Usability Audits

The general idea behind a Usability Audit (or Heuristic Evaluation) is that an experienced Usability Specialist evaluates the product or service to come up with potential usability problems, bearing in mind who the target audience is and the key business objectives.

The product or service is assessed against a series of guidelines (or heuristics), grounded in cognitive psychology. No target users are involved.

• Very cost-effective
• Can be deployed rapidly, even on partial elements of the product or service
• Cheaper and quicker than evaluations

• Can pinpoint the major usability issues
• Can be performed at earlier stages in the development lifecycle on less finished products/services.

This service can be used at the following stages in the product development cycle:

• Design
• Prototyping
• Code
• Test
• Deployment.

1. A briefing meeting is held with the Usability Specialist and the client to determine what the priorities for the site are. Any available log files are collected for analysis and integration into the findings
2. The product or service is assessed against the main usability heuristics and the results noted. Potential problems are identified and rated on a severity scale to help prioritise the correction

3. Using our extensive experience and training, the rationale behind the problems is explained and practical recommendations are provided to correct the usability problems
4. A meeting is arranged with the client to discuss the report and clarify any issues arising from it.

For a typical project covering one e-commerce website:

Duration: 3.5 days

Cost: £1,000 — £2,000

Activities

1. Briefing meeting
2. Analyse website
3. Delivery of report

Deliverables

• Audit report, including analysis of service or product and documentation of the main usability issues, rating of the severity of these issues to assist in implementing alterations, recommendations on how to eradicate usability issues and best practice information. Why not view a sample usability audit report?
• PowerPoint presentation (optional).