The verdict in three sentences
User acceptance testing (UAT) is your last chance to get the website fixed at the supplier's expense, before signing the acceptance report triggers the final payment and the warranty period. For a 60-page site, a plan of 80 checks and 5 to 10 working days of testing are enough for a non-technical project manager. A bug found after launch costs 3 to 5 times more: emergency fix, lost leads, damaged SEO traffic.
The 80 checks, grouped into 8 families
The client-side project manager does not have to test everything personally. They need to know what to check, with which free tool, and who owns each family.
| Family | Checks | Examples | Tool or method | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Content and pages | 12 | Approved copy, typos, images, legal notice, 404 pages | Review on staging, tracking spreadsheet | Client (marketing) |
| Forms and conversions | 10 | Submission, acknowledgement, recipient, anti-spam, required fields | Real submission of every form | Client + supplier |
| Navigation and links | 10 | Menus, broken links, breadcrumbs, site search | Screaming Frog (free up to 500 URLs) | Supplier |
| Redirects and migration | 8 | 301 redirects from old URLs, no chains, sitemap | Mapping file, Screaming Frog | Supplier |
| Technical SEO | 10 | Title and meta tags, single H1, canonical, robots.txt, structured data | Search Console, browser SEO extension | Supplier |
| GDPR and compliance | 8 | Cookie banner, consent before cookies are set, privacy policy | Private browsing, cookie inspection | Client (legal) + supplier |
| Accessibility | 10 | Contrast, alt text, keyboard navigation, form labels | WAVE, Lighthouse, keyboard test | Supplier |
| Performance and compatibility | 12 | Mobile score, LCP under 2.5 s, Chrome, Safari, Firefox, iOS, Android | PageSpeed Insights, real devices | Supplier |
| Total | 80 |
The simple rule: anything about content and business logic belongs to the client, anything technical belongs to the supplier, but the client checks the evidence (screenshots, reports) before signing.
Duration, resources and realistic cost of UAT
UAT rushed in half a day is one of the most common causes of failed launches. Here are 2026 estimates by site size.
| Site size | UAT duration | Client time | Supplier time included | Cost of a post-launch bug |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brochure site, 10 to 15 pages | 2 to 3 days | 1 day | 1 to 2 days | 200 to 600 EUR per urgent fix |
| Corporate site, 30 to 60 pages | 5 to 7 days | 2 to 3 days | 3 to 4 days | 400 to 1,500 EUR |
| Multilingual 60-page site | 7 to 10 days | 3 to 4 days | 4 to 6 days | 600 to 2,500 EUR |
| E-commerce, 200 products | 10 to 15 days | 4 to 6 days | 6 to 8 days | 1,000 to 5,000 EUR plus lost sales |
| Portal with client area | 15 to 20 days | 5 to 8 days | 8 to 12 days | 2,000 to 8,000 EUR |
In francophone Africa the same durations apply; an urgent fix on a corporate site is usually billed 150,000 to 600,000 FCFA (230 to 915 EUR).
Grading defects and drafting the acceptance report
Every defect goes into a shared spreadsheet with a severity level. Blocking: contact form sends nothing, payment fails, homepage broken on mobile; must be fixed before launch. Major: missing redirect on a page that gets traffic, unreadable contrast; fixed within 5 working days. Minor: typo, badly cropped image; fixed within 15 days, can be recorded as a reservation. The acceptance report states the date, the tested version, the list of minor reservations with their deadlines, and that the warranty period (often 3 months) starts on signature. Never sign an 'unreserved' report while a blocking or major defect is still open: the final payment, often 30%, is your only leverage.
Mini case study
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Nadia, communications officer at a professional federation in Lyon, receives a 60-page website to approve. The supplier proposes 2 days of UAT. She enforces the 80-point plan over 7 days and logs 46 defects, 4 of them blocking (membership form with no recipient, 120 old URLs without redirects). Without UAT, the 120 lost URLs would have cost about 30% of organic traffic, nearly 1,800 visits a month, and the broken form around fifteen memberships at 350 EUR, about 5,250 EUR in one month. Her 3 days of work (about 900 EUR internal cost) avoided more than 6,000 EUR in losses and urgent fixes.
FAQ
How long should UAT take for a 60-page website?
Allow 5 to 7 working days, 7 to 10 if the site is multilingual. The client must block 2 to 4 days of real availability during that window.
Who should write the test plan?
Ideally the supplier provides a base plan that the client completes with business scenarios. Make it a contract requirement, delivered at least 2 weeks before UAT starts.
Why does a bug cost more after launch?
Because on top of the fix you pay for emergency work, lost leads or sales, and sometimes an SEO drop. The gap is commonly 3 to 5 times the cost of fixing it during UAT.
What should the acceptance report contain?
The tested version, the date, the list of reservations with deadlines and the warranty start date. Payment of the balance, often 30%, should depend on its signature.
Should accessibility be tested during UAT?
Yes, at least 10 basic checks: contrast, alt text, keyboard navigation. Fixing these later costs 2 to 3 times more than during UAT.
Let's scope your project. Trust us with your website build or redesign with an 80-point UAT plan, a realistic testing window and an acceptance report included in the quote. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
