Card Sorting and UX

Users frequently leave websites that are too difficult to navigate and are too confusing. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a navigation system that leads users in the right direction and ensures they don’t get lost along the way, while trying to find the desired product?

Fortunately, there is a way to do this, and the first step in doing so is to conduct a card sorting study. Let’s take a look at how it can benefit your digital products and what card sorting even has to do with UX.

What is card sorting?

Card sorting is a research method used to assist with content organization and labeling. Card sorting study is based on giving participants a set of cards and asking them to categorize the cards in a way that makes sense to them. UX card sorting is focused specifically on organizing the content of your digital product, for example a website or an app.

What is card sorting in UX?

According to NN/group: Card sorting is a UX research technique in which users organize topics into groups. 

In UX card sorting is used primarily to build user-friendly menu structures and navigational systems, give insights on labeling and categorization. Card sorting method is based on sorting specific items in categories, in a way that makes sense to a user. 

When it comes to UX, the items in your card sort can represent whatever content you want to be categorized:

  • Blog articles
  • Products
  • Menu labels etc.

This UX research technique is so popular because it’s not only effective, but also extremely easy to understand for the tester. All they have to do is drag and drop cards into categories, either in real life or online, with the help of a specialized card sorting tool.

Nowadays, the second option is a lot more favored, as using a card sorting tool for your study allows you to save a significant amount of time and money both for you and the respondent. Not to mention, it’s just an easier, more modern way to do research.

card sorting ux

Is card sorting good for UX?

Yes, card sorting is good for UX. Based on the insights from a card sorting study researchers are able to come up with intuitive Information Architecture models that are easy to navigate and make sense to their user.

Why is card sorting used?

Content organization and navigation are some of the most important aspects of user experience. And card sorting is a technique that helps you improve them both in a way that will appeal to the end-user. 

When a person can’t find something on the website, be it a piece of information or a desired product, they will most likely leave without trying to figure it out. That’s how you lose tons of your potential customers and loyal clients, not to mention – increase your website’s bounce rates. 

By running a simple card sorting study you are able to find the optimal way of grouping information on your website, create categories that make sense to the user and write intuitive labels for them. 

All this makes an intuitive menu structure that will be easy for users to navigate, allowing them to fulfill their goals with your website faster and much more effectively. 

When to use card sorting?

Card sorting is typically used in the beginning of the design process. Whether you’re creating a new product or redesigning an old one, a card sorting test should be conducted before you start putting together the whole product, so that you don’t have to change the whole structure later. 

As soon as you know what content you’re going to put on the website, run a card sorting study to find out how your future users prefer it to be organized. This will save you from wasting time and money on creating a structure that your users won’t be able to navigate.

How many users are enough for a card-sorting study?

The goal is to get at least 30 people participating in your card sorting. This number will allow you to gather enough quantitative information for accurate statistics and will make it easier to come to conclusions. Depending on the study, this number can vary from 30 to 50.

This quick video perfectly explains the process of a card sorting study:

How many types of card sorting are there?

There are 3 types of card sorting: Open, Closed and Hybrid. Depending on the goals of your study you can choose the one that fits your needs best. Let’s take a look at their main differences.

Open card sorting

In an open card sorting study, participants arrange cards into self-defined categories. The number of produced categories is unrestricted. The order in which the cards are arranged is up to the respondents. Respondents are given the option to name categories in a way that makes sense to them rather than having to select from a small number of predefined options.

Choose open card sorting if you:

  • Are lacking knowledge of how to classify and name your content categories.
  • Want to learn how visitors interpret the content on your website?
  • Must ascertain whether certain segments of your audience have different perceptions of the content and anticipate that it will be categorized differently.

Closed card sorting

Users are supposed to arrange cards into the predetermined categories when using closed card sorting. Respondents aren’t given as much freedom to express themselves in this type of study as they are in an open card sort. Intentionally limiting their options allows you to assess your own category set and determine the best way to organize and label information.

Choose closed card sorting if you want to:

  • Know if users organize cards into the same categories as you do?
  • Find out if your labels are clear to users or if they are confusing to them?
  • Choose the best category label option from a variety of options.

Hybrid card sorting

Respondents sort your cards into defined categories or create their own. Combining the best of Open and Closed Card Sorting, it allows you to validate information grouping strategy while still leaving respondents room for free expression.

Choose hybrid card sorting if you want to:

  • Evaluate your existing ideas but still leave room for free expression
  • When you already sure of some categories but want to test the others
  • When you want to evaluate an existing structure
card sorting ux

How to do card sorting

You can conduct UX card sorting in 5 simple steps:

  1. Define your cards and categories
  2. Choose a technique
  3. Choose the right card sorting type
  4. Prepare a questionnaire
  5. Recruit participants and conduct the study
Before we go through each of the steps, it’s important to note that for effective card sorting, it’s best to keep card sorting best practices in mind. They will help avoid common mistakes and gather reliable feedback. To learn which card sorting best practices you can use, check out the video below. 

Now let’s break down each of the steps.

1. Define your cards and categories

Start by adding cards and categories. Create cards for each item you want your user to categorize. It’s better to have at least 30 cards before starting a card sorting session. This should be enough to analyze results later on.

On the other hand, don’t create too many cards (over 60). It could discourage testers to finish your exercise because it takes too much of their time.

You can use images in your cards as well. It could be useful if you have some physical products and do UX research for your e-commerce website. This way you’ll make it easier for users to categorize cards.

2. Choose a technique

There are 3 main ways to approach card sorting:

In-person observation

It gives you a chance to see what your users think out loud. Sit down with your testers, instruct them, and watch how they solve your card sorting exercise. Ask questions on the go and gather feedback. You’ll gain deeper insights, which lead to better solutions.

Group sessions

You can run a group exercise as well. This way, you can get more results at once. Present the instruction at the beginning and let testers work.

Here you have 2 options.

You can let a group focus on one card sorting, so they work together. Collaborating or teaming up with others may quickly point out the main content areas. Or you can let them work separately. By giving cards to each user, you can get more data during one session.

Online card sorting

It can be done from home, work, or any place. You do not need to travel or go to the offices. Ask participants to conduct your digital card sorting workshop online so you can easily and quickly get many responses.

There are many free card sorting tools you can use to create a high-quality free card sorting online session. I’m going to focus on this type of research in this blog post.

3. Choose the right card sorting type

You can choose between Open, Closed and Hybrid card sorting. 

woman in black long sleeve shirt holding white paper

Open Card Sorting

Testers sort cards into groups which they label themselves. Great choice when you want to understand how users group your content.

Closed Card Sorting

It’s when you give respondents categories to sort the cards into. I recommend this one, in case you want to find out how users match cards with existing content structure.

Hybrid Card Sorting

Respondents sort your cards into defined categories or create their own. Combining the best of Open and Closed Card Sorting, it allows you to validate information grouping strategy while still leaving respondents room for free expression.

4. Prepare a questionnaire

To get additional information on your study participants and filter out the people who are not relevant, I recommend including a pre-study questionnaire. It can include questions about your participants’ background or demographics that are relevant to the study. 

Additionally, always include a screening question. This will help to only conduct your study with the people who are representative of your target audience and not skew the results with irrelevant answers.

For example, if we were to conduct card sorting for an online parenting magazine, a good screening question would be:


5. Recruit participants and conduct the study

When your setup is finished, start recruiting your testers. The goal is to get at least 30 people participating in your UX research. You can start with your users, email them an invite link so they can join anytime. Use social media, share your challenge, and recruit people there. All they’ll have to do is answer a few questions and then drag and drop the cards into categories.

Some tools even offer a widget that you can put on your website and collect results on the go.

It’s possible to reward participants with a voucher, discount coupon, or promising them to create a better website they want to use.

How to analyse card sorting

There are two suggested ways to look at the results of your research.

Exploratory analysis is an approach where you go through the results searching for ideas using your intuition and creativity.

Statistical analysis is focused on numbers. Card sorting tools are free and offer many statistical views on data. They analyze all the results for you and visualize in a form of colorful graphs and diagrams. You can use the standardization grid, similarity matrix, dendrograms, results matrix, popular placements matrix, and many others.

This wide range of diagrams will provide you with a ton of information about your users. They are very easy to analyze, so you can get all the useful data within a short period of time. It will not only give you countless insights but answer some of the important questions regarding your UX.

Card sorting tool result page showing sorted cards into categories 

I recommend taking a look at some of the Card Sorting analysis Templates for easier understanding of how to make sense of the data and present it in a readable way.

Card Sorting and UX

Users frequently leave websites that are too difficult to navigate and are too confusing. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a navigation system that leads users in the right direction and ensures they don’t get lost along the way, while trying to find the desired product?

Fortunately, there is a way to do this, and the first step in doing so is to conduct a card sorting study. Let’s take a look at how it can benefit your digital products and what card sorting even has to do with UX.

What is card sorting?

Card sorting is a research method used to assist with content organization and labeling. Card sorting study is based on giving participants a set of cards and asking them to categorize the cards in a way that makes sense to them. UX card sorting is focused specifically on organizing the content of your digital product, for example a website or an app.

What is card sorting in UX?

According to NN/group: Card sorting is a UX research technique in which users organize topics into groups. 

In UX card sorting is used primarily to build user-friendly menu structures and navigational systems, give insights on labeling and categorization. Card sorting method is based on sorting specific items in categories, in a way that makes sense to a user. 

When it comes to UX, the items in your card sort can represent whatever content you want to be categorized:

  • Blog articles
  • Products
  • Menu labels etc.

This UX research technique is so popular because it’s not only effective, but also extremely easy to understand for the tester. All they have to do is drag and drop cards into categories, either in real life or online, with the help of a specialized card sorting tool.

Nowadays, the second option is a lot more favored, as using a card sorting tool for your study allows you to save a significant amount of time and money both for you and the respondent. Not to mention, it’s just an easier, more modern way to do research.

card sorting ux

Is card sorting good for UX?

Yes, card sorting is good for UX. Based on the insights from a card sorting study researchers are able to come up with intuitive Information Architecture models that are easy to navigate and make sense to their user.

Why is card sorting used?

Content organization and navigation are some of the most important aspects of user experience. And card sorting is a technique that helps you improve them both in a way that will appeal to the end-user. 

When a person can’t find something on the website, be it a piece of information or a desired product, they will most likely leave without trying to figure it out. That’s how you lose tons of your potential customers and loyal clients, not to mention – increase your website’s bounce rates. 

By running a simple card sorting study you are able to find the optimal way of grouping information on your website, create categories that make sense to the user and write intuitive labels for them. 

All this makes an intuitive menu structure that will be easy for users to navigate, allowing them to fulfill their goals with your website faster and much more effectively. 

When to use card sorting?

Card sorting is typically used in the beginning of the design process. Whether you’re creating a new product or redesigning an old one, a card sorting test should be conducted before you start putting together the whole product, so that you don’t have to change the whole structure later. 

As soon as you know what content you’re going to put on the website, run a card sorting study to find out how your future users prefer it to be organized. This will save you from wasting time and money on creating a structure that your users won’t be able to navigate.

How many users are enough for a card-sorting study?

The goal is to get at least 30 people participating in your card sorting. This number will allow you to gather enough quantitative information for accurate statistics and will make it easier to come to conclusions. Depending on the study, this number can vary from 30 to 50.

This quick video perfectly explains the process of a card sorting study:

How many types of card sorting are there?

There are 3 types of card sorting: Open, Closed and Hybrid. Depending on the goals of your study you can choose the one that fits your needs best. Let’s take a look at their main differences.

Open card sorting

In an open card sorting study, participants arrange cards into self-defined categories. The number of produced categories is unrestricted. The order in which the cards are arranged is up to the respondents. Respondents are given the option to name categories in a way that makes sense to them rather than having to select from a small number of predefined options.

Choose open card sorting if you:

  • Are lacking knowledge of how to classify and name your content categories.
  • Want to learn how visitors interpret the content on your website?
  • Must ascertain whether certain segments of your audience have different perceptions of the content and anticipate that it will be categorized differently.

Closed card sorting

Users are supposed to arrange cards into the predetermined categories when using closed card sorting. Respondents aren’t given as much freedom to express themselves in this type of study as they are in an open card sort. Intentionally limiting their options allows you to assess your own category set and determine the best way to organize and label information.

Choose closed card sorting if you want to:

  • Know if users organize cards into the same categories as you do?
  • Find out if your labels are clear to users or if they are confusing to them?
  • Choose the best category label option from a variety of options.

Hybrid card sorting

Respondents sort your cards into defined categories or create their own. Combining the best of Open and Closed Card Sorting, it allows you to validate information grouping strategy while still leaving respondents room for free expression.

Choose hybrid card sorting if you want to:

  • Evaluate your existing ideas but still leave room for free expression
  • When you already sure of some categories but want to test the others
  • When you want to evaluate an existing structure
card sorting ux

How to do card sorting

You can conduct UX card sorting in 5 simple steps:

  1. Define your cards and categories
  2. Choose a technique
  3. Choose the right card sorting type
  4. Prepare a questionnaire
  5. Recruit participants and conduct the study

Let’s break down each of the steps.

1. Define your cards and categories

Start by adding cards and categories. Create cards for each item you want your user to categorize. It’s better to have at least 30 cards before starting a card sorting session. This should be enough to analyze results later on.

On the other hand, don’t create too many cards (over 60). It could discourage testers to finish your exercise because it takes too much of their time.

You can use images in your cards as well. It could be useful if you have some physical products and do UX research for your e-commerce website. This way you’ll make it easier for users to categorize cards.

2. Choose a technique

There are 3 main ways to approach card sorting:

In-person observation

It gives you a chance to see what your users think out loud. Sit down with your testers, instruct them, and watch how they solve your card sorting exercise. Ask questions on the go and gather feedback. You’ll gain deeper insights, which lead to better solutions.

Group sessions

You can run a group exercise as well. This way, you can get more results at once. Present the instruction at the beginning and let testers work.

Here you have 2 options.

You can let a group focus on one card sorting, so they work together. Collaborating or teaming up with others may quickly point out the main content areas. Or you can let them work separately. By giving cards to each user, you can get more data during one session.

Online card sorting

It can be done from home, work, or any place. You do not need to travel or go to the offices. Ask participants to conduct your digital card sorting workshop online so you can easily and quickly get many responses.

There are many free card sorting tools you can use to create a high-quality free card sorting online session. I’m going to focus on this type of research in this blog post.

3. Choose the right card sorting type

You can choose between Open, Closed and Hybrid card sorting. 

woman in black long sleeve shirt holding white paper

Open Card Sorting

Testers sort cards into groups which they label themselves. Great choice when you want to understand how users group your content.

Closed Card Sorting

It’s when you give respondents categories to sort the cards into. I recommend this one, in case you want to find out how users match cards with existing content structure.

Hybrid Card Sorting

Respondents sort your cards into defined categories or create their own. Combining the best of Open and Closed Card Sorting, it allows you to validate information grouping strategy while still leaving respondents room for free expression.

4. Prepare a questionnaire

To get additional information on your study participants and filter out the people who are not relevant, I recommend including a pre-study questionnaire. It can include questions about your participants’ background or demographics that are relevant to the study. 

Additionally, always include a screening question. This will help to only conduct your study with the people who are representative of your target audience and not skew the results with irrelevant answers.

For example, if we were to conduct card sorting for an online parenting magazine, a good screening question would be:


5. Recruit participants and conduct the study

When your setup is finished, start recruiting your testers. The goal is to get at least 30 people participating in your UX research. You can start with your users, email them an invite link so they can join anytime. Use social media, share your challenge, and recruit people there. All they’ll have to do is answer a few questions and then drag and drop the cards into categories.

Some tools even offer a widget that you can put on your website and collect results on the go.

It’s possible to reward participants with a voucher, discount coupon, or promising them to create a better website they want to use.

How to analyse card sorting

There are two suggested ways to look at the results of your research.

Exploratory analysis is an approach where you go through the results searching for ideas using your intuition and creativity.

Statistical analysis is focused on numbers. Card sorting tools are free and offer many statistical views on data. They analyze all the results for you and visualize in a form of colorful graphs and diagrams. You can use the standardization grid, similarity matrix, dendrograms, results matrix, popular placements matrix, and many others.

Card sorting tool result page showing data about the participants

This wide range of diagrams will provide you with a ton of information about your users. They are very easy to analyze, so you can get all the useful data within a short period of time. It will not only give you countless insights but answer some of the important questions regarding your UX.

Card sorting tool result page showing sorted cards into categories 

I recommend taking a look at some of the Card Sorting analysis Templates for easier understanding of how to make sense of the data and present it in a readable way.

FAQ

What is card sorting in UX design?

Card sorting is a UX research method used to discover how users understand and how they would group the content on your website or app. It is used to create the base of an information architecture (IA). Read more about information architecture.

Why is card sorting important?

Everyone thinks in different ways. What may seem like a perfect choice for you or the people in your company may not at all feel intuitive to your customers. Card sorting is a method that can help you uncover the way your customers think in regard to the grouping of your content and this is invaluable information for you. After all, you want to design your product with the customers in mind. Check out an example of why card sorting proved crucial for a worldwide financial company.

Is card sorting a qualitative or a quantitative method?

In its simplest form card sorting is a quantitative process. You see into which category respondents place the cards and calculate the agreement among the respondents, or the similarity rate. Different online tools offer different metrics for analyzing, you can check out the expanse of the analytics for the different tools on our card sorting tools page.