Maybe you have an e-commerce website and you’re curious why some customers aren’t completing the check-out process, or maybe you’re struggling to get users to sign-up for your newsletter, or perhaps you’re unsure of how your site is performing and want to find ways to improve it. This is where a UX audit can help!
The goal of a User Experience (UX) Audit is to identify usability issues and provide recommendations to improve the overall user experience. It can be used to answer the following questions:
A UX audit not only identifies potential problems but uses data to get to the root cause of why the issues are occurring. When it comes to your website, making decisions based on intuition can lead to lacklustre results. Using data to truly understand a problem, provides insight that leads to more effective solutions.
Implementing UX audit recommendations will enhance the usability of your website which can lead to a whole host of benefits—from improved customer satisfaction to increased conversions and sales.
UX audits are like health check-ups for your website, they can be beneficial at just about any time. They’re especially useful to undertake prior to your budgeting process because it can help in prioritizing where and how to spend your web development dollars.
There’s no official methodology for conducting UX audits. The process will vary based on the available time, budget and requirements of the audit. At Elev8, we’ve broken down the process into four key phases:
As with just about any project, the first step is to identify your business goals and how your website can best support them. This can be done using an online survey to gather information from key company stakeholders, or through one-on-one interviews. The later approach often produces more meaningful insights.
The next step is to develop a solid understanding of who your users are. It’s also important to determine if your current user base is the audience you’re actually looking to target. The activities in this phase will depend on the level of knowledge you have on these groups and, whether more research is needed. The end deliverable here is the development of user personas that will not only inform the rest of the audit process, but help in supporting many other forms of decision making in your organization.
The bulk of the audit efforts takes place in the Evaluate phase. The following:
The final step is to collect and synthesize the findings, compile the results, and determine quick wins and enhancements that could have the biggest impact on improving the user experience. Those actionable recommendations are then scoped by our development team so clients have all the information they need to make informed decisions about where and how to allocate their website investments.
The cost of a UX audit can vary based on the scope of work. At Elev8, our Basic UX Audit is $1,000 and can typically be completed in 1 week or less. If there are additional needs like user research or usability testing, we’ll provide an estimate up front and then work together to prioritize the activities that fit within your budget. The audit cost does not include implementation of any recommended actions so additional budget and/or resources will be needed. This is why conducting a UX audit prior to your budgeting process can be helpful in determining what to allocate towards your website.
Regular UX audits are critical in determining how well websites align with user experience. But in order for those valuable insights to have tangible benefits, they must be acted upon. It can mean the difference between a website that underperforms and one that surpasses expectations
If your website needs some improvements but you’re not sure where to start, a UX audit is your answer! Get in touch if you’d like to learn more.
