Some of these criteria are called heuristics. A heuristic is a rule that has become widespread empirically. That means it is based on field trials and that it has been used as a good practice which produces positive results. It is therefore more a good practice validated by practice than a universal law.

UX audit

Q: What does an ergonomic audit contain?

The audit is a flexible approach that can be applied throughout the life cycle of a digital service. The advantage of the audit is that it can be applied to all or part of a website, focus on one particular topic (e.g. accessibility), or target a specific experience (e.g. mobile navigation).

Q: What should you do after a UX audit?

The recommendations in an audit report are prioritised and illustrated with good practices. Ideally, our specialists then facilitate one or several co-design workshops to improve the journey and the ergonomics on the back of those findings. The expert audit is often paired with user testing, to weigh the impact of the various findings on the actual experience. A working document, in the form of a filterable table, is also shared with the client. This backlog is used to track the implementation of the UX improvements after the audit.

UX method

Assessing the usability of an interface (UX audit)

The UX audit (or ergonomics audit) is a method for expert-led assessment of an interface. It applies to any kind of interface: a website audit, a mobile app audit, a business tool audit and so on.

Using ergonomic criteria, the interface audit consists in systematically analysing the existing platform to identify both strengths and areas for improvement.

The UX audit complements user feedback, it doesn't replace it. Running a UX audit provides an exhaustive, systematic view of usability issues.

The audit results in a report of prioritised recommendations. This audit report lets the client make the corrections needed to optimise the browsing experience on the site, the app or the business tool. It often comes with a working document for the teams, such as a summary table used to track the implementation of the audit's recommendations.

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What is a UX audit for?

surfacing interface ergonomics and usability issues (and also strengths)
ranking the severity of the problems
checking that HMI design good practices are respected
raising the quality of the interface by confronting it with the field's quality frameworks
illustrating the recommendations by drawing on the field's frameworks

Why run a UX audit?

to improve an existing interface with quick recommendations
to make sure no category of users will struggle with the audited interface
to find ways to lift conversion and bring down bounce rates
ahead of user testing, which will help weigh how critical the findings really are
before mockups are integrated, to reduce the cost of changes made in production

Nielsen's heuristics

Bastien and Scapin's criteria

Opquast web quality rules and good practices

The criteria from digital accessibility frameworks (RGAA, WCAG)

The eco-design framework (RGESN)

Other criteria drawn from practice and from studies with your users!

After the audit debrief, a summary document is shared with the project teams. The findings are prioritised and illustrated with good practices. Ideally, our specialists then facilitate one or several co-design workshops to improve the journey and the ergonomics on the back of those findings. The expert audit is often paired with user testing, to weigh the impact of the various findings on the actual experience.

Selection of the criteria best suited to the type of digital service (for each page, to adapt the audit to the expected level of granularity (exhaustive or, on the contrary, express));
Evaluation of each page, identifying the severity of the problems encountered using the criteria grid. Each finding is linked to the corresponding rule;
Writing recommendations to go with each identified problem and help resolve it;
Creation of a summary document with prioritisation, presented to the teams.

What is a heuristic?

What does an ergonomic audit contain?

What should you do after a UX audit?

Related methods

User testing

User testing has target users assess the usability of your product or service. Depending on the goals, several approaches exist.

Co-design

Drawing on collective intelligence, these workshops align stakeholders and surface solutions with the team and/or the end users.

UX benchmark

A benchmark explores current trends in usage, features and design: the good ideas, and the ones to avoid.

Usability

Usability measures whether a product lets its users reach their goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction, as defined by the ISO 9241-11 standard. An essential component of UX.

Research protocol

The research protocol describes the conditions, the resources and how an experiment or test runs, along with the questions it sets out to answer.

Nielsen's heuristics

Nielsen's 10 heuristics let an expert evaluate an interface without users. The most widespread method for diagnosing usability.

Bastien and Scapin's criteria

Bastien and Scapin propose 8 ergonomic criteria and 18 sub-criteria. This French academic framework is more rigorous than Nielsen's heuristics.

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