Why Your Website Feels Like a Maze (And How to Fix It)
Ever visited a website and felt like you were trapped in an endless labyrinth? Clicking around, hoping to find that one page, only to end up lost in an abyss of poorly structured menus? Congratulations, you’ve experienced the agony of bad information architecture. And guess what? Your users might be suffering the same fate on your site.
Luckily, there’s a secret weapon that UX researchers swear by: card sorting. This simple yet powerful method reveals how real people—yes, actual humans—organize information in their minds. The result? A website structure that makes sense to users, not just to the people who built it. Whether you’re redesigning an existing site or starting from scratch, mastering card sorting can mean the difference between a seamless user experience and a digital disaster.
What Is Card Sorting and Why Should You Care?
- Card sorting helps UX designers understand how users categorize information.
- It aligns website navigation with real user mental models.
- It can be conducted in person or through remote card sorting tools.
At its core, card sorting is a UX research method where participants group content into categories based on what feels logical to them. Think of it as psychological detective work—except instead of solving crimes, you’re solving the mystery of why users keep bouncing off your site in frustration.
Using either physical cards or digital tools, participants sort content into groups that make sense to them. By analyzing their choices, designers can build navigation structures that align with user mental models, making websites more intuitive and user-friendly.
Types of Card Sorting: Open, Closed, and Hybrid
- Open sorting: Participants create their own categories.
- Closed sorting: Users sort content into predefined categories.
- Hybrid sorting: A mix of open and closed methods.
Not all card sorting methods are created equal. In an open sort, users are given content items and asked to create their own category names. This is great for understanding how people naturally think about information. However, it can also lead to chaos if participants come up with wildly different groupings.
A closed sort, on the other hand, forces users to fit content into predefined categories. This is useful when testing an existing structure but doesn’t offer much insight into how users would naturally organize information.
For those who like balance, there’s hybrid sorting, which allows participants to use predefined categories while also creating their own if needed. It’s the best of both worlds—structured yet flexible.
Remote vs. In-Person Card Sorting: Which One Wins?
- In-person sorting: Provides richer qualitative insights.
- Remote sorting: Scalable, cost-effective, and convenient.
- Tools like Optimal Workshop streamline data collection.
Some UX veterans insist that nothing beats the raw, unfiltered insights gathered from in-person card sorting. Watching users struggle (or succeed) in real-time provides invaluable context. Plus, you can ask follow-up questions on the spot.
However, modern UX research has embraced remote card sorting for its scalability and efficiency. With tools like Optimal Workshop, researchers can gather insights from users across the globe—without booking conference rooms or bribing participants with free snacks.
Which one should you choose? If you need deep qualitative insights, go in-person. If you want fast, large-scale data collection, remote card sorting is your best bet.
How to Conduct a Card Sorting Session
- Prepare 30-50 content items (too many and users will revolt).
- Decide between open, closed, or hybrid sorting.
- Recruit participants who reflect your actual audience.
- Analyze the results for patterns and common groupings.
A well-executed card sorting session starts with a carefully curated list of content items. Participants shouldn’t have to sort through hundreds of options—unless you enjoy watching people mentally collapse.
Once your content is set, decide on the sorting method (open, closed, or hybrid) and recruit participants who actually represent your target users. If your website is for tech-savvy millennials, don’t rely on insights from your 80-year-old neighbor (unless she’s your target audience, of course).
After collecting data, analyze grouping patterns and refine your information architecture accordingly.
Common Card Sorting Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)
- Using jargon-heavy labels: Confuses participants and skews results.
- Overloading users: Too many cards lead to frustration.
- Expecting perfect categories: Users won’t always name things the way you expect.
One of the biggest blunders in card sorting is assuming users understand industry jargon. If participants are staring blankly at a card labeled “Omnichannel Synergy,” you’ve already lost.
Another pitfall? Overwhelming participants with too many cards. If they start visibly sweating or sighing in frustration, you’ve gone too far. Keep surveys manageable.
Finally, don’t expect users to create the perfect category names. Their job is to group information, not write your website’s menu labels. Use their input as guidance, but refine it through usability testing.
Analyzing Card Sorting Data Like a Pro
- Identify patterns in content groupings.
- Use similarity matrices and dendrograms for deeper insights.
- Combine qualitative feedback with quantitative data.
Once you have your sorted data, it’s time to make sense of the chaos. UX researchers use similarity matrices to determine which items frequently appear together. Dendrograms (fancy tree-like diagrams) help visualize hierarchical relationships.
Still confused? Pair quantitative findings with qualitative observations from moderated sessions. The combination of hard data and real-world insights will guide you toward a more intuitive information architecture.
Card Sorting Isn’t Perfect (But It’s Still Powerful)
- Doesn’t capture real-world navigation behavior.
- Fails to illustrate deep hierarchical structures.
- Works best when combined with tree testing and usability studies.
While card sorting is an excellent UX research method, it has limitations. It shows how users categorize information but doesn’t reveal how they navigate a website in real time. For that, you’ll need tree testing to validate your final structure.
Additionally, card sorting is great for defining broad categories but struggles with deeper hierarchical structures. If your website has multiple nested layers, you’ll need additional usability testing to refine the experience.
Stop Making Your Users Suffer—Start Card Sorting
A well-structured website is like a well-organized grocery store—users should find what they need without wandering aimlessly. Card sorting helps make that happen by aligning your website’s information architecture with user mental models. Whether you choose remote card sorting or an in-person approach, the key is to analyze results thoughtfully and supplement findings with other UX research methods.
So, if your website is a confusing mess, don’t wait until users rage-quit. Start card sorting today and give your visitors the seamless experience they deserve.
