Evaluating the User Experience

Eye tracking has the capability of greatly deepening our understanding of the user experience. It is possible to combine eye tracking with existing usability metrics (i.e., accuracy, efficiency, satisfaction) to learn something that we would not know without it. 

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How can we use eye tracking as an evaluation tool?
When determining the placement of links, navigational tools, written content, input fields, link labels, images, slogans, and other features, usability practitioners often wonder:  Do users notice this feature? Do users understand what they need to do to accomplish their goals? Eye tracking data can help the UX team make recommendations based on a deeper understanding of the problem.

Eye tracking Measures & Possible Interpretations

• How long it took users to first fixate an AOI
  If not seen immediately, not visually obvious Longer fixations indicate interest or confusion.
• How long it took users from making their first fixation on where they will click to actually making the mouse click
  If a longer time from first fixating to making the click, link label was not clear, link was not obvious, or there were other distractors on page
• Where users looked during an initial interaction 
  What stimuli attracted the users’ attention/What users are first attracted to.
• Number of times users looked at a link before clicking on it
  Confusion over the purpose of a link/User wants to make sure it is the correct link for their task.
  
• Whether and how often participants had to recheck the content they were seeking
  Difficulty understanding content/User attraction to the area.

Eye tracking heat map shows how most participants do not read important instruction text that tells them to skip this section. (From Olmsed-Hawala & Quach, 2012.) 

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