Card Sorting is a powerful tool that allows you to understand how your users categorize and group different types of information. Card sorting can be conducted in usability tests to optimize information hierarchy and UX fluidity.
Card sorting can be used in the following circumstances:
- Understand where your testers expect certain content to be found
- Validate how people perceive information contained on a page in a web or mobile application
- Understand if your website labels and tabs make sense for users
- Test different layouts and application structures with different users groups
General tips on creating card sorting tests
- Try to limit the number of cards and categories presented to users. Although there is no hard set rule, having too many cards and categories can cause confusion
- Toggle Allow users to create their own categories to let users create their own categories. This can support open card sorts where users can create their own groups and provide more variable test results
- Toggle Shuffle cards to randomize and counterbalance the order of items presented to the testers. This helps reduce potential bias that could have built up from presentation order.
- Make sure to double check the instructions and be sure that everything is clear and concise. Writing good instructions matter as much as the cards and the categories
Creating a card sorting task
Here's how to add a card sorting task to your unmoderated usability test:
Step 1. Open your draft study and click on + Add task
Step 2. Choose Card Sort from the list of options.
Add instructions to your card sorting task
Add a title and instructions to inform your testers what to do with the card sorting task. If you need any tips, use any of our templates or read our guide on creating effective card sorting tests.
Add and edit cards
Click + Add another card to add cards that can be sorted by your testers.
Click on each card to change the labels.
You can also drag and drop the cards to change the order of the cards.
If you want to delete any of the cards, you can click on the trash icon
We are also in the process of building a shuffling option so that the testers can see a randomized order of cards. Please contact us here if you would like to learn more about this feature.
Add and edit categories
Click + Add another categories to add categories that your testers can use to group cards
Click on each category to change the labels on each of the categories.
You can drag and drop the cards to change the order of the categories.
If you want to delete any of the categories, you can click on the trash icon
Toggle on Allow users to create their own categories to let your testers create their own categories. Please see our guide on optimizing your card sorting tests to allow for open & closed answers.
Previewing your card sorting task
Every time you make a change in the card sort builder, you can preview your changes in the right side
Card sorting results
If you want to understand how to interpret and analyze card sorting results, please check out our guide on interpreting card sorting results.