in-the-moment feedback about the customer journey. These products more commonly offer features for respondents to submit text-based feedback and screenshots when they encounter bugs within a product or areas of frustration.
What are the Common Features of User Research Tools?
User research tools offer a variety of features to help businesses select research participants, collect qualitative and quantitative data, and collaborate on research with different stakeholders within the organization.
Participant selection: UX research platforms offer varying methods for recruiting and selecting research participants. Some vendors have a proprietary database or recruitment pool of participants, while others provide features for intercepting users browsing a website or using a mobile application.
Usability tests: One of the core features of user research software is the ability to provide live video user testing. This feature allows the business and customer to connect over a live video stream and show the business in real time how the test user navigates a website. During the live session, test users ask the business questions that may help uncover more valuable insights for the business.
Video conferencing: User interviews are another core functionality for most user research tools. One-on-one video conferencing allows businesses to speak directly with participants and conduct more in-depth qualitative research.
Surveys: Text-based surveys or quizzes can be used to collect both qualitative and quantitative data related to user experiences. With surveys, users may be asked to rate certain features or provide feedback in an open text field.
Test plan: Businesses set a plan that they would like the test user to follow throughout the test. This is a set of tasks that a user must complete by the end of the test. This allows businesses to focus on the most relevant user feedback that they’re looking for.
Self tests: Self tests are a good option for users that feel more comfortable completing the tests on their own time and not on video. With self-tests, businesses send over a link to the test with instructions and a deadline, and then users complete the test at their comfort.
Mobile functionality: Testing mobile applications is equally as important as testing desktop functionality. For this reason, the user research software a company selects must support the types of mobile devices needed.
Notes and collaboration tools: Notes and tagging are both important features in user research software that allow users to collaborate with other stakeholders on a team. Within a recorded video, users tag teammates at relevant specified times. If it is a development issue, product managers may tag a developer, or if it’s a marketing issue, product managers can tag a marketing team member.
Other features of User Testing Software: In-App Capabilities, On-Site Capabilities, Photo Submission, Video Snippet Submission
What are the Benefits of User Research Tools?
User research platforms allow businesses to better understand how users experience the customer journey. This gives businesses a better context as to how they might improve website design, marketing and branding, and the overall product they’re offering.
Unbiased perspective: Most employees at a company understand the basic functionality and usability of their website. Since they use it every day, most functions are second nature to them and they understand how to navigate the site to find what they want. For this reason, a business’s employees are often not the most objective test subjects for understanding how a site or product can be more functional. The best test user is an unfamiliar, unbiased person who navigates a website for the very first time and provides a fresh take on what needs to be improved.
Save money: Live, in-person user testing costs businesses a great deal of money. User research solutions provide the same user feedback a company would garner from in-person testing but at a fraction of the cost since the tests are conducted virtually and are generally cheaper to carry out.
Who Uses User Research Tools?
User research tools are used by employees of any job function but is typically used by those who work on aspects involved with customer interaction. This software is used by product developers, front-end designers, marketers, executives, and more.
Product managers: Product managers are responsible for identifying customer needs and how their product offerings fulfill those needs through continuous improvement and excellent product functionality. As such product managers must gather user feedback as often as possible to identify gaps and areas for improvement.
UX designers: User experience designers are responsible for creating a seamless experience for customers when they interact with their brand and product. They heavily focus on the usability and design of a website, as well as mobile applications. For example, if a customer is looking to filter a product by color, or by price, the UX designer needs to understand how intuitive this filtering function is for the customer. User research tools provide these granular insights by allowing customers to rate UX design as they navigate the website in real time.
Marketers: Aside from the usability of a website, most sites are full of branded messages and other marketing efforts such as customer testimonials. Similar to how a UX designer or product manager would utilize user research software, marketers also test how customers perceive their messaging and brand. Additionally, test subjects provide feedback on email marketing campaigns and share insight as to how engaging and effective the messages are, as well as how likely the customer would be to enroll in a loyalty program. This feedback provides valuable customer insight into how marketers can improve their overall messaging and marketing campaigns for their target audience.
What are the Alternatives to User Research Tools?
Alternatives to user research tools can replace this type of software, either partially or completely:
Enterprise feedback management software: Enterprise feedback management software allows companies to create, distribute, and analyze customer surveys. While UX research platforms focus on collecting data for product development and user experience, enterprise feedback management tools are more commonly used to analyze customer experiences through text-based surveys and ratings like net promoter score (NPS). As such, these products are most often used by customer service and marketing departments.
Consumer video feedback software: Also known as video survey software, consumer video feedback software allows businesses to collect and analyze video feedback from their customers or outside audiences. These solutions focus on assisting businesses with qualitative research for branding, marketing, and product development. In addition to collecting video feedback, these products offer video analysis features such as transcription and sentiment analysis.
User research repositories software: User research repositories software provide product teams with a central hub for storing, analyzing, and collaborating on user research to aid product improvement. These solutions do not necessarily include capabilities for gathering user feedback. While many user research platforms provide features for storing and managing user feedback, some businesses may prefer to conduct user interviews and tests through other tools, and analyze their collected qualitative and quantitative data within a UX repository.
Software Related to User Research Tools
Related solutions that can be used together with user research software include:
Product analytics software: Companies that develop and sell digital products should use product analytics in addition to user research tools. Product analytics software tracks user interactions with a digital product, including visits, usage, events, and interactions. Many platforms also create heat maps to visualize where users are clicking, hovering, and scrolling on the page. These solutions allow product managers and developers to understand which features of a product are engaging users, and which features may cause paint points or lead to churn. Like user research software, product analytics can help a business improve the overall product experience.
A/B testing software: A/B testing, or split testing, is the process of deploying different versions of digital content in real time and tracking which version performs the best. Marketers and web developers use A/B testing software to test different types of content, such as images, calls to action, or text, and determine which content provides the best outcome. Like user research software, A/B testing offers the benefit of optimizing user experiences.
Prototyping software: Prototyping software is used to create incomplete or preliminary versions of software and applications. The prototype simulates the final product to test, documents errors and delivers feedback. This is a perfect integration for user research software since the two are both geared toward user feedback and testing. Once the two are integrated, a user may simply go into the prototype software and begin user tests through that platform. This makes it a one-stop-shop for gathering feedback on designs that are in the process of being launched.
Challenges with User Research Tools
When user research software is implemented for remote interviews or usability testing, technical difficulties and challenges with interpersonal communication are to be expected. Communicating with research participants and providing clear instructions prior to an interview can help alleviate these challenges. Businesses should also be aware of potential issues in selecting participants from a research panel.
Wrong test subjects: User research software generally acts not only as a software but also as a service platform that helps businesses identify the right test users for a particular test. Sometimes the user research database does not screen candidates to the highest level a business requires. To mitigate this issue, businesses should conduct their own screening of the test user candidate on top of the service provided through the user research software.
Professional testers: Sometimes the opposite of an under-qualified user may occur and businesses may run into “professional testers.” Businesses generally don’t want test users who are familiar with user tests because it does not give an accurate reflection of how a new user might interact with their website. To mitigate this issue, it is important for users to once again screen test user candidates
Which Companies Should Buy User Research Tools?
UX research benefits companies that create and sell products, whether they are digital or physical. Product design teams, UX designers, and marketers at these businesses leverage user research software to collect feedback from their target audiences to improve product design, usability, and messaging.
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies: SaaS companies often look to user testing software to collect real-time feedback from users which can inform product development and design. User research tools are helpful for every step of the product development process, from ideating a new product to new feature development for existing products. Remote interviews, surveys, live intercepts, and usability tests allow SaaS developers and designers to identify problems with a digital product and ensure the product is meeting the target user’s needs.
Business-to-consumer (B2C) companies: The insights gathered through user research platforms can also benefit companies that create and sell products or experiences to consumers. This includes businesses in industries such as retail, e-commerce, travel and hospitality, media and entertainment, education, and financial services. These types of B2C businesses may purchase user research software to test new product offerings, websites, or mobile applications. Recruitment pools and participant search criteria make it easy for companies to find respondents in their target markets.
How to Buy User Research Tools
Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for User Research Tools
Before comparing products, the buyer or software selection team should create a list of requirements for the software and determine which requirements are the highest priority. Requirements may include features such as access to a recruitment pool, interview scheduling, or live intercepting. The list of requirements should also include any integrations necessary for collecting, managing, or analyzing user insights.
Compare User Research Software Products
Create a long list
Using the list of requirements, the buyer should create a list of no more than 10 products that appear to meet the business’s most critical needs. Some essential features that should be evaluated include:
- Participant sourcing
- Moderated or unmoderated interviews
- Scheduling and communication
- Research methods such as surveys, live interviews, usability testing, card sorting, A/B testing, and visual feedback
- Data management and analysis
- Integrations
Create a short list
After creating the long list, buyers should delve deeper into more specific features, use cases, and considerations to narrow down the list of products. At this point, buyers may wish to include pricing, customer support, and region in their considerations. For example, businesses might prefer to work with a vendor in the same region to facilitate more efficient implementation or customer support.
Conduct demos
At this point, buyers should reach out to the vendors on their short list to request product demonstrations. The demo is one of the most important parts of the buying journey since it is usually the buyer’s first opportunity to experience the product’s features first hand. The buyer should supply the vendor with their list of requirements to ensure the demo covers all the necessary features. During the demo, the buyer should pay close attention to the product’s interface, usability, and workflows, as these aspects can indicate how easy the platform will be for users to adopt.
Selection of User Research Tools
Choose a selection team
User research platforms will be used primarily by members of a company’s product, design, UI/UX, and marketing teams. The selection team should consist of individual contributors, administrative users, and managers from these departments so that all the relevant stakeholders can be involved in the decision-making process. An executive sponsor may also be required to ensure buy-in from the company’s leadership team.
Negotiation
If the products on the buyer’s short list may look very similar, negotiation on contracts and pricing will likely have a strong influence on the final decision. Most user research solutions are sold on a subscription basis and billed monthly, but the exact cost will depend on several factors. For example, in addition to extra features or add-ons, the product’s final cost may also incorporate the number of researcher seats, the number of research sessions conducted each month, and the level of customer support.
Final decision
After the cost, discounts, and contract have been negotiated, the final decision requires buy-in from everyone on the selection team. Each member of the selection team should evaluate their decision based on the determination that the product will meet the business’s requirements and will provide a return on investment (ROI).
