Besides organization, the other IA element we're concentrating on is labelling - the specific words we use in our headings.
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.
The most important thing we can do when phrasing headings (and content in general) is to use the same terms that our audience uses themselves.
For example, if we create a section called Contingency planning, and our audience generally has a high-school education, we should replace it with a more understandable term like Emergencies.
Note that "speaking the user's language" is not the same thing as the common advice to "avoid jargon". If our audience regularly uses jargon themselves (for example, programmers who are comfortable with terms like AJAX and hypervisor), then we should consider using those terms in our headings and our content. While jargon is often opaque for outsiders, it is efficient and precise for insiders.
Consider the following example from a bus website:
If you're not sure which terms your audience uses, there are several ways to find out:
Organizations love to come up with catchy or cute names for their products or services. And this is not limited to commercial products; government agencies also have a long history of creating programmes with catchy "marketing-speak" names, such as StudyLink (for student loans) and Keeping Connected (a transport portal).
The problem here is that while the organization knows what these labels mean, it often assumes (wrongly) that its users know too.
Brand names used by themselves in headings can cause the following issues:
In addition to being understandable, effective headings are also unambiguous - users should not be asking which of several meanings might apply.
For example, this healthcare site has a section for medical professionals, which they label Providers...
...but tree testing and usability testing showed that other audiences (such as businesses) also considered themselves to be "providers", causing some hesitation in choosing the right section.
Changing this label to "Medical Providers" solves that problem, but introduces another, because "Medical Providers" might be interpreted by patients as offering a list of medical providers to contact.
Using a term like "For Medical Providers" is unambiguous, but may be too long for the space available - see Balance brevity with clarity below.
Users typically encounter several headings at a time, and need to be able to successfully choose between them.
That's why it's critical that we make our headings easily distinguishable from each other.
For example, if we have a FAQ heading, most audiences will know that it leads to a page of frequently asked questions. By itself, it's a clear heading. If, however, we group it with other headings like those shown below...
...now it becomes much harder to decide where to go if you have questions.
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