Path Filter

This article applies to: UserTesting 

On this page:

• About Path Filter
• How it works
• Use cases

About Path Filter

• The Path Filter is a feature in UserTesting that enables you to filter and review test sessions based on specific URLs or sequences of user actions. It’s particularly useful for identifying where users follow (or deviate from) an expected path.

How it works

1. To ensure Path Filter information is displayed on the Metrics tab, when building your test, set up task-based questions for a web-based experience (e.g., desktop web, mobile web, and web-based prototypes).
   
   

2. After a test is completed, go to the Metrics tab to find the Interactive Path Flow that charts the paths contributors took for each task. Remember, IPFs are generated only for web-based experiences (mobile and desktop) and only when contributors navigate across at least two screens within the experience.

   A Search bar, positioned above the path flow, makes it easy to query for specific terms. 
   
   
   
   

3. A search through the Search bar pulls results from a large amount of backend data. As you start to type a query, the Search bar returns results for webpages that contributors visited where the search term appeared in the URL or page title.

   For example, if you searched for “shirt”...

   • Page URL results will show those pages contributors visited that contained “shirt” in the URL.
   • Page title results will show those pages contributors visited that contained “shirt” in the webpage title (as captured from the browser).

   

   If you are on the Ultimate subscription plan, you can use the Path Filter feature to search for sentiment or intent. For example:

   • Sentiment: If you insert the words “positive” or “negative" into the Search field, the results returned and charted on the sentiment path are of contributors who expressed positive or negative sentiments.
   • Intent: If you search “add to cart,” the results returned display all contributors who performed that action, as seen on the intent path. Custom intents are also included in the search results.

   

4. Clicking on a result will put in bold type the contributor username(s) and screen steps that correspond to that result. The path visualization automatically highlights the paths that match the query.

   

5. Clicking on a username produces videos of the contributor performing tasks, showing what they do at each screen step. Watch videos and make a highlight reel from clips of interest

   

Use cases

1.  Your marketing team ran a test that included getting feedback on a sales page for a new product.

   • You filter the task results based on the page name to see when contributors navigated to the page.
   • You then filter the task by negative sentiment and review contributor feedback to identify areas where you can make improvements.
2. Another possible use case is you want to better understand why customers aren’t signing up for a conference. Filter out “negative” and “positive” sentiments to see how people are responding to the registration process.
   
   
3. You plan to show your manager how long people are browsing for sale merchandise on your store website. Filter for “browse” to highlight the contributors who browsed and for how long they did so. Then, watch videos of contributors browsing and make a highlight reel to share with your manager.

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