Design Knowledge Base

UX Metrics

Metrics that capture the value, meaning, and impact of a user’s experience, often through indirect quantitative measurements. The metrics add a layer of accountability for designs and the business, which provides perspective to better shape the scope of a solution. If used effectively, it legitimizes good design by demonstrating how different designs can lead to different outcomes (better outcomes).

When to Use

  1. To guide decision making later in the design process.

Steps

  1. Review previously documented problem statement and jobs to be done to extract the user’s goals and problem you’re attempting to solve.
  2. Determine what change in user behavior or opinion would indicate you’ve been successful in your goals. There may be multiple signals for each of your goals.
  3. Determine how to measure the size of any change in user behavior or opinion. This could be through surveys or logs analysis.

Directional UX Metric Categories

  1. Task Success
  2. Engagement
  3. Operational Costs
  4. Retention
  5. Adoption
  6. User’s Emotional State

Tips

  1. Behavior based. Focus on behavior to tell what’s happening in the user’s experience. Avoid non-behavioral metrics, like customer satisfaction or Net Promoter referral attitudes.
  2. Key to the business. There are five basic areas that are easy to tie KPIs to: (1) increasing revenues, (2) decreasing costs, (3) increasing marketshare, (4) increasing revenue from existing customers, and (5) increasing shareholder value. An effective metric is tied to one or more of these.
  3. Performance indicators. A good metric predicts important change in the business.
  4. Unique. Generic metrics produce generic results. Focus on metrics that match the context and the user of your design solution.
  5. Easy to measure. Consider how the metric will be measured. It can require effort but the easier to measure the more effective the metric.
  6. Be skeptical by considering counter-metrics. A counter-metric attempts to look at the whole picture. Document metrics that tell the entire story rather focus on a specific moment. Ex. Increased conversion on a single page, only to have the user leave immediately on the next page.

References

  1. https://www.dtelepathy.com/ux-metrics/
  2. https://library.gv.com/how-to-choose-the-right-ux-metrics-for-your-product-5f46359ab5be?gi=f6f6bf80fe#.rt5cbh30a
  3. https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/methods/understand/successmetrics/
  4. https://www.invisionapp.com/blog/rationalize-design/
  5. https://articles.uie.com/power_of_ux_kpi/
  6. https://medium.com/the-year-of-the-looking-glass/metrics-versus-experience-a9347d6b80b#.f66kkd6et

Created by: Joe Steinkamp | Last updated by: Joe Steinkamp