A usability technique for evaluating the findability, labeling, and organization of a website’s structure (information architecture) without using the visual design.
- Methodologies: Engineering, Product Design, Project Management
Tree Testing

Tree Testing
- Design Evaluation, Design Process, Design Thinking, Information Architecture, Usability, User experience (UX), User Interface (UI), User Testing, User-Centered Design
Objective:
How it’s used:
- Participants are given tasks and asked to navigate a text-based hierarchy (the "tree") representing the site structure to find where they believe the information for the task is located. Success rates and navigation paths are analyzed.
Pros
- Focuses specifically on the information architecture, isolating it from visual design or navigation aids; relatively quick and inexpensive to conduct online; helps identify problems with labeling and organization.
Cons
- Does not test the usability of the actual interface or content; tasks must be carefully worded to reflect realistic user goals; analysis can be complex for large trees.
Categories:
- Product Design
Best for:
- Evaluating the findability and clarity of a website's information architecture (site map).
Tree Testing serves various applications across multiple industries, particularly within web development, e-commerce, educational platforms, and any field where digital interfaces are pivotal. The methodology shines during the early phases of project development, such as during user experience (UX) design and wireframing stages, where clarity of content organization is being established. This approach typically involves user experience researchers or UX designers who facilitate the testing, while participants can include target audience members who represent the end users of the site. Tree Testing enables teams to assess how effectively users can locate specific content based solely on the text hierarchy, which is advantageous for identifying mislabeling, misplaced content, or organizational flaws without the influence of visual design elements. Because it can be deployed remotely, this technique is also cost-effective, allowing businesses to gather valuable user feedback quickly. Notably, insights garnered from Tree Testing can inform better decision-making during subsequent iterations of the site architecture, ensuring that the eventual design is user-centered and capable of meeting consumer needs efficiently. This approach lays the groundwork for more heuristic evaluations and usability testing, enriching the user-centered design processes that contribute to achieving higher satisfaction rates with digital products.
Key steps of this methodology
- Define specific tasks participants will complete using the tree structure.
- Present the tree structure in a text-based format without visual aids.
- Instruct participants to find the information related to each task.
- Observe and record each participant's path through the tree.
- Note the success or failure of each task attempt.
- Analyze navigation paths for commonalities and issues in labeling or organization.
- Identify areas where users struggle to find information effectively.
Pro Tips
- Incorporate a mix of open-ended and task-driven questions to gather qualitative feedback about users' thought processes during tree testing.
- Conduct iterative tree tests at various stages of the design process to catch structural issues early and refine site architecture continuously.
- Pair tree testing results with card sorting outcomes to validate information structure and ensure consistency across user expectations and mental models.
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