Usability testing<\/a> and UX research<\/a>\u00a0can be complex and difficult to carry out remotely if you\u2019re not operating in the world of remote testing\/research. So let\u2019s break down some of the best approaches and tools!<\/p>\n Thankfully, the world of UX research started setting up shop in online\/remote-friendly platforms long before most of us started setting offices up in our kitchens.<\/p>\n And why? Because not every design team is working to solve problems for users who live in their locale. There are tons of remote ux research tools and usability testing platforms out there to choose from. The only real question is which one(s) you should choose.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve gone through some of the industry\u2019s top tools for remote research and testing, and we\u2019ve rounded up our top seven. We\u2019ll offer a brief summary of each tool, along with a price breakdown, and what other people are saying about it.<\/p>\n Here are the tools\/approaches we\u2019ll look at:<\/p>\n If you take a do-it-yourself approach to remote user research and usability testing, you can find as many approaches and solutions as you can ways to configure your favorite video conferencing and screen recording tools. Determine your objectives and consider whether this kind of fully moderated testing is what you\u2019re looking to do\u2014and whether you have (or need) any analytic or reporting tools to distill the results of your testing and research.<\/p>\n The upside: It\u2019s cheap.<\/p>\n The downside: You\u2019re using multiple tools to accomplish a smaller number of research and testing tasks. Every session will need to be moderated and the process of converting qualitative<\/a> results into quantitative<\/a> data and reports will have do be done manually.<\/p>\n Price breakdown:<\/strong> Free or however much you\u2019re already paying (or willing to pay) for full licenses on your favorite tools.<\/p>\n How to do it:<\/strong> This approach was actually mentioned in several Instagram comments from practicing designers in response to our post about these remote tools.<\/p>\n Take your favorite video conferencing tool with a built-in capacity for screen sharing (Skype<\/a>, for example) and your favorite screen recording software (OBS Studio<\/a>, ScreenFlow<\/a>, Camtasia<\/a>, etc.), and run the platforms simultaneously to interview users, assign test tasks, observe, and record sessions to return to later.<\/p>\n G Suite for business<\/a> includes a recording feature in it\u2019s version of Google Hangouts<\/a> that can be an easy all-in-one solution, if this is available to you. This approach is all about taking what you already have or can easily acquire and making it work well for the kinds of testing and research you need to do.<\/p>\n If there are tools you\u2019re already familiar with\u2014or if you can learn them quickly\u2014and if you don\u2019t mind your testing and research methods being, to some extent, pulled together from different platforms, this is an excellent solution that can be tailored to fit your budget.<\/p>\n Even if the DIY approach is more your style, the other tools detailed in this guide still might come in handy. Try the free versions of any platform that intrigues you\u2014that kind of experimentation can help you generate ideas<\/strong> for how to approach your own DIY testing and research. And if you\u2019d like even more ideas for tools and platforms, check out this video:<\/p>\n\n
1. DIY UX research<\/h2>\n