As an initial step towards developing a new product roadmap, UX design agencies often conduct UX (user experience/usability) audits for business websites or mobile applications. Here is how you can conduct a detailed UX audit in 7 steps.
A 7 Step Guide On How To Conduct UX Audits
Step 1- Understand The Business
The first step in UX auditing of a product is understanding the business. In this step, we first start by surveying key stakeholders to understand why the product was designed in that way, the drawbacks, and how to improve it. Another thing to note is what the stakeholders want to see out of the UX process.
These surveys are done through quick interviews or by a brief questionnaire. The results must help us understand what is going well, what is going wrong, and how a successful product looks.
All the business requirements and information regarding the product development team’s budget, timeline, process, and expectations need to be clearly defined to move to the next step.
Step 2- Understand The Users
Now that we know what the business aims towards and its target audience, we take these personas and set up user interviews with five target users. By presenting the product or a clickable prototype, we let them interact with the product and simultaneously share their experiences. We then ask about their needs, problems they face while using the products, and areas they feel require improvements. These interviews are recorded for further analysis.
Step 3- Create User Flows
User Flows are powerful tools used to understand the key pathways taken by users in their product buying journey. After deeply understanding user flows, you can divide their experience into three parts- entry, steps and goodbye.
The entry refers to the user’s introduction to the product. Websites typically have many entry points, while apps have fewer ones and usually must be downloaded from an app store.
The steps refer to users’ desired set of actions after their entry. Usually, this is correlated with an onboarding goal that determines at what point the user achieves and thus understands the value proposition.
The goodbye refers to the last interaction with the product and is usually correlated to the desired action expected from the user. For example, the user may have registered, submitted information into a contact form, or purchased a product.
Step 4- Understand The Competitors
Understanding your competitors will help you get insights into other users’ options. By reviewing 2–3 competitor products, you will understand the similarities and differences each product holds. Also, a user flow of competitor experiences is created for further understanding.
Step 5- Understand The Current State
User behaviors are usually tracked by businesses using various analytics platforms. These analytics help us understand who and how they interact with the product. In addition, this data is reviewed to find areas that require improvement.
Analytics platforms also enable us to understand the existing state of the product- its design and development resources, the product’s current backlogs, significant milestones to consider, and more. These directional insights will help to clarify our action plan.
Step 6- Complete A Design Review
UX designers with knowledge about usability heuristics in digital products will review the product to find the best practices used and not used. A checklist that goes through best practices in usability, design and experience can be created to review the product.
Step 7- Compile And Deliver Findings And Key Takeaways
The compilation of data collected from the above six steps is spread out, and key takeaways that will help improve the product and business as a whole are taken from each of the steps. In short, a recommended action plan that can guide internal teams is created after undergoing the above six steps.
Benefits Of UX Audit
A UX audit enables developers to understand what needs to be done to make the product function properly and prompt upgrades. It also enables project managers to identify the root causes of high bounce rate, navigation ambiguity, etc. For CEOs, UX audit improves the product’s performance and enables new business opportunities to open up. Finally, for the users, since the product and its performance improves, UX audit provides a better user experience and satisfaction.
