A 10-Point UX Audit You Can Run This Week

Most usability problems aren't subtle once you're looking for them — they just never get looked at, because there's always a bigger feature to ship. A short, regular audit catches most of what matters without needing a full research study.

Start with the basics: can a first-time visitor tell what you do within five seconds? Does every primary button describe the action it takes? Do forms explain errors in plain language, right next to the field that caused them? Is the site usable on a mid-range phone on a slow connection, not just your dev machine on office wifi?

None of these checks require a redesign — most are an afternoon of fixes. The value is doing them on a schedule, before a launch, rather than after conversion numbers already dipped.