UX Audit
A structured review of an existing product against usability, accessibility and business criteria, producing a prioritised list of problems and fixes.
Process & MethodsAn audit combines a heuristic evaluation with analytics review, accessibility checks and — where budget allows — a few user sessions, then rates each finding by severity and effort. The deliverable that matters is the prioritisation, not the issue count: a hundred-item list with no ranking is a document nobody acts on.
It is the right first engagement when a product exists and the team disagrees about what to fix. It is the wrong one when the problem is already known, since paying for a report that confirms it delays the work. A good audit ends with three things to do this month, not a taxonomy of everything imperfect.
In practice
A SaaS product commissioned an audit expecting a visual refresh. The findings were unglamorous: no visible focus states, a mobile pricing table that overflowed, and a signup form that lost input on validation error. Before: 1.8% conversion. After the three fixes, 3.1%. The catch — the redesign the team wanted was postponed for two quarters.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a UX audit take?
One to three weeks for most products. A heuristic and analytics pass can be done in days; adding accessibility testing and user sessions extends it, and anything longer usually means the scope should have been split.
What should a UX audit deliver?
A prioritised list where each finding has evidence, a severity rating and an estimated effort — plus a shortlist of what to fix first. Screenshots of problems without a ranking is a critique, not an audit.
Related terms
All terms- Heuristic EvaluationAn expert review of an interface against established usability principles, done without users, to find likely problems quickly and cheaply.
- Usability TestingWatching real users attempt real tasks in a product or prototype to find where they struggle, without steering them.
- Design DebtThe accumulated cost of inconsistent, undocumented or expedient design decisions that make every future change slower than it should be.
- Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)The practice of systematically increasing the share of visitors who complete a desired action, using research and experiments rather than opinion.
Defined by Mara Last reviewed .
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