Heuristic reviews (often referred to as expert reviews) are a cost effective way of quickly identifying usability issues.
Reviews can be used to evaluate existing websites, competitor offerings or prototypes. They can therefore be used early in a project to baseline the website or application you’re creating, or towards the end to catch any small usability niggles on rapid turnaround projects.
EXAMPLE
This example from my work with Reed Exhibitions was conducted prior to a more in-depth review of the Exhibitor website homepages.
To provide additional detail and support prioritisation of future feature development the issues that have been identified can be ranked and rated.
In support of this prioritisation each issues best practise wireframes and interaction designs are often provided when more detailed fixes are required.