Enhancing Usability Testing with Automated Tools
Published: 2024-03-01 22:06:00

In today’s digital landscape, the success of any website/application hinges on how well it delivers its user experience. One of the most effective ways to ensure your website/application has the best user experience, is to conduct usability testing; a process that evaluates how well a user interacts with a design. Usability testing helps us understand how users interact with our designs, which helps us identify usability problems and build better products. In this blog post we’re going to be looking at two usability testing tools: Loop11 and Lyssna. Using an experiment, we will be comparing their functionality and potential benefits.

Before we proceed let’s discuss what a usability testing tool is. A usability testing tool is any software application that helps automate the user testing process of a website or application. Recruiting participants and analyzing software data are just a few things a usability testing tool can help with. The tools chosen for this experiment were Loop11 and Lysnna. Due to the nature of the experiment and the availability of the participants for testing, these two tools were chosen for their ability to perform remote testing, their easy-to-use interface for both participants and researchers, and their low price.

Our experiment aimed to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of Lyssna and Loop11 in identifying usability issues in a web application interface. The participants were asked to perform the same tasks on both tools while their interactions were recorded and analyzed by each. The focus of the experiment was to measure task completion rate, user interaction and navigation and the overall user experience.
Before we look at the data collected from our experiment, lets first analyze and compare our tools.

**Lyssna:**
Below is a link to a video of the experiment using Lyssna’s usability testing site.
https://streamable.com/kap9rr


These are additional screenshots of Lynna’s interface:
![Picture showing Lyssna's interface](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/8kx34hpzx1fkgqlw7p0u.png)

![Another picture showing Lyssna's interface](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/ye3qhxol4u8tf1i4u83s.png)

The Lyssna testing tool, compared to the other one, was very quick and easy to set up and use. It provided very fast turnaround times; valuable user behaviour analysis was also provided without the need for additional setup. Though Lyssna can only be used remotely, its data collection tools make up for it with the options for screen and audio recordings. Lyssna also offers very detailed reports with insights and recommendations; it’s very fast, efficient and user-friendly. 
One of its biggest drawbacks is its pricing. The tool offers a free version but with very limited features. This test, e.g. could only be two minutes long which hindered our ability to properly test the website. The tool is also unmoderated which meant that participants had to do the test on their own without us being able to monitor them.

**Loop11:**
Below is a link to a video of the experiment using Loop11 usability testing site:
https://streamable.com/pqq1p5

These are additional screenshots of Loop11’s interface:
![Picture showing Loop11's interface](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/8b9wnop2q8z6t0fumy1g.png)

![Another picture showing Loop11's interface](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/57euz9vjn0hab0fmvhq0.png)

As shown above, Loop11’s testing tool offers a wider variety of data collection methods and detailed reporting functionalities. This is great for projects that require more in-depth analysis and user feedback, but for the sake of this test those tools weren’t of much use. Like Lyssna, Loop11 can only be used remotely, however it offers both a moderated and unmoderated tests. The tool has screen and audio recording tools, as well as heatmaps and clickstreams to help with user analysis and feedback reports. Loop11 also offers lots of data visualization tools in its reports. They also offer AI assistants to help with setting up and analyzing your tests.
Just like with Lyssna, the tool unfortunately costs money, however, a free 15-day trial is available to test the features out first. The tool is also not as intuitive as Lyssna. The interface is a bit harder to grasp and the test itself is a bit difficult to set up. Due to the tool’s use of chrome plugins to monitor and record the tests, it requires the participant to have some knowledge of installing chrome plugins and using them before they can do the tests.

Below is a list of both Lyssna and Loop11’s features along with its pros and cons:
![a table summarizing Lyssna and Loop11's features](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/5f71kr1zwswc9m8dll30.png)
		

In conclusion, both Lyssna and Loop11 offer a wide variety of tools and assets that can be incredibly useful to you as a designer and usability tester. Choosing the best tool ultimately depends on the specific needs of your project and the data you’re looking to gather. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each tool, you can effectively rest your designs and improve the overall user experience of your website/application.