More Online Usability Testing Reviewed: UserFeel.com & TryMyUI

Following up on last weeks review of Feedback Army & Usertesting.com, I decided to try a couple new contenders in the space UserFeel.com and TryMyUI (love the name).

Pricing starts at 1 video response for $39

My Plan: 1 user response, complimentary trial

UserFeel.com is a new player in the online user testing space. Pricing is comparable to UserTesting.com, though UserFeel  provides free white label branding with your logo, which is a really great bonus (UserTesting.com requires a 50 credit purchase to get white labeling).  

One of the benefits they tout is the availability of multi-lingual users.  Currently the bulk of users is English & Greek speaking, and they are currently building support in 56 languages (wow!).  In all honesty that is actually not a benefit for me, as I nearly always need US based, english speaking users.  But if you service clients outside of the US this could be a great resource for you.

The sign up page is another fantastic example of a simple 1-page sign up, including your test details. I love these 1-pagers!  Nice help text to the right of certain form elements answers new user questions.  UseFeel.com provide demographic filtering for things like native language, gender, age and computer experience. This is very helpful, but I'd love to see even more filtering for things like income level, occupation, hobbies, marital status, etc.  If they could include that, for me it would put them ahead of the competition.

Payment is through PayPal, which I personally really like. However it seems there should also be the option of paying with a credit card outside of PayPal. For example option to entering your CC info directly on the 1-page form, rather than being pushed off to PayPal.  But for me, not an issue as I actually prefer the PayPal option.

I received my video within 12 hours (free demo), BUT I'm told that normal response times are with in 1-2 hours if you go through the normal process online.  If this is true, then a couple hours is fantastic and definitely makes UserFeel a strong competitor in the space.

The quality of feedback was very good and thorough.  The user was constantly talking through his thoughts so there wasn't any dead air, and he also provided helpful specific feedback and suggestions, which was fantastic.  His written answers were pretty brief, but did answer my questions.  The video response page is also a nice view with everything on this single page - demographics, user's video, my test, and user's written responses. 

Pros:

• Easy to get started
• Free white label branding
• Good quality, thorough feedback
• Multi-lingual users 

Cons:

• No ability to request specific demographic filtering
• No link to easily download the video
• Forced to use PayPal for payment

Pricing starts at 1 video response for $25

My Plan:  2 user responses for $25 (they have a 1 credit free deal right now)

TryMyUI is similar to UserTesting.com and UserFeel.com, but their pitch is that it's cheaper, which is true.  Starting at $25 per user, it's a decent drop from UserTesting.com - which starts at $39 per user. If you do frequent testing this will add up to make enough of a difference. The question is whether the end result is as good.

What I like off the bat is the super easy sign up. Another very simple, clean 1 page sign up that includes your test information. Really easy to get going quickly. I submitted my test, and waited.  Again, like UserFeel.com, it did take slightly longer to receive feedback, but still received both responses within 24 hours.  As I said above, it's still pretty quick in the grand scheme of things.  However if you contrast that to UserTesting.com who provides feedback within hours, it's a fair amount longer. So it depends on your timeline and urgency.

One thing I really like about TryMyUi, is the design and UI for viewing videos.  Next to the video are tabbed areas for Notes, your original test submission, and the user's response to your written questions. You don't need to scroll or move away from your video as it's playing. All the info is right there and very convenient.

The quality of the feedback was actually really good, as good as UserTesting.com, and the written answers for my specific users was much more thorough. You could tell they the users were very thoughtful about their answers.

Overall I feel like I might have gotten a tad more bang for the buck here, but the 24 hour response time was a little long compared to UserTesting.com.  I wonder what the response time would be for more than 2 testers, longer or the same?

Pros:

• Very affordable
• Easy to get started & very simple to use
• Slick UI for reviewing videos, notes, and written responses
• Hand holding approach and provided default questions that could work 
• Some level of demographic filtering which is great

Cons:

• Demographic filtering is restricted to gender, age, income. Doesn't have the ability to provide more specific filtering beyond that
• Took a bit longer to receive my 2 videos, I worry how long it will take for higher quantities

Overall, I think both services are quite good and worth giving a shot. I personally like to use a few different sources to mix it up.  If budget is an issue TryMyUi is great, though i'd like to hear how quickly they can fulfill a request for more than 2 users (or if that's an issue).  UserFeel is new on the scene and a good contender, I love the free white label bonus, but price is on the high end.   I will likely use both services again, but I think UserTesting.com is still the leader as of right now.

Would love to see more contenders enter this market!   Who is your favorite?