UX Measurement #1

Conversion rate & average order value are not UX metrics

UX is an elusive thing.

Photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash

TL;DR: In this article, I review six metrics commonly used to measure UX: conversion rate (CR), average order value (AOV), task success rate, time on task, Net Promoter Score® (NPS), and the System Usability Scale (SUS). CR, AOV, and NPS do not fulfil the definition of a UX metric while task success rate, time on task, and SUS do. Still, none of the metrics is suitable to reliably measure the UX of a digital product.

This is the first in a series of articles on user experience measurement:

1. ☞ Conversion rate & average order value are not UX metrics
2. So, how can we measure UX?
3. Seven heuristics for identifying proper UX instruments and metrics

I find it kind of appalling — and frankly a little sad — that the decision to write this article wasn’t a tough one. It should be self-evident that business metrics such as conversion rate and average order value are no reliable measures for the user’s experience of a digital product, yet I encounter this over and over again. Self-proclaimed experts say it at meetups, round-tables or summits, stakeholders say it in business meetings, and “UX companies” say it on landing pages for some product…