Card Sort Insights
Summary
To inform the content structure for the new ND4 Advisory product site, I conducted a card sort test with 21 cards and a total of 4 participants over 1 week. I wanted to understand the way users might think about the structure of a Web site's content when they are learning about new software they may need for their company. I also wanted to create a logical structure leading them from learning about the software to requesting a demo.
Next Steps:
Create a site map using similarly grouped cards to inform related topics on the website, and using the top five categories to inform the overall structure of the site.
Test Participants
I recruited four participants to attempt the card sort. All four successfully completed the card sort and saved their results, and I analyzed the results to inform a content map for the site.
Methodology
I conducted an online open card sort using Optimal Sort. I asked participants to organize 21 randomized phrases into categories that made sense to them. I asked the participants to sort all of the cards into groups, trying to avoid groups containing only one card. Participants then gave each group a name. You can view the Card Sort Questionnaire online.Results
All four participants successfully sorted the 21 cards, creating a total of 23 groups. Two participants created unique groups containing only one card. The groups were somewhat consistent with my original thinking. Some of the participants broke content down into groups I hadn't originally thought of, which I factored that in to my site map. The participants were fairly consistent with group names. For the site maps I opted for names fairly common to Web sites. The participants completed the card sort at different speeds, the lowest recorded time was 5.18 minutes and the highest was 17.70 minutes. You can see a detailed analysis of the card sort results online.