If you want a project to be successful, user experience and interaction are key. An effective web design process needs to include testing, feedback and refinement.

Receiving feedback can act as quality assurance, give you an alternative perspective, help you develop new ideas and ensure you're meeting your users' requirements and expectations.

See also: How to Solicit the Customer Feedback Your Startup Needs

There are various types of feedback, from "voice of the customer" and surveys to process level and crowdsourcing. In this article, we concentrated on UI/UX testing and usability. We've put together a selection of software and online-based tools that you can use to help your website reach its maximum potential.

Are there any similar tools that you would recommend? If so, please share the link with our readers in the comments below.

Image: Silverback

Silverback is guerrilla usability testing software created by design consultancy Clearleft. It is built especially for designers and developers, and it allows you to capture screen activity, video the testers face and record their voice. You can set tasks and mark noteworthy events within a session, add chapter markers on the fly, control recording with the remote and export easily to Quicktime.

Silverback is perfect for those on a small budget, as it requires no setup, using your Mac's hardware. It can provide true insights into user behavior, which will allow you to make informed decisions on design and development.

Silverback runs on Mac OS X Leopard, Snow Leopard, Lion and Mountain Lion with a built-in iSight or some alternative. However, it does not run on 10.4 or lower.

Image: Concept Feedback

Concept Feedback aims to provide expert analysis and detailed recommendations from experts qualified in their respective fields, including designers, developers, marketers and entrepreneurs. It's free to join, and it asks you to review five other concepts before you can post your own.

The knowledgeable community will then give you feedback on your projects and valuable tips on how to improve it. You can use multiple experts (up to five in each feedback category) to bring different perspectives to your project, and help uncover additional issues and ideas. Feedback is delivered within two business days, but can be as quick as a few hours. You will receive both written and visual feedback based on principles and real-world experience.

Image: Usabilla

Usabilla is designed to increase conversion with visual feedback on your website, either through live website feedback or surveys used at any stage of the design process. Both options allow for instant improvements in user experience and conversions, based on specific feedback with visual context. Usabilla Live can be used by adding a small snippet of code to your website so you can utilize the feedback button and technology. The button can be fully customized, and people can select and rate any item on your web page in a simple and efficient manner.

Usabilla Survey lets you focus on your users from the very beginning, built as an online tool for automated remote user testing and visual surveys. You can integrate these tests in your daily workflow and improve your design with high quality feedback.

Image: Five Second Test

Five Second Test lets you fine-tune your website by analyzing the most prominent elements of your design. First impressions are important, and by finding out what a person recalls about your design in just five seconds, you can ensure that your message is communicated effectively.

To get started, upload a screenshot or mockup, set some questions to be answered and wait for feedback. Testers have five seconds to view your image and must answer the questions you have set. All the responses are collected for you, with frequent keywords extracted, and the data presented in graphs.

Five Second Test isn't just concerned with first impressions, though — you can also test your brand message, to see if users recall your company slogan or understand what you do simply from your logo.

Image: Verify

Verify lets you collect and analyze user feedback on screens or mockups in real time, so you can see where people click, what people remember about your design or how they feel about it. Using several tests, you can collect specific, actionable data and then view and sort through the results by demographics. Intuitive, helpful summaries are also available for download, with insights on your users' expectations and reactions to your design.

You can share tests quickly with public or private URLs, and use Verify to help your team make decisions based on accurate data that will improve user interaction on your site. A design survey is simple and fast to set up. There are eight ways to survey your designs, including preference test, click test, memory test and more.

Image: Feedback Army

Feedback Army focuses on testing the usability of your website and can be completed in just two minutes. Once you submit specific questions that you would like answered about your website, you receive 10 responses (with an option to increase this up to 50). Each feedback request is posted for eight days. However, you'll typically start to see results within one to three hours.

Each review generates a unique URL that is used to view your results. However, your questions and link are publicly available on Feedback Army for as long as it takes for the reviewers to review the site. After your site receives the specific number of reviews, your link and questions are pulled.

You have quality control over responses, with the ability to reject responses and request a new one. Note that this feature is only available for 48 hours, after which the response is auto-approved. The reviewers are from a pool of Mechanical Turk workers, while the majority of the Feedback Army fee pays the reviewers for a quality review.

Image: User Testing

User Testing allows you to choose users who match your target demographics and observe them, watching their screen activity and listening to their voices as they share their experiences of using your website. You can start with a template or create your own test describing the tasks you want the users to perform. Representative users from a selected panel will immediately record themselves using your site. Within one hour, you receive a usability test video and written answers to the questions you set. There is also an option to ask users follow-up questions.

User Testing can provide a unique opportunity to "look over the shoulder" of your target audience members while they use your website, so you can see and hear where users get stuck and why they leave. It's not just for completed website testing either — you can test during the design or prototyping phase, enabling you to make informed design decisions throughout a project.

Image: Try My UI

Try My UI allows you to watch videos of real people using your website to find out specific ways it could be improved. You can also hear users' opinions of what they like and dislike as they use the site. It utilizes OpenHallway's API to provide a simple, one-stop usability testing service.

To get started create your first test, and present a general scenario with a set of tasks for the test users to follow. You will then receive a narrated video within the hour of each user navigating your website. You can see their screen, mouse movements and keystrokes, as well as hear what they see, read, think or do. You also receive written answers to the four questions you provide at the beginning of the test.

Candidate testers are selected based on a variety of factors, meaning you receive moderated quality feedback. You can currently limit the tester pool by gender, age, annual income, country, education level, family status, social network usage and employment type. You can even add your own qualification criteria.

Image: Criticue

Criticue allows you to have your website or design concept peer-reviewed by an intelligent community of entrepreneurs, usability experts and web designers. It's a newly launched platform that offers a free and confidential service. Criticue is based on a fair one-for-one exchange; for every site you review, you receive a review of your own website. The reviews are quick and focused on design and first-time impressions.

To submit your website, type your website URL and Criticue will automatically take a snapshot of the page, or you can upload your own. Then review another user's design to provide useful feedback and tips on usability and optimization. Then you'll receive feedback on your own design from your peers. You can use the suggestions and ideas to improve your website, boost traffic and refine design concepts backed up by objective, qualified opinions.

Image: Userlytics

Userlytics provides in-depth customer insight using interviews in addition to usability and experience testing. It allows you to observe real people engaging with your concept, prototype or website in real time. You can find out what your users think, and how they react, as you watch and listen to participants conduct tasks, answer questions and interact with your assets.

Userlytics allows you to test prototypes throughout the design process, including concept sketches and wireframes, and you can create a baseline to better understand how a new design will compare with your current website. Testing throughout this phase can provide validation of your proof of concept and help iron out flaws within the UI.

You can set up a test quickly, and define your tasks and questions. Userlytics then provides the participants or you can recruit your own. You receive the results of the test within hours in the cloud. Share with project members or clients, and download and edit the video or survey responses.

Additional Tools

The tools and apps above are among the the best to gather feedback, test design concepts and measure website usability. However, there's a wealth of other available tools that may interest you:

With these resources, you'll have a much more successful, user-friendly project on your hands.

Image: Flickr, William Warby