What is a click test and why should it be part of your UX toolkit?
In a split second, website visitors chose to put something in an eCommerce basket, ask for more information or exit your website. All with a click. Understanding why is vital, making Click Testing an essential part of your UX toolkit and UX research.
Every click is significant. It’s a measure of your website’s ability to grab and hold attention and convert leads. Or, an indication that something is wrong, leaving online shopping carts abandoned and content left unread.
Much has been written about how crucial it is to constantly evaluate your website’s User Experience (UX) potential and performance. One of the best ways to do this is to ‘capture’ click activity and responses. UX research will encourage website improvements.
Click testing can be used to check a website prototype or to make sure your existing pages are performing well. It is also a valuable way to assess new apps.
What is a Click Test ?
The basic principle of a click test is to provide a series of images and ask questions to participants to find out information based on the design.
The clue is in the title, but much depends on your goals and target audience.
The basic principle of a click test is that you provide a series of static images on screen to a focus group or relevant individuals as the first part of ux research. You then ask a series of questions to measure their response to what they are seeing. Software charts the ‘click’ activity and provides valuable UX research data.
For example, you could ask: “To contact us for more information, where would you click?” or “If you need to know more about our carpet cleaners, where would you click?”. Then, look at how long they took to respond and how accurately.
These are basic click recording tasks. However, you could use a range of different questions to gather user reaction and behaviour information from viewing your pages or app.
How can you design a Click Test?
Locational/navigation factors, Comprehensive and Qualitative are the three main click test methods.
Generally, the three types of questions used in Click Testing would focus on:
Locational/navigation factors – such as the examples above. This gives you a clearer idea of how intuitive your web design is to use. How quickly can customers get to their interest points?
Comprehension – these click test questions would drill down more on the responses to your website layout. They could ask, for example, how clear users feel instructions are, and what meaning do they take from your content.
Qualitative – questions for click tests can be formulated to get to measure emotional response to features and content on web and app designs. For instance, how much do they like, or dislike key elements?
There are several online sources you can sign up to and complete your testing through, such as usabilityhub.
What are the benefits of click testing?
Data from your click test could provide insights into how users will (or do) interact with your website.
A click test is the simplest way to gather ux research results. Yet, it can reap substantial rewards.
If you are creating initiate website wireframes or developing page concepts, it’s the perfect opportunity to gauge responses. This can help steer your website design in the right direction, saving you considerable time (and cost).
The data from your click test could also provide insights into how users will (or do) interact with your website. What is influencing their behaviour and buying decisions? The qualitative information you collate provides an important window into whether your website design has enough brand and UX strength to underpin a high lead conversion rate.
How to use the results from UX Click Tests
Even if your click test results come through positive, don’t be complacent, there is always room for improvement.
If any of the ux research data from click testing rings alarm bells, you have a golden opportunity to make the necessary changes to improve your website or app. A follow-up test can show that your amendments and updates have helped you hit your targets better.
Of course, the ux results from your click test may show that your design is spot on, and your UX potential is excellent. Don’t let that make you complacent though. Consumers are a fickle and fluid entity! You need regular click tests to be sure your UX is still ‘on point’.
Click testing as a central component of UX Toolkits and UX Research
Click tests can be an important base point for your UX research and can help you to move on the more sophisticated measurement tools. For example, you could incorporate click and heat mapping techniques that show focus points and the levels of attention achieved.
You can also build in measures such as when ‘first clicks’ occurred, and how many clicks a feature generated. Or even, which website feature resulted in the respondent clicking away from the page.
Would you like to know the ‘clickability’ of your website, and how that impacts on your UX effectiveness?
Further reading: Is website user research necessary?