Crucial UX Design KPIs to Track on a Website

Originally published: March 19, 2020 02:43:25 PM, updated: November 19, 2022 12:00:00 AM

The modern business world is a data-driven place. Companies across all industries are trying to collect as much data as possible and use it to give their operations a boost. However, not all data has the capacity for this. Instead, it’s all about choosing the right KPIs and making decisions based on them. So, what exactly are the UX KPIs you should be after on your website? Read on to find out.

Task success rate (TSR)

The task success rate (TSR) measures the number of tasks users successfully execute on your website. TSR is one of the most used KPIs and it’s pretty straightforward. All you need to do is come up with the tasks you expect your visitors to perform and keep track of it. As long as the tasks you opt for have a clearly defined endpoint, measuring the TSR shouldn’t be tough. If any of your visitors fail to perform the task, you can look into it and try to figure out why they failed.

Time-on-task

In today’s fast-paced world, users don’t have all the time in the world to spend on your website. This is exactly why it’s a good idea to track the time-on-task and check how long it takes your visitors to make a purchase or locate your contact info on your site. The average time-on-task is usually viewed as the final KPI. Obviously, the quicker the users are able to perform the task, the better.

Search vs navigation

Most websites now include both navigation bars and the search bar. When tracking the UX, it’s always better to have visitors rely on navigation bars instead of having to use the search bar. Therefore, what you can do is keep track of how many visitors use the search bar on your website and what they search for most often. If you need help collecting any KPIs, there are advanced digital marketing reporting tools you can use. These things will help you get real-time data and all the KPIs you need.

User error rate (UER)

Users tend to make errors when signing up on a website or making a purchase. Sometimes, those errors are made on accident and sometimes they can be an indicator that there’s something wrong with your website. If you identify an error a number of visitors make, it’s a sign your website could use some tweaking. Just make sure you define in advance which actions represent a real error and are supposed to be analyzed.

Customer satisfaction (CSAT)

The customer satisfaction UX KPI is used to keep track of how satisfied your customers are using a convenient metric. The scale users are given usually includes five ratings they can choose between – very dissatisfied, dissatisfied, neutral, satisfied, and very satisfied. Using this metric, the results will show in percentages and you’ll get a clear insight into how happy your customers are. This is the perfect way to look for any potential errors in your approach and fix them.

Net promoter score (NPS)

This KPI is used to illustrate both customer satisfaction and loyalty using one simple metric. Net promoter score (NPS) has been subject to a lot of studies and it has been shown that it’s extremely important for the company’s growth. The best part of it is that tracking it is relatively easy. All you need to do is ask users one central question – How likely you are to recommend this business/website to a friend or family member? The answers are collected on a scale from 1 (very unlikely) to 10 (very likely) and are later used to determine your score.

System usability scale (SUS)

System usability scale is another quick and easy-to-use tool that can help you determine how useful your product/website is. It involves providing users with a 10-point questionnaire and asking them to complete it. The scale consists of five possible answers, all of which range between “strongly agree” and “strongly disagree.” To measure the usability of your website, you have to calculate the SUS scores which averages 68.

Abandonment rate

This metric refers mostly to eCommerce websites. In a nutshell, it counts the number of visitors who start the purchasing procedure, add one or more items to their cart, and then abandon the website before the checkout. Such purchases are not finished for different reasons. A website owner or developer with a high abandonment rate needs to go through all the steps in the purchase process to identify the bottleneck or traction along the way. According to the teachings of a progressive BA degree in visual design, the checkout needs to be visually straightforward, without any distractions, obstacles, or confusing ads.

Pageviews

Pageviews on a website accessed from a desktop computer or laptop refer to the number of clicks and views of every page on that website. As for mobiles and tablets, this metric includes the number of taps, as well. In order to track all these figures, it's necessary to use one of the user research tools. These solutions count every single click, tap, and view of the page. These metrics can help you identify what parts of your website don't meet visitors' expectations or don't send your branding message properly. The pages that have lower pageview rates need to be redesigned or removed from the website.

Feature ratings

Every website has different features that can be rated by users. For instance, an eCommerce website owner might want to rate how contented his/her customers are with the cart, the payment methods, and the checkout process. An accommodation website owner might want to know whether the users like the booking procedure and its features. You can choose several features of your interest and offer your website’s visitors to rate them after they've finished with their actions that included these features. This will give you a better insight into the performance of the target feature.

Wrap-up

UX KPIs covered in this post can serve as powerful tools for your business to improve in the future. With more and more people spending time online, it’s time for UX to have the status it deserves within your organization. Just make sure you collect all the data you need and translate it into the language everyone in your team can understand. The sooner you start doing this, the sooner your website and business will start performing better. What are you waiting for?

Author’s bio: Jennifer Hahn Masterson is the Lead Content Strategist at Spread the Word Solutions, holding an MA degree in business communication. She is always doing her best to help her clients find their place in the ever so competitive business arena, insisting on long-term sustainability rather than on some questionable get-rich-fast scheme. You can check her out on LinkedIn.