You review a live software product’s sign-up and first-use flows, find where new users get stuck, and hand the team a ranked list of fixes.
Most new users of a software product try it a few times and drift away. Amplitude benchmarked more than 2,600 companies. For half of the products, over 98% of new users were no longer active after 2 weeks.
The product team sees the drop in its analytics but is too close to the product to see why. Designers are busy shipping new features, and Merge estimates a full agency SaaS audit at about $10,000 to $25,000.
You record a 10-minute video review of the product’s sign-up flow and send it to the head of product.
You propose a flat-fee audit of the sign-up and first-use flows, using analytics, session recordings and a heuristic review, over 2 to 4 weeks.
You walk the team through a ranked list of fixes on a video call and offer paid help to test the new flow.
They answer for activation and retention, and each user who leaves after sign-up wastes the money spent to bring that user in.
The audit is a fixed project with a clear scope, so it is easier to approve than a new design hire.
What buyers pay: $3,000 to $8,000 per audit, or $100 to $200 per hour for senior freelancers
These companies have a live product and paying users, and many have no UX researcher on the team.
There are 4 places to start, in the order most people find their first buyers.
Tell product managers and designers you worked with that you now run UX audits of sign-up flows. Ask whose activation numbers are slipping.
Offer studios that build apps without a research team a referral fee or a white-label audit for their clients.
Pick products that just launched on Product Hunt, record a short review of their sign-up flow and send it to the founder.
Post short teardowns of public sign-up flows that show what you would fix and why.
Every idea has weak spots. These are the ones to test before you spend money.
Agree before you start which metric the audit should move and who will own the fixes.
Ask for analytics and session recording access in the proposal, and offer a smaller heuristic-only review if the team cannot share data.
Record the starting activation rate before you begin, and offer a follow-up review after the fixes ship.
UX audits need no license, so the main check is your current job’s non-compete and outside-work clauses.
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