A product's UX audit involves a range of activities related to user experience that are both systematic and non-linear. These activities provide a strong foundation for designing and developing your product. By incorporating this exploratory process, the design company you have hired aims to mitigate the risks of developing an unsuitable product.This preliminary step allows our product designers to minimize uncertainty before proceeding to subsequent stages, and ensures that all future decisions are based on well-researched information. In essence, a UX audit is a specific phase at the beginning of your project's development where we concentrate on research to create and transform concepts into optimal solutions for you.
Irrespective of whether our goal is to enhance an existing product or develop a completely new solution, the benefits of the process are clear and undeniable. The main advantages of this approach include:
• Bridging the gap between a vague concept and its practical value to users, which helps to avoid potential design flaws.
• Encouraging a shared understanding among all team members about the project's objectives, which ensures that everyone is on the same page.
• Avoiding budget overruns by meticulously planning the project budget and validating concepts before committing to them.
• Enhancing risk management by identifying and addressing potential problems and risks before initiating the design phase.
• Setting more realistic project timelines and boundaries due to the team having a better grasp of the project's scope of work.
Initially, we arrange a second meeting with stakeholders after the introductory call to present our UX audit presentation. Once the meeting is concluded, our team proceeds with the follow-up process, which entails sending a customized questionnaire to align with their specific project requirements and needs.
This questionnaire comprises numerous pertinent inquiries about the project, the client's business, known direct and indirect competitors, and the target audience. The primary aim is to enhance our comprehension of the future product. We provide the questionnaire, presentation, and NDA simultaneously and review the responses during the workshop, which typically lasts at least an hour.
The UX audit is a collaborative effort that involves the participation of almost all team members, as well as product owners and stakeholders from the client's company. There is no strict classification of roles within this process, which implies that UX research is not exclusively carried out by UX designers. We all work together towards a common goal. On our team, there are individuals responsible for:
• Planning and executing user research, interviews, and both qualitative and quantitative studies - such as user researchers, UX designers, and others.
• Engaging in discussions with decision-makers from the client's side and ensuring we comprehend the project requirements - including heads of support, sales representatives, project managers, and marketing managers.
• Managing the team and facilitating workshops - such as product managers, project managers, delivery managers, and service designers.
The ultimate goal of the UX audit is to have a validated set of ideas and a comprehensive comprehension of the challenges that require attention and the duties that need to be fulfilled, all supported by research. This implies that the team must provide and possess:
• Comprehensive user personas that reflect precise data, which will enable them to develop user-centric designs in the future.
• An exhaustive service blueprint (information architecture) and a backlog that includes all of the product's tasks, updates, new features, and bugs.
• Comprehensive user journey and flow charts.• Low-fidelity UX wireframes that serve as a simplified visual representation of the upcoming product.
Our designers generate ideas by continuously researching and brainstorming. We use insights from group meetings, user studies, and contextual inquiries to create user-oriented concepts. We prioritize information over inspiration and actively seek new ideas through research and innovation to produce a well-thought-out product.
