Optimal Workshop
Purpose-built tools for testing whether your site's navigation actually makes sense to real users.
What it is
About Optimal Workshop
Optimal Workshop bundles several focused UX research tools — Treejack (tree testing), OptimalSort (card sorting), Chalkmark (first-click testing) and Questions (surveys) — that quantitatively test information architecture with real participants. Rather than asking opinions, it measures whether users can actually find things in a proposed navigation structure, giving statistically-backed evidence for IA decisions. It's widely used by UX researchers ahead of major redesigns.
What you can do with it
Capabilities
Run tree tests to check if users can find items in a proposed site structure
Run card sorting studies to inform how content should be grouped and labelled
Run first-click tests on prototypes or live pages
Analyse results with built-in statistical visualisations (pietrees, dendrograms, similarity matrices)
Recruit participants directly or bring your own via a shareable link
How to learn it
Learning Resources
Optimal Workshop's own free guides and OW Academy content
Nielsen Norman Group articles on card sorting and tree testing methodology
Practise by running a small tree test on a website's existing navigation
UX research courses (e.g. Interaction Design Foundation) covering IA testing methods
Pro Tip
Run a tree test on your current navigation before redesigning it — you need a baseline success rate to prove the new structure is actually an improvement, not just different.
Skills that use this tool
Roles that use this tool