What a Usability Audit Is and Why You Should Care About It

Written By Chris Shirley MA FRGS

When was the last time you truly looked at your website as someone visiting for the first time?

 

It’s easy to forget that what feels intuitive to you might feel confusing, slow, or even frustrating to someone else. That’s where a usability audit comes in.

 

A usability audit is a deep dive into how real people experience your website. It’s about how smoothly users can navigate, understand, and do what they came to your website for. Whether that’s buying your product, signing up for a newsletter, or simply finding information about the skills of your team, an audit helps you see exactly where the journey gets hard for them.

A usability audit is a forensic investigation into your website’s problems

 

We look under the hood, examining layout, content hierarchy, interaction design, accessibility, and mobile responsiveness, to identify what’s working and what’s not. The goal isn’t to criticise, but to clarify. Because every friction point we uncover is an opportunity to make your user experience better, faster, and more enjoyable.

 

Why does this matter?

Because usability is often the invisible reason people trust a brand, or don’t. A beautiful website that’s difficult to use quietly erodes your credibility. Users might not articulate why they leave, they just do. And with so many choices online, they rarely come back.

 

The best websites don’t just look good, they feel effortless. Every button makes sense. Every page has purpose. Every journey flows naturally, guiding users without them even realising it. That’s what a good usability audit helps you achieve: a site that works as well as it looks.

 

Small changes can have an outsized impact.

Simplifying navigation, tightening copy, adjusting colour contrast for accessibility, or speeding up a slow-loading page can all drastically improve engagement and conversion. Think of it as design intelligence, aligning creativity with real human behaviour.

 

A usability audit is one of the smartest, simplest investments you can make in your digital brand. It’s not about starting over; it’s about refining what’s already there to ensure every click, scroll and interaction earns its keep.

 

When your website works beautifully, your users don’t notice the design, they notice you.

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Chris Shirley MA FRGS

About the Author:

Chris is the founder of Hiatus.Design, a mission-driven branding and website design company that works with clients all over the world.

Over the course of his life, he has travelled to more than 60 countries across six continents, earned two Guinness World Records, completed the legendary Marathon des Sables, summited Mont Blanc and unclimbed peaks in Asia, become a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS), rowed across the Atlantic Ocean and obtained a Masterʼs degree in Business Management (MA).

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The Role Your Website Plays in Getting You Sales