A remarkable product experience isn’t just nice to have—86% of buyers are ready to pay extra for it.

This proves that great product experiences directly impact revenue and customer loyalty.

Product experience is the bridge between what your product offers and how users feel about it.

Customers no longer settle for ‘just good enough.’ they expect seamless, personalized, and intuitive product experiences that add value and ease to their lives.

With the right tools, businesses can discover actionable insights about customer behavior, preferences, and pain points. These insights pave the way for better retention, higher satisfaction, and ultimately, increased revenue.

In this blog, we’ll dive into the top tools businesses can use to optimize their product experience and deliver exceptional user experiences.

Types of product experience tools

By integrating and utilizing product experience tools, businesses can collect the data needed to enhance their products, improve customer satisfaction, and drive long-term success. Each tool serves a unique purpose. 

1. User feedback tools 

User feedback tools help businesses collect direct input from customers. These tools allow for surveys, polls, and reviews that provide insights into customer satisfaction, needs, and expectations. 

By using these tools, businesses can identify common issues or areas for improvement and adapt their products to better align with customer preferences. 

2. A/B testing tools 

A/B testing tools enable businesses to experiment with different versions of product features, designs, or content to determine which performs better. By testing variations with real users, companies can make data-driven decisions to improve the user experience. These tools are essential for optimizing website designs, landing pages, and product functionality. 

3. Behavior analytics tools

Behavior analytics tools track user behavior across websites or apps, providing key metrics such as user engagement, conversion rates, and retention. These tools help businesses gain insights into user interactions with their products and pinpoint areas that need improvement. They typically offer features like heatmaps and session recordings to track user behavior.

4. User journey mapping tools 

User journey mapping tools help businesses visualize the entire customer experience, from the first interaction with the product to the final purchase or action. These tools highlight key touchpoints and pain points, enabling businesses to optimize each stage of the user journey. 

5. Product analytics tools

Product analytics tools provide in-depth insights into how users engage with specific product features. These tools offer metrics like feature adoption, usage frequency, and user retention, helping teams understand the impact of individual features. 

Best product experience tools at a glance

• VWO
• Mixpanel
• Qualtrics
• Hotjar
• Pendo
• Userpilot
• Appcues
• Productboard
• Adobe Experience Manager
• Zonka Feedback

10 Best product experience tools for 2024

1. VWO

Pros 

• Dynamic and flexible data sampling methods offer enhanced control over the data collection process
• Flexible pricing plans are available, catering to businesses of all sizes
• AI-powered features improve efficiency and save time
• Exceptional customer support with a 98% CSAT score

Pricing

• Free trial: Provides a 30-day free trial
• VWO Insights starts at $139/month, billed annually 

Hubstaff’s homepage redesign boosts trials by 49%

Hubstaff, a software company specializing in time tracking and project management for remote and in-office teams, identified an issue with their old homepage. it didn’t effectively showcase their growth, expanded positioning, and latest features. 

To address this, they conducted a Split URL test, redesigning the homepage to better highlight key offerings and boost conversions.

Results:

• 49% increase in visitor-to-trial conversions
• 34% growth in email submissions
• Streamlined user journeys with improved sign-ups despite a 6% drop in clicks

How VWO helped:

• Split URL testing provided a controlled environment to compare the old and new designs
• Heatmaps delivered actionable insights into visitor behavior, optimizing page layout
• Funnel tracking monitored performance across the user journey, ensuring critical touchpoints were addressed.

The redesign created a better first impression by aligning the website’s messaging and design with Hubstaff’s product capabilities. This seamless transition from website to software enhanced user engagement, satisfaction, and long-term trust in Hubstaff’s platform.

VWO is a reliable platform with a lot of the bells and whistles you’d expect from an experience optimization platform. I was able to run a solid A/B test with real business outcomes on just the free plan. I’ll definitely consider upgrading as we scale our tests.

Tiago Penteado

Head of Marketing, Orah

2. Mixpanel 

Mixpanel is a product analytics platform that helps businesses track user interactions, measure product usage, and understand the customer journey. By providing detailed insights into user behavior, Mixpanel allows teams to make data-driven decisions that improve product experiences and optimize overall performance.

Features

• Event tracking and funnels: You can track specific user actions (events) across your product and analyze how users move through defined funnels.
• Advanced segmentation: Enables segmentation of users based on their actions, demographics, location, device, or lifecycle stage.
• Retention analysis: You can track user retention over time, showing how often users return and engage with your product after their first visit.
• Cohort analysis: You can group users by shared behaviors and track how specific cohorts perform over time
• Group analytics: This feature lets you understand how different users within the same account or company use your product together. 

Pros

• Provides granular data on user behavior
• Offers real-time data analysis
• Integrates with a variety of third-party tools 

Cons

• Delays in data collection after adding new events or properties
• Can be difficult to integrate with other platforms without technical expertise

Pricing

• Free: For personal projects
• Growth: From $24/month
• Enterprise: Custom quotes

3. Qualtrics 

Qualtrics is an experience management (XM) platform designed to capture and analyze data across customer, employee, product, and brand experiences. It provides businesses with tools to gain insights into user satisfaction, feedback, and behavior.

Features

• Survey and feedback: It lets you gather user feedback through customizable surveys, enabling businesses to measure satisfaction, net promoter score (NPS), and other key metrics.
• Product experience analytics: You can track how users interact with your product and provide deep insights into product-related pain points.
• Cross-channel feedback: You can collect feedback from multiple channels such as email, web, mobile, and social media.
• Segmentation and personalization: Qualtrics allows you to segment users based on behavior and demographics.
• Pricing research: It includes features for conducting pricing studies, such as Van Westendorp and Gabor-Granger analyses.

Pros

• Captures a wide range of data from both qualitative and quantitative sources
• Known for its intuitive interface and easy-to-use survey builder
• Offers a high level of customization for surveys, reports, and dashboards

Cons

• Issues with lag, especially with heavier surveys or complex workflows
• Some essential functionalities, like certifications or advanced features, require additional payments

Pricing

Qualtrics offers three specialized plans under its Strategy and Research category. Pricing available on request:

• Research plan
• UX plan
• Brand plan

Free trial – Offers 30-day free trial 

4. Hotjar

Hotjar is a user behavior and product experience tool designed to help businesses empathize with their users by connecting the dots between what happens in the product and why it happens. 

Features

• Heatmaps: Hotjar’s color-coded heatmaps allow you to see where users click, scroll, and interact with your website or app. 
• Session recordings: It records real user sessions, enabling you to replay users’ journeys on your site. You can also filter session recordings to focus on the sessions that provide the most relevant insights.
• Survey and feedback tools: Hotjar provides on-site and offsite surveys, as well as an Incoming Feedback widget, to collect user feedback directly. 
• Survey triggers: You can set triggers to display on-site surveys when users take specific actions, such as clicking a particular element or reaching a certain part of your product’s onboarding process. 
• Connecting feedback to session recordings: Hotjar enables you to connect user feedback from surveys and the Incoming Feedback widget with corresponding session recordings. This integration helps you better understand what users are saying and what they actually experienced during their interaction with your product.

Pros

• Provides a well-rounded view of the user experience
• Collecting in-the-moment feedback through surveys and widgets helps identify user motivations and frustrations
• Offers real-time data collection with frequent updates (20-25 minutes)

Cons

• Some features require additional configuration or technical knowledge
• Hotjar’s tracking code can sometimes impact the performance of your website, causing slight slowdowns

Pricing

• Free trial – offers 14-day free trial 
• Paid plans start from $32/month

5. Pendo

Pendo is a product experience platform that helps businesses improve user engagement, adoption, and retention through in-app guidance, analytics, and feedback collection. It provides tools for tracking how users interact with your product, delivering personalized in-app messages, and gathering valuable insights to optimize user journeys and drive product growth.

Features 

• Product analytics: You can get deep insights into user behavior, feature adoption, and product usage. 
• User onboarding: You can guide new users through your product, showcase key features, and ensure a smooth and engaging introduction to the product.
• In-app messaging: Engage and communicate with your users directly within your product.
• Product adoption and guides: You can drive user adoption and feature discovery with Pendo’s interactive guides. 
• User feedback and surveys: It collects valuable insights directly. You can conduct in-app polls, gather feedback, and understand user preferences.
• Product NPS (Net Promoter Score): Measure user satisfaction and loyalty.
• Cross-platform support: Pendo seamlessly supports multiple platforms, including both web and mobile.

Pros 

• Provides detailed insights into user behavior and customer feedback through tools like NPS and in-product surveys
• Highly responsive support team that provides workshops, technical guidance, and an incubator program to assist users

Cons

• Initial setup and implementation can be challenging
• Lack of metadata capture during survey responses

Pricing 

• Free trial: Offers 30-day free trial 
• Offers custom pricing based on the requirements of the business

6. Userpilot 

Userpilot is an onboarding tool designed to help businesses improve user engagement and retention. With its no-code approach, Userpilot enables teams to create in-app experiences tailored to user needs, such as onboarding flows, tooltips, and product tours. 

Features 

• No-code in-app experiences: You can create interactive product tours, tooltips, and onboarding flows without coding. Userpilot’s drag-and-drop interface makes it easy for product teams to design experiences that guide users through their journey.
• Feature adoption tracking: You can monitor how users interact with specific features and analyze usage trends. Identify underutilized features and strategize to increase engagement.
• In-app surveys and feedback: You can collect real-time feedback from users through customizable in-app surveys. 
• A/B Testing: Optimize your in-app experiences by running A/B tests to determine what resonates best with users. 
• User journey mapping: Visualize the user journey to identify friction points and opportunities for improvement. Create targeted interventions to enhance the overall experience.

Pros

• Behavior-based targeting for personalized user experiences
• ​​Flexible customization for various user types and flows
• ​​Resource centers and on-screen support improve user engagement and satisfaction

Cons

• Challenges with precise placement of elements and color customization
• Lacks advanced AI capabilities

Pricing 

• Free trial: Offers 14-day free trial
• Paid: Starts from $249/month, billed annually

7. Appcues 

Appcues is a user onboarding and product adoption platform that empowers businesses to create tailored in-app experiences without requiring coding expertise. Its known for its intuitive design and powerful analytics, Appcues helps software companies improve user engagement, feature adoption, and retention through personalized onboarding flows, tooltips, and product tours.

Features

• User onboarding flows: You can create interactive onboarding experiences that guide users step-by-step through your product. 
• Tooltips and product tours: Design tooltips and tours to educate users on advanced features or updates. 
• In-app surveys and feedback collection: You can gather real-time user feedback with customizable surveys. 
• Behavior-based triggers: Target users with personalized messages and experiences based on their actions, such as visiting specific pages, interacting with features, or reaching particular milestones.
• Progress tracking: Show users their progress through onboarding steps or tasks, ensuring they remain motivated and engaged.
• Templates and themes: Leverage pre-designed templates and themes to quickly create visually appealing experiences that align with your brand identity.
• A/B Testing: You can experiment with different onboarding flows, tooltips, or in-app messages. 

Pros 

• Enables two-way communication with users, including surveys and feedback
• Intuitive setup requiring minimal involvement from the development teams
• Effective for creating personalized user journeys

Cons

• Challenges in organizing flows for large-scale campaigns
• Limited targeting based on specific conditions

Pricing

• Free trial: Offers 14-day free trial
• Paid: Starts from $250/month, billed annually

8. Productboard

Productboard is a product management platform. It helps teams prioritize features and build products that resonate with customers. By collecting and organizing customer feedback, aligning it with business objectives, and visualizing product roadmaps, Productboard empowers businesses to deliver user-centric solutions.

Features

• Customer feedback collection: You can centralize feedback from multiple channels i.e emails, support tickets, surveys, and more.
• Feature prioritization: Prioritize features based on customer needs, business goals, and market insights. Use the built-in prioritization matrix to determine which features will deliver the most impact.
• Roadmap visualization: Create clear, shareable roadmaps that communicate your product vision and strategy to stakeholders.
• Idea management: Capture and manage ideas from teams and customers.
• Customizable views: Tailor how your team views product plans with features like timeline views, feature lists, and Kanban-style boards.

Pros

• Enables companies to prioritize features based on user needs and customer feedback
• Allows users to create custom roadmaps tailored to their team’s specific needs
• Integrates seamlessly with tools like Jira, Slack, and Trello

Cons

• Relatively expensive for smaller teams or companies with limited budgets
• Certain features require manual updates

Pricing 

• Starter plan: You can build a single roadmap at no cost
• Starts at $19 per user/month 

9. Adobe Experience Manager

Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) is a comprehensive content management solution designed to help businesses deliver personalized, dynamic digital experiences across various touchpoints. 

Features

• Product experience management (PEM): AEM enriches product data with marketing content to create immersive shopping experiences. It links product and marketing assets to product catalogs for easy access and management.
• Experience fragments: Reusable content that can be linked to products and categories, making it easy to scale and personalize product pages.
• Content fragments: Structured content that augments product data, used to create dynamic, headless content linked to product catalogs.
• Product cockpit: Centralized view to manage products and associated content in one place for easier content enrichment.
• Dynamic page enrichment: AEM allows content and experience fragments to be inserted dynamically on product pages, enhancing personalization.
• Shoppable content: Make any content page shoppable by adding commerce components, and linking product details and associated content for seamless shopping.
• Real-time preview: AEM enables real-time preview of enriched product pages, ensuring relevant content is displayed to enhance the product experience.

Pros 

• Allows efficient organization, storage, and retrieval of digital assets, making it easier to manage marketing materials
• Offers extensive customization options
• Suitable for both small businesses and large enterprises, with the scalability to support growing needs.

Cons

• Considered expensive, with high upfront costs and licensing fees 
• Difficult to learn for new users or developers, particularly those who have not worked with Adobe products before

Pricing 

It offers custom pricing based on the scale and needs of the organization

10. Zonka Feedback 

Zonka Feedback is a customer feedback and survey tool designed to help businesses collect and analyze customer feedback to improve product experiences and enhance customer satisfaction. 

Features

• Ready-to-use survey templates: You can access a variety of pre-designed templates for measuring product experience.
• Metric surveys: It Includes NPS, CSAT, and CES surveys to gauge customer satisfaction.
• Product market fit measurement: Assess how well your product meets market demands.
• Real-time survey response alerts: You will get notified instantly when feedback is submitted, allowing for quick action.
• Omnichannel feedback collection: You can collect feedback through email, web pop-ups, SMS, and in-app surveys.
• Smart survey targeting and distribution: It lets you customize survey distribution to target the right audience at the right time.

Pros 

• Offers a wide variety of survey options and is effective for gathering customer satisfaction (CSAT) data
• Allows surveys to be distributed through multiple channels, including email, SMS, and offline methods
• Detailed analytics and reporting for data-driven decisions

Cons 

• Lacks flexibility in survey design
• Limited features on the free plan

Pricing

• Free trial: Offers a 7-day free trial
• Starts at $49/month

Top product experience software comparison

Tool	Type	Free Trial	Starting Price
VWO	All-in-one conversion optimization tool	30-day free trial	$139/month (VWO Insights)
Mixpanel	Product analytics	Yes (track up to 20 million events per month)	$24/month (Growth)
Pendo	Product analytics	30-day free trial	Custom pricing
Appcues	User onboarding and product adoption	14-day free trial	$250/month (Growth)
Adobe Experience Manager	Experience management	No free trial	Custom pricing

Choosing the right tool: Key features

When selecting a product experience tool, it’s crucial to consider several key features that can enhance your ability to optimize user interactions and improve overall product performance. Here are the features:

1. Behavior analytics features

Analytics are at the heart of any great product experience tool. Features like heatmaps and session recordings are integral to understanding user behavior and identifying areas for improvement.

• Heatmaps are invaluable for understanding which elements on your page are engaging users and which are being overlooked. By identifying these areas, you can make data-driven decisions about where to adjust your layout or content for better engagement.
• Session recordings help you see exactly how users navigate your product, where they encounter problems, and where they drop off. Watching these recordings provides a firsthand look at user struggles, making it easier to optimize the user experience and fix pain points.

By incorporating both heatmaps and session recordings into your product experience toolset, you gain a deeper understanding of how users interact with your product, enabling you to refine the user journey and make effective changes.

2. User feedback

In addition to analytics, features that gather user feedback through surveys, polls, or NPS scores are valuable. These insights directly from users provide qualitative data that can complement the quantitative findings from analytics, offering a fuller picture of the user experience.

3. Integrations and scalability

Finally, ensure that the product experience tool integrates easily with your existing systems (like CRM, analytics platforms, or email marketing tools). Scalability is also key, so ensure the tool can grow with your business needs as your product and user base expand.

Conclusion

Product experience tools are vital for delivering seamless and engaging experiences that meet customer expectations. These tools help businesses manage, optimize, and personalize product interactions, ensuring higher satisfaction and loyalty. The right tools can make all the difference in creating memorable customer journeys.

For a complete and reliable solution to elevate your product experience, VWO is your ultimate partner. With integrated tools for behavior analysis, A/B testing, and personalization, it empowers businesses to optimize every aspect of the product experience.

Start your free trial today and deliver extraordinary product experiences!

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)