What a UX audit is (and isn't)
A UX audit looks at the product as it is today and checks it against established usability guidelines and research. It doesn't replace talking to users. It's the step before: it clears out the problems you can find without them, so your research time goes to the questions only real people can answer.
A good audit ends with a list someone can act on: each problem, where it is, why it matters, what to change and how serious it is. A report that ends with a single number doesn't tell anyone what to do on Monday.
When to do one
- Before a redesign, so you know what to keep and what to fix
- Before you spend on ads or a launch, so the traffic doesn't land on a broken page
- When a page converts worse than it should, and analytics shows where but not why
- After a big change, to check nothing important broke
How to do a UX audit, step by step
- Pick the pages that matter. Start with the pages that carry the business: the home page, a key landing page, product or pricing, sign-up or checkout. Five to seven pages tell you more than a shallow pass over fifty.
- Write down what each page is for. One line per page: who arrives here, and what should they be able to do next? You judge every problem against this.
- Go through each page like a first-time visitor. Desktop and phone. Read the page, try the main action, fill in the form, look for the price. Note every moment you hesitate.
- Check the page against known guidelines. Navigation, forms, content, trust, accessibility, checkout. A checklist keeps you from only noticing what you personally care about.
- Write each problem up the same way. What's wrong, why it matters, what to change, and the evidence or research behind it. The template below has the columns.
- Rank by severity, not by count. One problem that stops checkout matters more than ten small spacing issues. Use four levels: critical, high, medium, low.
- Hand it over with the fix first. Put the critical items at the top and make sure each one says exactly what to change.
Free UX audit template
Copy these columns into a sheet or doc. One row per problem.
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Page | The URL or the screen name |
| Where | The part of the page: header, form, cart summary |
| What's wrong | One sentence a developer can act on |
| Why it matters | What it costs the visitor, and the business |
| What to change | The fix, specific enough to build |
| Evidence | A guideline, research source, or what you saw |
| Severity | Critical, high, medium or low |
Severity, in one line each:
- Critical: stops people from finishing the main task, or carries legal risk.
- High: many people will struggle or give up.
- Medium: slows people down or costs some trust.
- Low: polish; fix it when you're in the area.
An example finding
This example comes from one of our published guides. It's not from a real client site.
| Page | Cart |
|---|---|
| What's wrong | The cart shows no delivery charge. One is added later in checkout, so people commit to a total that isn't the total. |
| Why it matters | People decide to buy on the total they see. When it changes at the last step, they stop trusting the price, and some leave. |
| What to change | Show the delivery charge, or how it's worked out, in the cart, before the checkout starts. "Calculated at checkout" is not a price. |
| Severity | Critical |
Doing it by hand vs. with a tool
A careful manual audit takes time, and it's only as complete as the reviewer's checklist. A tool does the repetitive part for you: it goes through every page, checks hundreds of guidelines and writes each finding up the same way. Then you spend your time on the decisions.
Rubric does the first part for you. Give it a URL. It goes through the site like a first-time visitor, checks each page against hundreds of UX guidelines and gives you every problem it finds with the fix, ranked by severity, from critical to low. You can download the report as HTML or PDF and share it.
Good to know
How long does a UX audit take?
By hand, it depends on the pages and the reviewer; a careful review of five to seven pages often takes a day or more. With Rubric, you watch the audit work through your pages on screen and get the report when it finishes.
What's the difference between a UX audit and usability testing?
An audit checks the product against what's known to work. Usability testing watches real people use it. An audit is faster and cheaper; testing finds things no guideline predicts. Most teams need both, in that order.
Is there a UX audit score?
Rubric doesn't give one. A score hides the one problem that breaks checkout behind ten small ones. Severity tells you what to fix first.
Can I audit pages behind a login?
With Rubric, yes. You sign in yourself in the audit's browser, and nothing you type is stored.
What should a UX audit report include?
For each problem: where it is, what's wrong, why it matters, what to change, the evidence, and its severity. The template above has all six.
