Metadrop's UX/UI audit helps organisations running Drupal websites and intranets identify the usability gaps, navigation failures, and accessibility issues that erode engagement and conversion and delivers a clear, prioritised roadmap for fixing them.
When to commission a UX/UI audit
Your platform is live, but something is not working. The audit provides diagnostic clarity in each of these situations:
- Declining conversions or high bounce rates: analytics cannot fully explain why users are leaving before completing key tasks.
- Low employee adoption of an intranet or internal platform despite the content being there.
- Negative user feedback or support requests pointing to navigation confusion and task friction.
- Pre-redesign due diligence: before committing to a visual overhaul, understand exactly what is broken and why.
- Post-launch review: a platform went live but KPIs have not moved; the audit identifies what to fix first.
- Accessibility compliance pressure: regulatory requirements (WCAG 2.1 or 2.2, EAA) demand evidence-based remediation.
- Legacy Drupal design that has not evolved with user expectations after a version migration.
What our UX/UI audit covers
A Metadrop UX/UI audit evaluates your Drupal platform across five interconnected dimensions.
Usability and Task Completion
Users can complete their goals without friction across the full navigational and interaction surface.
- Navigation architecture: hierarchy, menu depth, labelling, findability.
- User flow analysis mapping critical journeys and drop-off points.
- Cognitive load: form complexity, click density, error recovery.
Visual Design and UI Consistency
A coherent interface reinforces trust and guides users to the right actions.
- Design system coherence: components, typography, colour, hierarchy.
- Responsive and mobile behaviour, touch target sizing.
- Brand alignment with current standards.
Accessibility (WCAG Compliance)
A standard step in every audit, with a prioritised remediation list.
- WCAG 2.1 AA or 2.2 AA evaluation, automated and manual.
- Assistive technology testing on real devices.
- Issues ranked by severity and implementation effort.
Content Discoverability and IA
Users who cannot find content do not convert or engage.
- Search effectiveness across search and browse paths.
- Content labelling and taxonomy vs. user mental models.
- Page structure: heading hierarchy, scannable layouts.
Analytics and Behavioural Data
Qualitative findings gain weight when grounded in measurable data.
- Quantitative baseline: GA, heatmaps, session recordings, funnels.
- Drop-off and abandonment mapping by page and step.
- KPI gap analysis tied to business outcomes.
This audit step provides diagnostic coverage. For organisations facing regulatory deadlines (EAA, ENS, public-sector mandates) or requiring full WCAG 2.2 AA/AAA conformance documentation, we offer a dedicated Web Accessibility Audit: a standalone, in-depth package that extends this work with exhaustive assistive technology testing, legal evidence documentation, and a full remediation roadmap.
Our methodology: discovery, evaluation, synthesis, recommendations
Our audit follows a four-phase process combining data, expert review, and direct user input. We triangulate what the data says, what experts observe, and what users actually experience.
Discovery
- Stakeholder interviews with decision-makers, product owners, and content managers.
- Internal data review consolidating analytics, surveys, and support tickets into a baseline.
- Competitive benchmarking against comparable organisations.
- Expert heuristic review of the existing Drupal implementation.
Evaluation
- User research: 5–8 representative users across relevant profiles, including mobile-only and accessibility needs.
- Accessibility testing against WCAG 2.1/2.2 AA, extendable with a dedicated Web Accessibility Audit.
- Additional analytics instrumentation where existing data is insufficient.
Synthesis
- Intermediate findings presentation to stakeholders for early feedback and buy-in.
- User journey mapping for the three to five most critical tasks.
- Issue clustering by theme, severity, and implementation complexity.
Recommendations
- Prioritised issue list (Must / Should / Could) ranked by impact, complexity, and relevance.
- Incremental redesign strategy: quick wins, medium-term, and longer-term investments.
- Resource and effort estimates for each action.
- Final presentation and handover package with sketches or annotated wireframes.
Our experience includes a UX/UI audit of a large enterprise intranet platform serving thousands of employees across mixed user profiles, including blue-collar workers with limited digital access. The engagement combined stakeholder interviews, analytics review, and a prioritised issue list ranked by technical complexity and strategic governance implications, delivering an incremental redesign strategy aligned with the client’s existing design system.
We have conducted UX audits on complex, large-scale Drupal environments running tens of thousands of pages with multiple content types and taxonomies, combining mixed quantitative and qualitative methodologies to deliver implementable recommendations within real platform constraints.
What you receive
Every UX/UI audit produces a concrete, actionable deliverable set, not a slide deck of generic observations.
Consolidated Insights Report
All five audit dimensions synthesised into a single, evidence-backed document.
- Synthesised findings with quotes and screenshots as evidence.
- User personas and journey maps for key workflows.
- Behavioural pattern analysis linking analytics to observations.
Prioritised Recommendations Roadmap
Every recommendation scoped, sequenced, and sized for direct planning.
- Issue list ranked by impact and effort (Must / Should / Could).
- Quick-win section: high-impact, low-effort fixes within days.
- Resource and cost estimates for budget conversations.
Presentation and Handover
- Executive summary formatted for non-technical stakeholders.
- Full handover package: design sketches, annotated wireframes, and implementation guidelines where applicable.
Why an independent UX/UI audit
Internal teams have context, but they also have blind spots. An expert audit from an independent partner adds value internal review cannot.
- Objective perspective free from accumulated internal assumptions.
- Benchmark against sector standards from dozens of Drupal implementations.
- Diagnostic focus scoped to what genuinely serves your users.
- Drupal-native expertise — recommendations are implementable, not theoretical.
- 15+ years of Drupal experience across 50+ countries.
For a global professional services platform serving 19 country sites across 18 languages, we combined a UX/UI review with a WCAG AA accessibility compliance programme, delivering structured remediation across heading hierarchy, ARIA attributes, touch target sizing, and contrast absorbed directly into the ongoing maintenance cycle.
UX/UI audit for intranet and employee platforms
Low intranet adoption is one of the clearest signals that a UX/UI audit is overdue. When employees avoid the platform, do not complete tasks, or rely on workarounds, the problem is almost always structural, not motivational.
Our intranet-specific audit approach addresses:
- Blue-collar and deskless worker usability for infrequent, mobile, or time-pressured access.
- Task efficiency mapping measuring steps and time for common tasks.
- Engagement baseline from analytics, satisfaction surveys, and direct interviews.
- OKR and KPI definition so improvements can be tracked.
Following a UX/UI audit of a large chemical-sector intranet recently spun off from a parent company, we delivered a consolidated insights report, a prioritised redesign roadmap, and a new mobile design, supporting the internal case for an incremental UX revamp tied to measurable engagement KPIs.
Our UX/UI audit experience
Metadrop combines deep Drupal technical knowledge with a UX research practice grounded in evidence. Our audits address front-end experience and the platform architecture underneath, identifying when a UX problem has a technical root cause and recommending solutions feasible within your Drupal environment.
- Mixed-methods research: quantitative data combined with qualitative insight.
- Scientific measurement: before-state baselines and KPI frameworks to validate improvements.
- Platform-aware recommendations accounting for Drupal’s content model and module ecosystem.
- Accessibility as a standard audit step — WCAG 2.1/2.2 AA in every engagement.
- Sector experience: NGOs, manufacturing, specialty chemicals, e-commerce, and global multisite platforms across Europe.
Our UX/UI audit gives you the evidence and the roadmap to act without committing to a full redesign.
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Frequently asked questions
What is a UX/UI audit?
A UX/UI audit is a systematic evaluation of a digital platform’s usability, interface design, and user experience. It identifies where users encounter friction, confusion, or barriers, and produces a prioritised set of recommendations to resolve those issues. It is distinct from a redesign: the audit diagnoses the problem; a redesign is one possible response.
How long does a UX/UI audit take?
Scope determines duration. A focused expert review of a single website or intranet typically takes two to four weeks. A full audit including user research, stakeholder interviews, accessibility testing, and a comprehensive recommendations package takes four to eight weeks. We provide a specific timeline estimate after an initial scoping conversation.
What is the difference between a UX audit and usability testing?
Usability testing involves recruiting users to complete tasks on the platform and observing where they struggle. A UX audit is broader: it combines expert heuristic evaluation, analytics review, accessibility testing, information architecture review, and, when the scope includes it, user research. Our audits typically incorporate usability research as one component within a wider evaluation.
How much does a UX/UI audit cost?
Scope, platform complexity, and the depth of user research required determine the investment. A focused expert review starts at a lower range suitable for single websites; a comprehensive audit including user research and WCAG testing for large or complex Drupal platforms represents a larger engagement. We provide a clear scope and estimate after an initial discovery call; contact us to discuss your situation.
When should we commission a UX/UI audit and not a redesign?
Start with an audit when you have evidence that users are struggling but you do not yet know the root cause. An audit gives you the diagnostic data to make a case for a redesign, or to discover that targeted fixes to navigation, content structure, or specific interaction patterns will solve the problem without a full visual overhaul. Commissioning a redesign without an audit first frequently results in repeating the same structural problems with a new coat of paint.
Do you audit Drupal intranets, not just public websites?
Yes. We have audited Drupal-based intranet platforms for enterprise organisations, including environments with diverse user profiles such as desk-based knowledge workers and operational staff with mobile-only access. Intranet audits typically place greater weight on task efficiency, adoption barriers, and internal navigation structure than public-facing site audits.
What happens after the audit? Can you help implement the changes?
The audit is an independent, diagnostic engagement. Metadrop also offers UX/UI design and Drupal development services, so if your audit findings point to a need for redesign or development work, we can support that as a separate project. The audit deliverable stands on its own: you can use it to brief any implementation partner, including your internal team.
Does the audit include WCAG accessibility compliance testing?
Yes. Accessibility evaluation is a standard step in every UX/UI audit. We cover WCAG 2.1 AA as a baseline and extend to 2.2 AA where required. Findings include severity ratings and remediation guidance.
This step is diagnostic. For organisations that need a dedicated, exhaustive accessibility programme (full assistive technology testing, legal conformance documentation, regulatory evidence packs for EAA, ENS, and public-sector mandates, or WCAG 2.2 AAA coverage) we offer a separate Web Accessibility Audit package that extends this work in depth.
What is the difference between the UX/UI audit accessibility step and the Web Accessibility Audit?
The UX/UI audit includes accessibility as one of five evaluation dimensions. It identifies critical barriers, produces a prioritised remediation list, and covers the most impactful WCAG 2.1/2.2 AA issues. The Web Accessibility Audit is a standalone, in-depth package built specifically for accessibility conformance: it covers every WCAG success criterion systematically, tests with a wider range of assistive technologies, and produces documentation suitable for regulatory submissions or procurement requirements. The dedicated audit is the right choice when accessibility compliance is a primary objective, not just one signal among many.
Ready to audit your Drupal platform?
Tell us about your site; we will scope a free consultation call and outline what an audit would cover, at no commitment.