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When we run a tree test, we are seeing the interaction of these two factors:
| Organization | If a user can't navigate down to the right heading, it doesn't matter how hard we worked to make that heading clear. |
|---|---|
| Labelling | If a user doesn't understand a certain heading, they're unlikely to click on it to see its subheadings |
Some labels are dead easy to create, while others seem to get harder the more we tinker with them. What is it that makes one label better than another?
Below are some principles and tips to help you create effective headings.
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- If we're new to this bus company, we probably don't know the different between Flexi-Pass and TravelPass, so we would have to visit both pages to find out.
- However, if we're regular customers, we are probably familiar with these terms, so navigation is easy.
If youwe're not sure which terms your our audience uses, there are several ways to find out:
- If you we run an open card sort to generate ideas for your our site tree, pay attention to we can examine the headings that your our participants create.
- If you we do contextual inquiry or other qualitative research with your users, we can review your our notes or recordings for verbatim terms that they use.
- Check your our search logs to see what your our site visitors are typing into the search box.
This has the double value of showing what your users couldn't our users may not have been able to find by browsing, and what words they use during navigation.
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...now it becomes much harder to decide where to go if you we have questions.
Use specific, concrete terms
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Writing a vague heading can also create an evil attractor - a link that lures clicks when you we don't want it to.
In Discovering evil attractors in Chapter 12, we see that a consumer-review website tried a Personal subheading in their Appliance section. In tree testing, participants mistakenly chose it as the answer for a wide variety of unrelated tasks. When they made it more specific (changing Personal to Persona Care), the problem went away.
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- brevity (these headings may need to fit in a column or along a nav bar), and
- clarity (it's usually easier to be specific and unambiguous if you we can add a few extra qualifying words)
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