A tree testing tool with a real share link.
Build your navigation as a tree, write a few tasks, and send a real link to real people. See success rate, directness and exactly where people went wrong, per task. Free, no signup, no seat limit -- edit the pre-filled example below to see it working before you build your own.
Three steps, no design required.
1. Build the tree
Enter your categories and items -- your real navigation, or a proposed one you have not built yet.
2. Share the link
Send participants a plain, chrome-free page. No signup for them, no app to install -- just the tree and your tasks.
3. Read the results
Per task: success rate, directness, and every path people actually took -- including the wrong ones.
Edit the example, or start from scratch.
Pre-filled with an electronics store's navigation and three tasks, so you can see the whole tool working end to end before touching anything.
Your tree
Top-level categories, each with items underneath. This editor supports two levels, which covers most real navigation menus -- edit the pre-filled example or clear it and build your own.
Tasks
Write each task as something a real user would think, not a navigation instruction -- "where would you find X" rather than "click on X". Pick the item that counts as correct for each.
Already have a study?
Paste your study key and results (owner) key to view your results.
This tells you what happened, not why.
An unmoderated tree test shows you where people ended up and how directly they got there. It does not tell you why a label confused someone -- that needs a follow-up question or a moderated session. A handful of responses is enough to spot an obviously broken category; treat a small sample as indicative, not a statistically reliable measurement. This tool does not recruit participants for you -- you bring your own, whether that is colleagues, a mailing list, or a panel you already pay for.
Common questions
What is tree testing?
Tree testing checks whether people can find things in your navigation structure, on its own, with no visual design or styling to help or hinder them. Participants see only labelled categories -- text on a plain page -- and try to find where a given task would live by drilling down through the hierarchy. It answers "is the structure itself findable", separately from any question about layout, colour or visual hierarchy.
How is this different from a card sort?
A card sort is how you DESIGN a structure -- participants group items into categories that make sense to them, and you use the patterns to build a hierarchy. A tree test is how you VALIDATE a structure you already have -- participants are given a finished tree and try to find things in it. Do the card sort first if you do not have a structure yet; use the tree test once you do.
How many participants do I need?
Classic usability guidance (Nielsen Norman Group) suggests five participants can surface most of the big, obvious problems with a structure, though the numbers here are indicative, not from any study of ours. More participants let you trust smaller differences between tasks and catch less common wrong turns. A handful of responses is enough to spot a badly-placed category; do not treat a five-person tree test as a statistically reliable measurement.
What does "directness" mean in the results?
Directness is the share of SUCCESSFUL attempts where the participant went straight to the right place without backtracking up a level first. A task can have a high success rate but low directness -- people eventually find the right answer, but only after trying somewhere else first, which is itself a sign the label or grouping is not quite right even though it "worked".
Who can see my results?
Only whoever holds the results (owner) link, which is a separate, much longer secret from the link you share with participants. We generate it once, show it to you once, and cannot recover it if you lose it -- there is no "forgot my results link" flow. Save it somewhere safe the moment you get it.
Want help running this with your team?
Tell us what you are testing and we will get back to you -- whether that is a one-off review or training your team to run this themselves.
Part of a set
Designing the structure from scratch? Try the Card Sort Tool first, or check a single page's findability with the First-Click Test Tool.
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