The processes of user audit and how to perform them

After the launch, you still can face numerous challenges, for instance, low conversion rates, poor functionality, low engagements – the list goes on. The most common decision is a complete redesign, but it doesn’t guarantee you won’t meet the same issues. So, how to find a solution?

First of all, you need to understand that none of the problems won’t vanish by themselves. You will need to put some effort into eliminating possible inconsistencies. Also, before making any decision, you should examine your web platform and ask your users what they are struggling with. That way, you naturally stop relying on hypothetical data, which helps you see things as they are. Ultimately, to achieve an excellent website performance, it’s critical to conduct multiple testings regularly. And one of the most significant ones is user audit.

In a nutshell, UX audit is the practice of identifying the pain points of the design system that impact the user experience and deteriorate the website’s usability. However, user audit is not just usability testing. It implies much more and includes specific methods and tools to find out why your website and your users face challenges. Also, user audit is a long-term decision because it provides you with a set of recommendations to build the appropriate design strategy for your web platform. That can help you to allocate your effort more effectively.

Generally, a good user audit is aimed to improve the usability, contribute to the smooth website’s functioning, and eventually raise conversion and engagements with the help of improved user experience. That can be achieved by means of direct user surveys that help auditing professionals to outline the user’s desires and attitudes. Such research provides valid and thorough information about your users and the actual problems they’re struggling with. And with that information in mind, it’s much easier to meet their needs.

When it comes to the UX audit process, it’s important to develop a clear plan to follow. When everything is consistent during the initial stages, the results will be much better. That is why, when starting the UX audit, you need to know what to do first and what data to collect and analyze. As a rule, user audit takes several processes:

1. Data accumulation

User audit usually starts from collecting the necessary information, which helps measure the analyzed website’s performance. First and foremost, UX auditing professionals collect the users’ data, including their needs, preferences, and obstacles they face when using the website. Also, it’s critical to overview the user experience to detect pain points in the overall design system. It might be poor responsiveness, wrong content disposition, poor UX design, or even an excessive number of CTAs. All these issues are worth considering as they impact the user experience greatly. The methods of collecting the data are different, but several tools are used commonly, for example, Google Analytics.

2. Analysis of the collected data

The next stage involves analyzing and examining everything the UX auditing professionals have collected previously. This may take time because for a big picture analytics user auditors might need some additional testing or re-checking. Here, it’s critical to understand that success all depends on the clarity of the results. Thus, although being time-consuming, this stage takes much attention to detail.

3. Recommendations

Once the data is examined and checked thoroughly, the auditing team starts to find ways of improving existing issues. When several theories are checked, the team can state recommendations that are most suitable for the case. Recommendations can refer to different aspects of the website, including web design, graphic design, or branding. However, they all share the same function – to contribute to a better user experience and improve the website’s usability by eliminating any inconsistencies it might feature.

The list of recommendations is a powerful tool for bringing your website's usability to a more prolific level. Also, it might become a guideline for future audits, which will only facilitate the working process.

4. Final presentation 

After the recommendations are stated, the auditing team collects them into a cohesive design strategy, which then is presented to the stakeholders and all the respective employees, including designers and developers.

However, these processes won’t help unless they’re organized and structured. For instance, when working with several professionals, you need to make sure that all of them are working to achieve a common goal. Also, it takes constant communication so that the external auditors can get some useful insight from you as a stakeholder or other responsible parties like UI/UX designers. In other words, only when everything is consistent, will you get positive outcomes. And if well-organized, UX audit processes can guarantee smart solutions and an excellent strategy that will improve your performance.