Measure UX Success and Build Better Products with the Drawbackwards Ladder

The Drawbackwards Ladder is a UX measurement framework that blends quantitative data with qualitative feedback to give product teams a clear, honest picture of where their product stands and what it takes to get to the next level. It assesses user experience across five dimensions: Functional, Usable, Comfortable, Delightful, and Meaningful.

What is the Drawbackwards Ladder and Why Does UX Success Need It?

One of the core struggles in building digital products is how to reliably measure user experience. If you're a data junky you might dig into the metrics to see what users are doing. What pages are they visiting? What buttons and links do they click? How much time do they spend on tasks? How often do they come back to the product?

But that only tells half the story.

The best products and services are built on both data and feelings. How do users feel while using the product? What do they think about it? Do they perceive the product as easy to use? Why do they feel that way?

In the past, products were built from purely creative intuition. Empathy and gut feelings drove design. Now, businesses require a data-driven approach. Leaders want everything connected back to numbers they can hang their hat on.

So how do you merge intuition with data?

There are plenty of techniques for capturing qualitative feedback and plenty of tools for gathering quantitative data. But we looked around and realized there wasn't really any tool or technique that could do both at the same time.

That's why we created the Drawbackwards Ladder.

How Does the Drawbackwards Ladder Measure UX Success?

The Ladder doesn't focus just on what you can measure about user actions or what you can learn about how they feel. It's designed to gauge the overall quality of a product or service by blending quantitative measurements with qualitative feedback.

It does this by assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a product or service across five key aspects of user experience.

What Are the Five Dimensions of the Drawbackwards Ladder?

Functional: How much trial, error, and frustration does it take for a person to identify and accomplish specific tasks?

Usable: How well does the structure of the product or service help people complete their tasks and remember how to do them again?

Comfortable: Are tasks easy and intuitive to complete and do things feel like they're in the right place so people don't need to think about what to do?

Delightful: Is the right assistance given when needed and are there unexpected moments that lift moods and help people enjoy their tasks?

Meaningful: Does the product or service lead to new ways of thinking, working, and living, saving time and changing routines for the better?

Each rung on the ladder leads to a better user experience, stronger user loyalty, and more UX success.

How Does the Ladder Actually Work?

The Ladder asks users to rate their experience across all five dimensions on a Likert scale, then offers them an opportunity to explain those ratings. By evaluating experience across multiple dimensions it quantifies qualitative experiences.

It helps set a benchmark for where you are and a linear roadmap for where you could end up. It evaluates how far your product or service needs to "climb" to reach the next level of achievement.

It's uniquely designed to measure both data and feelings so you can track your progress toward ultimate success.

Measure. Improve. Repeat.

Why Is the Ladder More Than Just a Measurement Tool?

The Ladder is not only a measurement tool. It's a way to change your internal product development culture. It gives you the vocabulary and the structure to have more mature UX conversations.

Product success is closely tied to UX maturity. The more robust your understanding of good user experience and the more you invest in your team's UX competencies, the more likely you are to build features and products that help people in the real world.

What Else Can Teams Use the Drawbackwards Ladder For?

A conversation starter. By establishing a benchmark of your current experience you can plan for your future path forward and estimate the effort it will take to get there.

A framework for design work. It helps teams identify the areas that are most in need of improvement and set a plan to address fundamental pain points before jumping ahead to exciting future-state enhancements.

A catalyst for growth. By framing progress in a linear model, it provides motivation for teams to want to reach the next level. If you've identified your weak spots and set a plan to prioritize and address them, you can then use the Ladder to motivate your team to move faster and smarter up the Ladder.

A tool for building a mature UX organization. It's not designed to be used once and forgotten. It's a tool to return to time and again to measure your progress, make improvements, and repeat until you have a product that exceeds all expectations and beats the competition.

How Do Our Clients Use the Ladder to Build Better Products?

Our first step with clients is to introduce them to the Ladder and establish where they are today. Why? Because time and again we've seen products with slick designs land squarely on the bottom rung.

The Ladder is a truth-o-meter. It cuts through the fancy visuals and helps you see your product the way your users do -- as a tool they need to help them complete a job.

We've used the Ladder to evaluate everything from carpet cleaning websites to SaaS products to healthcare mobile apps used to capture medical assessments.

Every time, the Ladder has shown us and our clients things we couldn't see otherwise. It's also reinforced problems that we knew existed but it often casts a new light on how to see those pain points. By combining quantitative and qualitative data side by side, the Ladder gives you as close to a 360-degree view of specific aspects of your product as you can get.

How Quickly Can Teams Scale the Ladder Across a Larger User Group?

The other secret to the Ladder's success? It's built to be quickly scalable. We use the Ladder at the end of a usability test to see how people feel about a prototype or existing product. But the Ladder can also be sent to a large email list for people to self-evaluate and complete on their own.

No longer are you tied to the time-consuming task of conducting a handful of user interviews. The Ladder can help get similar feedback and evaluation in a fraction of the time by surveying a larger group of people quickly. It's no substitute for true evaluative user research, but it's a great first step and a helpful additional tool in the toolbox for busy product teams trying to iterate quickly.

FAQ

What is the Drawbackwards Ladder? The Drawbackwards Ladder is a UX measurement framework that blends quantitative ratings with qualitative feedback across five dimensions of user experience: Functional, Usable, Comfortable, Delightful, and Meaningful.

How do you measure user experience with both data and feelings? The Ladder asks users to rate their experience on a Likert scale across five dimensions, then invites them to explain their ratings. This combines measurable scores with the context behind them so you get the full picture, not just the numbers.

What are the five rungs of the Drawbackwards Ladder? Functional, Usable, Comfortable, Delightful, and Meaningful. Each rung represents a higher level of user experience quality, and the Ladder helps you identify where your product sits today and what it takes to climb to the next level.

Can the Drawbackwards Ladder replace user interviews and usability testing? Not entirely. It's no substitute for true evaluative user research, but it's a fast, scalable complement to it. You can run it at the end of a usability test or send it to a large group for self-evaluation, making it a strong first step for busy product teams.

How do product teams use the Ladder in practice? Teams use it to benchmark their current experience, prioritize improvements, frame design work, and motivate progress over time. It's built to be returned to repeatedly, not used once and shelved.

Ready to start climbing? Book 30 minutes with us to learn more about how we've used the Ladder to help clients and partners improve their products and services. We'll partner with you to identify where you are today and how to get where you want to be tomorrow.