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Here’s a sample email that summarizes the results for a single tree:
Subject: tree test of existing site - summary of results
Hi team,
This week, we ran an online tree test of our existing website, to see if site visitors could find typical items by browsing the headings and subheadings. 87 customers and 92 non-customers participated.
What worked well
My Account and About Us were clear, with all participants easily finding relevant items there and not visiting those sections otherwise.
The Downloads page in the Support section was easily found by participants looking for our latest software patches.
What needs work
The separate Products and Solutions sections were continually confused by both user groups.
Existing customers found the SuperWidget product page easily, but non-customers confused it with our Widget Packs and went to those pages instead.
The What's New page (where we list our upcoming events) was not found by most participants looking for the next webinar.
The FAQ page attracted heavy (and unwanted) traffic even for basic product information.
Next steps
Susan will run an online card sort next week to help decide how to reorganize the Products and Solutions content.
Lloyd will investigate the FAQ content and see if we can merge it into the main content areas of the site.
Full data and analysis
The tree test data and more detailed results are at http://acme.com/studies/tree-test-2016-01-15
As always, contact me if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or ideas for future studies!
Summary for several trees
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Here’s a sample email for summarizing the results from several trees:
Subject: tree tests - round 1 - summary of results
Hi team,
This week, we ran online tree tests of two new proposed structures for our website, to see if site visitors could find typical items by browsing the headings and subheadings.
We got a pretty good turn-out of existing customers and non-customers, and a clear winner to use as the skeleton of our site redesign:
Tree 1 (task-based)
Tree 2 (audience-based)
Tree 0 (existing site) | Tree 1 (task-based) | Tree 2 (audience-based) | |
|---|---|---|---|
# of customers | 87 | 91 | 81 |
# of non-customers | 92 | 75 | 65 |
Success rate | 44% | 61% | 74% |
What worked well
My Account was clear.
The Downloads page in the Support section was found by most participants ~
Next steps
Susan will run a follow-up tree test combining a revision of Tree 2 with the best elements of Tree 1.
Lloyd will start updating content for a Tree-2-based site.
Full data and analysis
The tree test data and more detailed results are at http://acme.com/studies/tree-test-2016-01-15
Questions, comments, suggestions, or ideas for future studies? Please contact me.
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What needs work
...
Tree 1 (task-based)
...
Tree 2 (audience-based)
worked well
Tree 1 (task-based) | Tree 2 (audience-based) |
|---|---|
My Account and About Us were clear, with all participants easily finding relevant items there and not visiting those sections otherwise. | My Account was clear. |
The Downloads page in the Support section was found by most participants looking for our latest software patches. | The Downloads page (moved to the top level) was found by ALL participants. |
What needs work
Tree 1 (task-based) | Tree 2 (audience-based) |
|---|---|
The separate Products and Solutions sections were still confused by both user groups |
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as they were in the original site. | The unified Solutions page performed well, attracting the right clicks from both user groups. |
Non-customers confused the SuperWidget product page with our Widget Packs and went to those pages instead. | Moving the Pack pages under their corresponding products increased the success |
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rates of the product tasks. |
Next steps
Susan will run a follow-up tree test combining a revision of Tree 2 with the best elements of Tree 1.
Lloyd will start updating content for a Tree-2-based site.
Full data and analysis
The tree test data and more detailed results are at http://acme.com/studies/tree-test-2016-01-15
Questions, comments, suggestions, or ideas for future studies? Please contact me.
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Next: Reporting in more depth