Tree Testing

What is Tree Testing?

Tree Testing is a usability testing method that evaluates the findability and labeling of topics in a website's hierarchy by presenting users with a simplified, text-only version of the site structure. Users are given tasks and asked to navigate through this "tree" structure to find where they would expect to find specific information or complete certain tasks.

Tree testing removes visual design elements, navigation aids, and other interface components to focus purely on the information architecture and labeling. This allows researchers to test whether the site's organizational structure and terminology make sense to users without the influence of visual design or other interface elements.

Why is Tree Testing Important?

Tree Testing is important because it isolates information architecture issues from visual design problems, allowing teams to identify and fix structural navigation problems before investing in visual design. It provides quantitative data about findability and helps validate whether the site's organization matches users' mental models.

This method is particularly valuable for large websites with complex hierarchies, as it can reveal problems with categorization, labeling, and information organization that might be masked by visual design elements in traditional usability testing.

How to Conduct Tree Testing?

To conduct tree testing, create a simplified text-only version of your site hierarchy, develop realistic tasks that require users to find specific information, recruit representative users, present tasks one at a time, and analyze success rates, time to completion, and navigation paths to identify problem areas.

Best practices include testing with 50+ participants for reliable quantitative data, using clear, jargon-free task descriptions, testing multiple tree structures to compare effectiveness, focusing on key user tasks and content, and combining tree testing results with other research methods for comprehensive insights into information architecture effectiveness.