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Identifying and Solving Common Problems, Enhancing Performance and Stability by Rob Trahan
Rob Trahan
Partner, Mass Productive
Imagine approaching a door with a handle, intuitively grasping it to pull—but it doesn’t budge. You then notice a small sign that reads, “Push.” This isn’t a user error; it’s a design flaw. Rather than fixing the core issue—replacing the handle with a push plate that intuitively guides users—the workaround was simply to add a sign. But what if the next person doesn’t see the sign? Or doesn’t read the language? The real problem persists, and people are left confused and frustrated.
This same issue happens with websites and digital products. Rather than addressing core design and technical issues, companies often patch things up with tutorials or help guides. But when users struggle to navigate your site or complete tasks without guidance, it’s a sign that your design or functionality may need a deeper fix. Instead of trying to train users to adapt to suboptimal design, a UX and technical audit helps you get to the heart of usability and performance issues, ensuring a seamless experience that doesn’t need extra instruction.
Too often, companies rely on support content and customer service to manage user frustration. Help articles, FAQ pages, and video tutorials might ease the confusion in the short term, but they’re really just bandages over underlying problems. These temporary fixes create a costly, ongoing dependency on support resources, especially as users continue to encounter the same issues. Relying on product support is expensive and only masks the root causes of user frustration, resulting in added costs and potential loss of users over time.
Instead, investing in UX and technical audits targets the root issues, enhancing the product itself to eliminate confusion. A UX audit examines user flows and interface design to see where people are getting lost or experiencing friction. Meanwhile, a technical audit dives into backend performance, like load times and errors, which directly impact user satisfaction. By refining the product rather than compensating for its weaknesses, you set up your site for long-term efficiency and customer satisfaction. The result? You’ll reduce support costs and foster a more intuitive, enjoyable user experience.
If you're aiming to conduct your own UX and technical audits, here’s a straightforward guide to get you started:
Look for Patterns: Use tools like Google Analytics to identify problem areas. Where are users dropping off? Which pages have high bounce rates? Low engagement and high exit rates are key indicators that something isn’t working well.
Behavior Flow: Examine how users are navigating through your site. Do they follow the expected paths? Are they getting stuck or repeatedly returning to the same page? Behavior flow charts will help you see where the journey breaks down.
Heatmaps: Tools like Hotjar or Crazy Egg provide heatmaps showing where users are clicking (or not clicking). This visual insight can highlight areas of your UI that need redesigning.
Navigation: Test how intuitive your site’s navigation is. Can users find what they’re looking for without having to think too much? If not, simplify it.
Call-to-Actions (CTAs): Are your CTAs clear and obvious? Ensure buttons are visible, compelling, and lead users toward your desired outcomes.
Responsiveness: Test your website on mobile devices. Is it easy to use? A huge percentage of users browse via mobile, so your design needs to be mobile-friendly.
Page Speed Insights: Use Google’s PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to evaluate load times. Slow pages frustrate users and hurt SEO. If your pages take more than 3 seconds to load, you need to optimize.
Check for Errors: Run an audit using tools like Screaming Frog to identify broken links, redirects, and server errors (404s, 500s). These issues not only degrade the user experience but also harm your search engine ranking.
SEO Audit: Examine your website’s metadata—are your titles, descriptions, and headers optimized for search engines? A good SEO audit tool can help you identify missed opportunities for better rankings.
Small Changes, Big Impact: After identifying the key issues, don’t try to overhaul everything at once. Start by fixing the biggest pain points—like simplifying your navigation or optimizing page speed—and monitor the impact.
Test and Measure: Make use of A/B testing tools to try out new designs or technical fixes and compare the results. This ensures you’re continuously improving and making data-backed decisions.
A UX or technical audit isn’t a one-and-done process. It’s the foundation for ongoing improvements. Once the major problems have been addressed, continuously monitor user behavior, performance metrics, and search engine rankings. Your website should evolve with user expectations and industry trends.
As you implement changes, gather new data, assess how those changes are working, and adjust accordingly. Each iteration should improve the overall experience, driving better engagement, more conversions, and higher search visibility.
Conducting your own UX and technical audits can seem daunting, but it’s worth the effort. By following the steps outlined here, you can begin to identify and fix the most common user frustrations and performance issues, leading to a more streamlined and effective website.
If you ever feel stuck or need a more in-depth analysis, we’re here to help. At Mass Productive, we specialize in UX and technical audits designed to uncover problems and provide actionable insights without disrupting your ongoing operations. Whether you want us to show you how to perform your own audits or need us to handle it all for you, we’re committed to helping you achieve a faster, better, and more intuitive website.