Successful advances in electrochromic technology rely on the ability to develop materials and devices which consistently show the broadest transmittance modulations, at the fastest possible rate and with increasing durability, according to the desired application. That is, achieving better contrasts, lower switching speeds and higher cycling stabilities. Any measurable advance in this sense implies a proper quantification of these parameters. Despite the relevance of this topic through the long history of the development of electrochromism, there are still few widely spread and standardized tools to properly conduct this quantification. The absence of consensus procedures to experimentally obtain these parameters and, more importantly, report them, severely hinders a proper assessment of reported advances and meaningful comparisons between different materials, device architectures, etc.
We present our efforts towards the definition of analytical tools that properly describe contrast, switching speed and cycling stability, together with simple and generally applicable procedures to obtain them. We have experimentally validated them for a wide variety of electrochromic materials and devices. Through the application of the mentioned procedures, it is possible to get a significant set of parameters that allow meaningful comparisons between different materials/devices under various testing conditions.  We believe these tools, if generally accepted and used, may constitute a powerful tool for the electrochromic community.