Likert and semantic differential are instruments used to determine attitudes to products, services, and experiences, but depending on your situation, one may work better than the other.
Tracked analytics metrics should be actionable: variations in a meaningful, relatively stable metric reflect change in the user experience. In contrast, vanity metrics appear impressive, but their fluctuations are not operational.
A treemap is a complex, area-based data visualization for hierarchical data that can be hard to interpret precisely. In many cases, simpler visualizations such as bar charts are preferable.
Radical redesigns are best tested using an A/B experiment, while multivariate tests indicate how various UI elements interact with each other and support incremental improvements to a design.
Focus on UX goals to drive analytics measurement plans, rather than tracking superficial metrics. Identify the core goal of a design to meaningfully measure it.
Use bounce rate as a red flag for possible issues lurking on your site, but don’t make design decisions aimed solely at chasing that second click. Optimize for long-term engagement through return visits and track deeper conversion goals.
How often people visit your site and how long they wait between two visits can help to gauge visitor loyalty and to uncover the behavioral trends distinguishing frequent users from occasional ones.
Analytics metrics such as pageviews, conversions, entrances, bounce rates, and search query frequency can help identify problems in your category structure.
Game testing researches the notion of fun. Compared with mainstream UX studies, it involves many more users and relies more on biometrics and custom software. The most striking findings from the Games User Research Summit were the drastic age and gender differences in motivation research.
Misleading links and omitted information force users to bounce back and forth in a hub-and-spoke pattern between a routing page and subpages linked from it, increasing the interaction cost and decreasing engagement over time. Use web analytics tools to identify and monitor pogo-stick behavior on your site.
Persona-inspired segments can be used in website analytics to uncover trends in data and derive UX insights. Better than (a) lumping everybody together or (b) segmenting on demographics that don't relate to user behavior.
Google Analytics is filled with very useful information for UX Strategists defining a baseline and tracking trends in order to define goals, strategies, and concepts for a brighter tomorrow.
Increased conversion is one of the strongest ROI arguments for better user experience and more user research. Track over time, because it's a relative metric.
In order to make the most of analytics data, UX professionals need to integrate this data where it can add value to qualitative processes instead of distract resources.