One-Hour UX Audit: 7 Checkpoints I Always Run First
You don't need weeks of research to see where a site is losing customers. Here's my 7-point checklist — run it on your own product alongside me.
In 8 years and 50+ projects I've never started a redesign by drawing. The first 60 minutes is an audit. If you find 3–4 issues from this list inside your own product, you already have a plan for what to fix first — no research budget needed.
The 5-second first impression
Open your site in incognito. Count 5 seconds. Close the tab. Ask yourself: did you get what the product is, who it's for, and why you should stay? If any answer is “no,” your hero section is broken. It's the single biggest conversion lever on a site — I've seen one sentence change drop bounce from 78% to 41%.
The path to price
How many clicks from the homepage to the page with a price (or “Order” button)? More than two and you're hiding money. The customer who already wants to buy is looking for a number. Saying “let's get to know each other” instead burns warm leads.
Mobile-first, not mobile-too
Open the site on your phone. Not a desktop with a narrow window — an actual phone on slow 4G. If you catch yourself thinking “I'll check it on the laptop later,” that's the line your customer says before never coming back.
CTAs that don't sleep
Find every button on the page. How many share the same color? More than one and the user doesn't know what to do first. The primary CTA is one, contrasting, repeated in the hero, mid-page, and footer.
Forms that don't scare
Form fields = minimum. Email + name to open. Everything else can be asked over chat. I've seen 14-field forms generate 3 leads a month; trimmed to 3 fields → 47.
Page speed
Run the site through PageSpeed Insights. Mobile score under 70 is exactly what Google tells its ranking algorithm too. 5 MB PNGs, fonts without preload, analytics scripts in — boilerplate sins. One day to fix.
Trust signals up front
Client logos, photo testimonials, case studies with numbers, certifications. No social proof in the hero and the user asks “why should I trust you?” — then leaves for a competitor who shows it.
One experiment at a time
Found a problem — change one thing. Not everything at once. Otherwise you won't know what worked. I run every project on the same cycle: one hypothesis → two weeks → metric → conclusion.
If you want my audit
Send the link — I'll send back a prioritized list with expected impact within 2 working days. No fluff.
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