Ever wonder what are the research or design tools available in the market that could benefit your career in the UX industry? Yet, when you try to look around, you’re just bombarded with… So many tools, and so little time to explore. Fret not, we’ve got you covered! From the list of available tools to the reasons for using them, we’ve compiled an exhaustive list for all your UX research needs after surveying UX researchers and designers across Asia.

Here’s what we will cover in this article. You may continue to read on or skip to specific sections by clicking the links below:

• Who We Surveyed
• Qualitative UX Research Tools
  • Card Sorting 
  • Customer Journey Mapping
  • Online User interviews
  • Usability Testing
• Quantitative UX Research Tools
  • Digital Analytics
  • Heatmaps
  • Online Survey
• Respondent Recruitment Tools
• Design Tools
  • User Interface Design
  • Prototyping
  • Wireframing
• Research Repository Tools
• Project Management Tools

Who We Surveyed

We’ve collected responses from all around Asia, and here are some information of our survey respondents:

Qualitative UX Research Tools

Research, research and more research, you just can’t escape from them in the UX industry. Some of the more common qualitative UX research techniques include Card Sorting, Customer Journey Mapping, Online User Interviews, and Usability Testing.  

Card Sorting

Card sorting is a research technique used to understand how users would organize, group, or label certain information within a site. To conduct this research method, researchers can use either online tools or offline tools such as sticky notes, paper, or actual cards. We found that most researchers in Asia prefer online tools now, but some still use offline tools occasionally.  

Here are the most used card sorting tools by researchers: 

And here are the tools researchers are looking forward to try in their next research project:

1. UXbeam
2. Figma

Customer Journey Mapping

Customer Journey Mapping shows the interaction between the organization and their customer, allowing them to have a better understanding of their customer’s needs and expectations. With that, they will be able to plan and strategize on what needs to be worked on and improved further. Interestingly, we found that offline tools such as blackboards (or whiteboard or empty walls) are still preferred by most researchers in Asia.

Here are the most used customer journey mapping tools by researchers:

And here are the tools researchers are looking forward to try in their next research project:

1. Adobe XD
2. Miro
3. Smaply
4. UXPressia
5. OmniGraffle

Online User Interviews

User Interviews, which involve collecting information directly from users, can be considered one of the most popular methods in UX research. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted that even though physical interviews are not a viable option, there are still many online platforms that could support user interviews. Although each platform has its ups and downs, we found the top tools loved by most researchers in Asia.

Here are the most used online user interview tools by researchers:

And here are the tools researchers are looking forward to try in their next research project:

1. Maze
2. Direct interviews
3. Dovetail

Usability Testing

How do you know whether users are able to complete tasks successfully with ease? Usability Test is the answer! A usability testing session is a great way to watch how users actually use your product be it a website or physical product. Why? Because good design is not enough, we need to make sure users can enjoy using the products and understand the problems the “real” users are facing.

Here are the most used usability testing tools by researchers:

And here are the tools researchers are looking forward to try in their next research project:

1. Lookback
2. UsabilityHub

Quantitative Research Tools

The popular phrase “Numbers don’t lie” can be observed through people’s interest in collecting data and statistics. Hence, it’s not surprising that some of the common quantitative UX research methods include utilizing Digital Analytics, Heatmaps, and Online Surveys. For those of you who love numbers, here are some interesting tools you can try

Digital Analytics

Through capturing users’ usage patterns, navigational path, clicks to conversion, and time spent when using a product, we’re able to predict and determine future trends.

Here are the most used Digital Analytics tools by researchers:

And here are the tools researchers are looking forward to try in their next research project:

1. Mixpanel
2. Data.ai
3. Smartlook

Heatmaps

Heatmaps allow you to observe how people interact with website pages, specifically their cursor movements, and item selection on the screen, which is helpful when planning for site optimization and improving digital user experience.

Even though some digital analytics tools are able to capture heatmap data, when it comes to the tools researchers used specifically for heatmapping, here are the tools they use:

Online Survey

Online surveys are arguably the cheapest and easiest way to collect data in a short period of time. The overall convenience and flexibility of online surveys explain why they’re a crowd’s favorite: researchers have the flexibility in designing the survey, meanwhile respondents are able to answer the questions at their own pace and comfort.   

Here are the most used online survey tools by researchers:

And here are the tools researchers are looking forward to try in their next research project:

1. SurveyCircle
2. Hotjar

Respondent Recruitment Tools

Regardless of what type of research you plan to conduct, you will always need respondents to fulfill and answer the burning questions you have in mind. However, respondent recruitment can be a challenging quest to conquer, especially if your target audience is niche. So, how do most researchers recruit people for their research? We found that email and word of mouth are still used by many, whilst others also use online tools such as Google Forms.

Respondent Recruitment

Here are the top 3 respondent recruitment tools that are frequently used by researchers in Asia:

Design Tools

User Interface Design 

Shapes, colors, fonts… those who love designing and creating new things digitally need to continuously adapt to the changing trends and tools to keep inspired. But wait, there are a lot of tools out there that leave designers overwhelmed.

Our finding shows that these are the most used user interface design tools by designers in Asia:

And here are the tools UX designers in Asia are looking forward to try in their next UX design project:

1. UXPin
2. Axure
3. Framer
4. Sketch
5. Zeplin
6. Invision

Prototyping

How do you know if clients really like your product before spending time and effort creating a website? How do you imagine the interaction before you code it? Prototype is the solution! 

Here are the most used prototyping tools by designers:

And here are the tools UX designers are looking forward to try in their next UX design project:

1. Adobe XD
2. Zaplin
3. Framer
4. Sketch
5. Origami Design

Wireframing

Architects create architectural blueprints before they start building. How about designers? They create wireframes to show the overall content layout and functionality of a webpage or app. 

Here are the most used wireframing tools by designers in Asia:

And here are the tools Asian UX designers are looking forward to try in their next user interface design project:

1. Miro
2. Mockplus
3. Balsamiq 

Research Repository Tools

Whether you are a UX researcher or designer, we’ve all had times when we were lost in our own pool of resources. Trying to find that piece of crucial information suddenly becomes more exhausting and time-consuming. As the saying goes, sharing is caring. Hence, setting up a research repository is important to better organize and accelerate your research process. 

Here are the most used research repository tools by researchers and designers:

Project Management Tools

Managing projects can be quite challenging at times, especially when working with different people. Hence, there are many project management tools in the market that could benefit you by easing this intimidating process.

Here are the most used project management tools by researchers and designers: