Run closed card sorting

PRO

Closed card sorting is a great way to test an existing structure, validate decisions when adding new items to an existing system, reorganize or rank content. You can use this method to:

As with any type of research, card sorting requires some planning to ensure you get the best results. To help get started with your own closed card sorting test, you should:

1. Document your assumptions. It helps before starting to define your objectives and research goals for your card sort. This includes writing down your assumptions to know what to look for during analysis. During the sessions, keep an open mind to new perspectives and ideas from the participants—even if they contradict your assumptions.

2. Choose a topic based on your research goals. Be sure to carefully curate and prioritize your topic hierarchy based on your research objectives. That means identifying the topic you’ll be testing (e.g. the settings options in your app) and writing down all the ideas that need to go into that.

3. Prepare the card sorting test. After selecting your topic, write the ideas on the cards as words or phrases. For example, if you’re trying to group the information that should go into the Setting page of an app, the cards should include words that represent the different options available, such as ‘About me’, ‘Add a credit card’, ‘Reset your password’, etc.

*In the case of a closed card sorting session, you’ll also have to create the categories that participants will group cards into. In the example above, examples of cards could be ‘Account information’, ‘Payment information’, etc.

4. Run a dry test before a real session. Practice, practice, practice. Before taking your card sorting live with real users, run a dry test with a colleague to ensure any potential gaps in your instructions or confusing details are taken care of.

5. Launch the study. Now that you’re confident with your card sort, you’re ready to launch. Allow your participants to sort the cards into the categories that make the most sense to them, and if it’s a moderated session, encourage users to think out loud to understand the thinking behind their decisions.

6. Hold follow-up interviews for additional analysis. After the card sorting session ends, running follow-up interviews will help you dig deeper into the participants’ mental models and what they thought the cards and groupings represented. This will uncover useful information that will help you come up with actionable items.

7. Analyze the results. Start by taking an overall look at the results as a whole. Try to find common patterns in how the actual cards have been sorted and the category names have been given by participants. Does anything jump out as surprising? Are there similarities or differences between participant sorts? It’s important to focus on the big perspective before looking at the details such as comments, wording, and quantitative data. Ultimately, this analysis will help you understand the information that will be most useful for users to see in a particular group or category.

💡 Learn more about understanding your card sorting results.