Complex ERP systems
E-commerce projects
Startups in the scaling stage
Marketplaces
SaaS solutions
In recent years, Russia has seen the emergence of numerous digital products — from marketplaces to enterprise services. Companies invest millions in development but often face challenges after launch: low conversion rates, high user churn, and poor engagement metrics.
A UX/UI audit helps identify and resolve these issues before they escalate, ensuring resource savings. As demonstrated by our experience with the American mobile operator Boost Mobile, where an interface audit contributed to an increase of $40 million in monthly revenue. Early detection of interface issues helps avoid costly revisions during later development stages, when changes may require reworking architecture and code. It also accelerates product launch by reducing multiple iteration cycles. Additionally, it lessens the load on the support team — an intuitive interface decreases user inquiries, freeing up human resources to focus on strategic tasks. At Cretos, we conducted UX expert reviews for companies in the S&P 500, enhancing their products through user experience analysis and interface optimization. In this article — a practical guide to conducting a UX audit.
A UX/UI audit is a comprehensive interface analysis aimed at identifying issues and growth opportunities. This design audit includes several key aspects that help improve the user experience:
Usability testing allows you to assess how intuitive the navigation and placement of interface elements are. It helps identify points where users experience difficulties or make errors.
UX research focuses on studying user behavior: which paths they choose, where they linger, and what actions they take. These insights reveal whether the designed user scenario aligns with the actual user experience.
Design audit covers both the visual aspects (colors, fonts, composition) and the functional components (element functionality, loading speed, responsiveness). Special attention is given to conformity with modern standards and trends, which form the foundation of UX/UI optimization.
A crucial component is assessing how well the design aligns with the business goals of the product. The analysis evaluates whether the interface contributes to achieving key metrics such as conversions, average order value, and user retention. As a result, the product becomes not only more user-friendly but also more effective in terms of business performance.
During the prototyping stage, before the product launch, an audit allows for checking the basic logic of the user interface and identifying potential weak spots. This is a critically important moment because making changes at this stage costs significantly less compared to modifications after the final product is developed. Conducting a UX analysis early on helps avoid fundamental errors in interface architecture and user scenarios.
After the product launch, when issues arise with key metrics, a UX/UI audit of the website becomes a diagnostic tool. If low conversion rates are observed, a detailed analysis helps identify bottlenecks in the user journey and suggests targeted optimizations. When complaints about usability difficulties are received, usability testing aids in objectively assessing problem areas and understanding the actual challenges users face.
During the product scaling stage and entry into new markets, a UX/UI audit ensures the preservation of a consistent user experience. Specific recommendations help seamlessly integrate new elements into the existing system without disrupting well-established and familiar user interaction patterns. This approach allows the product to evolve while maintaining a high level of usability and interface predictability.
In the first stage, data collection and analysis take place. Specialists study the current product metrics — bounce rates, session duration, time on page, and conversion paths. Analytics tools (such as Google Analytics and Yandex.Metrica) are used to identify problematic areas of the interface. At the same time, user feedback, support inquiries, and other qualitative data are analyzed to understand the pain points of end-users.
The second stage involves a detailed interface review. UX specialists examine all product elements to ensure they adhere to usability principles. Particular attention is paid to navigation logic, clarity of the interface, screen flow consistency, and visual hierarchy of elements. The interface is also checked against established design standards and accessibility requirements. At this stage, heuristic evaluation and cognitive walkthrough methods are often used, where experts simulate the behavior of different user categories to identify potential issues.
The third stage involves UX testing and analysis with real users. Depending on the project objectives, various methods may be employed, such as in-depth interviews, card sorting, and A/B testing of different interface options. Observing how users interact with the product in natural conditions is especially valuable, as it reveals the mistakes they make and the difficulties they encounter. These insights help identify hidden issues that may have been overlooked during the expert evaluation stage.
The fourth stage involves competitor analysis and reviewing best industry practices. Specialists study similar products on the market, identifying successful UX/UI solutions that could be adapted to enhance the interface under review. This not only helps identify current shortcomings but also uncovers opportunities to develop competitive advantages.
The final stage involves preparing a report and recommendations. All identified issues are organized by their level of importance and impact on the user experience. For each problem, specific solutions are proposed, which may include changes to navigation, redesigning the visual presentation of information, or optimizing the interface.
Increase in conversion — by identifying and removing barriers in the user journey that hinder visitors from completing target actions. After optimizing the interface based on audit recommendations, companies observe an increase in the conversion rate, which boosts the product's profitability.
Reduced workload for customer support. When the interface becomes intuitive and predictable, the number of support tickets and user inquiries significantly decreases. This allows the company to optimize customer service costs and redirect the freed-up resources toward product development.
Increase in the LTV (Lifetime Value) metric, which reflects the long-term value of a customer. A user-friendly experience fosters loyalty—customers stay with the product longer, return more frequently, and show higher engagement. In the long term, this leads to an increase in average transaction value and purchase frequency, which significantly impacts the overall profitability of the business.
Improved employee efficiency. Enhancing the user interface and product logic directly impacts the company's internal processes. When employees work with an intuitive and well-designed interface, the time required for training and adaptation decreases, and the number of errors when working with the system also reduces. This is especially important during the implementation of new products or updates to existing ones—employees experience less resistance to change, adapt to new tools more quickly, and demonstrate higher productivity. The workload on internal IT support is reduced, and the freed-up resources can be redirected towards strategic business development tasks.
In addition to these key metrics, the UX/UI audit helps improve other indicators: it reduces bounce rates, increases session duration, and enhances search engine rankings through the growth of behavioral factors. All these changes together create a synergistic effect that elevates the product to a new level of quality and competitiveness. The results of the audit are long-term in nature — investments in improving the user experience continue to deliver dividends throughout the entire product lifecycle.
As a result of the UX/UI audit, we will prepare:
A detailed presentation that includes all identified issues and suggestions for their resolution.
Specific UX/UI recommendations for resolving each identified issue.
An improvement roadmap for the development and design teams.
Our UX/UI recommendations are based on experience working with S&P 500 companies and international brands. We do not just identify problems but also know how to effectively resolve them.
View all our case studies and results.
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