UX audit checklist: step-by-step evaluation

Welcome to your comprehensive UX audit checklist, the essential, step-by-step evaluation template designed to help you systematically improve user experience and drive better business outcomes. This guide is crafted for UX designers, product managers, researchers, and anyone responsible for optimizing digital products. By using a UX audit checklist, you ensure that every critical area is covered, usability issues are identified, and your product aligns with both user needs and business goals. Whether you’re planning a redesign, troubleshooting declining metrics, or striving for continuous improvement, this checklist will help you deliver measurable results.

What is a UX audit?

A UX audit is a systematic evaluation of a website, application, or digital product to assess and improve its overall user experience. The primary goal of a UX audit is to identify usability issues, design flaws, and areas for improvement in order to enhance user satisfaction and the effectiveness of the product. One common method to gather valuable feedback during a UX audit is to  with target users.

A heuristic evaluation is a common method used in UX audits to identify usability problems based on established principles, such as Jakob Nielsen's heuristics.

A comprehensive UX audit checklist covers the following main areas:

• Usability
• Visual design & consistency
• Accessibility
• Performance
• Content quality
• Alignment with business goals

Why use a UX audit checklist?

Using a UX audit checklist matters because it provides a structured, repeatable process for evaluating your product. It ensures you don’t overlook critical areas, helps you systematically document findings, and ties your recommendations directly to both user and business outcomes. For teams responsible for digital products, a checklist is the foundation for continuous improvement and measurable results.

When to conduct UX audits

UX audits are especially valuable in the following situations:

• Before major redesigns: Document current problems to inform what needs fixing.
• After rapid growth periods: When shipping fast, inconsistencies accumulate. Audits catch them.
• When launching in new markets: Different users might struggle with things your original users accepted.
• When metrics decline: Drop in conversion, engagement, or satisfaction signals potential UX problems.
• Regularly scheduled: Quarterly or bi-annual audits prevent problems from compounding. Reviewing previous UX audits during these sessions helps identify recurring issues and track improvements over time.

Regular audits are also valuable for identifying trends in user behavior and usability issues, allowing teams to recognize patterns and evolving needs.

Notion conducts UX audits before planning each quarter’s roadmap. The audit findings help prioritize which usability improvements to tackle.

Now that you know when to conduct a UX audit, let’s explore the process step by step.

The UX audit process

A UX audit is a structured evaluation that involves several key steps to assess and improve your website’s user experience. The UX audit involves analyzing user behavior, identifying unmet needs, and finding bugs or technical issues that may impact usability. This process is designed to uncover usability issues and generate actionable insights for improvement.

Step 1: define scope and goals

Don’t audit everything at once. Pick specific areas:

• A particular workflow (signup, onboarding, key feature)
• A specific product area (mobile app, dashboard, settings)
• A user journey (from discovery to first value)
• What user personas are you targeting?

Define what you want to learn:

• “Identify onboarding friction points”
• “Document mobile app usability issues”
• “Evaluate checkout flow against best practices”

Set your goals from the user's perspective to ensure your findings and improvements are relevant and actionable.

Example: Figma’s audit scope for their mobile app launch: “Evaluate core design creation workflows on mobile to identify platform-specific usability issues and feature gaps compared to desktop.”

Step 2: gather context

Before evaluating, understand:

• Who are the primary users?
• What are the main use cases?
• What business goals does this serve?
• What are common user complaints?

Review analytics, support tickets, past research, user research findings, and product data. This context helps you evaluate against real needs, not abstract principles.

Step 3: conduct the audit

Work through the checklist systematically, starting with a heuristic usability evaluation as a key part of the audit. Document everything you find with:

• Screenshot showing the issue
• Description of the problem
• Which principle or best practice it violates
• Severity rating (critical, major, minor, cosmetic)
• Recommended fix
• Evaluation of the user interface and design elements for consistency, visual cues, and standard interface components to ensure usability

Be sure to note any design flaws that impact the user experience. A systematic review process is essential to ensure a comprehensive and thorough UX audit.

Step 4: prioritize findings

Not everything needs immediate fixing. Categorize issues:

• Critical: Prevents task completion, must fix
• Major: Causes significant frustration or inefficiency
• Minor: Annoying but users can work around it
• Cosmetic: Polish issues that don’t affect functionality

Prioritization should focus on user pain points and issues that frustrate users, as these are most likely to negatively impact engagement and performance.

Step 5: create action plan

Group related issues and create recommendations:

• Quick wins (low effort, high impact)
• Must-fix items (critical issues)
• Strategic improvements (require more work)

Your action plan should include actionable recommendations based on the audit findings, providing specific and practical suggestions for improvements and fixes.

Step 6: validate with users

UX audits identify potential problems. User testing confirms which ones actually affect real users.

Calendly validates audit findings by testing problem areas with 5-8 users. Sometimes issues that seemed major don’t actually bother users. Other times, minor issues turn out to be critical. User testing should be designed to gather actionable feedback that can inform further improvements.

Now that you understand the process, let’s look at how to get started with your own UX audit.

Getting started with UX audits

If you’ve never conducted a UX audit, follow these steps to get started and build your skills. Conduct a UX audit by following this structured approach to evaluate and improve your product’s user experience:

Week 1: select your audit area - Pick a small, contained area to audit (one workflow or feature).

Week 2: document issues - Work through the checklist, documenting issues with screenshots.

Week 3: prioritize and recommend - Prioritize findings and create recommendations.

Week 4: share and schedule fixes - Share with your team and get 2-3 issues scheduled for fixing.

Week 5: validate fixes - Validate fixes with quick user testing.

Start small and build confidence in the process before attempting comprehensive audits.

Example: Webflow started by auditing just their signup flow. They found 12 issues, fixed the top 5, and saw immediate improvement in conversion rates. This success got buy-in for broader audits.

With these steps in mind, you’re ready to use the comprehensive UX audit checklist.

The comprehensive UX audit checklist

Before you begin, it’s important to understand what a UX audit is, its goals, and what areas a comprehensive checklist should cover:

First impressions and entry points checklist

• Clear value proposition within 5 seconds
• Primary action is obvious
• Appropriate for target audience
• Entry point messaging and design are tailored to relevant user personas
• Loads quickly (under 3 seconds)
• Mobile responsive

Brand consistency checklist

• Visual identity matches other touchpoints
• Tone and messaging consistent
• Logo and branding prominent
• Branding resonates with different user personas as appropriate

Superhuman’s landing page clearly states “The fastest email experience ever made” within the first screen. Users immediately understand what the product does.

Navigation & IA checklist

Primary navigation

• Clear, scannable labels using user language
• Logical grouping of related items
• Visible from all pages
• Current location indicated
• Maximum 7±2 top-level items
• Navigation provides clear user control, allowing users to easily move between sections and recover from navigation errors

Search functionality

• Prominent and accessible
• Shows results as you type
• Handles typos and variations
• Provides filters for refinement
• Clear empty states

Breadcrumbs and wayfinding

• Show current location in hierarchy
• Allow navigation back through levels
• Don’t take up excessive space

Content & messaging checklist

Clarity

• Uses plain language, not jargon
• Explains technical concepts when necessary
• Appropriate reading level for audience
• Scannable (headings, bullets, short paragraphs)

Error messages

• Explain what went wrong in plain language
• Suggest how to fix the problem
• Avoid technical error codes
• Maintain polite, helpful tone

Empty states

• Explain why nothing is showing
• Suggest next actions
• Provide examples or templates when appropriate

Microcopy

• Button labels are action-oriented
• Form labels clearly explain what’s needed
• Help text provides context without clutter
• Success messages confirm actions and are an important part of enhancing customer satisfaction

Microcopy provides actionable insights to guide users through tasks and decisions

Forms & data entry checklist

Form design

• Fields clearly labeled
• Required fields marked consistently
• Appropriate input types (email, phone, date pickers)
• Validation happens inline, not just on submit
• Error messages appear next to problematic fields
• Forms are designed to collect relevant product data efficiently and securely

Input assistance

• Placeholder text shows format examples
• Autocomplete suggestions where appropriate
• Default values for common selections
• Progress indication for multi-step forms

For more on improving your research and design by preventing errors, read about the types of bias in user research and how to overcome them.

Form length

• Only asks for necessary information
• Can save progress and return later for long forms
• Explains why information is needed if not obvious

Stripe’s payment forms show inline validation as you type, immediately catching formatting errors before you submit.

Visual design & layout checklist

Visual hierarchy

• Most important elements are most prominent
• Related items grouped visually
• Sufficient white space for breathing room
• Consistent spacing throughout
• Layout follows principles of aesthetic and minimalist design, reducing clutter and focusing attention on key elements

Typography

• Readable font sizes (minimum 16px for body text on mobile)
• Sufficient contrast (WCAG AA minimum: 4.5:1)
• Line length doesn’t exceed 75 characters
• Line height allows comfortable reading

Color usage

• Consistent color scheme
• Colors convey meaning consistently (red = error, green = success)
• Not relying solely on color to convey information
• Sufficient contrast for accessibility

Imagery

• High quality, not pixelated
• Purposeful, not decorative filler
• Appropriate alt text for accessibility
• Doesn’t slow page load

Figma uses consistent spacing (multiples of 8px) throughout their interface, creating visual rhythm and reducing decision-making for designers. For teams interested in refining their design process, it's helpful to understand the distinction between generative vs evaluative research, which can inform which methods best suit your project's needs.

Interactive elements checklist

Buttons

• Clearly look clickable
• Visually distinct for primary vs. secondary actions
• Appropriate size for touch targets (minimum 44x44px on mobile)
• Show hover and active states
• Disabled state is visually distinct

Links

• Clearly distinguishable from body text
• Descriptive, not “click here”
• Show visited state
• External links indicated

Icons

• Universally understood or accompanied by labels
• Consistent style throughout
• Appropriate size and spacing

Dropdowns and selectors

• Current selection clearly shown
• Options are scannable
• Search available for long lists
• Keyboard navigable

Notion’s buttons clearly distinguish between primary actions (filled, prominent) and secondary actions (outlined, less prominent).

Feedback & system status checklist

Loading states

• Indicate something is happening
• Show progress when possible
• Explain what's loading
• Don't leave users wondering

Success confirmation

• Clear indication when actions complete
• Appropriate to action severity
• Doesn't interrupt flow unnecessarily

Undo capability

• Destructive actions can be undone
• Clear how to undo
• Undo available for reasonable time period

Autosave and draft saving

• Work is saved automatically
• Save status is visible
• Can recover from crashes or accidental exits

Dropbox shows clear sync status icons, so users always know if their files are synced, syncing, or have errors.

Mobile & responsive design checklist

Mobile optimization

• Touch targets are appropriately sized
• Navigation adapted for small screens
• No critical features hidden on mobile
• Text is readable without zooming
• Forms are mobile-friendly

Responsive behavior

• Layouts adapt gracefully to different screen sizes
• Content remains accessible at all breakpoints
• Images scale appropriately
• Navigation collapses sensibly

Platform conventions

• Follows iOS or Android patterns appropriately
• Uses platform-native gestures
• Keyboard behavior matches platform expectations

Linear's mobile app uses platform-standard gestures (swipe to archive, pull to refresh) that feel native to iOS and Android users.

Performance checklist

Load times

• Initial page load under 3 seconds
• Images optimized
• Lazy loading for below-fold content
• Smooth transitions and animations

Perceived performance

• Skeleton screens for loading content
• Optimistic UI updates
• Background loading when possible
• No janky scrolling or interactions

Offline behavior

• Graceful handling of connection loss
• Clear indication when offline
• Cache appropriate data for offline use
• Queue actions when offline, process when back online

For more insight into designing user-friendly features like these, check out How to do user research: techniques, examples, and tips for product teams.

Notion's skeleton screens show loading structure immediately, making the app feel faster even when content takes time to load.

Accessibility checklist

Keyboard navigation

• All functionality accessible via keyboard
• Logical tab order
• Focus indicators visible
• Keyboard shortcuts don’t conflict with browser/OS

Screen reader support

• Semantic HTML structure
• Appropriate ARIA labels
• Images have alt text
• Form fields properly labeled

Visual accessibility

• Sufficient color contrast
• Text resizable without breaking layout
• No information conveyed by color alone
• Focus indicators visible for all interactive elements
• Accessibility is evaluated against Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards

Captions and alternatives

• Video has captions
• Audio content has transcripts
• Complex images have descriptions

Slack’s keyboard shortcuts make the entire app navigable without a mouse, critical for accessibility and power users.

Consistency checklist

UI patterns

• Similar elements look and behave similarly
• Consistent placement of common elements
• Predictable interactions
• Design system followed throughout

Terminology

• Same concepts use same words
• No unnecessary synonyms
• Technical terms used consistently

Interaction patterns

• Modal dialogs behave consistently
• Forms follow same patterns
• Navigation works the same way everywhere

Stripe maintains remarkable consistency across their dashboard. Once you learn how one feature works, others follow the same patterns.

Now that you have the checklist, let’s look at the tools and resources that can help you conduct a thorough UX audit.

Audit tools and resources

A thorough UX audit relies on the right mix of tools and resources to uncover how real users interact with your digital product. Start with analytics tools like Google Analytics to track user behavior, identify drop-off points, and spot trends in user flows. Session recording tools let you observe users as they navigate your site or app, revealing where they hesitate or get stuck. To gather qualitative data, use survey tools and user interviews to hear directly from your audience about their pain points and needs.

Heuristic evaluation checklists, such as those based on Nielsen’s usability heuristics, are essential for systematically identifying usability issues from an expert’s perspective. For deeper insights, usability testing platforms allow you to watch real users complete tasks, helping you spot issues that might not be obvious from analytics alone. The combination of these resources enables you to conduct a comprehensive UX audit, identifying both glaring and subtle problems that affect the overall user experience.

With the right tools in hand, you’ll want to measure the impact of your UX improvements.

Measuring user experience: key metrics

To measure the impact of your UX improvements, track key metrics from analytics tools like bounce rates, session duration, and conversion rates to see how users behave and where they drop off. Complement this with qualitative data from user surveys, interviews, and usability testing to gauge satisfaction and usability. Standardized scores such as NPS, CSAT, and SUS provide benchmarks to monitor progress. Combining these insights helps ensure your UX changes meet user needs and drive better business results.

Once you’ve gathered your findings, it’s crucial to document them effectively.

Documenting audit findings

How you document matters as much as what you find.

A comprehensive UX audit report should not only present key findings and issues, but also include actionable recommendations for each problem identified. This ensures stakeholders have clear, practical steps to address usability concerns and improve the user experience.

For example, you might use a simple table or spreadsheet to log each issue, its severity, supporting evidence (screenshots, user quotes), and your actionable recommendations. The documentation template below is designed to make it easy to compile a thorough UX audit report:

• Issue: Button label unclear
• Severity: High
• Evidence: Screenshot, user feedback
• Recommendation: Change label to “Submit Order” for clarity

Finding documentation template

For each issue, document: possible cognitive bias effects, their identification, and mitigation strategies.

• Screenshot: Visual reference showing the problem
• Location: Where in the product this occurs
• Issue description: Clear explanation of the problem
• Why it matters: Impact on users or business
• Category: Navigation, content, visual, interaction, performance, accessibility
• Severity: Critical, major, minor, cosmetic
• Recommendation: Specific suggestion for fixing it

Example:

• Screenshot: [Settings page with 15 different sections]
• Location: Settings page
• Issue: Settings page is overwhelming with too many sections presented at once. Users struggle to find specific settings.
• Why it matters: Leads to support tickets asking how to find settings. Analytics show high bounce rate from settings page.
• Category: Information architecture
• Severity: Major
• Recommendation: Group related settings into categories (Account, Notifications, Privacy, etc.). Show categories first, settings within categories second.

Creating the audit report

Structure your report:

• Executive summary: Key findings and top recommendations
• Methodology: How you conducted the audit, what you evaluated
• Findings by category: Group related issues together
• Prioritized recommendations: What to fix first, second, third. Ensure these are actionable recommendations based on user insights gathered during the audit.
• Appendix: Detailed documentation of all issues

Figma’s audit reports include before/after mockups for major recommendations, making it easy for teams to visualize improvements.

Now that your findings are documented, it’s time to act on them.

Acting on audit findings

An audit report sitting in a document helps nobody. To truly benefit from a UX audit, it's essential to have the right team or experts perform UX audits and conduct a UX audit using a structured approach. This ensures that findings are actionable and integrated into your product development process.

Prioritization framework

Rate issues on two dimensions:

• Impact: How much does this affect users?
  • Critical: Prevents task completion
  • High: Causes significant frustration
  • Medium: Creates minor friction
  • Low: Cosmetic or rarely encountered
• Effort: How hard is it to fix?
  • Low: Hours to a couple days
  • Medium: Days to a week
  • High: Weeks to months

Prioritize high-impact, low-effort issues first (quick wins). Then tackle high-impact, high-effort issues. Low-impact issues go on the backlog.

Integrating into roadmap

Don't treat audit findings as separate from product work. Integrate them into regular planning:

• Immediate fixes: Critical issues go straight into current sprint
• Planned improvements: Major and quick-win issues scheduled in upcoming sprints
• Technical debt backlog: Minor issues tracked for future attention

Linear integrates audit findings directly into their issue tracking system. Each finding becomes an issue with severity tags and assignment.

Measuring improvement

After fixing issues, validate improvements:

• Re-audit: Check that issues are actually fixed
• Analytics: Monitor relevant metrics (completion rates, time on task). Tracking these metrics over time is essential for identifying trends in user behavior and usability improvements.
• User testing: Confirm users no longer struggle with fixed issues
• Support tickets: Track whether related complaints decrease

Calendly tracks completion rates for workflows they audit. After fixing onboarding issues identified in an audit, they saw 15% increase in activation rates.

With a process for acting on findings, you can realize real business outcomes.

Business outcomes and impact

A well-executed UX audit can transform your business by identifying and resolving usability issues that boost user engagement, conversion rates, and customer satisfaction. This reduces user abandonment, lowers support costs, and minimizes costly redesigns.

Ongoing UX improvements enhance brand reputation and customer retention in competitive markets. Tracking metrics like conversion increases and support ticket reductions demonstrates ROI, supporting continued investment in UX research and design as key drivers of business success.

Now that you understand the business impact, let’s review common mistakes to avoid during your UX audit process.

Common audit mistakes

• Auditing too much at once leads to superficial evaluation; focus on specific areas and be thorough.
• Confusing personal preferences with usability problems; focus on issues that affect user success.
• Failing to validate audit findings with real users before major redesigns.
• Auditing without understanding users, use cases, business goals, and user personas results in irrelevant recommendations.
• Letting audit findings gather dust without acting on them is a common mistake.

UX audit checklist worksheet

Use this simplified checklist for quick audits:

Navigation & IA checklist

• Clear, logical navigation structure
• Easy to find key features
• Search works effectively
• Users know where they are

Content & messaging checklist

• Clear, scannable content
• Helpful error messages
• Appropriate empty states
• Action-oriented microcopy

For a deeper understanding of user needs and effective content strategies, see this comprehensive guide to generative research methods.

Forms & input checklist

• Only necessary fields
• Clear labels and help
• Inline validation
• Appropriate input types

Visual design checklist

• Clear visual hierarchy
• Consistent spacing and typography
• Sufficient contrast
• Purposeful imagery

Interactions checklist

• Buttons clearly clickable
• Appropriate touch targets
• Consistent patterns
• Clear feedback
• User interface elements support intuitive user interactions throughout the product

Performance checklist

• Fast load times
• Smooth interactions
• Appropriate loading states
• Works offline when possible

Mobile checklist

• Optimized for touch
• Responsive layouts
• Readable without zoom
• Platform conventions followed

Accessibility checklist

• Keyboard accessible
• Screen reader friendly
• Sufficient contrast
• Focus indicators visible

Rate each section 1-5 and document specific issues.

Continuous improvement and audit frequency

User needs and behaviors are always evolving, so a one-time UX audit isn’t enough. To maintain a high-quality user experience, make UX audits a regular part of your product development cycle. The ideal frequency depends on your product’s complexity and how often you release new features—fast-moving teams may benefit from audits every 3-6 months, while more stable products might only need annual reviews.

Keep an eye on changes in user behavior, shifts in your target audience, or new market trends that could signal the need for another audit. By embedding periodic UX audits into your workflow, you create a culture of continuous improvement, ensuring your product adapts to user needs and remains competitive. Regular audits help you catch issues early, prioritize fixes, and keep your user experience—and your business, moving forward.

The value of regular audits

UX audits catch problems before they compound. Issues that seem small individually become major pain points when they accumulate. Periodic UX audits are essential for maintaining and improving overall user satisfaction, ensuring that user engagement remains high and operational costs are minimized.

Teams that audit regularly ship more usable products because they catch and fix issues continuously rather than letting them pile up until a major redesign becomes necessary.

Think of UX audits like dental checkups. Regular cleaning prevents major problems. Skip them and you’ll eventually need root canals.

Ready to act on your research goals?