When is the best time for a professional UX/UI audit of your product?

You’ve probably heard of Frankenstein — the scientist who created a monster by stitching together various body parts. Now, imagine your digital product as that monster. Each time you add a new feature without considering the overall design and experience, you’re stitching on another mismatched part. Before you know it, you’ve got a clunky, slow, and downright unwieldy app!

This is where a UX/UI design audit can help you. It’s a powerful tool to ensure your product not only meets but exceeds user expectations, helping you retain customers and stay competitive in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

What is a UX/UI Audit?

A UX/UI audit is a thorough evaluation of a website, application, or digital product aimed at assessing and enhancing its overall user experience. Think of it like a health check-up for your digital product, ensuring all systems are healthy and ready to go.

The primary goal of a UX/UI audit is to understand how users are interacting with your product and identify areas of improvement. Regular UX/UI audits also allow designers to catch consistency and usability issues early, preventing them from escalating into problems that may become too difficult to handle. Ultimately, this process is designed to ensure your product’s success.

What is included in a UX/UI audit?

A comprehensive UX/UI audit typically includes several key components:

• Usability assessment to evaluate the ease with which users can complete tasks, navigate, learn and remember the product’s functions. This also includes checking for clear information presentation and error prevention.
  
  

• User journey analysis to identify bottlenecks and pain points in the user journey.
  
  

• Design system consistency checks to ensure that design elements are uniform across the product and adhere to the brand identity.
  
  

• Content evaluation and update to remove outdated content and improve existing content for better SEO performance.
  
  

• Traffic and engagement analysis to get insights on traffic, engagement, conversion rates and retention.
  
  

• Legal compliance to ensure the product meets legal requirements, such as PDPA and accessibility standards.

The chart above shows the common steps in UX/UI audits

Why does your product need UX/UI audits?

UX/UI audits help identify usability issues in your product that, if left unaddressed, could lead to user frustration, abandonment and a high drop-off rate. If users take too long to find information or complete tasks, they are more likely to drop the product. A UX/UI audit identifies these issues early, allowing for timely improvements.

Moreover, for websites, UX/UI audits can also improve SEO. Search engines consider factors like page loading speed and usability when ranking websites. Identifying and fixing issues like broken links, duplicate content, or inaccessible pages can significantly boost your site’s ranking and discoverability.

When should you engage a professional to conduct a UX/UI audit?

While internal teams can conduct UX/UI audits, there are certain situations where engaging an outside professional is particularly beneficial:

You’re receiving negative feedback

If you’re receiving complaints about the usability of your product or users are unable to achieve their intended outcomes, a UX/UI audit can provide analysis and solutions.

• You’re rolling out new features or scaling your product
  When introducing new features or scaling your product, a UX/UI audit ensures a smooth integration into the existing user journey to accommodate more users and functionalities.

  
  

• You’re rebranding
  If you’re rebranding or changing your product’s visual identity, a professional audit can make sure the new design is consistent and aligns with the brand’s identity.

  
  

• Your user acquisition stagnates or customers are dropping off
  When user acquisition stops or slows, or users stop engaging with your product, a UX/UI audit can uncover underlying issues and recommend improvements.

  
  

• You’re integrating products due to a merger
  When two companies merge, combining digital products is a challenge. A UX/UI audit can streamline the user experience across the combined product suite

  
  

When two of our clients, HeyHi and SmartJen, merged, they faced the challenge of uniting their two distinct educational offerings: interactive live classes and self-paced AI-powered learning resources. Our UX/UI team conducted a comprehensive audit to reimagine their user journey.

The objective was to create a seamless experience that allowed users to transition effortlessly between HeyHi’s live classes and SmartJen’s on-demand lessons. Through this redesign, users now enjoy a more intuitive platform where they can easily switch between interactive sessions and independent study, enhancing both the student’s and educator’s teaching and learning experience. This successful integration not only enhanced user satisfaction but also established HeyHi and SmartJen as the go-to providers of cutting-edge educational technology.

We did a content mapping audit for HeyHi, which helped us explore their existing content and the relationships between different pieces, allowing us to visualise it as an information architecture in the form of a structured tree.

While it might be tempting to conduct a UX/UI audit internally, engaging an external professional UX design agency has the advantage of an unbiased perspective that can spot issues and opportunities that internal teams familiar with the product may overlook. External agencies also have experience across various industries and can provide both a diagnosis of issues and actionable strategies and recommendations for improvement.

Regular UX/UI design audits are essential for maintaining a high-quality user experience.

By proactively identifying and addressing usability issues, updating content and adapting to new industry standards, companies can stay competitive and meet user expectations, leading to higher satisfaction and success. So, don’t wait until your app turns into a digital Frankenstein — schedule that UX/UI audit and keep your product in top shape!

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Adeline is the UX and Design Lead at 55 Minutes, where she oversees the design and user experience aspects of the company’s projects. In her role, Adeline is responsible for guiding her team through the design process, from initial concept development to final implementation, ensuring that the end product aligns with client expectations and user needs. Adeline is committed to creating impact through design, whether it’s driving business success, enhancing social outcomes, or improving the overall user experience.