A Singapore professional services firm was spending S$4,000/month on Google Ads. Traffic was healthy — 3,000+ sessions per month. But they were getting an average of 2 contact form submissions per week from that traffic.
2 leads. S$4,000 in ads. 3,000 visitors.
We ran a UX audit before touching a single line of code. Three issues surfaced in the first hour: their contact form was broken on mobile Safari (the most common browser for their audience), their service pages had no call-to-action at all, and their load time on mobile was 7.3 seconds.
Fixed those three things. Submissions went to 14 per week without changing the ad budget.
This is what a UX audit is for.
What Is a UX Audit?
A UX (User Experience) audit is a systematic review of a digital product — website, app, or portal — to identify where users are confused, frustrated, or leaving without completing the action you want them to take.
It's not a redesign. It's not aesthetic critique. It's a diagnosis: where is the user experience breaking down, and what's the cost of that breakage?
A good UX audit produces a prioritised fix list with estimated impact — not a 50-page report of observations that leaves you no clearer on what to do.
What a Proper UX Audit Covers
Analytics deep-dive — Where are users leaving? Which pages have the highest exit rates? Where in the funnel does conversion drop? GA4 event data shows click behaviour, scroll depth, and goal completion rates. This is fact, not opinion.
User journey mapping — Walk through every key path a user takes from first landing to conversion. At each step: is the next action obvious? Is there friction? Is information missing that the user needs to proceed?
Mobile experience audit — Test on real devices, not just browser developer tools. iOS Safari, Chrome Android, the latest and two-generations-old device. Singapore's mobile usage is above 60% — a broken mobile experience is a broken website.
Core Web Vitals and performance — Google's LCP, CLS, and INP metrics. PageSpeed Insights on mobile. Slow pages lose visitors before they read a word. Fast pages are a conversion advantage, not just a technical metric.
Heatmap and session recording review — Tools like Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity show where users actually click, how far they scroll, and where they rage-click (indicating frustration). This reveals what analytics can't: specific interface elements that confuse users.
Accessibility basics — Colour contrast, keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility. In Singapore's context: also linguistic accessibility — is critical information available in the languages your audience uses?
Trust and credibility signals — Are your credentials visible? Is there social proof at the decision point? Does the site communicate legitimacy to a first-time visitor?
The Issues Found Most Often in Singapore Business Sites
After auditing dozens of Singapore SME websites, here are the patterns that recur:
Contact forms broken on specific devices — Often fine on desktop, broken on iOS Safari or certain Android browsers. Never caught because the development team tests on their own devices.
Service pages with no CTA — Detailed, well-written pages about what the business does — with no "what to do next" button. Users finish reading and... leave.
Slow mobile load times — Unoptimised images, no compression, no CDN. Especially common on WordPress sites. 5-second load times lose 90% of mobile visitors before the page finishes loading.
Confusing navigation — Menu items labelled with internal jargon ("Our Solutions" instead of "Services"). Users can't find what they're looking for and leave.
No social proof above the fold — Trust signals buried at the bottom of the page where no one scrolls. Testimonials, client logos, and certifications need to be visible early.
Generic CTAs — "Contact us" as the primary action is weak. "Get a free audit," "See how it works," or "Calculate your ROI" are specific, value-driven actions that convert better.
Multi-step forms losing users mid-way — Forms that ask for too much information before delivering any value. Progressive disclosure (ask the minimum to start, collect more during the relationship) improves completion rates.
What a UX Audit Does Not Cover
A UX audit identifies problems in your current experience. It doesn't:
- Redesign the interface (that's a separate project)
- Write new copy
- Build new features
- Replace user research (actual user interviews give insights audits can't)
Think of the audit as the diagnosis. Implementation is the treatment. The audit tells you what to fix; it doesn't fix it.
DIY UX Audit vs Professional Audit
You can run a basic UX audit yourself. Install Hotjar (free tier), review your GA4 data, and test your site on 3 different devices. This takes a day and costs nothing.
A professional audit adds:
- Comparative benchmarking against your competitors
- Expert pattern recognition (we've seen hundreds of these — we know what's a red flag vs a minor issue)
- Prioritised fix list with business-case estimates for each
- Technical diagnosis (not just "this is slow" but "this specific image and this third-party script are causing the slowness")
For a site generating meaningful revenue (S$50k+ ARR) or running significant paid traffic (S$3k+/month in ads), a professional audit pays for itself quickly. For an early-stage brochure site with low traffic, the DIY approach is reasonable.
What a UX Audit Costs in Singapore
Lightweight UX audit (5–10 page site, basic analysis): S$1,500–S$3,000
Standard business site audit (20–50 pages, analytics deep-dive, competitor benchmarking): S$3,500–S$7,000
Comprehensive audit with user testing sessions: S$8,000–S$15,000
Delivery time: typically 1–2 weeks for a standard audit.
At NICKTUNG, our UX audits include GA4 analysis, Hotjar session review, mobile device testing, Core Web Vitals measurement, and a prioritised fix list ranked by estimated conversion impact. We don't deliver reports — we deliver decisions.
Running paid traffic to a site that isn't converting? An audit before the next month of ad spend is almost always the better investment.