Questions it can answer
- Which style direction should we go in?
- What tone of voice is most appropriate?
- Which design variation should we go with?
What is a preference test survey?
A preference test survey presents variations of the subject, asking questions around the variations and ultimately having the participant choose a preference. You can run preference testing on designs, mockups, content, logos, styles or anything where you can present variations and ask for people's opinions.
Advantages
- Brings user opinions into early stage decision making
- Helps set direction in a way that’s user focused and not stakeholder focused
- Simple to setup and analyze results
Limitations
- Does not reflect real world usage because participants aren’t using the product for real
- Focuses exclusively on the opinions of participants and not behaviors
- The variations are often presented out of context as it’s not possible to preference test an entire product