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Improve The User Experience With Our E-commerce UX Audit Checklist

Peter Markovich

Peter Markovich

Senior Front-End Developer, Magento 2 and UX/UI expertise

Improve The User Experience With Our E-commerce UX Audit Checklist

Sorry to break it to you, but your tastes come second when it goes to the design and functionality of your website. You may love the purple color on the home screen or the eight-line contact form but if it’s uncomfortable for your user, well, you’ll have to redesign it.

This is where UX audit comes into play. Use the UX audit checklist from Alva to evaluate your website. You will find the most common mistakes and understand whether your site needs a more detailed check and improvements.

What is an e-commerce UX audit?

The goal of UX audit is to identify problems and inconveniences that users face on a website or application. For example, difficult access to the cart or the inability to easily customize product filters. The final goal of a UX audit is to increase business profits.

Yes, user experience and revenue are related: 89% of users will buy a product from a competitor if they feel uncomfortable on your website. Almost 9 out of 10 online consumers are not likely to return to you if they have a bad customer experience.

Usability audit is like playing good cop and bad cop. First, the auditor checks the key pages of the site and their functionality, picking up on every little problem. There is no mercy at this stage. But then the auditor says, “Everything will be fine,” and offers one-thousand-and-one ways to solve these problems.

According to Amazon, bad UX may cut up to 35% of your revenue

We will find the holes through which your money is leaking

How can your business benefit from an e-commerce website audit

Once, UX specialist Jared Spool worked with the website of a large American retailer. Jared noticed one thing. When a user had already filled their cart and was about to pay, a login/registration form would pop up. The user couldn’t pay without logging in. Hmm. Jared decided to investigate this.

It turned out that many people were furious about this. Some of them couldn’t remember their password or email, and some simply didn’t want to register on the site. Irritated people abandoned the cart, even though they were half a step away from buying.

When the developers removed that button, the company earned $300 million more in a year.

This is what the usability audit is about finding bottlenecks that a) prevent the customer from receiving the service and b) prevent the business from making money.

What factors indicate that something is wrong with UX?

Here are a few more issues: your users aren’t engaging with the content, or they would rather call you than use your website. These indicators are hard to calculate, but keep them in mind as well.

When should you carry out a UX audit of your website?

Each of the problems we described above is a reason to check UX. But not the only one.

You should conduct an e-commerce website audit before launching significant product updates or before redesigning. Jeff Humble, lead UX designer at CareerFoundry, said:

The value of UX is not wasting time and money developing the wrong solution.

And we completely agree with him.

Also, if possible, your company should conduct periodic audits. They will help make sure that the product meets business and user goals. We know that few companies plan their budgets for UX improvements. But we also know that every dollar invested in UX brings up to $100 in revenue. So are these expenses worth it? We think, yes.

Facts and figures: what can a UX audit bring you

In addition to revenue growth, what else does an e-commerce UX audit bring?

what can a UX audit bring

Summing up, as a result of a UX audit, your company can earn more and establish a close relationship with its customers.

Why do you need a usability audit checklist? 

Now that you’ve figured out WHY to perform a UX audit, it’s time to figure out HOW to perform it.

We’ve compiled a customer experience audit checklist based on our UX audit process. It doesn’t include all the parameters we check, otherwise, the list would be almost endless. Use it to do a basic check of your website and decide if you need help from specialists. 

Part 1 of website user experience checklist: website efficiency and functionality

The first step in any audit is to set goals. Do you want to improve the user experience? Or increase conversions? Or reduce bounce rate? Your goal will influence the final recommendations for UX improvement.

The second step is to collect actual data on website performance. Using analytics tools, you should determine the bounce rate, time spent on the site, and conversion rates. This allows you to make suggestions about bottlenecks. After that, you finally start digging into the site according to this UX audit checklist.

Navigation and structure

At this stage, you should determine whether it is convenient and easy for the user to navigate the site.

The logo and header are always displayedThe side menu is stickyThe user can get to any key page from any other page of the site
Each page has a link to at least one other pageBack-and-forth navigation is available on every pageThe user’s location on the site is clear

Accessibility and Compliance

At this stage of usability audit you should find out whether it is easy for the user to access the site and share their information.

Mobile responsiveness

55% of traffic comes from mobile phones. If a website does not display properly on mobile, 93% of people leave it. So it would be best if you made sure that the site works smoothly on smartphones and tablets.

For stores that are used mostly on phones, the mobile-first principle is appliedBanners are adapted to the size of the mobile phone screenThe font size is
at least 16 px
The text on the images is large enough to be easily readButtons and other clickable elements are large enough to be easily pressedThe site is displayed correctly in both horizontal and vertical positions

Content

This part of the e-commerce website audit aims to assess whether the content meets the business goals (to sell your product) and whether it is useful to the client.

Design and typography

When assessing the reliability of a website, users rely on its aesthetics by 75%. This part of UX audit checklist will help you make sure that the visual component is clear and user-friendly.

Fonts

Visuals

The main challenge with a self-audit is to be impartial and fair. It may be difficult because you’re all in the development of the site and know it inside and out. But you should try. After all, 50% of consumers say that website design is crucial to a company’s brand.

Don’t want to spend hours randomly searching for site bottlenecks?

Entrust your UX audit to Alva and get a clear report on the improvements needed

Pages and elements

After a general overview of the site, you need to focus on every key page.

Home page

Main menu

Forms

Search bar

Search results page

Catalog

Shopping cart

Product card

Checkout

In addition, your UX audit checklist should include the About Us, Payment and Delivery, Account, and other pages. After the audit, make a list of the problems found and create a plan for fixing them. Or outsource this work to Alva experts.

To sum up

E-commerce UX audit is a service at the intersection of design and marketing. The auditor should not just understand how to make things beautiful. They need to understand the user’s behavior and intentions. And most importantly, they have to know what changes will lead to better financial results for the business.

These are the results you get from UX TotalCheck by Alva. Every nook and cranny of your website will be checked for compliance with your business goals. The audit includes:

As a result, you will receive a detailed report with a description of the errors and a list of suggestions for improving the site. Implement the proposed changes and you’ll get a website that looks great and benefits your business.

If you have any doubts or want to make sure you need a check, order a free e-commerce website audit from Alva. It does not oblige you to anything. Let’s make your website more efficient together.

Your conversions can increase by 400% as a result of UX design

Let’s work together for this outcome.
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