It may be the understatement of the century to say that 2020 is not going the way any of us had planned. This year has brought staggering change to our personal and professional lives and has impacted how we work and participate in our communities. The way you’re doing business with your customers and with each other is very, very different than it was 6 months ago. There are many challenges facing the world today, and, yet, somehow, we need to keep working and making progress on both our near and long-term goals.

For web-based applications and Software as a Service (SaaS) providers, change has always been par for the course. Many organizations thrive in agile environments and hold responsiveness to user needs as central to their core mission statement. In the first half of this year, however, users’ needs have been changing and evolving so quickly that many of us may have been caught flat-footed. Web-based businesses may be struggling to pivot quickly enough to survive, much less take advantage of the new opportunities suddenly arising from this global crisis. 

We’re facing issues of capacity, changing demographics, supply chain and logistical hurdles, as well as the need to bring automation up on a dramatic curve due to the challenges of social distancing. What may have been acceptable to your users in January may produce customer service backlash in June. Under these new circumstances, your organization may find itself behind the curve or playing catch-up.

The businesses—and indeed entire industries—who survive the current evolutionary shift will be those who are able to gather data, analyze and evaluate their strengths and challenges, and make quick, decisive changes. Today, many organizations are looking to figure out how to best meet the changing needs of their audiences, while being appropriately conservative in how they invest both time and money.

In the best of times, it can be difficult to justify the allocation of resources to assess and redesign your UX. When you’re putting out fires, trying to maintain momentum to meet a launch date, or just generally doing the daily triage and problem solving of product management and maintenance, it can be hard to gain support and approval to explore how your product’s user experience is actually working for users and what could make it better. And, even if the will is there, it can be hard to see how you might be able to get that information quickly and cost-effectively enough to align with organizational constraints and then fold the resulting analysis into an already-packed task schedule.  

That’s where a UX audit can make all the difference. UX audits provide a quick, cost-effective way to identify what is working in your product and what isn’t, and get expert, prioritized, actionable recommendations about how to address those issues. In our practice, we can do a UX audit in about a week, and give clients the understanding, insights, and perspective to figure out what to do next. Sometimes a UX Audit is the first step in an ongoing relationship, and we are always happy to help further investigate and/or solve the problems identified, and sometimes the insights from the audit give the client team everything they need to hit the ground running – either way, we are thrilled to help our clients make progress and meaningful improvements to their products.

Some situations in which a UX Audit may be just the thing:

  • You know that there are areas of complexity in your product, but aren’t sure where to start in addressing them.
  • You wonder if users are having trouble finding information, registering, or accomplishing their goals using your product.
  • You suspect there are problems and want to make sure your app is easy to use and provides the kind of experience you would like to offer to your users.
  • Your customer service representatives are answering the same calls over and over again and you want to maximize their time.
  • You know you have a great product, but you’re having difficulty achieving market penetration.
  • You have the best functionality among your competitors, but you’re losing customers to an inferior product that is “prettier” and easier to use.
  • You’ve identified issues but need help coming up with solutions that won’t break the bank.
  • You’ve been putting off a full UX refresh because of time and budget constraints.

Especially in these challenging times, we are eager to meet clients where they are to help them take small (or large) steps forward to best meet the needs of their business and users. To learn more about our approach to UX Audits, go to https://www.designforcontext.com/services/ux-audit, or email us at office@designforcontext.com to set up a time to discuss.