User experience design is the process of improving the interaction between a consumer and a product. For online merchants, UX design tools can help get early feedback on a website or product, test the versions, and analyze the final results.
Here is a list of useful UX design tools. There are UX platforms to design websites from start to finish. There are also tools to observe users, monitor their interactions, and solicit feedback. All of these tools are relatively inexpensive. Most have free plans.
Adobe XD
Adobe XD
Adobe XD is an all-in-one user-experience platform for designing websites, mobile apps, and more. Switch from static layouts to interactive prototypes in a single click. Make changes to your design and see your prototype update automatically. Preview your prototypes (complete with transitions on iOS and Android devices), then share them with your team for fast feedback. Reviewers can pin comments on a specific area of your prototype and all feedback is consolidated in one place, to quickly revise and republish. Adobe XD is part of Adobe Creative Cloud. Price: Plans start at $9.99 per month.
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Peek
Peek
Peek provides a quick glimpse into your visitors’ experience by providing a free five-minute video of a person using your website or app. Peek is from UserTesting, which provides full testing services to evaluate user experience, including live interviews and videos of real users as they navigate your website or app. Price: Peek is free. Contact for pricing on UserTesting.
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Balsamiq
Balsamiq
Balsamiq is a rapid wireframing tool with a library of quick, drag-and-drop user-interface elements. Collaborate quickly to develop your project and get early feedback. Print your prototypes or run online user tests, before writing code. Balsamiq is a helpful tool for fast development. Price: Free for 30 days. Plans start at $9 per month.
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InVision
InVision
InVision is a digital product design platform for developing user experiences. Upload your design files and add animations, gestures, and transitions to transform your static screens into clickable, interactive prototypes. Create context around your projects with Boards, which are flexible spaces to store, share, and talk about design ideas. Test your web and mobile product designs, and quickly incorporate user experiences and feedback. Hear what real users have to say, and see them interact with your prototype with live video and audio recordings. Price: One active prototype is free. Premium plans start at $15 per month for up to three prototypes.
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Red Pen
Red Pen
Red Pen is a feedback tool for visual teams to develop projects. Ask colleagues and clients for feedback on their experience by giving them a private link, or inviting them via email. Point and click to give feedback. Everyone sees comments live as they happen. Each image can be easily updated or replaced whenever an iteration has been made. Red Pen keeps track of the versions. Price: Free for 14 days. Plans start at $20 per month for five projects.
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UsabilityHub
UsabilityHub
UsabilityHub offers a suite of tests for remote user testing. Run 5-second tests for first impressions, click and navigation tests to measure user behavior, straightforward question tests, and tests to discovery user preferences. Price: Recruit your own participants for free, or acquire an audience for $2.50 per response.
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Hotjar
Hotjar
Hotjar is an all-in-one analytics and feedback platform to gather insight on user experience. Review customer behavior with heatmaps, recordings, conversion funnels, and form analysis. Find the biggest opportunities for improvement and testing by identifying on which page and at which step most visitors are leaving your site. Run feedback polls and surveys, and gather incoming feedback. Price: Free plan for 2,000 views per day. Premium plans start at $29 per month.
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ClickHeat
ClickHeat
ClickHeat is a visual heatmap of clicks on an HTML page, showing hot and cold click zones. Screen sizes and browsers are logged, making possible the tracking of liquid CSS layouts. ClickHeat is open source. Price: Free.
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UXPin
UXPin
UXPin is a full UX platform to design systems, test prototypes, and assemble documentation. UXPin Prototyping offers rapid collaboration design for small teams. Design and test prototypes, consolidate feedback from your team, and easily create and review iterations. UXPin Systems offers an end-to-end UX solution for mid-to-large teams. Scale consistently with modular Design Systems, then auto-generate specs for developers. Price: Plans start at $29 per month.
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UX Project Checklist
UX Project Checklist
UX Project Checklist is a useful tool to help with a specific project or just to review UX stages. From research and planning to developing prototypes and testing users, review all the steps of UX design.
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