Camden
UX
Research:


Eye
tracking

March
2010



Table
of
content



Suppliers
table
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2


Alternative
platforms
/
technologies
 
 
 
 
 3

Articles
on
eye
tracking
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4

A.
Cost
of
eye
tracking
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5


B.

2
ways
of
using
eye
tracking
for
web
usability
 
 
 
 5

C.

Should
you
use
eye
tracking?
 
 
 
 
 
 5

D.

What
value
does
eye
tracking
provide?

 
 
 
 6

E.
Barriers
to
eye
tracking
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6


F.

Why
some
companies
avoid
eye
tracking?
 
 
 
 7

G.

Why
some
companies
are
motivated
to
use
eye
tracking?
 
 8

H.

Problems
encountered
by
those
who
opted
to
use
complete
 
 9



eye
tracking
solution


I.
Clicktale

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9

J.
Eye
tracking
Vs.
Mouse
Tracking
 
 
 
 
 
 10

K.
Improvement
of
eye
tracking
over
the
years
 
 
 
 10


L.
Eye
tracking
advantages
Vs.
the
‘Think
Aloud’
(TA)
usability

 
 11

testing
method









 1

 User
Experience
Research:
Eye
tracking

Suppliers


No.
 Supplier
 Type


1.
 We
are
London
 3rd
party
services

2.
 Tobii
 Complete
studio

solution



3.
 CS
Partners
(uses
Tobii
equipment)
 3rd
party
services

4.
 Etre

 3rd
party
services

5.
 Think
Eyetracking
(a
Bunnyfoot
company)
 3rd
party
services
–

‐
small
and
specific
projects
 starting
from

£1500

6.

 SimpleUsability
 3rd
party
services

7.
 Eye
tracker
 3rd
party
services

8.
 Webcredible
 3rd
party
services

9.
 User
Vision
 3rd
party
services

10.
 Mirametrix
 Complete
solution

11.
 Vision
One
(uses
Tobii)

i‐Vision
 3rd
party
services

12.
 Web
Usability
Partnership
(WUP)


 3rd
party
services

13.
 openEyes
–
open‐source
open‐hardward
toolkit
for
 Complete
solution

low‐cost
real‐time
eye
tracking
























 2

 

Alternative
platforms
/
technologies


No.
 Product
 Summary


1.

 Clicktale
 Independent
research
shows
that
there
is
an

84%
to
88%
correlation
between
mouse
and
eye

movements*,
allowing
Clicktale
to
create
high‐
precision
heatmaps
based
on
just
the
users’

mouse
movements.



In
addition,
their
heatmaps
don’t
require
the

subjects
to
wear
a
special
headset
or
use
special

equipment.
Indeed,
most
visitors
aren’t
even

aware
they’re
being
recorded,
allowing
for
a

completely
transparent
and
anonymous
usability

testing
process.

2.
 Crazy
Egg
 Gives
heatmaps
of
clicks
on
a
site

3.
 Scrutinizer
 Simulates
your
foveal
vision

4.
 Robot
Replay
 Replays
an
entire
user
session
as
if
you
were

watching
over
their
shoulder.

5.
 Attention
Wizard
 "Eye
Tracking
Without
the
Eyes"
‐

AttentionWizard
uses
advanced
artificial

intelligence
algorithms
to
simulate
human
visual

processing
and
attention.
This
software
instantly

creates
an
"attention
heatmap"
of
your
Web
page

that
predicts
where
someone
would
look
during

the
first
few
seconds
of
their
visit.

























 3

Articles
on
Eye
tracking




No.

 Article
 Date
 Reviews


1.
 Eye
tracking
‐
A
short‐sighted
future?
 8 
Dec
09
 

th



2.
 Eye‐tracking
Proves
Real‐Time
Search
Not
 10th
 Negative

Useful
 March
10



3.
 Eye
tracking:
Eye
candy
vs.
I
can
do
 June
2007
 Mixed


4.
 Is
Eye
Tracking
Out
of
Reach?
 April
 Mixed

2008

5.
 What
Adaptive
Path
Thinks
When
It
Thinks
 March
 Negative

About
Eyetracking
 2008

6.
 Eyetracking:
Worth
The
Expense?
 June
2006
 Negative

7.
 The
Cost
of
Eye
Tracking
 Dec
2009
 Negative

8.

 Eye
Tracking:
Best
Way
to
Test
Rich
App
 March
 Positive

Usability
 2010

http://www.uxmag.com/technology/eye‐
tracking‐the‐best‐way‐to‐test‐rich‐app‐usability



9.
 Eyetracking:
Is
It
Worth
It?
 October
 Mixed

2009

10.
 Eyetracking
Studies
—
7
Traps
to
Avoid
 Dec
2009
 Info

11.
 Mouse
Tracking
vs.
Eye
Tracking
 Feb
2010
 Mixed




























 4

 A. Cost
of
eye
tracking

a. A
new
eye
tracking
system
is
£30,000
to
£40,000.

b. Rental
prices
can
be
up
to
£2000
per
day.


c. Cost
of
hiring
people
to
carry
out
eye
tracking
for
you
starts
from

£1500
depending
on
research
/
study
requirements.


B. 2
Ways
of
using
eye
tracking
for
web
usability

a. Whole
setup/solution
(Complete
solution)

b. Hire
a
company
that
already
has
the
equipment,
and
specialized
in

using
and
providing
you
a
report.
(3rd
party
services)



C. Should
you
use
eye
tracking
in
your
usability
studies
according
to

Nielsen
Norman
Group?




a. For
average
companies



‐ Probably
not.
The
average
company
does
so
little
usability
that

it
is
better
served
by
sticking
to
simpler
(and
much
cheaper)

usability
methods,
such
as
thinking
aloud
and
paper

prototyping
(see

http://www.nngroup.com/reports/prototyping).




b. When
to
use
eye
tracking
in
your
usability
studies?



‐ Only
after
you’ve
conducted
about
a
hundred
rounds
of
regular

usability
testing
do
you
reach
the
stage
of
insight
where
you

need
to
dig
even
deeper
and
pay
closer
attention
to
those

details
that
are
only
revealed
through
eyetracking.




‐ All
the
big
things—like
people
getting
lost
on
your
site,
not

understanding
the
content,
or
not
even
understanding
your

value
proposition
in
the
first
place—can
be
found
without

eyetracking,
and
that’s
where
you
should
focus
first,
if
you’re

only
going
to
run
a
couple
of
rounds
of
user
research.




c. Why
methodology
is
crucial
in
eye
tracking
usability
testing



‐ Some
companies
do
have
a
full‐fledged
usability
process
in

place
and
conduct
large
numbers
of
usability
studies.
For
such

companies,
eye
tracking
can
become
a
valuable
component
of

the
usability
toolkit,
if
it’s
used
correctly.
Sadly,
most
eye

tracking
studies
are
done
wrong,
which
is
why
we
decided
to

publish
this
report
to
help
you
gain
more
value
from
eye

tracking
by
employing
valid
methodology.











 5

 d. Practicalities



‐ To
produce
meaningful
heat
maps
or
gaze
plots
requires
large

sample
sizes
‘
Nielsen
Norman
Group
(2006)
argue
at
least
30

testers
are
needed
to
produce
meaningful
heat
maps;
these

large
sample
sizes
then
generate
loads
of
data
and
a
lot
of
post

session
analysis.
Larger
sample
sizes
and
extensive
data

analysis
both
have
implications
in
the
commercial
environment

on
speed
of
turnaround
of
a
project
and
the
project
cost.




D. What
Value
Does
Eye
tracking
Provide?

Helping
to
Identify
Usability
Problems


“We
should
not
use
eye
tracking
data
alone,
but
in
conjunction
with
careful

observation
of
participant
behavior
and
discussion.”

Eye
tracking
provides
additional
information
to
help
you
find
and
interpret

design
and
usability
problems.
It
is
important
to
note
that
we
should
not
use

eye
tracking
data
alone,
but
in
conjunction
with
careful
observation
of

participant
behavior
and
discussion.
Within
this
context,
seeing
where

participants
looked
during
a
task
provides
additional
insights
into
what
they

were
doing
and
why.

Knowing
where
participants
looked
during
a
task
is
especially
helpful
in

answering
certain
types
of
questions.
For
example,
eye
tracking
data
can
help

you
determine
the
following:

‐ why
participants
had
problems
performing
a
task


‐ where
participants
expected
to
find
certain
elements

‐ whether
participants
noticed
a
particular
element—such
as
a

link,
button,
advertising,
or
something
new
added
to
a
user

interface

‐ whether
elements
are
distracting
in
a
negative
way


‐ how
efficiently
a
design
guides
participants
through
a
task

‐ whether
there
are
differences
in
task
performance
by
user

group—for
example,
between
new
users
and
experienced

users


‐ which
content
participants
read—including
articles,

instructions,
contextual
Help,
and
error
messages

‐ how
participants
read—in
detail
or
by
scanning


‐ whether
a
particular
design
is
more
effective
than
another—in

terms
of
user
or
business
goals








 6

 E. Barriers
to
Eye
tracking

1. Cost

2. Lack
of
knowledge


a. lack
of
expertise
in
using
an
eye
tracker
and


b. lack
of
understanding
of
the
benefits.

3. Interpreting
eye
tracking
data.



A
number
of
commentators
(e.g.
Spool,
2006,
Graphpaper.com
2006)

have
questioned
the
value
of
eye
tracking,
partly
because
of
the

practicalities
but
also
because
the
results
can
be
misinterpreted:

a. Eye
tracking
can
show
us
where
someone
was
looking
on
a

screen,
but
it
can’t
tell
us
what
they
were
seeing
or
thinking

whilst
looking
at
it
‘
did
they
register
what
they
were

looking
at,
did
they
understand
it?
And
if
the
tester
did
not

look
at
something
directly,
did
they
see
it
with
their

peripheral
vision?

b. Does
a
long
fixation
mean
that
someone
is
looking
at

something
because
it
is
interesting
to
them,
or
because
it’s

very
confusing
and
they’re
having
to
spend
time
making

sense
of
it?


c. Does
a
busy
gaze
plot
tell
us
that
there
are
lots
of

interesting
things
to
look
at
on
a
page,
or
that
a
user
is

confused
about
where
to
go
to
achieve
their
goals?

F. Why
some
companies
avoid
using
eye
tracking
technology

i. Lack
of
availability
of
it
and
familiarity
with
it
as
a
research
tool.




ii. Find
it
difficult
to
interpret
the
data.
The
colorful
heatmaps
are

cool
(or
warm?)
to
look
at,
but
what
are
they
actually
telling
you?

When
someone
is
gazing
at
something,
is
it
because
they
want
to

look
there?
Or
because
the
page
made
them
look
there?
Or
because

they
are
resting
their
eyes
there?

iii. It’s
not
really
worth
the
expense
except
in
very
specific
situations.


iv. Not
every
participant
can
work
with
an
eye
tracker.

v. They
reduce
the
amount
of
time
you
actually
collect
data
from

your
users.
Getting
a
participant
set
up
and
calibrated
with
the

device
can
take
time
away
from
learning
about
your
design.
The

most
valuable
piece
of
any
usability
test
is
the
time
the
participant

is
interacting
with
your
design,
not
setting
up
the
measurement

equipment.
What’s
worse
is
many
devices
lose
calibration
quickly,

forcing
the
test
to
stop
and
the
participant
to
spend
more
time

futzing
with
recalibrating.
This
tool
time
is
distracting
and
not

adding
to
the
session’s
value.



 7

G.
Why
some
companies
are
motivated
to
use
eye
tracking

i. Eye
tracking
can
useful
in
specific
type
of
research
like
determining

whether
text
is
more
important
than
images
on
a
page.
Eye
tracking

helped
to
figure
out
that
text
was
still
more
important
to
them
than
a
still

image.


ii. It
gives
you
statistics
and
cool
images
of
sight
paths
therefore
providing

evidence.

iii. Eye
tracking
is
helpful
when
you
need
to
know
something
extremely

tactical
at
a
very
precise
level
of
detail.

iv. Identify
where
the
hotspots
–
based
on
eye
fixations
–
are
on
your

web
pages.
Where
are
the
majority
of
users
focusing
their
attention?


v. Identify
and
Determine
sections
of
the
web
page
that
users
are

ignoring.
You
will
be
able
to
determine
what
sections
of
your
pages
users

may
be
overlooking.
As
a
result
you
can
design
your
site
layout
to
be
more

attractive
to
the
user.


vi. Identify
Banner
Blindness.
Are
users
ignoring
banners
or
more

importantly
other
ads
on
your
site
pages?
Eye
tracking
can
provide
the

answers.



vii. Identify
Navigation
Issues.
You
can
use
eye
tracking
to
see
exactly
how

the
users
are
navigating
your
site.
Why
is
your
internal
site
search
being

ignored?
Are
the
users
clicking
on
text
links
or
image
links?
Eye
tracking

can
help
you
develop
site‐wide
navigation
strategies
to
create
a
richer

experience
for
your
site
visitors.


viii. Improve
Site
Stickiness.
By
using
eye
tracking,
you
can
identify

the
areas
of
your
web
page
and/or
site
that
the
users
are
actively

engaging
with.
From
here
you
can
improve
the
site
experience
by

designing
the
site
to
include
similar
elements
throughout.



ix. Improve
Content.
From
an
SEO
and
search
marketing
point
of
view,
we

all
understand
the
importance
of
content
on
your
site.
Using
eye
tracking

as
part
of
your
website
design
can
allow
you
to
identify
types
of
content

that
your
users
are
interested
in.
Present
your
content
in
a
manner
that

users
will
appreciate.
Maybe
this
means
using
bullet
lists
over

paragraphs.
Eye
tracking
can
provide
insight
into
the
type
of
content
that

you
display
on
your
web
pages.



x. Identify
the
need
for
a
Site
Redesign.
Using
eye
tracking
can
help

identify
whether
you
need
to
redesign
your
site
or
whether
you
just
need

to
make
a
few
minor
changes.
This
can
save
you
thousands
of
dollars
in

redesign
costs
and
allows
you
to
focus
efforts
on
areas
of
the
site
that

require
the
most
attention.










 8

H.
Problems
encountered
by
those
who
opted
to
use
eye
tracking
complete

solution


i. Spent
a
lot
of
money
and
time
getting
it
to
work.


ii. The
systems
are
horribly
complex
and
unreliable.

iii. There’s
a
great
deal
of
overhead
and
it’s
difficult
to
make
this
a
flexible,

nimble
process.

iv. Participants
often
would
acquire
the
scroll
bar
without
looking
at
it.
They’d

move
their
mouse
over
to
the
right
edge
of
the
screen
and
start
scrolling,

but
their
gaze
wouldn’t
leave
the
center
of
display.
It
seemed
they
were

using
their
peripheral
vision
to
acquire
and
use
the
scroll
bar.

v. Participants
would
orally
tell
us
they
couldn’t
see
something
their
gaze
was

focused
on.
(Women
in
my
life
have
referred
to
this
as
“Male
Refrigerator

Blindness”
—
the
inability
to
see
something
right
in
front
of
you.)

vi. Participants
often
would
click
on
objects
they
barely
gazed
at.
They’d
focus

their
vision
on
some
part
of
the
screen,
then
move
their
mouse
to
some

place
else
to
actually
click.




I.

Clicktale
–
the
alternative
to
eye
tracking
for
a
fraction
of
the
price

In
November
2009,
Clicktale
launched
its
new
Mouse
move
Heatmap.
This
will

enable
testers
to
test
thousands
of
users
for
a
fraction
of
a
dollar
each.


Independent
research
shows
that
there
is
an
84%
to
88%
correlation

between
mouse
and
eye
movements*,
allowing
us
to
create
high‐precision

heatmaps
based
on
just
the
users’
mouse
movements.
In
addition,
our
heatmaps

don’t
require
the
subjects
to
wear
a
special
headset
or
use
special
equipment.

Indeed,
most
visitors
aren’t
even
aware
they’re
being
recorded,
allowing
for
a

completely
transparent
and
anonymous
usability
testing
process.

It
will
also
allow:‐


‐ To
keep
the
data
for
every
version
of
the
page
allowing
for

effortless
A/B
testing
of
multiple
page
elements.

‐ See
which
content,
elements
and
layout
increase
conversion

rates,
where
your
customers
look
before
they
purchase
a

product,
and
how
many
people
miss
your
call
to
action
buttons.
















 9

J.

Eye
Tracking
Vs
Mouse
Tracking
(i.e.

Clicktale)






K

Improvements
of
eye
tracking
technology
over
the
years


‐ It
is
now
quick
to
calibrate

‐ reliable
(people
can
look
away
from
the
screen
without
disturbing
the

results)


‐ unobtrusive
(you
do
not
need
to
wear
any
special
headgear)
and

‐ works
with
most
people
(including
those
who
like
to
wear
lashings
of

mascara
or
thick
specs).













 10

L

Eye
tracking
advantages
Vs.
the
‘Think
Aloud’
(TA)
usability
testing

method


Eye
tracking
offers
unique
advantages
above
and
beyond
traditional
TA.
Other

widely
known
advantages
include:


a. A
more
relaxed
testing
environment
where
participants
give
feedback
in

their
own
time,
and
actually
find
more
usability
errors.


b. Executives
like
eye
tracking
because
it
produces
compelling
physiological

data
that
can't
be
argued
with.

c. Real
time
eye
tracking
data
also
provides
for
a
better
observation

experience.


In
TA,
sometimes
it
can
be
very
hard
to
see
what
a
person
is
talking
about
during

the
test.
A
TA
proponent
and
they
suggested
that
if
the
TA
is
managed
well
it

wouldn't
be
a
problem.
During
the
test,
they
would
have
the
test
facilitator
ask

the
participant
to
hover
their
mouse
over
the
part
of
the
screen
they
are

describing
so
that
the
observers
can
see
what
is
being
discussed.
This
just
means

the
participant
gets
even
more
distracted
from
the
task
at
hand.

























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