How a User Experience Audit Benefits Your Business
October 21st, 2021 by
Key Insights
- Website user experience audits help businesses retain users and increase conversions.
- If you understand the data behind user behavior, you can anticipate a user’s needs when designing and optimizing your website.
- Examine trust factors, content considerations, and device usage when completing an audit.
What Is a User Experience Audit?
A user experience audit, or UX audit, is the process of reviewing a website for areas of usability improvement. There’s no one way to complete an audit because each one depends on the type of products or services offered and data analysis of user types and behaviors. It’s important to keep in mind a few key questions when completing a UX audit:
- How does user experience impact conversions?
- Are there usability issues, design issues, or both?
- Should you consider your business initiatives when performing a UX audit?
In this post, we’ll cover the questions above, along with the impacts of trust factors, content, and device usage in order to retain visitors and improve conversions.
User Experience’s Impact on Conversions
Imagine visiting a website to purchase shoes but find that you can’t add the item to your cart. You could refresh the page or revisit the site at another time, but many people will just visit other websites in search of the same shoe.
If you’re the business of the original website, you’ve just lost out on a conversion—and likely more than one. Ensuring that your site supports users’ interactions without interruption is vital in retaining users and ensuring they convert.
Usability Issues
A site might seem functional, but it could lack the design necessary to increase user interaction and conversions. A ResearchGate study attributes 94% of a user’s first impressions of a site to its design. A poorly designed site could make all the difference in a user staying on the site or leaving with little to no engagement.
Consider Business Initiatives When Performing a UX Audit
Each business will have its own specific business initiatives that they want to achieve, such as raising awareness of their brand, increasing user engagement, or improving their ROI. Those initiatives can drive how to look for improvements to a user’s experience when completing a UX audit.
The Value of Trust
Include trust factors on your site to establish credibility with your users. Trust factors are indicators on your site that can help users feel more assured in using your services or buying your products, such as testimonials, awards, and certifications.
Content accuracy and quality can also impact a user’s trust. Issues such as incorrect grammar or inconsistent contact information help users to decide whether your business has credibility.
Content Considerations
A site with lots of pretty pictures won’t cut it. Written content plays a crucial role in determining user engagement. Site language should compel the user to stay on the site and learn more about the products or services offered.
According to Small Business Trends, 70% of small businesses don’t use calls to action on their site. When a user visits a website, they expect some sort of direction in order to convert. If all they see are images but no clear and obvious path to purchasing a product or service, they likely won’t comb over the site to find out where to complete the purchase. Having clear and specific calls to action is imperative for driving conversions on your site.
Why Device Type Matters
Examining how users engage on your site helps you understand how to design for devices that best work for your users. In recent years, mobile device usage has grown over desktop usage. In the span of a single year, mobile usage went up by 10%, while desktop dropped by 6%.
Several factors impact device usage, so it’s important to understand the data behind user visits and behavior on your site. Do more users visit your site on mobile versus desktop? If so, you should design your site in a way that lends itself to a better user experience on mobile.
As you can see, UX audits are important for ensuring your site is designed in a way that is suitable to a user’s needs. Incorporating trust factors, understanding user behavior, and captivating content are necessary for a business’s success. By executing these concepts, you can increase visitor retention and engagement, thus increasing your conversions.
Ready to grow your business with a UX audit today? If so, contact our team for a free consultation!
