Before those studies, web pages were designed as printed media, with columns and big blocks of text. They used eye-tracking to measure visual attention on banners, animated graphics, and navigational tools in websites. One of the few advertising companies that used eye-tracking back then was EURO RSCG/DSW Partners. In the late 1990s, marketing and advertising agencies saw the potential of eye-tracking for the Internet and started using the technology to analyze how people consume content online. Since then, technology has evolved, and what started with naked-eye observations has become a sophisticated and accurate technology to measure eye movements.Įye-tracking is nothing but new, but recent developments in technology made the methodology accessible to businesses of all sizes. The first time someone conducted a study observing the movement of the eyes was through direct observations in the 1800s. If you are designing an app or a website, you can test how easy and intuitive it is to complete a specific task, fill out a form, find certain information, or buy a product. When the researcher can see through the user’s eyes, recognizing a usability problem sooner would save the client and developer time and money.Įye-tracking provides information on how people navigate on a page and how attracted they are to visual elements on the screen, like in this study conducted by Nielsen Norman Group which shows the pattern that people use to scan comparison tables. This is one example of the benefits of using eye-tracking. Utilizing an eye-tracking device, however, would help the researcher notice the lack of understanding right away. As a result, you make the buttons more prominent, and still, the users are not interacting with the interface as intended.Īfter spending time and resources on improvements, you realize that the problem is not that they don’t see the buttons, but that even when they see them, they don’t know what to do with them. You most likely think that the buttons might be too small or you need to change the color, font, or position. Imagine, for example, that you test a prototype but discover that users are not interacting with the interface how they are supposed to. The eye-tracking methodology can be extremely valuable for usability tests since it records the journey without interfering with the users’ natural behavior. This article explores the latest trends in the eye-tracking market and how the methodology can be included in the UX researcher’s toolbox. It allows researchers to see through the users’ eyes and get insights about visual attention. Eye-tracking, a method that measures where people are looking and for how long they are looking, became more accessible to UX research thanks to technology.
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