A two-item questionnaire for perceived usability, using one item for usefulness and one for ease of use, with a regression formula that estimates an equivalent SUS score.
Definition: A two-item questionnaire for perceived usability, using one item for usefulness and one for ease of use, with a regression formula that estimates an equivalent SUS score.
UMUX-LITE, introduced by James Lewis, Brian Utesch, and Deborah Maher in 2013, is the shortest standardized measure of perceived usability in common use. It keeps only the two positive items from the UMUX, making it easy to embed almost anywhere.
Respondents rate two statements on a 7-point scale:
Together these cover the two ideas that most strongly drive overall usability judgments. Reported reliability is solid for such a short instrument (around .82 to .83).
Raw UMUX-LITE scores run a little higher than SUS, so the authors published a regression correction so results can be read on the familiar 0-100 SUS scale. Applying it brings the average difference between the two instruments to roughly one point, which makes UMUX-LITE a practical proxy when there is no time for the full SUS.
UMUX-LITE shines in product analytics surveys, in-app micro-surveys, and any context where every extra question lowers completion. It gives a defensible usability number at the lowest possible cost in respondent effort.
Two items cannot diagnose what is wrong, only signal how usable a product feels. Use UMUX-LITE for tracking and benchmarking, then follow up with qualitative work or task-based testing to understand the why.
A four-item questionnaire that measures perceived usability and is designed to produce a 0-100 score comparable to the SUS, using fewer items aligned with the ISO 9241 definition of usability.
A 10-item standardized questionnaire that produces a score from 0-100 measuring perceived usability. The industry's most widely used instrument for benchmarking usability.
Per ISO 9241-11: the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use.
A single-question metric measuring customer loyalty: 'How likely are you to recommend this product to a friend?' Widely used in business but not a direct measure of user experience.
This term is referenced in the following articles: