Eye Tracking the Mobile User Experience

UXPA Boston Eye Tracking the Mobile User Experience | May 15, 2014
1
Eye Tracking 
The Mobile User Experience
Andrew Schall
SPARK Experience

Andrew Schall.
Vice President of UX, SPARK Experience
Co-Author, Eye Tracking in User Experience Design
President, UXPA of Washington DC

Mobile vs. Desktop UX.

4
MOBILE UX IS UNIQUE
Dynamic environments…
short attention span…multi-
tasking…interruptions…
smaller screen…

5
WHY TRACK MOBILE?
What can we learn from
eye tracking mobile user
experiences?

Fixation – A single instance of where the eye momentarily stops

Saccade – The rapid eye movement from one ﬁxation to the next

Scan path– A series of sequential ﬁxations and saccades

Eye Tracking Terminology.

Tracking Mobile.

1 0
Tracking Mobile.
Understanding the aspects of a mobile user experience

Sustained Attention
!   How often do they look away from the screen?
!   How long does it take them to reacquire what they were focusing on?
!   How elements the appropriate size for a mobile device?
Guided Direction
!   What do they look at while completing a task?
!   Do their eyes follow the intended sequence?
!   Are they distracted by elements not critical to their task?

Engagement
!   What features do they notice?
!   How much content do they consume?
!   Do they notice any ads?

1 1
HOW DOES IT WORK?
How do you conduct eye
tracking on a mobile
device?

1 2
Mobile Eye Tracking Lab.

1 3
Mobile Eye Tracking Stand.
•  VARIETY OF SETTINGS
•  CONSISTENT CONFIGURATION
•  EASY TO COMPARE DATA
•  BETTER FOR QUANTIFYING UX
PROS
•  LESS NATURAL EXPERIENCE
•  NOT VERY PORTABLE
CONS

1 4
LIVE DEMO
Let’s try it out!

1 5
REAL WORLD TRACKING
How do we evaluate
mobile experiences outside
the lab?

1 6
Eye Tracking Glasses.

1 7
Eye Tracking Glasses.
•  MORE NATURAL USER BEHAVIOR
•  TOTAL FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT
•  HIGHLY PORTABLE
•  BETTER FOR QUALITATIVE
PROS
•  DIFFICULT TO COMPARE
EXPERIENCES
•  MANUAL DATA ANALYSIS
•  NO GLASSES
CONS

1 8
PIGS VS ADS
How do we evaluate ad
eﬀectiveness in mobile
games?

Games Played.

iPhone 4

iPad gen3

Devices Used.

2 1
RESULTS
What did we learn from
tracking 60 participants as
they played Angry Birds?


That
must
be
an
ad

...ignore
it.

Banner Blindness is a Result of
Peripheral Vision.

However,
Recogni8on
can
Take
Place
Very
Quickly

It
only
takes
one
or
two

direct
fixa8ons
combined

with
the
peripheral
effect

for
a
person
to
iden8fy

the
subject
of
an
ad.

Many
par8cipants

correctly
iden8fied
the

ads
with
few
direct

fixa8ons
on
them.

Our
Brains
are
Wired
to
Detect
Change

Small
movements
in
your

peripheral
vision
cause

you
to
reﬂexively
turn

and
look.

The
animated
ads
ini8ally
aNracted
aNen8on

The
ﬂock
of
birds
and

Lightsaber
anima8ons

ini8ally
caught
the

aNen8on
of
par8cipants.

However,
this
does
not

necessarily
always
mean

that
the
ad
content
was

viewed.

All
ads
received
signiﬁcantly
more
aNen8on
on
the

iPhone
than
iPad

It
is
much
easier
to
avoid
ads
with
the
iPad’s

larger
screen

3.5”

9.7”

Ads
were
looked
at
many
more
)mes
on
the

iPhone
than
the
iPad

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

iPhone

iPad

NumberofVisits

Ads
were
looked
at
signiﬁcantly
longer
on
the

iPhone
over
the
iPad

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

iPhone

iPad

Seconds

Ads
were
oRen
in
the
way
during
gameplay

on
the
iPhone

Ads
were
always
no8ced
when
they
interfered

with
gameplay

Ads
inadvertently

aﬀected
the

par8cipant’s
line
of

sight
and
became

unavoidable
to
look
at.

Ads
were
always
no8ced
when
they
interfered

with
gameplay

This
occurred
most

frequently
with
the

iPhone,
but
there
were

situa8ons
where
ads

inadvertently
interfered

with
the
par8cipant’s

line
of
sight
during
iPad

gameplay.

Those
in
the
zone
completely
ignored
the
ads

Par8cipants
that
were

fully
engaged
in

gameplay
while
the
ads

were
shown
oRen

completely
ignored
the

ads,
regardless
of

whether
they
were
rich

media
or
sta8c.

Op8mizing
the
Ad
Viewing
Experience

Hit
them
at
the
idle
points

Players
oRen
sit
idle
and

their
eyes
tend
to
wonder

immediately
aRer

comple8ng
a
level.

Display
ads
when
a
player
is

si7ng
idle
wai8ng
for
the

level
to
end
a:er
all
pigs

are
dead.

3 5
Take Aways.
Eye tracking can help you to better understand what
your users are looking at and what they are (or are
not) paying attention to.

Mobile eye tracking can help identify subtle changes
in attention that are important in a mobile experience.

Be aware of the current limitations and challenges of
using this technology.
01 /
02 /
03 /

3 6
The Book.
Eye Tracking in User Experience Design 

!   Real-world examples from over twenty leading
UX professionals
!   Tips on everything from getting the most value
out of your eye tracking research to incorporating
eye tracking methodology into your
organization’s user-centered design process.
!   Actionable ﬁndings and recommendations based
on eye tracking research
!   Insights into cutting-edge applications of eye
tracking, including use in mobile, gaming, and
emotional design

3 7
Q & A
What questions do you
have about mobile eye
tracking?

3 8
CONTACT
Andrew Schall
andrew@sparkexperience.com
www.sparkexperience.com
7979 Old Georgetown Rd.
Suite 801 !
Bethesda, MD 20814 !
301-294-3340!
info@sparkexperience.com !

Eye Tracking the Mobile User Experience

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