Analytics & Metrics Articles & Videos

  • Multivariate vs. A/B Testing: Incremental vs. Radical Changes

    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.

  • Turning Analytics Findings into Usability Studies

    Tips for translating UX issues found in analytics into user research. Analytics tell you what customers are doing, but not why they are doing it. Pairing analytics and user research will provide you with clearer answers.

  • Beyond the NPS: Measure Perceived Usability with the SUS, NASA-TLX, and the Single Ease Question

    Post-test questionnaires like the SUS measure perceived usability of an entire system; post-task scales suggest problematic parts of a design.

  • Quantitative vs. Qualitative Usability Testing

    Qualitative research informs the design process; quantitative research provides a basis for benchmarking programs and ROI calculations.

  • Search-Log Analysis: The Most Overlooked Opportunity in Web UX Research

    Your website’s search engine can tell you what your web visitors want, how they look for it, and how well your content strategy meets their needs.

  • Translating UX Goals into Analytics Measurement Plans

    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.

  • Web UX 2016 vs 2004 (Keynote address)

    Jakob Nielsen presents a rare longitudinal study of 12 years' evolution in web usability, from the UX Conference in London.

  • Optimize for Return Visits, not Bounce Rate

    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.

  • Frequency & Recency of Site Visits: 2 Metrics for User Engagement

    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.

  • 5 Information Architecture Warning Signs in Your Analytics Reports

    Analytics metrics such as pageviews, conversions, entrances, bounce rates, and search query frequency can help identify problems in your category structure.

  • Games User Research: What’s Different?

    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.

  • No More Pogo Sticking: Protect Users from Wasted Clicks

    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.

  • Segment Analytics Data Using Personas

    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.

  • Define Stronger A/B Test Variations Through UX Research

    Complement A/B split tests with user research to identify true causes and develop well informed design variations.

  • Five Essential Analytics Reports for UX Strategists

    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.

  • Conversion Rates

    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.

  • Three Uses for Analytics in User-Experience Practice

    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.

  • Internet Activity Bias Causes Lumpy User Behavior

    Dramatic differences in how much people use the web on different days can distort simplistic interpretations of site analytics.

  • User Satisfaction vs. Performance Metrics

    Users generally prefer designs that are fast and easy to use, but satisfaction isn't 100% correlated with objective usability metrics.

  • A/B Testing, Usability Engineering, Radical Innovation: What Pays Best?

    3 approaches to better design: each has its uses, but the costs, benefits, and risks differ dramatically.