It’s finally here!

Since launching Ballpark we’ve been swamped with requests to add card sorting to the platform and I’m excited to announce we’re launching it today across ALL plans.

Not content with just launching regular ol’ card sorting, we decided to build the trifecta of open, closed and hybrid card sorting too!

If you’re not familiar with card sorting, it’s a useful research method that shows how people naturally organise and interpret information. It’s super helpful when designing a structure that aligns with users’ expectations.

Think of it as a kanban board that your participants use to drag and drop labelled cards into groups that make sense to them. By analysing these groupings, you gain valuable insights into how to organise and label the content on your website in a way that feels intuitive and easy to navigate.

Here's what's in the release:

Open card sort: In this type, participants are given a stack of cards and asked to organise them into groups that make sense to them. They also come up with their own labels for each group, giving you a fresh look at how people naturally classify information.

Closed card sort: Here, you provide predefined categories for participants to sort the cards into. This method helps you see if your existing groups make sense to users or if there’s any confusion.

Hybrid card sort: This combines elements of both open and closed sorts. You supply some initial groups, but participants can also create their own if they feel none of the provided options fit. This flexibility allows you to see how well your categories align with user expectations while capturing any additional ways they might want to organise the information.

Once your results are in, we’ll automatically generate you several reports to help you understand your users preferences, including:

Agreement rate - Shows how consistently users group information, helping you align your site’s structure with their natural expectations.

Similarity report - Visualises how often users grouped specific items together, giving you clear insights into which pieces of information feel naturally related in their minds.

Categories and cards - See the frequency, rank and agreement rate of each card or category to quickly view trends.

Alongside the stats, you'll also have the choice of recording the camera and screen of the participant to get a deep dive into how their session went.

How to get started:

1. Head to any project

2. Click Add step

3. Scroll to card sort and click to add the step

4. Add cards and categories one by one or click bulk add and paste in a list

Card sorting is available on all plans today. Happy researching!