10 reasons to use or reject forever
For UX analysts, Aitracking is like pineapple pizza. Some people consider this technology doubtful, while others are delighted with it. We have collected the pros and cons.
What is eytreking and why is it needed?
Aitracking is a technology that allows you to monitor eye activity. What is the man looking at? How long does it hold attention? What areas is ignored? How do his pupils react to the content of your pages? All this can be found out with the help of special equipment.
Yandex.Metrica has WebVizor technology. What is the difference?
The difference is fundamental: the web viewer follows the movements of the mouse, and the eytreker follows the look. The web visitor captures all actions that the user performs on the site, and - like the eytreker - records them on video. You can later view the record and analyze the behavior of the person.
Partly, the movement of the cursor and the trajectory of the eye coincide, but not by 100%. If the visitor did not hover the mouse over any area, this does not mean that he did not look there. Moreover, it is unclear from these movements how much time the user has devoted to a specific block and in what order he studied the page.
The system has long been used by doctors, linguists and engineers; Over time, lighttracking began to be used for commercial purposes, for example, in order to track buyers' behavior in front of a shelf with goods or to evaluate packaging and advertising design. Another area of application is UX research. About them will be discussed. Yes, an important point. For all Habr readers, a discount on any Skillbox course is 10,000 rubles for the Habr promo code. Leave a request on the site, call the promo code to the manager after the call and the discount is yours.
Why IT is awesome
1. It shows the site through the user's eyes.
Tests with the help of light tracking help to stand in the place of the user, to understand his own product more deeply and to use the location of elements on the website or in the application with greater benefit.
Imagine: you wrote a witty and selling text about the company, placed it on the main page, but then the tracker showed that users only read the headline, a piece of the first paragraph and a bulleted list that lists the services. It turns out that the most visible part of the resource is idle for nothing.
Another example: the site collects money for a dog shelter, you told the stories of pets and posted photos. Google Analytics shows that pages are being actively viewed, but the lion’s share of users ignores the Donate button, and then goes to the social network and asks how to transfer money. There is clearly something wrong with the button, and if you test the site with the help of an Aytreker, it becomes clear what it is. A heat map or eye movement chart will show where the visitor’s gaze was directed after he read the text and looked at the pictures. Most likely, there he expected to see the form for payments.
Aytreker shows us:
- what difficulties the user faces;
- exactly how he is looking for information;
- how the content is perceived;
- how it responds to alerts;
- which distracts him from the main parts of each screen for you;
- how much time the user devotes to certain elements;
- what information reads carefully, and what information it just scans;
- which elements are completely ignored.
A good example of "banner blindness": users do not see ads on the site at all. ( Source )
2. The unconscious opens up.
For a second, the human eye has time to fix at five points. That is, the one who wanders the page of the site for a minute, can skim through up to 300 elements. None of the respondents is able to remember and retell all these actions, as they perform them unconsciously. Data can be obtained about this only by tracing the movements of the eyes.
3. This is useful for large projects.
Aitracking will be a useful tool for large and complex projects in which problems with usability are fraught with the loss of serious money. Before launching a federal online store, portal or large-scale advertising campaign, it makes sense to do such testing. If you see the weak points in advance, you can save millions.
4. Data from the eytreker is a weighty and illustrative argument
" Source
The results of the study are recorded in the form of heatmaps, graphs on which the trajectory of eye movement is drawn, and a report where the number of fixations and their duration is noted. They look impressive and easily perceived even by an unprepared audience. Therefore, the data from the ytreker will be an excellent illustration that will confirm observations and conclusions obtained in a different way.
Formalized test results are good for presentations, they will help to illustrate typical user behavior and point out Problem moments. If you have long felt that it’s time to change a website or application, the data of the ytreker will help to convince your colleagues and the management of this.
5. The technology itself seems prestigious.
People far from the digital industry, Aytreking seems to be something amazing and magical. An expensive and complicated technique, a beautiful picture - it’s all like gadgets from spy movies.
A studio or agency that offers testing with the help of light tracking is perceived as more authoritative and advanced, which means there is a chance that their other services will be sold better.
Why it is better not to get in touch with IT (if you are not sure that you really need it)
1. It is expensive
There are budgetary eytrekler on the market, which cost a little more than $ 100, they have weak software installed, and the functions are very limited, so you cannot use them for serious research. The price of professional equipment is about $ 10,000 and above. If we take into account that by itself, eytreking cannot be the ultimate truth and is used in conjunction with other methods of UX analytics, it turns out to be expensive. Such an investment can afford large agencies and laboratories. Usually, companies that need to conduct such an analysis turn to the UX-laboratory, where they can rent equipment and order the services of an expert who will analyze the result.
2. The research results are mixed
To get the full picture, it is not enough to simply test on special equipment. Imagine: a user went to an online store and looked at the banner for a long time, which tells about the new promotion and its conditions. How to understand why he did this? He was interested in the proposal, or for a long time he could not understand the conditions? Or maybe he just liked the picture? There are lots of options.
We can’t read the thoughts, so the results can be interpreted correctly only after a conversation with the respondent, which means that testing will be delayed. Do not forget that the explanations that a person gives to his actions may be biased.
( Source )
3. Difficult to analyze data
Collecting, analyzing and interpreting data from the eytreking is not easy. Firstly, the process itself is a long one, so it is not suitable for those customers who want to get results as soon as possible. Secondly, this is not the technology that any smart guy who is familiar with the basics of UX analytics can master in a couple of weeks.
To get the maximum benefit, you need to find a specialist who has the relevant knowledge and experience, or to train your own employee. He should be able to properly calibrate the equipment, understand the methodology and psychology, as well as understand how to correctly illustrate the figures obtained using images. Just showing the customer beautiful heat maps is not enough.
4. Subjective factors may influence the user.
There are a lot of reasons why a test on an eytreker may not work. First, there may be problems with setting up the device, and then the system will either refuse to work or will show inaccurate data. Anything can interfere with work: contact lenses, eyelashes that are too long, makeup, hair, and so on.
Even if you successfully cope with the calibration step, the result may still be inaccurate. Man is an irrational being, which means that any trick can be expected from him. The respondent may be distracted by the buzzing lamp, the color of the walls, the stuffiness, cramped shoes, his own thoughts - in general, anything. All these minor troubles will affect his perception. It turns out, to get the most objective result, you need a fairly large sample.
5. Garbage fixations
They appear if the respondent is distracted during the test. When he talks to the moderator, everything breaks down. The look at this moment can linger on any element without objective reasons. Such results will have to be cleaned, and this is a long and painstaking work.
Conclusion
Aitracking expands the capabilities of UX analytics, provides additional knowledge about usability, helps to confirm hypotheses, deal with problems and understand the motivation of users. However, eye tracking does not replace other tools that are used to test usability. In addition, some information similar to that obtained by aytreker can be obtained cheaper and faster.
If a company has the resources and time to implement and master aytreking, you should not refuse: such an analysis can be a good competitive advantage. This method will be of interest to those who are willing to invest in high-quality analytics in order to gain maximum knowledge about their clients.