Key performance indicators analysis
Before directly starting the site audit, analyze the initial data. For example, this may include information about how many users were active, whether there was an outflow of customers, what the effectiveness of advertising campaigns was, and others.
One of the options for a primary UX audit is heat map analysis, which allows for a clear view of user activity, marked in different colors.
This technology is also used in other tools:
Click map – allows you to find out which elements of the site (or application) are most in demand among visitors. Traditionally, online platforms highlight CTA buttons in a contrasting color so that customers definitely pay attention to them. Read more about the color scheme of the site in the article at the link.
Link map – helps to identify the most popular sections of the online store. There are frequent cases of discovering “interesting discoveries”, for example, buyers can ignore pages with special offers. Then a deep analysis of the reasons for such user behavior on the site is necessary with the adoption of measures to attract their attention to disc mexico phone number lookup ounted goods.
Scroll map – needed to assess how many visitors eventually reach the target action, and how many drop out at the beginning and in the middle of the path. If
potential clients leave the site before reaching the CTA buttons, then they should be placed in another, preferably warm, zone of the online platform.
Form analytics – helps to work with usability forms responsible for feedback. It provides information on how many times a given section of the site was opened, whether there were any difficulties when sending complaints, and also shows the conversion at each stage of filling. Form analytics allows you to reduce the time allocated for analyzing customer behavior.
Interface Analysis
At this stage, a usability audit follows the user's path from the start of browsing a web resource to performing a target action, analyzes the accessibility of a particular element, and records the occurrence of difficulties. During testing, UX designers most often use Jakob Nielsen's checklist, which covers not only user design, but also business strategy. Here are these indicators:
how the site is perceived by visitors (logical and understandable structure, content accessibility, freedom of action);
is everything okay with the visualization (clarity and contrast of elements);
what is the quality of the content (text and images);
is the structure clear (presence of a menu, ease of navigation);
what sections are there on the website (product cards, personal account, shopping cart, order placement, payment, delivery);
what can be said about the functionality (availability of CTA buttons, links, various forms, loading speed).
Usability audit result
After the expert review, a report with recommendations is prepared. They describe in detail all the "questionable" places of the interface, and it is important to analyze not only the desktop versions, but also the adaptive versions for mobile and tablets. Then, ways to improve the situation are proposed, based on the successful cases of competitors, i.e. the best practices of the leaders in this industry. The result of the usability audit of the site should be a "road map" of changes that the company will have to implement independently or with the involvement of technical partners.
Thus, a usability audit is a kind of tool for preventing possible problems with the interface of a website or application, as well as correcting errors that have already appeared, thanks to which a company can save not only money, but also time (and this is the most valuable resource).