What is it?
The Click Test is a simple and quick test that allows you to upload an image (that image can contain one or two versions of a design for viewers to choose from) and ask the viewer a question which can be answered by them clicking on a certain part of the design. It’s part of a suite of tools offered by the UsabilityHub (we’ll review the other tools later).
A good example for how theclicktest.com would work is if you were to upload a screenshot of a homepage you are designing and asking the viewer to click on where they think they would find the contact details. You don’t have to just use it for web designs though, in the example below it is being used to determine which picture the majority thinks best represents the description.
A screenshot of the tool in action where users are invited to click the option they feel works best
What are the advantages of using theclicktest.com?
The clicktest.com is simple and can be very useful when trying to answer basic questions about interface design. If you need a quick response to confirm a suspicion then the click test only takes a minute to load and is free if you collect ‘Karma points’ by completing a few of the other tests that members have uploaded i.e. you complete 2 random Click Tests on the site you earn 2 Karma points, which in turn allows you to have 2 people take your test. For those of us in a hurry, or who need a large amount of people to fill out the tests, there is also the option to purchase karma points or to simply email a URL to existing contacts.
The results start being collected instantly and due to the popular nature of the site and the random order tests are given to viewers, you are bound to start collecting results within the hour. Every time we have used the Click Test we have only had to wait a day to collect the desired amount of results we wanted.
The results come in three different forms; a plasma map, heat map, and a click map;
A snapshot of the results for choosing a colour scheme (plasma, heat, & click test from left to right)
We found the click map the most useful as it shows clearly how many people clicked on what graph (in the above example), nonetheless the other maps are visually pleasing and with a higher volume of participants and a different sort of test could prove just as useful!
What are the limitations of using theclicktest.com?
Questions that are more complex might not be as reliable, as the tests are meant to be quick, and determining how much time someone spent reading the question and thinking about the answer is near impossible. This brings me to the main problem that the click test has, and in fact all small, short tests online. You cannot tell whether the answers you are being given are true as people may be participating in the test to earn Karma points and so not really taking notice of the test questions and just clicking anywhere to complete it.
Another issue that comes with allowing anyone to partake in your test is that other than people you can recruit yourself, you do not know whose opinion you are taking note of which may be detrimental to your design.
In addition, the tool only records one click, the last click a viewer makes on the page before finishing. This means the questions are limited as you need to only have one answer in order for the test to work. We found this out the hard way by uploading a test that required the viewer to click on the ‘two best colour schemes’. However when we checked to see how the results were doing we discovered that only one click had been recorded for each individual who had participated.
When should I use it?
So far we’ve found it to be a useful tool to get opinions on basic design elements such as colour scheme choice and chart style. But we haven’t relied upon this data alone. We’ve used it to guide decisions, and have then followed up with face to face user feedback before making a final call. By all means use it to test web designs and guide any other design decisions that will fit into a one click answer question, but don’t let it be the only result that you use to make a final decision.
If you can think of anything else you would like us to cover in future reviews please get in touch!
