Measuring Design Success
by Carolyn Gawkowski
One of the problems that we face as User Experience professionals is that companies only support some of the research to support design success, but they don’t always understand the need for an array of research methods. The best user experiences are derived from analyzing multiple research outcomes to fully understand where the customer experience is working and where it is not.
To measure design success, user experience leaders have a responsibility to take a qualitative and a quantitive approach to design research. That means that in addition to doing user discovery work, such as interviews or ethnographic research, there should be metrics in place to track whether or not an experience is working.
How to Measure Design Success in a Task-Based Scenario
If your product requires a person to complete a task, here are the types of metrics you should implement.
Pro tip: This should be the responsibility of the product management team.
Task completion rate
Task completion rate measures the percentage of users who successfully complete a specific task on your website, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or signing up for a newsletter. If your completion rate is high, then your design is working.
Time on task
Time on task measures the amount of time it takes users to complete a specific task on your website. The time on task doesn’t need to be fast, but it should map to your expectation of how quickly users will complete it. A good idea is to measure the time on task of a successful usability participant and use that as a baseline to measure real world success.
Error rate
Error rate measures the percentage of users who encounter errors or problems while attempting to complete a task on your website. Error rates identify the problem areas that may be confusing users and help your team make informed decisions about what needs to be fixed
Conversion rate
Conversion rate measures the percentage of visitors who complete a specific action on your website, such as making a purchase or filling out a form. By tracking conversion rate, you can determine how effectively your website is serving your customers.
How to Measure Success in a Sales Scenario
If your product is geared towards selling products, here are the types of metrics you should implement.
Pro tip: This should be the responsibility of the marketing team.
User engagement
User engagement metrics, such as time on site, bounce rate, and pages per session, can help you determine how engaging your website is. If users are spending more time on your site and exploring multiple pages, it indicates that they are finding your information valuable and engaging.
Conversion rate
As mentioned above, tracking conversion rate means measuring the percentage of visitors who complete a specific action on your website, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or signing up for a newsletter. Since a sales flow aims to convert non-customers to customers, this is one of the most important sales metrics.
Traffic sources
Analyze the sources of your website traffic to determine which marketing channels are driving the most visitors to your site. This information can help you make informed decisions about where to focus your marketing efforts.
Search engine ranking
Your website's search engine ranking can have a significant impact on your traffic and visibility online. By tracking your website's ranking for relevant keywords, you can determine how to optimize your website or app for search engines and if your content is resonating with your target audience.
In addition to these metrics, it's important to establish clear goals and priorities for your website and track progress towards those goals over time. By setting specific, measurable goals and tracking progress towards those goals, your designs will align to your overall business objectives and make a meaningful impact.
Ultimately, the key to objectively measuring the effectiveness of a web design is to focus on metrics that are directly tied to your business goals and to continuously monitor and improve your website over time.