Expert Review
In an expert review, usability experts review a product or application based on established usability standards and guidelines. An expert opinion identifies major usability problems and possibilities for improvement of a product.
Our approach to Expert Reviews
In an expert review, several experts from usability.de independently review your product. We apply a combined approach of a heuristic evaluation and a cognitive walkthrough. Depending on the focus we review the following: How well and how quickly can key tasks be completed? Are commonly used navigation principles adequately applied? Is the structure of the application understandable? Can forms be completed intuitively and is the search function suitable for the task?
During the cognitive walkthrough, our experts put themselves in the perspective of a (new) user and as such review the most important use scenarios of your product. The results are then discussed and jointly evaluated. You benefit, above all, from the many years of experience of our usability experts. We not only identify the weaknesses in your applications but also suggest specific solutions for optimization – all in a very short time.
What methods are used?
Cognitive Walkthrough
In a cognitive walkthrough, several usability experts independently review the main use case scenarios from the user's perspective. We start by working with you to define the questions for the expert review. Based on the most important use scenarios, the experts run through your application and document critical points. All experts involved then discuss the results and suggest specific solutions for you.
Heuristic Evaluation
The expert review by our experts is based on usability heuristics, which in turn are based, for example, on EN ISO 9241 or on guidelines for accessibility, such as WCAG. Compliance with these usability criteria is needed in order to enable effective, efficient, and satisfactory user interaction. The experts document any deviations from these rules as possible usability problems. These deviations are then discussed and classified according to their severity (e.g., possible termination point).
Through the combination of these two methods, weaknesses of an application are reliably identified.
What constitutes a good Expert Review?
The quality of an expert review not only depends on a systematic and methodical approach but is also strongly determined by the knowledge and experience of the experts and their knowledge of a particular sector and/or experience with comparable applications. We believe it is important to review every website, with its respective objectives and tasks, on a wholly individual basis rather than relying on rigid checklists. We are also happy to take into consideration, for example, your analytics data or any other information at your disposal in the review.
The experts at usability.de are complete experts with many years of experience in user-centered development of interactive products who have performed countless user tests with a wide range of test objects.
This special expertise makes the expert reviews by usability.de especially valuable. That's what our customers say.
When do we recommend an Expert Review?
An expert review is worthwhile both during new interface design as well as during further development (e.g., for performance improvement) of products and applications. A finished system is not needed in order to perform an expert review. Initial designs or wireframes are sufficient to identify common usability stumbling blocks. In particular, expert analyses performed at an early stage and continuously will ensure that the development of a product does not head off in the wrong direction.
From our experience, we can say that an expert review can never completely replace a usability test with real users. For the best results, a combination of an expert review and a usability test is needed.
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Feedback within a short time
You receive your results within a few days.
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Little effort
The fastest way to cost-effectively elevate the usability status quo.
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Ideal in combination with usability testing
Violations of recognized usability guidelines can be identified and eliminated before the usability test.
What can we find out with an Expert Review?
- Is the wording used adapted to the user?
- Are commonly-used usability conventions adhered to?
- Are help and error messages understandable?
- How well is the user guided through particular processes (e.g., when placing an order)?
- How quickly and easily do users achieve their goal?
- How expedient and comprehensible is the selected navigation structure?
What results do you receive?
You receive the results in the form of a detailed report containing identified usability problems and specific expert recommendations for improvement. On request, we also develop graphical solution suggestions and concepts for problems that are structural or more complex in nature. You can use these directly as a template for implementation and thus significantly reduce the time involved in the implementation process.
Do you have specific questions concerning the use of expert reviews in your project? We will be happy to advise you. Free of charge and at no obligation.
More questions? The workshop
In a workshop we will present your results and the resulting recommendations for improvement to project participants and stakeholders in your company.
In this case, our usability experts are personally available to answer any questions regarding their suggestions for optimization and to support you in the planning of any needed adjustments. Whether your development projects are agile or conventional, the many years of experience of our experts will help you to find customized solutions for your company and product.
Client voices about Expert Reviews
“As a quality-oriented hosting provider, we relied on trend-setting technologies and features for the relaunch of our website. usability.de aided us with partial concepts, usability reviews and tests. This helped us maintain usability in the course of innovation. The flexible cooperation of designers, interaction designers, and usability experts was always goal-oriented toward optimum usability. This usability goal is visible everywhere on the site, from the navigation and landing page, to the product configurators and wording. The result: a modern, innovative website and happy users.”
- Host Europe
“Due to the brilliantly prepared recommendations and design templates from usability.de we were able to implement improvements quickly, avoiding high communication efforts. Thereby, we considerably enhanced the usability of our real estate portal. This improvement is also underlined by the positive user feedback we receive. We are looking forward to continuing a great cooperation.”
- immowelt.de
“usability.de supported us a great deal in uncovering the strengths and weaknesses of our concept already during the conception. The combination of expert feedback and usability testing helped us enormously. We enjoyed the professional and smooth realization of several tests as well as the feedback beyond the project!”
- Messe Frankfurt
“The results and presentation of usability.de exceeded our expectations and we are very happy that we chose to work with such a professional partner. The organization, communication and handling of our inquiry was flawless and worked fast. With numerous tips and great help from usability.de we were able to make important changes on our website, step by step. We will definitely use the service of usability.de regularly in the future to guarantee the usability of our website. ”
- WENNA GmbH
Other interesting usability methods
All methods
Usability Testing
Eye Tracking
Contextual Inquiries
PrototypingWhat do I get out of usability measures?
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Satisfied customers and users
Higher customer loyalty, reduced bounce rates
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Better product quality
Easy to use products, reduced errors
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Increase in revenue and profit
Conversion rate optimization
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Increase in productivity
Employees, working efficiency, less operation errors
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Decrease of development time and costs
More agile processes, avoid failing products
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Decrease of support & training costs
Intuitive to use products do not require any training
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Win new customers by reducing exit rates
Reduced bounce rate through landing page optimization
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User Experience as a positive product feature
Competetive differentiation