A dictionary of UX and user research terms, phrases and definitions for research, product and design teams.
A/B testing can be used to compare the performance of a webpage, app, email, or advert.
When customer journey mapping, the actor is the person who is experiencing the journey.
Combine multiple different research methods in one study.
Agile is an iterative approach to developing software, websites, apps or any other kind of digital experience.
Used for assessing and designing the navigation and structure of a website or app.
Presents participants with a static image or screenshot of a page from a site or app, before asking questions.
Process of tweaking your website in order to increase the number of visitors who will complete a specific action on the page.
The impression customers have of a brand as a whole throughout all aspects of the buyer's journey.
A customer journey map tells the story of your customer’s experience. From initial contact, through the various points of engagement, to the eventual long term relationship.
Diary studies gather information about a user experience over an extended period of time.
Ethnographic studies are a field study technique.
In an expert review, a UX professional examines your product to identify usability, design and accessibility problems.
It measures the location and duration of a user’s gaze on stimuli.
A simple usability test in which a participant is shown a webpage for five seconds and is then asked some simple questions.
Formative research is done early in the product development to help form the product’s shape and design.
A way to gather cheap and fast feedback from the average person, by going out and asking people what they think of your idea or getting them to use your wireframes.
Heuristics are basically ‘educated guesses’ – a quick, but well-informed way of solving a problem.
Qualitative research technique that involves conducting multiple individual interviews.
Refers to the way content is presented and accessed from any given page on your website.
Refers to the way content is presented and accessed from any given page on your website.
UX designers and researchers follow an iterative process – testing pieces and versions of the product and making improvements along the way.
In Lean UX, non UX-trained people carry out UX activities involving all members of a development team.
Refers to collecting user insights by surveying live visitors to a website, mobile site, or app.
Mental models derive from the way humans perceive the world around them.
The minimum viable product (MVP) is a product with just enough features to be considered ‘working’.
In moderated testing, the participants are observed by a moderator, either in-person or remotely. The core reason for getting into a moderated session is so that you can be in a live setting with a participant.
Same as A/B testing, only you’re testing multiple versions of the same page rather than just two.
The act of defining, finding and inviting representatives of your target audience into your user research or usability study.
Personas are a way to help organisations understand their potential and existing audience in a more personal way.
Simple version of your final product, which you use to test the design before launch.
Any kind of investigation, experiment or study where the results aren’t in numerical form.
Any kind of investigation, experiment or study where the results can be presented with numerical values.
A way to get fast user feedback on your product without any scientific rigour whatsoever.
Use of video recording software to capture the actions and spoken thoughts of users as they interact with your website, content or other marketing assets.
The research method is the approach used to answer a research question.
When customer journey mapping, the scenario is the specific journey that’s being mapped.
A screener (or screener question) is an opportunity for you to have bit more control over who carries out your test before they begin.
A study is what you set up in an online research tool to answer your research questions.
It is an evaluation of a product with representative users and tasks designed to measure usability of the complete product.
Series of questions that are used to gather quick information about consumer attitudes, preferences, sentiment, past experiences, or overall impressions of a brand or product.
Study that is used to get verbal feedback from participants while they interact with your website, app or online prototype.
Used for assessing findability within the hierarchy of a website or app.
How we describe unobserved tests, where a participant is left alone to complete tasks without the presence of a moderator.
Measure of how well a specific user in a specific context can use a product/design to achieve a defined goal effectively, efficiently and satisfactorily.
When you instruct a research participant to complete an activity on a website, prototype, or mobile app for the purpose of understanding whether they can achieve a goal.
Study to gather qualitative feedback from users as they interact with a website, mobile site, or app.
Iterative design process in which designers focus on the users and their needs in each phase of the design process.
Everything that happens to your users when they interact with your business or organization via your website, application or online communications.
The means by which you interact with a product is called the user interface.
The only way you’re going to understand the people who might use your product is if you talk to them first.
Allow you to measure your digital product's baseline performance and measure how changes are affecting the UX needle over time.
Set of quantitative data points used to measure, compare, and track the user experience of a website or app over time.
A wireflow presents a combination of wireframes and workflows.
Wireframes are used to show webpage layout ideas.
Workflows map out a users’ movements across the wireframe or prototype.