EDISONDA - user experience studio
Usability audit
We'll answer your questions
-
Hubert
Turaj Interaction design
e-mail us
+48 728 350 897
Detailed analysis conducted step by step enables us to check whether basic usability rules are not broken. The heuristics, on the basis of which the audit is conducted, were created as a result of long experience of the biggest Internet companies.
How do we carry out usability audit?
The designer inspects the website on the basis of usability heuristics
In its basic version the designer inspects the website on the basis of usability heuristics as well as users’ paths that result from website’s goals. The main elements that are taken into consideration are as follows:
- Construction and message of the homepage
- Consistency of navigation
- Information structure
- Relevance
- Product’s description and presentation
- Interaction with the user (links, messages’ language)
- Search engine
- Construction of forms
- Availability of contact information
- Purchase path
Branch assessment is one of the variants of the audit. In that case various services from the same line of business are compared in terms of adhering to the usability rules in different categories. This assessment is a kind of benchmark that helps to specify the website’s position in comparison with competition.
Why conduct an audit?
As in the case of usability tests, an audit allows for checking whether or not the service causes difficulties for the users. Whether they are able to do the tasks that this service provides: to buy a chosen product, find information about a train’s departure, open a deposit account. In the case of encountering serious difficulties, the designer suggests a solution which will facilitate operation within the service and increase its intuitive character.
Audits versus usability testing
Both methods help to find weak points of the website. When it comes to tests, we get the first-hand information, that is from people who use the website. On the other hand, audit involves an expert’s assessment - more methodological but also a little bit subjective. Tests are a more objective method but at the same time they require more time and money (participants’ recruitment, research observation, recordings’ analysis), while audit is faster and cheaper to conduct.
What is the result of an audit?
After the assessment, the observations are analysed and classified. Then we prepare a report describing audit’s results and suggesting solutions that will improve the website usability.
