Baymard Institute’s E-Commerce UX Certification is a specialized self-study program based on large-scale user experience (UX) research. It develops proficiency in applying the same UX design guidelines that power the world’s highest-performing e-commerce sites.

Baymard’s research is used by more than 3,000 e-commerce companies, researchers, and UX designers, from 80+ countries, and includes 71% of all Fortune 500 companies within e-commerce. This research is the foundation of our UX certification program.

Who Is This UX Certification For?

Baymard Institute’s certification program focuses on e-commerce, but the depth of UX knowledge and understanding required to pass the exams has broad applications.

This is not another “get a certificate for showing up” course. The six UX exams required to become a Certified E-Commerce UX Professional are not easy to pass, and you’ll have only two attempts per year at each exam.

Passing the exams requires that you study significant parts of Baymard’s 88,000+ hours of large-scale e-commerce UX research findings.

When you’ve completed the program, you’ll have a deep knowledge of our industry-leading research findings – and proof of substantial UX talent for employers, clients, and partners.

4 Benefits of Baymard Institute’s UX Certification

Why should you choose Baymard Institute’s online program over other user experience certification courses?

Here are a few ways our program is different:

1. Curriculum rooted in extensive UX research

We have conducted 88,000+ hours of UX research and usability testing and distilled it into 600+ detailed UX guidelines for e-commerce sites. These insights set our program apart from courses that teach abstract concepts and methodology.

2. Specialization in actionable insights for e-commerce

Baymard Institute’s research and UX guidelines are already used by many of the world’s leading e-commerce sites, so you can be confident knowing your training and certification are built on up-to-the-minute best practices in the industry.

You’ll be learning from e-commerce experts about what makes websites convert well and what leads to usability issues with real users.

3. Recognition as a Certified E-Commerce UX Professional

When you complete the program, you’ll be featured on our list of Certified E-Commerce UX Professionals. Inclusion on this list certifies your high level of knowledge and expertise — specifically within e-commerce UX — to clients, colleagues, and current or future employers.

You’ll also receive a certification badge you can add to your website or LinkedIn profile to show you’ve completed extensive training and passed our series of challenging exams.

4. Qualification for in-demand jobs in UX

Certification provides a competitive edge and in-demand skills, whether you’re looking to start a career in UX design or advance in your current role.

If you’re working as a UX designer, certification will establish you as an expert in e-commerce and qualify you for higher positions with industry leaders. You’ll make a bigger impact in your work with a certification to prove the highly-applicable knowledge you bring to the table.

The UX Certification Process

The certification process requires passing six challenging exams to demonstrate a thorough understanding of Baymard Institute’s e-commerce UX guidelines.

You will learn the material through online training modules and studying research guidelines for each of the six exam themes.

The curriculum is flexible and entirely online, so you can learn at a pace that works for you and take the exams when you feel ready.

How Do You Become UX Certified?

Here’s a breakdown of our certification process:

Step 1: Join Baymard Premium

Everything required to complete the program, including research guidelines, training modules, and exams, is available within Baymard Premium for all team members on Comprehensive, Specialty, and Organization subscription plans.

As long as you are a member of a qualifying plan, you can work through the curriculum, take exams, and complete the certification at your own pace with no additional fees.

If you are a private individual that wants personal access to Baymard's UX training & the certification platform, then a one-year access costs USD 720 ($60/month but billed annually). Contact our personal access support team for more information.

Step 2: Study at your own pace

Once you have access to the materials, you can start learning and preparing for an exam:

• Reading and studying specific e-commerce UX guidelines
• Watching video-based training webinars

The entire program consists of 50+ video webinars and 600+ UX guidelines, divided into six themes of e-commerce UX research.

Before taking an exam, we strongly recommend watching all of the video training modules for the exam's theme and reading at least 40% of the associated UX guidelines.

Step 3: Pass all six exams

When you’re confident in your knowledge of the material for one of the themes, you can attempt an exam.

You will have two attempts per year to pass each exam. If you fail both attempts for a particular exam, that test will be locked for six months before two new attempts become available.

There is no time limit to complete the certification, and you can move through the learning modules and exams on any schedule.

Step 4: Receive certification

Once you pass all six exams, you’ll receive your certification badge and join our list of Certified E-Commerce UX Professionals with an optional profile page on our website.

Breakdown of Our UX Certification Program Exams

To pass each exam, you'll have to watch a number of video training modules and study the UX guidelines within a corresponding theme of our research.

Each module includes a one-hour UX training webinar with a keynote walkthrough of the most common design pitfalls for one of our 80+ topics.

Each guideline focuses on a specific aspect, feature, or design pattern and documents what consistently causes issues for users and what consistently performs well. The guidelines include step-by-step explanations and screenshot examples of positive and negative implementations, including mobile interfaces.

Video modules for the research theme and certification exam “Cart & Checkout”, available within Baymard Premium.

After you have watched all of the training videos for one of the themes, and reviewed the associated UX guidelines, consider taking the corresponding online exam.

The UX certification online course includes access to 50+ video training modules (broken into six themes), as well as our entire research catalog of 600+ detailed UX guidelines.

The 6 UX Certification Exam Themes

1.Homepage & Category Navigation

Contains 59 guidelines and 7 video modules

This theme examines how users perceive the homepage, interpret category taxonomies, interact with the main navigation, and rely on intermediary category pages — all with the intent of arriving at the list of products that matches what they are looking for.

2.On-Site Search

Contains 50 Guidelines and 5 video modules

This theme examines what users expect as they perform searches on e-commerce sites, what typically goes wrong in the process, why it goes wrong, and exactly what changes to make to avoid these issues. It covers search logic, search field design, autocomplete, and the results page.

3.Product Lists & Filtering

Contains 99 Guidelines and 8 video modules

This theme examines how sites can improve users’ ability to find, evaluate and select just a handful of products relevant to their needs from the hundreds of products shown on the product listing page. The findings apply to both category-based and search-results-based listing pages.

4.Product Details Page

Contains 116 Guidelines and 12 video modules

This theme examines how users interpret and interact with product pages, including how different types of page layouts and features like product images, specs, and descriptions impact users’ product evaluation and purchasing decisions.

5.Cart & Checkout

Contains 139 Guidelines and 10 video modules

This theme examines all the things that can go wrong in the last stage of the user’s purchasing cycle “from cart to completed order” and how to design a checkout that causes as few needless abandonments as possible. It also includes a high number of findings on general form field usability that apply to forms outside of checkout flows as well.

6.Mobile E-Commerce

Contains 150+ Guidelines and 8 video modules

Mobile e-commerce UX requires specialized knowledge. In this section, you’ll study all of the above topics for mobile websites. This includes small-screen interfaces, touch interactions and hit areas for the main menu, mobile image zoom, mobile search, mobile touch keyboards, design deviations between mobile and desktop, etc.

How Much Does Certification Cost?

Our e-commerce UX certification program and training platform is available on the Comprehensive, Specialty, and Organization plans in Baymard Premium.

On these plans, training seats can be purchased at a cost of $300 / year.

If you are a private individual that wants personal access to Baymard's UX training & the certification platform, then a one-year access costs USD 720 ($60/month but billed annually). Contact our personal access support team for more information.

Frequently Asked Questions About UX Certification

Are you on the fence about whether this UX certification program is right for you?

Here are answers to some of the most common questions to help you decide:

Can I Retake an Exam if I Fail?

You will have two chances per year to pass each exam. If you fail both attempts for a particular exam, that test will be locked for six months before two new attempts become available.

When you pass an exam, that passing grade never expires, so you can take as long as you need to complete the entire program. For example, you can take your first exam now, then wait two years to take the remaining tests, and still become certified once you’ve passed your final exam.

Once you’ve successfully completed all six exams, you will have earned your qualification as a “Certified E-Commerce UX Professional by Baymard Institute”. Your certification never expires.

Do You Need a Certificate to Be a UX Designer?

While a UX design certificate isn’t required to get a job as a UX professional, it can improve your chances of getting interviews and advancing your career. Specialized UX training — like Baymard’s E-Commerce UX Certification — is appealing to potential employers.

How Long Does it Take to Get a UX Certification?

Baymard Institute’s program is self-paced, and you can move through the video lessons and exams as fast (or slow) as you need or want to. Most students who successfully pass all six exams study for 50 to 200 hours over one to four months, depending on their existing UX proficiency.

What’s the Career Outlook for UX Designers?

The demand for UX designers is steadily increasing as the corporate world gains a greater understanding of the correlation of positive user experiences and higher conversion rates.

LinkedIn ranked UX design as one of the top five in-demand skills of 2020, and Glassdoor added it to their list of best 50 jobs to have in 2021. CNN Money predicted that the demand for UX designers will grow by 18% from 2015 to 2025.

Is UX Certification Worth It?

Becoming a Certified E-Commerce UX Professional is an excellent way to show current or potential employers, clients, and colleagues that you rank among the world’s top e-commerce UX experts.

If you’re already using Baymard Institute’s research catalog, there’s no additional cost to pursuing certification. By investing the time to study and get certified, you’ll gain valuable skills and a highly-respected designation.

UX Certification: Take the Next Step in Your UX Career

If you’re ready to become certified as an E-Commerce UX Professional, take the first step by exploring Baymard Institute’s research catalog. Get started today by choosing the right plan for your budget, organization, and needs at Baymard Premium.

If your company already has Premium access, then you have automatic access to all training modules and exams (except on Starter and Small plans). If you’re joining privately on your own, get in touch to get access to the research & UX certification program.