Card Sort

The Card Sort tool can be used for interviewing a group of customers or individual, one-on-one sessions. To use this tool in a one-on-one interview you’ll need to create one session per individual.

How to start.

To begin, prepare cards for an interview. Add your ideas for cards to the note. Each card should represent a key area you want to talk about, so create a card for each with pictures and words.

For example, if you are developing a new cleaning product, your cards might be pictures of cleaning tools, they may depict cleaning actions, they may contain common phrases used in the cleaning industry. Brainstorm a list of content that can be written/drawn on each card.

Make sure your cards are easy to understand and includes pictures, which is particularly important when talking to people from different cultures/countries. Make sure the cards represent all topics you want to talk about, such as the purchasing process, disposal process, etc.

Here is how you can create your card deck.

STEP 1: Prepare interviews

Put together your small group or one-on-one interviews.

Online or In-person: Use the Universe of Study tool to make sure you have an optimal sample size and list the people you will be interviewing.

Online:

• Prepare the questionnaire you plan on using and add the questions here
• Add any other equipment you’ll need for the interview, for example, share the video conference with your participants and add the link on Step 3.

In-Person: Prepare the interview space with a camera, audio recording equipment, cards you plan to use, blank cards, pens and paper notebooks, the questionnaire you plan on using, and any other equipment you’ll need for the interview.

STEP 2: Schedule the session

1. Make sure you add the video conference call link
2. Invite your customer as a “Guest/Participant”
3. Schedule a meeting directly from Nova.

STEP 3: Before you start

Before you start the interview:

Make sure you’re filming or recording and tell the participants the purpose of the research.

When the Card Sort portion of the interview begins, give them the cards you have created, and ask them to arrange the cards or choose specific cards according to a specific factor you may be looking for.

For example, you can ask them to arrange the cards by:

• what’s most important to them
• what’s harder for them
• which cards they like the most
• a timeline/storyline
• what cards they would choose based on a scenario

If you think there’s a specific factor that would change the behavior of your customers, ask them to rearrange the deck or choose other cards by changing a factor.