A UX-measurement framework developed at Google to help teams gauge and improve user experience — score every idea against the five HEART dimensions so the backlog reflects what actually moves user experience, not just what feels urgent.
Use TemplateHEART — Happiness, Engagement, Adoption, Retention, Task success — was developed by Google's UX research team to translate fuzzy "user experience" into metrics a team can actually track. Read how to customize HEART for your product .
Happiness
User attitudes collected via survey — satisfaction, NPS, perceived ease of use.
Scored 0–1–2–4–8 by sentiment shift expected.
Engagement
User involvement measured via behavioral proxies — session frequency, depth, duration.
Scored 0–1–2–4–8 by engagement lift expected.
Adoption
The number of new users of a product or feature — signups, first-run, opt-ins.
Scored 0–1–2–4–8 by adoption reach expected.
Retention
The rate of existing users' return — churn, renewal, repeat usage.
Scored 0–1–2–4–8 by retention impact expected.
Task success
Behavioral UX metrics — efficiency, effectiveness, error rate on core tasks.
Scored 0–1–2–4–8 by friction removed.
Google's own guidance for HEART is to work the framework backwards: identify the goal for each dimension first, map that goal to a lower-level signal sensitive to design changes, then refine the signal into a metric worth tracking or A/B testing.
Pick 2–4 HEART goals to focus on per product area — not all five at once — and prefer average ratios or percentages over raw counts, so the metric stays comparable as usage grows.
┌─ HEART · PROCESS ──────────────────────────────┐ │ Goal reduce onboarding drop-off │ │ ↓ │ │ Signal % who reach step 3 │ │ ↓ │ │ Metric step-3 completion rate │ │ │ │ ▸ track as a ratio, not a raw count │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The five HEART scores sum into a single UX number. Add an Effort criterion with a negative weight — engineering and design cost, also scored 0–1–2–4–8 — so a small polish item can outrank a costly redesign with the same expected impact.
Ducalis computes the score live as your team fills in each field, no spreadsheet required.
┌─ HEART · UX SCORE ─────────────────────────────┐ │ Happiness 4 │ │ Engagement 2 │ │ Adoption 1 │ │ Retention 4 │ │ Task success 8 │ │ │ │Effort−4│ │ │ │ UX = 4+2+1+4+8 = 19 │ │ Score = 19 − 4 = 15 │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Once every UX idea carries a HEART score, the backlog sorts itself. No more guessing what's next — the highest-scoring idea sits at the top, next to the design debt everyone remembers verbally but nobody ranked.
┌─ BACKLOG · RANKED BY HEART ────────────────────────┐ │ "Fix step-3 onboarding drop-off" 15 · #1 │ │ "Add empty-state guidance" 10 · #2 │ │ "Redesign settings page"5 · #3│ │ │ │ ▸ re-ranks live as inputs change │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Three ideas, five HEART inputs plus effort each, one ranked list — this is what a HEART-scored backlog looks like in practice.
| Idea / Task | Happiness | Engagement | Adoption | Retention | Task success | Effort | Score | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fix step-3 onboarding drop-off | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 15 | #1 |
| Add empty-state guidance | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 10 | #2 |
| Redesign settings page | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | #3 |
HEART is a built-in framework — no setup, no custom fields to wire up. Open a board, pick HEART, and start scoring your UX backlog against Happiness, Engagement, Adoption, Retention, and Task success.
Prefer RICE, AARRR, REAN, or your own criteria? Switch frameworks anytime — the same backlog carries over.
┌─ SCORE THIS IDEA / TASK ───────────────────────┐ │ "Fix step-3 onboarding drop-off" │ │ │ │ Happiness [ 4 ] │ │ Engagement [ 2 ] │ │ Adoption [ 1 ] │ │ Retention [ 4 ] │ │ Task success [ 8 ] │ │ Effort[ 4 ]│ │ │ │ ▸ UX Score 15 · auto-computed │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
HEART fits anywhere a product or UX team needs to weigh design and usability work against feature requests — here's where it shows up most.
┌─ UX BACKLOG ─────────────────────────────┐ │ Fix step-3 onboarding drop-off 15 │ │ Add empty-state guidance 10 │ │ Redesign settings page5│ │ │ │ ▸ top of list = next sprint │ └──────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌─ TEAM SCORING SESSION ───────────────────┐ │ UX Happy 4 · Task 8 │ │ Product Eng 2 · Ret 4 │ │ │ │ Consensus score → 15 │ └──────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌─ QUARTERLY UX REVIEW ────────────────────┐ │ Top 20% by HEART score │ │ auto-promoted to roadmap │ │ │ │ ▸ rest stay visible, not lost │ └──────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌─ IDEA #23 → SCORE 15 ────────────────────┐ │ "Fix step-3 onboarding drop-off" │ │ 41 upvotes folded into Happiness │ │ │ │ ▸ scored, ranked, ready │ └──────────────────────────────────────────┘
Ducalis helps product and UX teams capture ideas, run the Goals → Signals → Metrics process, and prioritize the backlog with HEART — or any framework your team prefers.
No credit card required. Unlimited users. No time limit.
┌──────────────────────────────────┐ │ HAPPINESS + ENGAGEMENT │ │ + ADOPTION + RETENTION │ │ + TASK SUCCESS − EFFORT │ └──────────────────────────────────┘