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.

UX Certification is available at 3 levels:

• UX Practitioner – suited for people new in the UX field or work in UX-adjacent roles. A 40-hour degree.
• UX Professional – suited for people working in UX professionally (or want to). A 80-hour degree.
• UX Master – suited for those that want to dedicate themselves to become among the "top 5%" of e-commerce UXers worldwide. A 120-hour degree.

Regardless the level of certification you choose to pursue, note that this is not another “get a certificate for showing up” course. Passing the exams requires studying significant parts of Baymard’s 110,000+ hours of large-scale e-commerce UX research findings. Fortunately, our UX training platform guides you through the exact UX research findings for your certification level.

Upon completing any of the programs, you’ll have a deep knowledge of our industry-leading UX research findings – and be able to proof your substantial UX talent towards employers, clients, and partners, with Baymard UX certification.

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 110,000+ hours of UX research and usability testing and distilled it into 680+ 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.

Additionally, you will apply your learning on a live site of your choosing using the built in assessment tool.

3. Recognition as a E-Commerce UX Practitioner, Professional, or Master

When you complete the program, you’ll be featured on our list of E-Commerce UX Certificants. 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 tailored to your level of certification that 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

Certification is available in 3 skill levels: Practitioner, Professional, and Master.

For all skill levels, 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 a series of courses, each of which is tailored to your skill level and the six exam themes. More information about the training platform can be found on the UX training page.

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.

If you choose to pursue UX Master certification, you must pass an additional 'Site Review & Presentation' exam. The exam is open 4 times per year, and involves reviewing part of a live website using Baymard's interactive Review Tool and preparing a 15 minute presentation of your findings (prerecorded) for Baymard researchers to review.

How Do You Become UX Certified?

Here’s a breakdown of our certification process:

Step 1: Join Baymard Premium and Purchase a Training Seat

A UX training seat gives a single person access to all 3 levels of UX certification, all courses, courses, and guest lectures.

Company access: First get company access to Baymard’s Premium research portal, at just $1800 per year, covering your whole organization (unlimited users). Each UX training seat then costs $300 per year – largely the same as a conference ticket.

Freelancer or private user: Sign up for the Personal plan that gives both Premium access, and access to UX training & certification for one person at $720 per year.

Step 2: Select the relevant degree and study at your own pace

Once you have access to the training platform, you can enroll in any degree that matches the level of UX certification you wish to pursue. The training platform will then guide you through a series of courses that will prepare you for exams tailored to the skill level you have selected.

The content within these courses consists of:

• Studying specific e-commerce UX guidelines via articles and training videos
• Completing guideline-specific quiz questions to assess your understanding of training content
• Applying your knowledge via an interactive review of a site of your choosing using Baymard's Review Tool

Each degree consists of 40- to 120- hours of learning content, divided across the six themes of e-commerce UX research.

Step 3: Pass all required exams

When you’re completed a theme specific course and you feel confident in your knowledge of the material, you can attempt an exam.

You will have one attempt per week to pass each exam. You can at most attempt the same exam 4 times in a calendar year.

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

Step 4: Receive certification

Once you pass all six exams (plus the additional site review & presentation exam for UX Master certification), you’ll receive your certification badge and join our list of E-Commerce UX Certificants with an optional profile page on our website.

Breakdown of Our UX Certification Program Exams

To pass each exam, you'll need to complete a training course corresponding to one theme of our research.

Training courses require anywhere from six hours (for UX Practitioner courses) to 20 hours (for UX Master courses) to complete, and cover between 30% and 80% of the our research-based UX guidelines covering common design pitfalls for e-commerce sites.

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 module for a guideline in the Hompeage & Category research theme available within Baymard Premium.

After you have completed all of the training content for one of the themes you can consider taking the corresponding online exam.

The UX certification training courses includes access to 300+ video training modules (each covering an individual guideline within one of our six research themes) as well as our research articles from our catalog of 600+ detailed UX guidelines.

The 6 UX Certification Exam Themes

Depending on the certification skill level you choose, your training will cover 30% - 80% of the UX guidelines found in the following themes:

1.Homepage & Category Navigation

Covers 4 Topics and 41 Guidelines

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

Covers 5 Topics and 49 Guidelines

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

Covers 8 Topics and 101 Guidelines

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

Covers 12 Topics and 108 Guidelines

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

Covers 16 Topics and 141 Guidelines

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.Accounts & Self-Service

Covers 7 Topics & 65 Guidelines

This theme examines how users access and interact with account and self-service pages, including how the types of account features provided and their discoverability and ease of use impact users’ ability to locate desired information and effectively manage their accounts.

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 one year of access costs USD 720 ($60/month but billed annually). Sign up for the Personal plan or contact support@baymard.com.

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 one chance per week to pass each exam. If you fail four attempts for a particular exam, that test will be locked for one year before four 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 UX 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 [Master, Professional, or Practitioner] by Baymard Institute”. Your certification never expires, though the year in which you complete your certification is displayed on your certification badge. You can "renew" your certification by completing recertification exams for each theme, which will display an additional year on your certification badge for each year you renew your certification.

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 trainin courses and exams as fast (or slow) as you need or want to. Most students who successfully pass all six exams study for 30 to 120 hours over one to four months, depending on their chosen skill level and 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.

Glassdoor ranked UX as one of their top 50 jobs to have in 2022. CNN Money predicted that the demand for UX designers will grow by 13% from 2017 to 2027.

Is UX Certification Worth It?

Becoming a Certified E-Commerce UX Practitioner, Professional, or Master 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, pursuing certification only costs an additional 300 USD for a set on the training platform. 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, take the first step by exploring Baymard Institute’s research catalog.

Company access: Get started today by choosing the right plan for your team, budget, and needs at Baymard Premium.

If you already have Baymard Premium access: go to the Seat Management page to request an account administrator to grant you access to the training platform for 300 USD extra per year, which will give you access to all training courses and exams.

Personal access: If you’re joining privately on your own, sign up for the $720/y Personal plan (includes Premium research access for one person).

If you need manager approval, you can find a PDF for managers outlining the benefits here.

For questions contact support@baymard.com