We talk about user research a LOT!
There’s a reason for it – first of all, it’s essential! User research gives your product idea the best chance of success by making sure that it fits the needs of the people that are going to use it. It’ll help you figure out what the problem is that your app solves, how people may want to interact with your app, and what they will enjoy about using it.
Our previous blog discussed user research in way more detail, including some ways to conduct research, from focus group discussions, to surveys, A/B testing, and more (We’d recommend giving it a quick read before you get to this one!)
So to make the process of user research easier, here are some helpful resources and tools that will get you right on track to building an app that your people will want to use.
Tools for Scheduling Research Meetings
While this may seem like the smallest step in the process, it can get quite complicated to schedule multiple meetings, calls, and conversations to conduct your research. If you’re looking to set up a few meetings with early app users, or someone that fits your user persona (find out more about user personas here), here are some tools that will make scheduling a breeze.
Scheduling meetings has never been easier! You can use Calendly for free and eliminate the hassle of back-and-forth emails to plan a call. You can embed a Calendly link onto your website, or have a handy link to share with potential interviewees.
This convenient scheduling tool has a great UI and is particularly helpful across time zones. You can have it work with your existing tools like Google Calendar, Microsoft Teams, and even build custom integrations via Zapier.
Tools for Conducting Surveys
Survey tools can be the easiest way to get some feelers out about your mobile app. But since people don’t love filling them up, it helps to have some amazing, interactive survey tools to make it more enticing.
Plus, you’ll be able to share the link on social media, embed your survey onto a site so users can fill them out on a web page, or email the survey link. All of these make it easy to conduct user research and share it with potential respondents. Additionally, they all have templates that you can use to make survey creation easier.
You can use Typeform to create beautiful survey tools – and what’s great is that there’s a free version of it too! It allows up to ten responses, but if you’re not looking for too much detail, that can be all you need.
Google Forms gives users an easy way to create a survey that contains as many questions as they need to ask, in a variety of styles. Like TypeForm, it’s also free, and it has fewer restrictions on the number of responses.
This is a helpful tool to conduct both market research and user research. There are multiple plan options that you can choose from based on how many people you’ll be interviewing and the features you need. SurveyMonkey provides customizable surveys, as well as paid top-up programs like data analysis, sample selection, bias elimination, and data representation tools.
If you’re looking for a free version, you can check out Wufoo by SurveyMonkey. It has a free plan that lets you create easy questionnaires and forms.
Tools for gathering feedback
If you’re looking at a larger sample size, there are some great tools that let you gather automated feedback. They would usually be used by product managers conducting more comprehensive research.
Some of these tools will help you with advanced analytics, user segmentations, and product roadmapping, so they’re a bit more advanced than you may need, but it helps to be prepared!
Maze helps you test, refine, and improve your product on-the-go. It’s got everything you need, from surveys to usability tests. It can also auto-generate reports based on the findings. Overall it’s a great tool to validate ideas and concepts and gather user feedback.
It also lets you test UX copy to see what performs best with different personas (find out more about UX copy here!)
The best way to find out what users think about your app is, well, simply by asking them! UserReport lets you do just that. You can install a simple survey widget onto your app and collect real-time feedback.
According to their website, “UserReport is a set of flexible tools that tell you who your users are, and what they want to achieve.” It helps you learn who your users are, what they are looking for – and how they think you can improve the experience. Based on these ideas, you can build a brand or product that users will love.
Pendo is a product-analytics app built to help businesses develop products that address their customers’ needs. According to their website, Pendo helps app makers “drive product adoption, customer loyalty, and team innovation.” The product-analytics feature allows product teams to record, monitor, and analyze how users interact with your product.
You can use UserPilot to understand how different segments of users engage with your app across the user journey. While it’s mainly larger product businesses that would use an advanced tool like this, it does allow you to get sophisticated and actionable product analytics and insights.
Tools for transcriptions
When conducting UX research, it’s likely that you may have a lot of audio and video content that will need to be transcribed and categorized or organized somewhere. Here are some handy transcription tools to make it quick and easy.
Rev is super quick and easy. You just upload files from your computer or paste a URL from the web, and your transcripts are delivered as an editable document. You can view and edit with their tools too. They charge by the minute, and have a really fast turnaround time. A 20-minute video will cost about $25 and will be complete in no more than 4 hours!
This is an all-in-one note-taking, transcription, organizing tool that makes sorting through lots of research content a breeze. You can record conversations using Otter on your phone or web browser, or import or sync recordings from other services. It integrates with Zoom and Google Meet to make things easier! You can keep everyone on the same page with smart notes too.
Additional Tools for UX Research
Collabito is an online focus group software. You can use their features like text-based live chats, discussion boards, blogs, and video focus groups to streamline the entire process. They call themselves a brainstorming tool, which is perfect for conducting user research. Collabito also has a free version so you can give it a shot before deciding to upgrade.
In our previous article, we talked about how creating user personas can help you think through your app solution, decide how to market it, and set yourself up for success. User personas may sound a bit far out and pointless if you haven’t done user research before, but HubSpot’s awesome tool makes it really easy! And once you’ve created a few personas, you’ll realize how much easier it is to think from a user-first perspective.
We hope this list helps you conduct your user research more effectively. Making an app takes some effort, so don’t be afraid to get into it!
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