The home improvement industry has experienced continued growth in the United States over the last several years, with market value projected to exceed $600 billion by 2025, according to Statista. Since the COVID-19 pandemic forced people into lockdowns in 2020, interest has increased in do-it-yourself (DIY) projects such as painting, remodeling, and landscaping, contributing to
Many topics about the design of rating scales can provoke strong opinions and heated debates. The arguments include whether or not scales should include a neutral response. Unlike rating scales with an even number of points (e.g., 4, 6, or 10), rating scales with an odd number of points (e.g., 5, 7, or 11) contain
Some participants in usability studies complete a task effortlessly, while others struggle with the same task. In retrospective UX surveys, some respondents report having an easy time using a website and strongly recommend it to others, but others report having a much poorer website experience. Why? What explains the discrepancy between experiences, especially when the
Is product satisfaction above average? Is it best in class? Do customers have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the current product? When UX researchers want to measure attitudes and intentions, they often ask respondents to complete multipoint items like the one shown in Figure 1. It’s also common to set a target benchmark for
How predictive are click tests? Does the first click on an image really predict what would happen on a fully functioning website? In an earlier article, we reviewed the literature on click testing. We found that the primary—probably only—source that established the link between the first click and ultimate task success wasn’t done on images
How hard is it to figure out the total cost of a mobile phone service plan? Have you had trouble finding the customer support number for your cable provider? How do you quantify these experiences? What words would you use to describe them? While we have ways of measuring perceived ease using numeric scales, rating
While life can feel like a metaphorical roller coaster, in some cases, there is a literal roller coaster. In 2021, over 100 million people ventured to a theme park in North America. For many of these visitors, the experience started well before the thrill of the ride, when they bought tickets and researched details about
One of the most popular UX research methods is Think Aloud (TA) usability testing. In TA testing, participants speak their thoughts while attempting tasks. The process helps researchers identify usability problems and potential fixes. But is the process of thinking aloud necessary to uncover problems and insights? Earlier, we investigated the effects of TA on
Where will people click on a webpage or app? It’s a good question because knowing where people click can help designers understand how functions and content help or inhibit users from accomplishing their tasks. Our earlier research has shown that the first click on images is reasonably predictive of the first click on live websites,
UX research is geared primarily toward understanding how to improve the experience of products, websites, and software. The intent is not to assess people but to use people to assess product experiences. But people’s ability to solve technical problems—what we often loosely refer to as tech savviness—can confound our research findings. That is, including only
