Mobile Card Sorting

At A Glance

Mobile card sorting is a useful tool when determining how to organize information for smartphone and tablet users.

 

Mobile Card Sorting is available on the following subscriptions:

Flex plan Seat-based plan
Essentials Startup
Advanced (add-on) Professional (add-on)
Ultimate Premium (add-on)

 

What is Mobile Card Sorting?

Contributors can complete card sorting tasks using a mobile device with video capture. This feature provides more representative feedback from contributors only using mobile devices and can help you make more informed decisions when grouping information.

When should I use Mobile Card Sorting?

  • When you want to reach a mobile-only audience.
  • When you want to test the relevance of your terminology.

How to Set Up Mobile Card Sorting in the UserTesting Platform

1. Select the Create test button, then choose Create a test to create an unmoderated test.

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Next, choose what you are testing.

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Next, choose “Build audience."

 

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2. Go into the audience builder and choose how many contributors you need. When doing a mobile card sort, make sure to use a larger sample size to get more qualitative feedback. It is suggested to choose from 15-30. You will also need to choose “Tablet” or “Smartphone” in order to run the mobile card sort.

Audience-Editor-UserTesting.png

3.  Next, navigate to the test builder. Provide some directions in the Scenario field, such as:

“One of the activities in this test will be conducting a card sort. This activity helps companies determine how they should structure and organize items.”

scenario.png

4.  Complete your test plan and add the Card sort (built in the UserTesting Platform) task. Next, set up the card sort activity as you normally would. For further instructions, see our article on Card Sorting with UserTesting: Setting Up Your Test.

 

5.  When your contributors take your mobile card sort, they will see instructions on how to use the tool to complete the card sort. 

 

Mobile-Card-Sort-Instructions.png

 

Mobile-Card-Sort-Drag.png

 

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Best Practice Guidelines

  • Do not include too many cards. Having 20 or less cards is recommended.
  • Make sure to have easy-to-understand instructions, like in the example scenario we provided earlier in this article.
  • Mobile card sorting does not provide the best experience for contributors with physical disabilities (fine or gross motor issues) or visual impairments.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Would the mobile card sorting feature need to be used with the native browser?

It will be in-app. Contributors will have to download the UserTesting mobile app from the App Store or Google Play.

  • Can I collect feedback from web app and smartphone contributors in the same test?

No. At this time, users are limited to choosing only one source of feedback per test. To capture representative feedback across web app and mobile contributors, users must conduct separate card sorting tests. 

  • Is it possible to conduct a mobile card sort as part of a mobile app test?

No. Card sort tasks can only be conducted as part of website tests. 

 

Learn More

Need more information? Read these related articles. 

Want to learn more about this topic? Check out our University courses.

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