UX Audit in Kharkiv, Ukraine

UX Audit in Kharkiv — how to find the points of revenue loss inside your website or app

If you’re reading this page, you most likely already have a working website, online store or mobile app, but the metrics aren’t encouraging: traffic comes in, requests don’t; users add items to the cart but don’t reach checkout; new SaaS users register but don’t come back the next day. You sense the problem is somewhere inside the product — but can’t pinpoint exactly where. A UX audit is a systematic investigation that answers that question with data, not guesses. I’m Alex Filiuk, Senior UI/UX designer with 15+ years of practice, running UX audits for businesses in Kharkiv and the Kharkiv region, and for clients from Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro, the US and Europe. The portfolio holds over 130 projects, a large share of which started with a UX analysis of an existing product before the redesign.

This page goes through, in detail: what a UX audit really is (and what only pretends to be one), which blocks it consists of, which methods I use, which typical findings appear in Kharkiv region businesses, how much it costs, and how to choose the right specialist. No filler, no marketing promises — only working material that helps you make a decision.

Why high-quality UX is critical for a Kharkiv business

In a city of 240,000+ residents and a strong small-and-medium business sector, digital competition grows quarter by quarter. Ten years ago “having a website” was enough — today it doesn’t solve anything. Every competitor, from a Kharkiv online store to a national brand, fights for user attention in the first 5–10 seconds after the page loads. UX is not “a pretty picture” — it’s the science of how a person thinks, navigates and decides.

For a Kharkiv business UX has three applied consequences:

• Conversion. Bad UX cuts conversion rate by 2–5×. That means out of the same 1,000 visitors you get 10 requests instead of 30–50. Across a month of traffic, that’s thousands of dollars in missed revenue.
• Acquisition cost. If you run Google Ads or SEO, every click is paid. A bad landing equals pouring budget out the window — there is traffic, but no conversion.
• Retention and repeat visits. Especially for SaaS and e-commerce: a user who hits friction the first time is 60–70% likely never to return. The audit finds that friction before you lose the cohort.

How a UX audit differs from a “design review”

The Ukrainian market (including the Kharkiv region) often confuses two different products: a UX audit and a design review. They are not the same.

• A design review is a subjective look at aesthetics: “the font is too small”, “these colours don’t match”. May be useful, but not systematic.
• A UX audit is a structured method with concrete frameworks validated by the industry over decades. Each finding is grounded either in a standard (Nielsen’s 10 heuristics, WCAG 2.2, Material Design Guidelines, Apple HIG) or in data (Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity, GA4, Search Console).

The difference is critical: a design review delivers 50 scattered comments, 30 of which are taste. A UX audit delivers 50–150 findings with prioritisation, links to standards and an estimate of business impact. The first you can “listen and forget”; the second is your action plan for the next 3 months.

The blocks a UX audit consists of

Every audit I run is 6 parallel blocks, merged into a single report. None of them gives the full picture alone — only together they produce a reliable result.

1. Heuristic evaluation by Jakob Nielsen. Reviewing the product against 10 heuristics: visibility of system status, match with the real world, user control and freedom, consistency and standards, error prevention, recognition over recall, flexibility and efficiency, aesthetic and minimalist design, help users recognise and recover from errors, help and documentation. Each finding comes with a screenshot, problem description and severity rating.
2. Accessibility audit against WCAG 2.2. Four principles (perceivable, operable, understandable, robust), AA level. Checking contrasts, alt texts, keyboard navigation, focus states, ARIA attributes, HTML semantics.
3. Walkthrough of target scenarios. I walk through 3–7 key scenarios from the perspective of different personas: new user, returning, B2B client, mobile user. I record every friction — from a micro-delay to a real drop-off.
4. Quantitative data analysis. Hotjar / Microsoft Clarity provide real session recordings, heatmaps, rage clicks, dead clicks. GA4 shows funnels and drop-offs. Search Console shows real search queries and CTR. This block gives the actual behaviour picture, not the hypothetical one.
5. Competitive analysis. I look at 3–5 competitors — local from Kharkiv / the region, national, and international. Not for copying, but to identify the user’s industry expectations (so-called UX conventions).
6. Stakeholder interviews. Where available — a short conversation with your marketer, product manager, support service. Often support knows where the user pains are better than any analytics.

Typical findings in Kharkiv region businesses

Over years of practice I’ve assembled a recurring “problem map” specific to the Ukrainian and especially the Kharkiv market. Here are the top 10 findings I encounter in 80% of projects:

• An overloaded first screen. The site tries to say everything at once — and says nothing. The user can’t understand within 5 seconds what you do and why it matters to them.
• An unclear primary CTA. 3–5 buttons — “Order”, “Learn more”, “Buy”, “Submit request” — with the same visual weight; the user gets lost.
• Forms with 8–12 fields where 3 would do. Each extra field cuts form conversion by 5–10%. On Kharkiv sites the classic is a “Call me back” form with a date-of-birth field.
• No empty, error or loading states. The user clicks a button — and can’t tell whether it worked, hung, or needs another click.
• Mobile = desktop under a magnifying glass. On the Kharkiv market this hurts most, because 70–80% of traffic is mobile. Touch zones too small, vertical text, broken forms.
• A non-transparent cart. An online store doesn’t show shipping cost, total, payment methods — the user fears a surprise and abandons.
• 3:1 contrast instead of 4.5:1. Text in a “nice grey” is unreadable for 15% of your audience — a WCAG AA failure.
• No 404 or fallback states. The user clicks a broken link and lands on the browser default page. Visit lost, trust lost.
• No onboarding. The SaaS product drops a new user into an empty dashboard with 50 options. Time to first value — endless.
• Analytics set up “theoretically”. No custom events, no conversion goals, GA4 only shows page views — but you need to know how many people reach step 3 of 5.

This doesn’t mean your site has all 10. But 5–7 of them is the typical picture, even for well-built products. The audit not only delivers the list but also the order of fixes by business impact.

How the process looks — step by step

1. Week 1, days 1–2. Free preliminary call (60 min). We discuss context: what kind of business, the goals, the audience, what you’ve tried before. If you’re in Kharkiv — I meet you in person.
2. Week 1, days 3–5. Access to GA4, Hotjar/Clarity, Search Console. If something isn’t set up — I help install it (Microsoft Clarity is free and takes 30 minutes).
3. Week 2. Heuristic evaluation, accessibility, session recording analysis. I keep a live document where findings are logged. You have access and see the process.
4. Week 3. Scenario walkthroughs, GA4 funnel analysis, competitive analysis. Forming the top findings.
5. Week 4. Prioritisation via ICE / RICE, building the roadmap, packaging the final report.
6. Presentation and workshop. 2–3 hours with your team. We walk through the top 15 findings, agree what goes into the next sprint. If you’re in Kharkiv — in person.

If you need it faster — there’s an express format of 5–7 working days for a single landing or single user flow. Suitable when you’re preparing a redesign and need a quick snapshot before kickoff.

The toolkit I work with

No audit is “magic in the designer’s head”. It uses a concrete stack:

• Microsoft Clarity (free) — session recordings, heatmaps, rage clicks, dead clicks. Almost no limits.
• Hotjar — Clarity counterpart with surveys and broader analytics (paid).
• GA4 / Looker Studio — quantitative data, funnels, cohorts, retention.
• Google Search Console — real search queries, CTR, positions, indexing issues.
• WAVE, axe DevTools, Lighthouse — accessibility, performance, SEO.
• Figma — annotating mockups, handing findings to designers.
• Notion / Coda — structured report, backlogs, prioritisation.
• UserZoom / Maze (when needed) — moderated usability testing with real users.

Cases: UX audits for Ukrainian and international businesses

The portfolio includes plenty of projects that started with an audit of an existing product and then progressed to redesign or CRO. Among them — consumer apps, CRM systems for the automotive business, e-commerce, medical platforms, B2B services. In each case I started with mapping the current state, talking to users and the team, analysing the analytics — and only then drawing interfaces. That guaranteed the new version wasn’t just “prettier” but actually performed better against concrete business indicators.

If you want examples relevant to your niche — head to the “Projects” section or get in touch via the contact form. I’ll pick 5–10 most relevant cases and show exactly how the UX audit affected the metrics.

How much does a UX audit in Kharkiv cost

The price comes from the scope of the audited object. Approximately (exact figures in the “Pricing” block):

• Basic package. Landing or business-card site of up to 10 key screens. Includes heuristic evaluation, accessibility, walkthrough of 1–2 scenarios, basic GA4/Clarity analysis, a one-month roadmap.
• Standard package. Corporate website or online store (20–50 screens). Full audit cycle: 6 blocks, stakeholder interviews, competitive analysis, team presentation, 2–3 month roadmap. The most popular format among Kharkiv clients.
• Premium / SaaS. Complex product with multiple roles, mobile app, account area. Includes usability testing with real users (5–8 respondents), deeper retention/cohort analysis, a full quarterly roadmap.

If you order an audit bundled with a follow-up UI/UX implementation, development or conversion optimisation, the audit cost is fully or partially credited toward the main project. This is the most common format for Kharkiv clients who want not just to receive a report but to see results immediately.

Why it’s worth running a UX audit in Kharkiv, not on a freelance marketplace

Marketplaces offer audits “for $100 in 3 days”. That isn’t an audit — it’s a template the freelancer fills in without engaging the brain. Here are 5 reasons this path doesn’t pay off for a serious Kharkiv business:

• No context. The freelancer doesn’t know your market, competitors, the local user. Findings stay at “make the button blue” level.
• No depth. 3 days is physically impossible for a quality audit of anything more complex than a landing.
• No business-metric link. Findings aren’t scored by impact on conversion, retention, ARPU.
• No accessibility. WCAG requires expertise the templated freelancer doesn’t have.
• No follow-through. Once the report is delivered, post-questions are not answered.

The alternative in Kharkiv is me. 15+ years of practice, knowledge of the Kharkiv region market, a transparent process, a guaranteed result and the option to meet in person. Pricing is competitive with the marketplace (because I don’t pay platform commissions) — but the depth is on a different level.

My other services for Kharkiv businesses

A UX audit is often the first stage of broader work. Services that logically follow or run alongside:

• UI/UX design — turning audit recommendations into a new interface version.
• Conversion optimisation — A/B testing and iterative metric improvements.
• Web development — implementing the redesign on a modern stack.
• Mobile UI/UX design — audit and redesign of iOS/Android apps.
• E-commerce — comprehensive work on the online store: from catalogue to checkout.
• CRM / ERP / SaaS design — complex internal systems with multiple roles.
• Product strategy — a deeper level for growing startups.
• Business consulting — strategy before investing in design.

UX audit in other Ukrainian cities

I work not only with the Kharkiv region. If you have offices across several regions or are planning regional expansion — the approach is the same, the method is the same. Other locations:

• Kyiv — national brands, IT companies, corporate sector.
• Lviv — creative business, gastronomy, IT startups.
• Odesa — retail, tourism, e-commerce.
• Dnipro — manufacturing, B2B, SaaS.
• Kharkiv — IT, education, engineering.

The full list of locations is on the “Service Areas” page.

Ready to discuss a UX audit of your product in Kharkiv?

If you have a concrete request — fill in the contact form or write to me on email/Telegram (contacts in the footer). The first consultation is free and lasts up to 60 minutes. I’ll pre-screen your product, ask a few diagnostic questions and tell you which audit scope you actually need — basic, standard or premium. No upselling unnecessary scope — if an express audit is enough, I’ll say so plainly.

Ready to help your business in Kharkiv and the Kharkiv region find and fix the loss points inside your product. Not “play with colours”, but raise concrete business indicators: conversion, retention, ARPU, NPS. That is the work of a UX auditor who works for results.