UX audit: the essential step in its digital redesign?

Introduction

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User-product interaction is a key concept in the success of a digital product, whether it is a website or an application.

People who use your interface can easily get lost if they don't understand where to go or if they have to perform actions that don't make sense intuitively. In addition, accessibility issues may prevent the interface from being read properly.

Cognitive load is another consideration. Users tend to follow habits and use product interfaces that they are familiar with.

If the interface has a complex hierarchy or if basic UX principles are not respected, this can lead to an increase in cognitive load for users as they will have to work extra hard to understand how to use the product.

That's where UX auditing comes in. The ergonomic audit makes it possible to assess user-product interaction in order to identify usability, ergonomics, navigation, design and content problems that may affect use and hinder user satisfaction.

For marketing experts, these same problems can affect the user conversion journey and therefore affect the company's business results.

The objective of this article is to explain how to perform an ergonomic audit step by step in order to allow digital product designers to correct the problems identified during the audit.

At 40/60, an agency specialized in UX/UI design and digital product, we are used to: presenting UX laws at the beginning of an audit report, to make our customers aware of the importance of the vision of the user experience and to show how the problems identified can be solved.

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Definition: What is a UX audit?

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A UX audit is an evaluation of the user experience of a software, application or website, or any other digital product. It is a comprehensive analysis that makes it possible to identify the obstacles that hinder the ergonomics of user interfaces and to propose solutions to solve them.

The UX audit is a crucial step in the process of redesigning or designing a website, a web platform or a mobile application. Its objective is to guarantee user satisfaction by allowing them to easily find what they are looking for and to perform their tasks efficiently and fluidly. Thus, it makes it possible to ensure that your product meets the expectations of your users.

Feedback from a specific UX audit can also help improve a website's conversion rate by identifying obstacles that prevent action.

Our experts, UX/UI designers are used to evaluating a digital product according to 4 axes: ergonomics, navigation, functionalities and graphics (UI)

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Why conduct a UX audit?

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There are a lot of reasons to want to evaluate your interface, but here are the main ways:

Improve the user experience: a UX audit makes it possible to identify the points that hinder the good circulation of your product and proposes solutions to remedy them. Thus, it is an effective way to optimize the experience of your users and improve the quality of your product.

By improving the interface, you can increase user satisfaction value, build customer service loyalty, and improve your business reputation.

Increase the conversion rate: by identifying the obstacles that prevent users from taking further action, you can increase the conversion rate of each page of your website or application. This can have a positive impact on your turnover and profitability.

Stand out from the rest of the competition: by offering a user experience and user interface (UI) that is superior to those of your competitors, you can stand out and attract new customers.

Save money in the long run: by identifying irritants early in the development of the design process, you can save money in the long run by avoiding costly changes.

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Here are the steps to follow to perform a UX audit:

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To carry out an ergonomic and heuristic audit, an essential phase during the strategy to improve the performance of your interface, it is necessary to go through the following steps:

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Define your target, your customers.

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The first step of the method: clearly define your target and customers. This step is essential to develop true empathy with your customers, and to understand their current needs and frustrations in a more thorough way. Without this in-depth understanding of the target and the customer, it is impossible to offer solutions that are truly adapted to their requests.

Based on design thinking, this tool makes it possible to create a fictional profile of the target user of a digital solution by collecting data on their behavior, needs and expectations. This representation guides designers in designing a solution tailored to the specific needs of the target user.

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Define the goals of the UX audit

What is the purpose of the audit? You can ask yourself the following questions:

- What are the problems you want to solve?

- What are the goals of your website, Saas platform, or app?

- What are the evaluation criteria you want to use?

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Define user journeys

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First of all, it is necessary to identify the user's goals, break down the tasks into specific actions, organize these actions into a coherent journey plan, define the decision points and test the journey with real user cases.

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Test your user interface

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There is nothing like user tests to challenge the uses of your software: you can recruit users representative of your target audience to test your website or application and give you their feedback. Thus, conduct an audit of the quality of the courses through the prism of your customers.

User tests can be carried out in person or via a videoconference interface.

User surveys: other tests, you can send a study to your users to gather information about their user experience, needs and expectations.

Data analysis: you can use data analysis tools such as Google Analytics to collect quantitative data on the ergonomic use of your websites or your application, such as the bounce rate report, the time spent on the site, the most visited pages, etc.

• Competitive analytics: You can also conduct competitive analytics to understand how your competitors are offering their user experiences and what works well for them.

Perform the audit!

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That is the main step. It is necessary to understand the principles of coherence and clarity, to know how to challenge structure, architecture and readability, all while taking a maximum of perspective.

You can use tools such as the “experience map” and “heatmaps.” But for the maximum results of this review, it requires real expertise. You can make mistakes by overlooking details, or by jumping to conclusions.

When conducting the audit, it is essential to take into account the context in which the tool is used and to carefully examine each interface screen, if necessary, on mobile and desktop formats. It is important to consider the different situations of users, as everyone has their own needs and habits. However, for example, as far as a business Saas platform is concerned, auditing its adaptation to mobile formats is not very relevant because users do not tend to perform their tasks on their phones.

You can use various analysis techniques such as:

- User experience mapping: you can use tools such as user experience maps to visualize your user experience and identify problem areas.

- Task analysis: you can analyze the tasks that users need to perform on your website or interactive product and identify the obstacles that prevent them from completing them easily and effectively.

- Conversion funnel analysis: you can analyze the conversion funnels on your website or product to identify the friction points that prevent users from taking action.

- Quantitative data analysis: you can use the quantitative data collected in the previous step to identify trends and user behaviors that may indicate user experience frustrations.

All these approaches and analyses must be carried out through your evaluation grid and criteria, as a reminder: Ergonomics, navigation, characteristics and graphics (UI).

Do not hesitate to take inspiration from the example of a UX audit carried out by the designers of 40/60 available here: “form links”.

Indeed, you can also rely on good UX practices.

Some best practices and UX laws

Fitt's law

This law states that the time it takes to hit a target with the mouse line depends on its distance and size. Thus, important and frequently used items should be placed at an optimal distance and size to allow for more rapid and efficient use. This law can help prioritize important components on a page and avoid unwanted actions.

Hick's law

This law states that the more possibilities there are, the more time it takes to make a decision. This is due to the increased complexity of decisions, which can lead to some confusion for the user. Designers must therefore limit the number of choices offered to help users make decisions more quickly and effectively.

The law of the common regions

This law indicates that elements that share the same common area are perceived as part of a group. So designers can use this law to group related elements together and make the user interface clearer and more intuitive.

The law of proximity

This law states that items that are close to each other tend to be perceived as part of the same group. So designers can use this law to group related elements together and make the user interface clearer and more intuitive.

The law of similarity

This law states that elements that are similar tend to be perceived as part of the same group, even if they are separate from each other. Designers can use this law to create groups of similar elements and thus make the user interface clearer and easier to use.

The law of conciseness

This law states that human beings tend to prefer simple and orderly things over complex ones. Designers should therefore strive to create simple, clean, and easily understandable interfaces in order to improve the customer user experience.

The law of past experience

This law indicates that our past experiences influence our interpretation of present experiences. Designers must therefore take into account existing norms and standards (for example, the logo at the top left, the presence of a footer...) to create interfaces that are familiar and comfortable for users. However, designers must also be creative and innovative to provide an original and enjoyable user experience.

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Give recommendations

Finally, the final step is to propose solutions to address the weaknesses identified in the previous step. The solutions proposed must be adapted to the objectives of your website or mobile application and to the needs of your target audience. You can offer solutions such as:

- The redesign of your digital product to improve usability and navigation.

- Writing clearer and more concise content to make it easier to understand and use.

- The improvement of its services and functionalities to meet the needs of your target.

- Simplifying the conversion steps to facilitate the achievement of the goals of your digital product, whether it is a website or a mobile application.

Implement recommendations

The final step is to implement the proposed solutions to give your desired product a good direction. You must ensure that the proposed solutions are feasible and adapted to the resources available. To implement these recommendations, an expert interface designer will be able to give clear guidance. He will be able to define UX standards, make the right zoning and positioning choices in each screen, pay attention to details, the hierarchy of titles, words, and menu placement.

All these recommendations aim to meet the criteria of the evaluation worksheet defined prior to the ergonomic audit.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, UX auditing is a crucial step in improving the user experience of a digital product, whether it is a website or a mobile application. The analysis of ergonomics, navigation, functionalities and graphics makes it possible to identify obstacles and irritants that hinder user satisfaction.

By offering solutions to solve them, it is possible to increase user satisfaction, build customer loyalty, increase the conversion rate and improve the company's reputation. By using tools such as the persona, it is possible to define the target and objectives of the UX audit.

Taking into account the laws of UX is also essential to offer a clear and intuitive interface. Finally, it is important to carry out an audit as regularly as possible to ensure that navigation remains optimal. For example, we recommend implementing them for each major structural change in your business or product strategy.

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