Website roasting
Why websites need roasting 🔥
A lot of website roasts start with the initiative of the business owner. They ask social media users to roast their site or product. There are two reasons for this: marketing and feedback. Especially in the "indie hacker" space, roasting is a great way to get honest feedback to improve your design, content, or usability.
Good products are built through feedback. Smart founders know that users should be listened to. Better yet, listen to specialists. The beauty of asking for feedback publicly is that you can get valuable insights that would otherwise cost thousands. Sure, it has its downsides — but it gets people talking.
Roasting agency-built websites
Even if your site was built by a web agency, I’m confident there are things that could be improved.
Everyone has opinions on aesthetics, and that's okay. But design should serve the brand and speak to the right audience.
As someone who browses websites daily, I see:
- messy layouts
- poor usability
- outdated visuals
- broken features
These issues might go unnoticed by non-designers, but they definitely impact usability and conversions. In the end, that affects how much revenue your business makes.
Backed by data
According to Baymard Institute — who specialize in UX research and run over 20,000 hours of usability studies annually:
- 13% of users who have a bad experience will tell at least 15 other people. One social post can reach thousands.
- 91% of unhappy users won’t complain. They’ll just leave.
- Only 1% say they are satisfied with e-commerce sites on every visit. (As a designer, I’m extremely critical — I can’t name a single Estonian e-commerce site I’d call truly great.)
- 88% of users are unlikely to return to a site after a bad experience.
- According to Forrester, good UX can potentially boost conversion rates by up to 400%.
So yes — roasting your website is a great first step. Especially in Estonia, I’d say the situation is even worse. We have a lot of IT firms and template installers. Not a lot of strategic design.
Design-focused roasts
Design roasts focus on layout and visual style. Typically, a UI/UX designer shares one specific screen for feedback.
Even without full brand context, people can still comment on:
- message clarity
- typography
- composition
- color use
- basic usability
Users form an impression in under 0.5 seconds. If the design fails, the rest doesn’t matter.
Full-site roasts
This is where the whole site is reviewed — visuals, copy, content structure, and overall messaging.
You might have:
- great copy but bad layout
- amazing design but unclear value
The two need to work together. A site that looks expensive but fails to communicate won’t convert — unless your only audience is other designers.
Technical roasts
Some go deeper:
- site speed
- SEO and semantic markup
- accessibility and code structure
These reviews are harder to show on social media, but they matter — especially if you’re serious about performance.
How roasting works
Most roasts happen on social platforms like X. A founder posts a link and asks for a roast. Users reply with praise or criticism. Sometimes it sparks a debate. Sometimes someone redesigns the page.
That redesign might be better — or not. Often it’s done by junior designers and doesn’t match the brand. That’s okay. A roast isn’t a rebrand. It’s a mirror.
AI-based website roasts
There are now tools that let AI roast your site. Most are based on GPT. I’ve tried some. Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend them — except maybe for fun.
They can:
- detect missing elements
- compare against best practice checklists
But they don’t understand context. They can’t tell if something is on-brand. One of the best-performing SaaS websites among designers got an average score from an AI tool.
Use it as inspiration, not guidance.
Get your website roasted
Honest feedback can sting at first. But it helps.
Usability principles and design heuristics are well documented. Roasting shows you what others see — and where they get stuck. You don’t have to take it all as truth. Share it with your agency and ask for their take.
If they dismiss it without reason, you’ll know. Good designers will use that feedback to improve.
You might get a roast for free on social media — but it depends on luck and who sees it.
We offer a website roast for 99€ + VAT.
You’ll get:
- freeform feedback on your homepage or landing page
- a Figma file with comments
- response in 48h after payment