pros and cons of eyetracking
DESCRIPTION
A short presentation for UX Camp Brighton on what I learned from six months of experimenting with an eye tracking device.TRANSCRIPT
UX Camp Brighton - November 15th 2014
Eye TrackingWhat I learned from 6 months of experimenting
Eye Tracking Device• Bought in the summer (cheaper than they used to be!)• Various ideas of how we could use it• Tried a few tests to see what we could find out…
A quick demo
Any volunteers?!?
What did we test?
• General demos to show off the device to people.• Tests on design mock-up ideas to compare variations.• Various tests on ecommerce sites to find patterns of areas of attention.• Assisting a local student with an eye-tracking study for her dissertation
Call To Action Study
…one study got picked up by popular digital marketing blog Econsultancy.
• What design features draw attention to CTA buttons?• Some tests were based on previous studies• Some were new ideas• Four tests in total, with two variations per test• Study taken by 62 people of varying ages/genders
Moving the Call to Action
Moving the Call to Action
Follow the eyes…
Follow the eyes…
Use of arrows
Use of arrows
Flat vs. skeuomorphic
Flat vs. skeuomorphic
What did we learn?
What did we learn?
Is it good if people look at the CTA button?
- They (probably) know the button is there- They could be focusing on the product- Doesn’t mean they’re going to click it!- Test is only for seven seconds- Test is flawed (user is aware of the eye
tracking)
Study Picked up by Econsultancy
The Good…
• Clients love it• It’s a unique way of testing• Nice heatmaps!• Can be fairly quick to run• It’s a gimmick (good for publicity)• Can give useful insight, if used alongside other methods• Some useful ‘discoveries’ e.g. the ‘F-Shape pattern• Useful during wireframing/prototyping to get quick feedback• Fairly simple to set up and run• Good for attention/publicity (e.g . the Econsultancy article has over
500 shares)
The Bad…
• Can be inaccurate• Can be expensive• Can be inaccurate• Doesn’t tell you ‘why’, just ‘what• Might not work on users with glasses • Light conditions can cause innacuracies• Need a lot of test subjects to get results• Tests cannot measure peripheral vision• Almost impossible to get users acting naturally• Can be seen as a gimmick (bad for reputation)
I’m unconvinced but…
Eye Tracking is just another tool that we can use to gain insight into our users. It may be flawed but used correctly, for the correct purpose, at the correct time, it can add
something to the overall process.
Questions??
Want more?
Read my blog post on the Pros and Cons of Eye Tracking
Read the Call to Action study on Econsultancy