Information architecture testing
See if people can find their way around
Information architecture testing checks whether your categories, labels, and navigation match how people think, and whether they can find things inside them.Paste your URL and Fiuto builds a free IA test for you in minutes. No research experience required.
A preview player for an information architecture test. It steps through the four blocks a respondent sees, and is paused on the third: a card sort of the product's pages, with the Fiuto panel floating over the board holding the task as they group cards into columns.
What is information architecture testing?
Information architecture testing is how you find out whether the structure of your product matches the structure in people's heads. Your categories, your labels, and the menu that holds them all encode an assumption about how people think, and an IA test checks that assumption with the people it is about.
It usually takes two methods. A card sort asks people to group your content and name the groups, which shows you the structure they expect. A tree test gives people a text-only outline of a navigation and a task to find something in it, which shows whether a structure you are considering actually works.
The result is a map of which items belong together, what people call each group, and where they get lost. That is what you need to design a navigation, a settings page, or a help centre that people can find their way around without asking.
When to run oneRun one while the structure is still a decision, before the navigation ships and people learn to route around it.
How Fiuto runs it for you
The whole loop, from a blank study to a readout, with nothing to learn first.
Fiuto writes the study
Paste your URL. Fiuto reads your product, picks the items worth sorting, and drafts the card sort and the tree test around them. You review the draft before anything launches.
AI respondents go first
A cast of AI respondents works through the study straight away, so you have a first read on the structure within minutes and can tighten the study before real people see it. Up to two of them can be AI experts in conversion, usability, copy or SEO, on every plan including Free.
Real people, recruited or your own
Describe the audience you need and Fiuto recruits it for you, or share the link with your customers and community. Every run is labelled with who answered it.
Fiuto reads the results back
The most common group for every card, the names people gave, where the tree test lost them, and a takeaway with the quotes behind it. Findings, a readout, and a deck you can share. Share it with as many collaborators as you like, and export the raw data as CSV or JSON on every plan including Free.
The methods behind it
Two of the 18 methods Fiuto runs. Each page opens on a URL field, so you can start from the method instead.
Frequently asked questions
01What is information architecture testing?
Information architecture testing checks whether the categories, labels, and navigation you have chosen match how real people think, and whether they can find specific things inside the structure you built. A card sort shapes the structure and a tree test checks it.
02Should I use a card sort or a tree test?
Use a card sort while the structure is still negotiable, to see how people would group and label your content. Use a tree test once you have a proposed navigation, to check whether people can find specific things in it. Fiuto drafts both when it builds an IA test.
03Can I test information architecture before the navigation is built?
Yes. A card sort works from labels alone, so it is useful before you design the navigation. A tree test needs a proposed structure and a task, which can be a plain text outline rather than a finished interface.
04Do I need research experience to run an IA test?
No. Paste your URL and Fiuto writes the study, runs it with AI respondents, recruits real people if you want them, and reads the results back into findings. You review each step, and you can change anything before it launches.
05Does Fiuto recruit people for information architecture testing?
Yes. Describe the audience you need and Fiuto recruits a matched panel for you. You can also share the study link with your own customers or community, and the two kinds of run stay labelled separately.
06How many people do I need to test information architecture?
A focused group sorting or navigating the same structure usually surfaces the categories and labels that cause confusion. Add more people once you want to confirm a fix rather than find the first problem.
07Is information architecture testing free in Fiuto?
Yes. The free plan launches real studies every month, with every method and a monthly AI allowance, no card required.
08Can I run this from my coding agent?
Yes. Fiuto's research assistant works in the app, over MCP from Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Lovable, v0, Replit and Bolt, and over the API. It creates, launches and reads back the study on every plan including Free.
09Is it free, and can I cancel?
The free plan needs no card: every method, 1 live study a month, 10 responses per study and 600 AI credits a month, with the AI included. Upgrade, downgrade or cancel any time from the billing page, with no sales call at any step.
10Does Fiuto run AI interviews?
AI interviews are an upcoming feature, in development now, and this page will list them the day they are out of alpha. Until then Fiuto runs unmoderated studies across 18 methods, with AI respondents first and real people after.