A UX audit systematically reviews a digital product’s usability, accessibility, and overall user experience (UX). The ‘audit’ involves analyzing various components of the product’s overall UX design, including its:

  • Interface: The visual layout and organization of your product, including buttons, menus, and content presentation.
  • Content: The clarity, accuracy, and usefulness of the text and information displayed within your product.
  • Navigation: How users find their way around your product, including menus, search functionalities, and internal linking.
  • Interaction Patterns: The way users interact with your product, such as onboarding, filling out forms, or swiping through content.

By examining these elements through multiple lenses – user feedback, data analytics, and industry standards, the audit identifies strengths in meeting user needs and highlights areas for improvement that could enhance the overall UX.

How to Conduct a Successful UX Audit

A thorough UX audit involves a range of activities, including:

  • Analyzing user behavior patterns through website/app analytics and user recordings. The goal is to identify trends that might indicate areas of difficulty or confusion.
  • Talking to users and observing how they interact with your product provides valuable insights into their experience.
  • Identifying technical glitches, design flaws, and any elements that hinder usability.
  • Assessing user feedback, conversion metrics, customer service data, sales data, and traffic patterns to identify areas where the product might be falling short of user expectations
  • The audit also evaluates the product’s compliance with established UX standards and best practices, such as usability heuristics and mental modeling principles.

Are you mentally prepared to perform these tasks? Okay, let’s get into the steps then.

Step 1: Setting the Stage for a Successful UX Audit

Defining Your Goals

Establishing clear objectives is essential for a successful UX audit. Your goals will guide data collection and analysis. For example, if your objective is to improve conversion, start by identifying major pain points in the checkout process and by identifying user groups most likely to abandon right before converting. This will enable you to hone in on the behaviors and actions that lead up to their decisions to convert or unsubscribe.

Gathering User Data

If your product is not brand new, it is important to understand existing user behavior. Implement basic analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, SEMrush, and Similar-Web to collect data on user activity on your platform. This foundational data will inform your audit.

Also check out reviews of your product on sites like Trustpilot, Google Play, or the App Store. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of user journeys, consider using advanced tools like Hotjar, which provides session recordings and heatmaps to visualize user interactions.

Then, set up interviews and surveys with target audience groups. Ask them what they like about your product/prototype and what frustrates them. These conversations can uncover unmet needs and pain points.

Building Your Team

For larger audits, collaboration across departments—such as design, development, product management, and marketing—is vital. Conduct a kickoff meeting to align team members on project goals. If you engage an external team for the audit, consider conducting stakeholder interviews to provide context on previous design decisions and past user research findings.

Setting a Timeline

While a UX audit is an ongoing process, it is important to establish a timeframe for your initial analysis. Most audits take between 2-4 weeks, so create a timeline with key milestones to track progress.

Understanding Your Users

Develop user personas – detailed profiles of your target audience. Then, create customer journey maps visually representing how your user personas navigate your product. These maps should highlight user goals at each stage.

Step 2: Conducting a User Deep-Dive – Screen-by-Screen Evaluation

Evaluating Usability

To create a great user experience, your digital product needs to meet specific usability standards. This means doing a screen-by-screen analysis of your product from the user’s perspective and then comparing it to established design standards.

Explore Your Product as a User

Get hands-on with your product or website. Walk through each key user flow you identified earlier, thinking like a typical user. For example, try signing up for a free trial as a new user and explore the app’s features. Then, do it again from the perspective of a regular user who knows the core functionalities well.

Heuristic Analysis

A heuristic analysis means checking your app against established UX best practices, screen by screen. This can help you spot usability issues that your team might have missed. Need a starting point? Many teams rely on the Nielsen Norman Group’s usability heuristics as a solid foundation for UX evaluation. Here are some key factors to consider:

  • User Control and Freedom: Can users easily undo mistakes?
  • Quality of Error Messaging: Are error messages clear and helpful?
  • Design and Wording Consistency: Is the language and layout consistent throughout the interface?
  • Aesthetic and Minimalist Design: Is the interface visually appealing and free of clutter?

Going Beyond Heuristics

While heuristic evaluation is a great start, it’s just one tool in your UX audit toolkit. Here are some additional techniques to explore:

  • Interface Review: Look at design elements, typography, user flows, and interactions. Aim for a user-friendly UI packed with the right design elements at the right places.
  • Interaction Design Audit: Assess how users interact with your product to find strengths and weaknesses, ensuring they can achieve their goals efficiently.
  • Usability Testing: Conduct usability tests, either moderated/unmoderated, where participants complete specific tasks.
  • Accessibility Assessment: Check how accessible your product is by evaluating elements like alt text for images, compatibility with screen readers, and keyboard navigation options. This ensures an inclusive experience for all users.
  • Customer Journey Analysis: Map out the entire user experience (again) with your product to find ways to streamline processes and enhance satisfaction.

All of this information will help you improve user interactions subtly like eliminating unnecessary onboarding steps or reducing manual input in forms.

Step 3: Cracking the Code: What Makes Your Users Tick?

The step is about digging deeper and uncovering the hidden patterns behind how users interact with your product.

Looking at the Big Picture

First, let us take a closer look at your conversion data. This includes things like how many users add items to their cart (micro-conversions) and how many actually complete a purchase (macro-conversions). We want to see how these numbers differ for different groups of users, where they come from (traffic sources), and even the products themselves.

Are there any user groups or products that seem to be struggling? Did any recent updates or new features coincide with drops in conversions? Your website/app analytics tools are bursting with user behavior information that’ll answer these questions.

We are talking about things like bounce rate (how many people leave after just one page), how long users typically stay on a page (average session duration), and even how often users click on something out of frustration (rage clicks). Analyze this data for different pages and user segments to see if there are any inconsistencies that might reveal important trends:

  • Exit-Rate: Let’s see where users are most likely to abandon ship. High exit rates on specific pages might indicate areas causing frustration or confusion.
  • Session-Time: Do different user groups tend to spend more or less time on your site? Once you identify groups with lower engagement, you can start digging into why that might be.
  • High-Value Customers: Where do your biggest spenders come from? Are there specific landing pages or user journeys that seem to attract users who spend more money?

Understanding User Feelings

Remember those user surveys you set up in step one?  Now is the time to put them to good use!  See how user satisfaction and loyalty scores (like Net-Promoter-Scores) change throughout the user journey. Pinpoint areas where most users seem to be struggling.

Watch session recordings to find out where users get lost or confused. By comparing the journeys and testimonies of users who converted with those who did not, you can uncover insights that data analysis alone might miss.

Step 4: Making Sense of It All: From Data to Actionable Insights

Now that you have gathered valuable user data, it is time to transform that information into actionable insights for your product. This step focuses on interpreting the data and determining what it means for your user experience.

Identifying the Gremlins

Let us uncover any issues hiding in your data, from major problems that need immediate attention to minor annoyances:

  • User Interview Insights: Were there any recurring criticisms during user interviews? Look for common themes regarding user frustrations.
  • Usability Testing Reveals: Did usability tests or recordings highlight confusing aspects of your app? Are users navigating your site intuitively?
  • Bug Patrol: Did you discover any bugs or errors in your user interface (UI)?
  • Best Practices Check: Did your analysis show areas where your product falls short of established UX best practices?
  • Meeting Expectations: Does the user experience align with what users expect when interacting with your product?

Prioritizing the Problems

Not all issues carry the same weight! Rank the problems you have identified based on their impact on user experience and your overall goals. Address critical issues that significantly hinder users first, while saving minor annoyances for later.

Beyond Fixing: Creating a Better User Experience

Great UX is not just about fixing problems; it is about exceeding user expectations. Based on your findings, consider what additional design features/improvements could better meet user needs.

Prioritizing Solutions

It is easy to feel overwhelmed by user pain points and want to fix everything at once. However, effective long-term solutions require prioritization. Use the data from your research to pinpoint the most significant issues. Look for trends and identify which problems arise most frequently in user feedback. For example, if you conduct usability tests with 40 users and find that 22 of them struggle with font size, while only 8 mention issues with the search bar, it is clear that addressing the font size should take precedence.

Step 5: Drafting Your UX Report

Now that you have gathered a wealth of user insights, it’s time to share your findings and put them into action! This step focuses on creating a comprehensive UX audit report that clearly communicates your discoveries.

The Six Pillars of Your Report

Who We Met: Provide an overview of the user personas you identified and the demographics of the participants in your research. Include details such as the number of participants and their backgrounds.

Mission: Why We Did This? Explain the purpose of the UX audit. Why was it conducted? Outline the research methods you used to gather insights, such as heuristic evaluations, usability testing, and user interviews.

The Big Reveal: Findings and Results: Present the product’s performance data and key takeaways from your study. Include results from the UX research methodologies you employed.

UX Analysis: Conduct a deep dive into the product’s UX design, covering aspects like accessibility, ease of use, user engagement, and information architecture (IA). Provide a detailed review of these elements.

Insights: Summarize the key learnings from your evaluation of user behavior and industry best practices. Identify areas needing improvement and suggest ways to streamline the user experience by reducing unnecessary clicks. Most importantly, explain how these insights align with your overall goals.

Spreadsheet: While not essential for everyone, a spreadsheet can be a powerful tool for tracking information gathered in Steps 1-4. Consider creating a collaborative document in the cloud to record questions, ideas, and relevant metrics alongside your data.

Need a template to jumpstart your report? UserFocus offers an Excel workbook that helps you measure metrics alongside 250+ ‘best practices’ for usability. Usability.gov provides a Word template specifically designed for creating measurable usability goals. Remember, the goal is to create a clear and concise report that effectively communicates your UX audit findings and recommendations.

Step 6. Creating Evidence-Base, Actionable Recommendations

Conclude your report with a clear and concise list of actionable recommendations. For example, you might suggest adding predictive text functionality to the search bar for faster and more accurate searches. The best recommendations are backed by data. Use the insights from your UX audit to propose data-driven improvements that will have a measurable impact on the user experience. Here are some key principles for crafting effective recommendations:

Focus on the Positive: Frame your recommendations to highlight the potential benefits for users. Acknowledge UX issues constructively. Emphasize solutions rather than merely pointing out problems.

No Jargon: Avoid technical jargon that your audience may not understand. Use clear, concise language that is easy to follow.

Specificity: Provide specific recommendations rather than vague suggestions. The more detailed your recommendations, the easier it will be for your team to implement them.

Remember, the goal is to collaborate on improving the user experience. By offering specific solutions and suggesting enhancements, you empower your design and development team to take action. This positive, solution-oriented approach is much more effective than simply criticizing UX shortcomings.

Step 7: Sharing, Implementing, and Taking Action

After finalizing the report, share your UX audit findings with all the significant stakeholders (product managers, designers, product owners, etc.). Communicating any kind of alterations or updates arising from the audit is vital.

Once you keep the marketing, sales, and design teams informed, they can modify their strategies accordingly. For example, marketing materials can be improvised for enhanced user experience. 

Sharing the findings and recommendations boosts internal alignment. It in turn ensures everyone understands user needs and priorities.

This collaborative discussion is essential for shaping the next steps for improvement. With everyone on board, it is time to take action! Assign clear ownership for implementing the UX audit recommendations and set deadlines. This ensures that the valuable insights you uncovered lead to tangible improvements for your product and its users.

When Should You Conduct a UX Audit and Why?

In today’s dynamic market, UX audits are crucial to ensure relevant and competitive digital products. As technology is advancing, user expectations are evolving. To thrive in such a scenario, brands need to identify improvement areas proactively, and that is possible only through UX audits. The audits are beneficial for businesses at any stage of the development and design lifecycle for keeping apps, websites, and other digital products relevant.

  • Launching a New Product: Validate your beta version with a UX audit, ensuring it meets user expectations and is user-friendly before a full launch.
  • Established Products: An established product may sometimes fail to cope with the evolving user needs and market trends. An audit may help identify the lagging area, like a lack of new features, slow performance, or a confusing UI. Addressing these issues can prevent customers from ditching an established app or website.
  • Updates and New Features: If you have recently added new functionalities or design patterns to your product, a UX audit can assess how well these changes integrate with the overall UX. It can also help identify potential bottlenecks (areas where users get stuck) and highlight successful features that might be worth replicating elsewhere in your product.

Most savvy businesses perform UX audits whenever they see drops in retention or conversion rates or when new accessibility/compliance guidelines are released. And, you do not have to spend a lot to be savvy.  UX audits can be conducted by businesses of all sizes – from small startups to multinational firms with multiple flagship products. That is because compared to other user research methods, they are way more cost-effective.

While specific testing techniques such as heatmap analyses or A/B testing provide valuable insights, UX audits offer a broader and deeper understanding of the user experience. Often, these specific forms of testing are conducted under the broader umbrella of the UX audit. Professional UX auditors always take a broader and more holistic approach by collecting and analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data:

  • Quantitative Data: Measurable metrics such as bounce rates (the percentage of visitors who leave after viewing only one page), conversion rates (the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action), and user click patterns. This data helps identify areas where users might be dropping off or encountering difficulties in their journey.
  • Qualitative Data: To collect this data, auditors observe how users interact with the product and gather feedback through interviews or surveys. It helps them understand the ‘why’ behind certain user behaviors observed in the quantitative data. This allows them to uncover deeper issues and tailor solutions that truly address user needs.

A UX audit is essentially a cumulative assessment of a digital product’s usefulness, usability, aesthetics, user-friendliness, and overall value. That is why they can uncover subtle pain points, emotional responses, and other deeper issues that other forms of user research just cannot. Here are some of the key issues that are identified and assessed during a professional UX audit:

Usability and Accessibility Issues

Usability and accessibility issues are roadblocks that users encounter while interacting with a digital product. These types of problems can lead to decreased user satisfaction and engagement with your product. For example, if users are abandoning (dropping) your website or app at specific stages, pages, or screens it is a red flag that indicates problems with the product’s navigation, microcopy, or layout.

Similarly, if your app/website’s content lacks clarity or does not provide enough guidance at the right stages, users might become frustrated and disengaged. There are many established design principles for creating user-friendly interfaces. Failing to follow these principles (known as heuristics) can lead to confusing user experiences as well.

UX audits identify and explain all of these broader issues. UK-based agency Gravytrain recently conducted a UX audit for Bulldog Skincare, focusing on improving their online checkout process and increasing conversions (the percentage of visitors who make a purchase). The UX audit revealed that users were abandoning their carts at key points during checkout.

By analyzing user recordings and conducting interviews, Gravytrain identified a need for clearer guidance on product selection. Based on their findings, they recommended actionable changes, such as adding a progress bar to the checkout process. These improvements resulted in a 78% increase in conversion rates.

Onboarding Issues

According to a study by UX designer Mirjam Seckler, users are nearly twice as likely to sign up on their first try, if the signup form has no errors. The study also revealed that form-completion time decreases considerably if the signup form follows basic usability design guidelines. UX audits always reveal these onboarding issues: complex signup forms, unclear payment options, or insufficient support – all of which result in early users losing interest.

Salesforce’s experience with their Lightning UI redesign illustrates the importance of auditing a poorly-received onboarding process and then redesigning it to meet user needs. The auditors meticulously reviewed their new UI and developed actionable solutions to improve the overall information density on the main onboarding pages. In one year, user adoption of the Lightning UI increased significantly.

Faulty Links

Broken links are a common problem on websites, and they can be a major source of frustration for users. A few years ago, a UX audit of the BBC iPlayer’s home page revealed a significant number of broken links within articles. Users who clicked on these links expecting to find related content were met with dead ends. The UX audit team discovered this issue by using web analytics to track user behavior, which showed users dropping off after clicking on broken links. Once the broken links were fixed, user engagement metrics improved immediately.

Adding New Features in the Wrong Way

Sometimes, adding new features can backfire.  Introducing features without proper evaluation can create a confusing user experience, making it difficult for users to navigate and get the most out of your product. Text-Magic, a text messaging service, planned to expand with a new customer experience (CX) platform. To avoid usability issues, they brought in Eleken designers for a UX audit.  This comprehensive review involved:

  • ·       Analyzing competitors
  • ·       Defining Text-Magic’s value proposition
  • ·       Mapping out how users would interact with the platform
  • ·       Assessing how well current and new features worked

The UX audit resulted in a detailed report with specific recommendations and a brand-new UI.  Based on these insights, Text-Magic’s platform was redesigned with more intuitive user flows and a cleaner interface. This allowed users to navigate new, super-complex features with ease.

Layout and Hierarchy Issues

A poorly organized website or app layout is a major turn-off for users. Unfortunately, it’s a common finding in many UX audits. A recent UX audit of Ricochet360, a cloud phone system and CRM platform, revealed this exact problem – a lack of clear visual hierarchy. The platform presented users with 30 equally important fields without any established format or hierarchy.

This meant users had no clear path to navigate through the information. The UX audit recommended restructuring the layout to emphasize key pieces of info and improve the overall flow. Following these changes, users spent much more time completing tasks on the platform and bounced way less frequently.

Design System or Visual Design Inconsistencies

Inconsistent design can be a major hurdle for users, especially those who aren’t tech-savvy.  Imagine using an app where the menu is laid out differently on different screens, or the color scheme changes unexpectedly between sections. Such discrepancies can confuse users, making it difficult for them to navigate the app effectively.

The analytics app ReVeal struggled with this issue. A UX audit revealed over 30 design inconsistencies that made the app less user-friendly. By addressing these inconsistencies and creating a more cohesive design system, ReVeal was able to harmonize its interface and ultimately improve the overall UX.

A UX audit can also uncover important but less frequently addressed issues, such as:

  • Branding Inconsistencies: A confusing mix of design styles or messaging that doesn’t align with your overall brand identity.
  • Outdated Content: Information that is no longer accurate or relevant to your users’ needs.
  • Data Regulation Gaps: Areas where your product might not be compliant with current data privacy regulations.

Regardless of the type of problem a UX audit reveals, it will always be backed by actionable design recommendations based on evidence. That’s how UX audits empower design teams to make data-driven improvements that enhance their products. Let’s learn how to conduct such an impactful UX audit.

Before You Dive In: Essential Considerations

Limitations of UX Audits

It is important to understand that a UX audit won’t provide all the answers regarding why users abandon your product. While it can identify poor UX as a contributing factor, further research may be needed to pinpoint specific solutions.

Who Conducts the Audit?

The audit can be performed by internal teams or external experts. Typically, UX teams assign researchers or UX designers as auditors. Depending on your company’s structure and goals, product leads, UX consultants, or cross-functional teams may also take the lead.

Using Existing Resources

Time is a valuable asset for any product team. To avoid duplicating efforts, leverage existing information. Review previous research studies, UX audit data, product metrics, and website analytics to establish realistic benchmarks for evaluating your digital product.

Choosing UX Audit Tools

Before starting your audit, gather your toolkit. This may include note-taking apps like Notion, web analytics tools like Google Analytics or Hotjar, video conferencing tools like Zoom, and user research platforms like Maze. Additionally, consider using tools like Omniture or Kissmetrics to dive deeper into user behavior data.

Conclusion

Conducting a UX audit requires a significant investment of time, resources, and budget—whether done in-house or outsourced. However, it is an effort that should not be taken lightly. The potential rewards for your website or app can be substantial, especially if you are facing stagnant conversions, slow user growth, or other major problems By undertaking a UX audit, you can harness data-driven insights to implement meaningful changes that enhance your application. The result? Happier users and a healthier return on investment (ROI) for your business. Ready to dig deeper? If you want to learn more about how UX audits can benefit your product, contact Design Studio today to explore our UX audit services!