Process
How to run a tree test in seven steps
A seven-step method for tree testing a website or app navigation: set goals, build a text-only tree, write scenario tasks, choose a sample size, recruit real users, analyze the four core metrics and look for patterns in where people go wrong. It suits teams validating a structure after card sorting or before a redesign. Koji can run follow-up interviews after the test to find out why people chose the paths they did.
Where this appears
What's in this process
- Define your goals: Pick the navigation decisions to check. 8 to 12 tasks on key journeys beat 25 spread thin.
- Build your tree: Mirror the real navigation, 3 to 4 levels deep, with no internal jargon.
- Write your tasks: Describe a scenario, and never reuse the words in your labels.
- Set the sample size: At least 50 per task for numbers, or 20 to 30 to compare two options.
- Recruit real users: Screen for your audience. Colleagues and friends know the product too well.
- Analyze the results: Read success rate, directness, first clicks and time on task.
- Find the problem patterns: Look for shared wrong destinations, wrong top-level choices and bailouts.
Use this image
Free to use in your docs, decks and posts under CC BY 4.0, as long as you credit Koji with a link to this page. To embed it, paste this into your page:
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<a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/how-to-run-a-tree-test-seven-steps"><img src="https://www.koji.so/visuals/how-to-run-a-tree-test-seven-steps/how-to-run-a-tree-test-seven-steps.png" alt="Process showing seven steps to run a tree test: define goals, build the tree, write tasks, set sample size, recruit, analyze results and find problem patterns." width="1080" height="1080" /></a>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/how-to-run-a-tree-test-seven-steps">How to run a tree test in seven steps</a>, Koji</p>
