Many behaviors that people make when visiting a website can make them feel almost unconscious. Clicking on a certain thing before the other, the section of the page that gets the first glance, and many other situations are some of the actions that visitors make unaware of that. However, these cases are essential data for UI/UX designers.
According to research, users need 2.6 seconds to make a first impression of a website. Such data leads to the conclusion that UX designers need to make the most out of various tools at their disposal to create the look and functionality that will satisfy the majority of users.
One such tool is click testing, which can lead to significant discoveries in terms of the functionality of a website. Of course, once an expert conducts click testing, that doesn’t mean that all the shortcomings of the website can be fixed, but it is a great way of examining which is the best way of moving forward with the UX of a website.
This article is here to help you understand what click testing is and how it can help you create a better UX for your website.
Click testing explained
Click testing, also known as first click testing is a metric that can predict the overall usefulness of a session. It literally represents what the name suggests, testing where a user would make the first click once he visits a page. This testing ca3.n be conducted for every project that has some form of a clickable interface.
Whether you are creating a blog, service, or application, you can benefit from first-click testing. You can understand whether your navigation and interactive sections are effective and lead your visitors to where they desire.
The testing is achieved by presenting a functional page or a wireframe to a participant and asking them where they would click if they desire to perform a particular task. In the end, all the tested participants are presented in the form of a heatmap over the page in question. With the results, you can conclude where are the most common click locations and whether those sections serve their purpose.
Importance of click testing
Click testing can help you understand both the positive and negative aspects of your website. You can understand which are some of sections are misused or avoided by users and what are elements users most commonly engage with.
The act of click testing can be even more useful if you have prepared questions for the participants. A heatmap of clicks is quite useful but paired with the human element, it can bring even more benefits. You can understand a lot about potential customers and users with the right questions.
You need to understand why did the participants have certain behaviors, did they comprehend the website clearly, and what parts of the website they liked or didn’t like. The users should be able to comprehend the majority of icons and buttons that they see on a website. Users that perform the first task on the website successfully are more likely to continue using the website.
Another thing to consider is the level of knowledge that the visitors have. A UX design of a service that is made for SEO experts won’t be as simple as an online store that is targeted toward an older audience. Depending on the targeted audience, you would want to test relevant candidates.
Analyzing click testing results
Once you complete the testing of your participants, you will find yourself buried in different types of data. But there is no reason to worry, as each example can be utilized to help you understand how to make the user experience the closest thing to perfect.
Wrong clicks
Every click that disappointed the testers and didn’t lead them to their desired destination is a valuable piece of information. Instead of trying to force people and indicate them to where you want them to go, you should make the design according to their behavior.
If the testers are drawn to something that seems like the right place that will give them information, you should take advantage of that. A more significant problem is if the results are randomly arranged across the website, this indicates that the users are confused by the website’s layout.
Of course, some participants might have clicked somewhere on accident. One or two irrational clicks don’t represent a huge problem with your UX, but if you can observe a trend of misclicks, then it would be best to grasp that.
Metrics to measure
You can have a clearer picture if you analyze different sections of the website using percentages. If you’ve observed 100 clicks on a certain button, that number can mean that the participants clicked on the button 100% of the time or 1% of the time. It’s important to observe a couple of major trends on which you can understand the average visitor.
This isn’t some hidden method, but it’s one of the easier ways to make the most out of your data. Another important measure is the amount of time that it took a tester to complete a particular task.
If the task is completed, that doesn’t mean that the UI is great. You need to minimize the time that’s required for someone to complete a particular task and remove any barriers on their way to performing it. Just as longer periods to perform a task indicate that the layout isn’t as intuitive for the visitor, quick, wrong decisions are also helpful.
If the tester makes the decision too quickly, and it’s the wrong decision to make, then you need to redesign this section of the UI. Choices that seem “too right” but aren’t are something that should be minimized.
Comparing it with other websites
“Comparison is a thief of joy” well, not always. Comparison can be quite helpful in certain skills and in business. If you analyze the website of your competitor, you can learn a lot. The participants of your test can also try to engage with other websites.
If you analyze the time required to perform tasks on a website in your niche, and this requires much less time, you can get a lot of useful information by analyzing their decisions and behaviors. Of course, I strongly discourage copying other websites, but there are certain concepts and ideas that you can utilize for your website.
Benefits of click testing
One of the most important benefits of click testing is that you can conduct it at almost every stage of product development. Any mistakes and shortcomings that your product might have can be fixed in the early stages of product design and before presenting the prototypes to the stakeholders or clients.
The method of click testing can also be helpful for websites that are already published and require an overhaul. If your website has good traffic and reputation but a low number of conversions, you should look into its UX design.
As mentioned earlier, you can see how potential visitors think by creating dark maps and heat maps. Click testing can also show the effectiveness of every click. Poor click effectiveness means that the users need clarification as to which elements are clickable.
Conducting click testing can be beneficial for your UX
Click testing isn’t a method that will magically increase the number of website visitors or increase your conversion. However, testing out functionalities of your website with methods such as click testing can lead to significant long-term improvements in multiple metrics.
This method can be costly if you want to make a very detailed examination of the behavior of potential users. On the other hand, click testing can save you money by allowing you to test the website’s UX without actually spending the money on developing the website.
Without click testing, you might go through a couple of designs that aren’t very functional, but if you create a heatmap based on the results of click testing, you can increase the likelihood of developing a good website. Essentially, click testing can help you save money on bad designs.
Remember that UI/UX design isn’t what online businesses are all about. No matter how much money and time you spend on various tests, you can’t make up for the poor content or functionality of a service. Don’t neglect UX design and methods such as this one, but don’t fixate on it before improving other aspects of your business.
