CRyder Design

What Is This?

A five-second test is a type of research method used in user experience research. The website Five Second Tests defines them as “a method of user research that helps you measure what information users take away and what impression they get within the first five seconds of viewing a design.” The process is fairly self-explanatory, and works exactly as it sounds! However, this simple test can identify profound insights that you may not have otherwise found.

There are many benefits that can result from a five-second test. The information gained from this evaluation can tell you whether your website properly communicates its intended message to users or not. The article “Five-Second Testing: Step-by-Step Process & Example” explains, “Five-second testing is a valuable way to collect qualitative data about users’ first impressions and reactions. This will help you understand what information stands out to them, what they like or don’t like, and what they remember so you can ensure your website communicates the right message to the right audience.” According to a research study, about 55% of users only spend 15 seconds or less on a website. This is why the first impression of your site is crucial.

Step One: Brief the User

Depending on the scope of your research, it may be helpful to provide your user with a bit of context before presenting them with the design. It is likely that an average user would have a bit of context prior to accessing the website, so this step is attempting to emulate that experience. The brief does not have to be long and intensive, it can be simple and just provide the user with enough context to make sense of the site to have a similar first impression to an actual user.

Step Two: Present the Product

In this step, you actually present your user with the landing page of your product. Once you set it in front of them, be sure to start your timer! However, the test does not have to last only five seconds, it can last up to sixty seconds depending on the amount of content your website offers. Now, you may be asking yourself, “Why only five seconds? Isn’t that too short?” Well, actually no, not really. Five Second Tests explains,  “Five seconds is long enough for a good design to communicate its primary message. Furthermore, there is a growing trend for website visitors to open many sites at once, reducing the attention each receives and increasing the importance of effective design and messaging.” Because of the competitive nature of fighting for a user’s attention, it is imperative that your website communicates the intended message to your users, and it does it well. If another website can do this better, you just lost a user.

Step Three: Remove the Product & Ask Follow-Up Questions

Time’s up! The timer goes off, so the next step is to take away the product from your user. It doesn’t matter if they are in the middle of interacting with it, but it is important that you do take it away after the time is up so that you can truly analyze their first impressions. Prior to starting this method, you should have identified follow-up questions that you will have your users answer, and now is the time to ask them. In the book UX Methods: A Quick Guide to User Experience Research Methods authors James Pannafino and Patrick McNeil provide a few sample follow-up questions:

• “What products or services are being provided?”
• “Who is the company?”
• “Is the brand trustworthy?”
• “What benefit does this product offer to the user?”
• “How does this product work?”
• “What does this product do?”

I know that it may seem crazy to ask a user to answer all of these questions after seeing the website for such a short period of time! However, a successful design should be able to answer most if not all of these questions with just a first impression.

Examples

According to the article, “5 Second Usability Tests” author Jeff Sauro conducted usability tests across seven different websites. Users were randomly assigned to interact with the website for five seconds, sixty seconds, or with no time limit, Sauro found that “the perception of website usability from the 5-second condition was statistically indistinguishable from the no time limit condition.” This proves that a good design should be able to provide a user with an effective usability experience no matter the time limit.

The article, “What a 5-Second Usability Test Can Reveal About Your Site” highlights a case study of a clothing company that redesigned its site and wanted to test its usability using a five-second test. When explaining the results, the article states, “When users were asked where they could click next, the most popular answer was ‘don’t know’… Even though most of the answers were ‘I don’t know’ it indicates that all information might seem equal or not inviting enough to click on any element.” This study highlights another benefit of a five-second test, identifying common frustrations among users.

Wrapping Up

Though five-second tests may seem simple, there is a lot of preparation work that goes into choosing participants and preparing the questions. However, this quick test can identify some major pain points and successes associated with first impressions of your website. Try it out! See how it works for you.