The importance of having a good UX/UI design cannot be overlooked. A good UX design can increase the conversion rate of websites by about 400%. That clearly shows why brands need to focus on website design.
As a matter of fact, a number of websites fail to produce the desired outcomes owing to a poor UX/UI design. The websites are mainly built by the stakeholders through an opinion-driven process. This results in the development of an organization-centric website instead of a user-centric website, thereby leading to usability issues.
When businesses notice poor website design, they try to make certain tweaks. However, the right approach is to find out the UX problems and quickly fix them through a UX audit.
Signs of Poor User Experience
Many brands are of the view that a good UX/UI design is associated with how much is spent on designing and when the website was designed. However, in reality, what matters the most is how well the website is working for the users.
Are you wondering how to identify the poor user experience of your website? Here are some of the potential signs that you should know.
- Too much information
- Absence of important information
- Confusing or too complicated navigation
- Unappealing and poor-quality content
- Slow loading pages
- Outdated design and content
- Lack of a mobile-friendly design
- High exit and bounce rates
- Poor conversion rates
What is UX Audit?
Now that you know the signs of poor UX/UI design, it is time to understand what UX audit is and how it can improve user experience. Well, a UX audit refers to the process of identifying the serious usability issues of the websites. It reveals what the potential users are actually struggling with when engaging with the websites of brands.
A UX audit is instrumental in guaranteeing that your website is devoid of any potential issues that could impede user experience. It enables you to gain insights into your users, comprehend how they engage with your site, and ultimately improve the design of your website.
Quick Wins of UX Audit
A UX audit is instrumental in identifying what’s effective and what’s not for your brand. It facilitates objective decision-making and allows you to focus your resources on resolving usability problems. Consequently, this can significantly influence the success of your business.
A UX audit of your website can help you in achieving:
- More sales and leads
- Faster and simple website navigation
- More satisfied customers
- Better engagement of users
- Fewer support calls
- Better brand perception
- Higher ROI
How does a UX Audit work?
Conducting a UX audit is a comprehensive process that involves various sophisticated methodologies and steps, meticulously chosen based on the specific situation and website characteristics. A UX audit can include user testing, heuristic evaluation, SWOT analysis, competitive analysis, among other techniques.
The comprehensive report of the UX audit pinpoints the usability issues and their severity. Moreover, it can also provide you with appropriate recommendations to fix the issues and enhance your UX/UI design.
The recommendations of a UX audit helps in identifying as well as improving the success metrics of your website design. It helps in eliminating potential distractions while improving the accessibility and usability of your website.
Steps of UX Audit
There are a number of steps involved in a UX audit. It mainly depends on the budget and time that the brands are willing to spend on the audit. Here are some of the general steps of a UX audit.
Step 1: Understand the Goals and Objectives of Business
Before reviewing a website for usability issues, the first step is having a clear understanding of your business objectives and goals. For instance, the core objective of your business may be to increase sales or attract more traffic.
To grasp the goals and objectives, interviewing key stakeholders of the business is essential. This group may encompass salespeople, developers, product managers, customer service representatives, among others.
Step 2: Understand the Users
At the core of UX/UI design is the users. The users of your website include the customers, clients, and other visitors of the website. Having an understanding of who your users are can help you understand their frustrations and pain points.
To understand your users, developing a user persona is beneficial. If time allows, conducting interviews with end-users can also be insightful. This approach will help you gather important information about their experiences while interacting with your website.
Grasping the challenges faced by your users can guide the development of pertinent enhancements, leading to an improved experience.
Step 3: Understand User Flow
The subsequent step is to examine the user flow. To pinpoint the precise issue, it’s essential to analyze the user journey on your website. Understanding the user flow will aid in comprehending the users’ objectives.
Reviewing the entire website architecture and assessing each step a user takes from beginning to end is crucial. This process aids in the effective identification of user pain points and negative experiences as they occur.
Step 4: Review Analytics
Many businesses leverage Google Analytics to track their website performance. This data can prove to be helpful in a UX audit. It can provide you with quantifiable data and offer you insights into who is interacting and what they are doing while they are on the website.
Step 5: Compile Findings into a Report and Make Recommendations
The final step of a UX audit is to compile your findings into an audit report. After the data has been gathered through different steps, it needs to be analyzed in order to get insights into how your products are being used and the difficulties experienced by users.
In the final section of the report, actionable recommendations are provided on the basis of findings. The report also includes suggestions as to how the recommendations need to be implemented.
Benefits of Hiring Professionals for a UX Audit
When it comes to UX audit, you can perform the audit yourselves. However, there is no replacement for the experience and expertise possessed by the professionals. In addition, as it is your own website, there is a high chance that you may get biased and fail to identify the real problems.
Hiring professionals for UX audit can help in bringing fresh perspectives to the process. With rich knowledge and years of experience, the experts can offer you the best results. They will not only help in improving your UX/UI design but also enhance the overall website performance.
Conclusion
A good website design that can provide users with an optimum experience is the key to the success of a business. Now that you have a complete understanding of the UX audit process, it is time to get started.
A UX audit can enhance UX/UI design, increase your business growth, lower operating costs, and improve the conversion rate of your website. It can also enhance brand awareness and increase user engagement. Hire UX audit experts and improve the effectiveness of your website.
