A lot of companies today have figured out that user experience (UX) plays an important role in their business’ success and, in fact, plays a vital role in their target customers’ overall satisfaction with the products or services they offer. But aside from just realizing this fact, not many businesses know how to conduct a UX audit, nor do they know what to do after conducting one. This article will detail the steps on how to conduct your own and how you can use it to improve your business and gain an edge over your competitors.
What Is A UX Audit
A UX audit is the process of examining how your customers interact with your website, app, or physical store. The audit includes assessing all facets of the customer experience—from site layout to search functionality to contact details. This allows you to identify areas for improvement so that you can create a better overall experience for your customers. Conducting this type of analysis regularly will help you stay ahead of industry trends and continue providing an exceptional user experience for your business’ clients.
Why Conduct An Audit?
An audit is an examination of processes and procedures with the goal of identifying areas for improvement. When applied to business processes, it can lead your business to success. The most common type of audit for businesses is a Quality Assurance (QA) audit which includes going through each step in order to identify potential issues that might arise from the process and preventing them from occurring.
1) Identify process – What are the steps you need to take or things you need in order for this process to happen? Create an ordered list or flowchart with all these steps in place; identify what things are necessary at the beginning, middle, and end.
What Happens During An Audit
A UX audit analyzes an app or website’s user experience. The goal is to identify ways the app can be improved through changes in design, layout, content or features. One of the most important parts of conducting an audit is establishing how customers navigate and interact with your business. In other words, are they signing up? Is there something stopping them from purchasing your product? Have they reached their limit on free trials? Why aren’t they returning back after interacting with the app for the first time? These questions must be answered in order to pinpoint what needs fixing.
Where To Begin?
The starting point of a business audit should always be the organization’s goal. What are they trying to accomplish? Who is their target audience? The answers will guide all decisions made throughout the process, including which methodologies can help you achieve your goal.
Examine where your customers touch your product or service by analyzing the different phases of their journey. Observe how they react during each phase, from awareness to decision-making.
What To Do With The Information After The Audit?
A simple way to test the design of your site or app is by running an informal usability test. Conduct these at any stage of the design process and before your launch, it could save you time, money, and frustration in the long run. Below are seven steps for running an effective usability test:
– Previewing materials with participants ahead of time, ensuring that they’re representative of what people will experience on your site or app.
– Clearly defining goals and getting buy-in from stakeholders. – Setting up testing stations so that testers are comfortable and familiar with them (like providing computer mice when conducting testing on computers). – Writing out tasks beforehand so that testers have clear instructions.
Tips For Running A Successful Usability Test
Not all companies should run usability tests, but if you’re considering it, take these tips into consideration. Do your research before selecting a test that’s right for you. Collect representative participants; don’t test with people who are too young or not savvy enough to be considered your target user base. Take extra care in recording the data after the test is complete, as this will make it easier to spot problems in the software or website design down the line.
Conclusion
Many people in India might think of graphic design or printing services when they hear about an Hire UI/UX design company. But there are so many other ways that someone can work with design, such as conducting UX audits for other businesses. All it takes is a consultation by email, phone, Skype, or even in person meeting – whichever you prefer. If you have any questions at all about the audit process – don’t hesitate to ask! We are more than happy to provide our expertise.
