Most companies believed in their “trusted”, traditional website redesign strategy. Every 2-5 years, the marketing team agrees the site design looks “outdated” and needs to be “redesigned”. Marketers who are excited about this new project don’t stop to consider whether the new design will actually improve results. Their logic is “The website is new, so it must be better than the previous one, right?”
Many have been fooled into believing that a website redesign will automatically improve leads and revenue. It’s common to assume that a “latest design” will build customer’s loyalty and boost conversions.
This is a misleading expectation.
Modern Website Redesign
A modern website redesign company always considers the risks involved. They think about the vast number of changes that can happen during a redesign. Headlines, imagery, site-wide template layouts, navigation bar design, fonts, shopping cart or form layouts, colors and many more elements are important factors to be considered. Some of those changes help conversions, and some hurt.
Clients need to discuss the risk of all these changes. In the traditional website redesign, this discussion about risk alleviation will never happen. You will go straight ahead into a redesign without any testing process to make sure the page templates and landing pages actually improve results. You will have no prior system to monitor and justify those changes against key conversion metrics.
Evolutionary Web Redesign
To avoid these risks, you will need a conscientious conversion strategy as a goal. Conversion optimisation isn’t just for landing pages, buttons and pictures. You can also test your site-wide design, layouts, conversion paths, and more. Testing and a proven system to execute testing for design changes is essential for today’s online marketer. The risk of making substantial website changes without it are too great not to.
Old, traditional approach to website redesign is dangerous for most companies. It’s not that you don’t need a redesign. You definitely need it to stay updated with the quick development of Internet world. Yet, choose an approach that involves a process of testing with continuing improvement.
Evolution Web Redesign Provides Continuous Improvement
Modern approach on web redesign works by implementing a series of carefully crafted testing throughout the entire website. Rather than relying on the gut-feeling and flawed intuition of an art director, your website decisions should be made against the crucible of customer actions.
There are many reasons why modern approach is becoming the new redesign method. Here are some of the major benefits over the traditional approach:
1. It’s Faster
Results start immediately upon getting the first, high-impact testing live, which can take only a few short weeks. In an traditional method, many changes made during a redesign do nothing but take time, add complication and fulfill the art director’s aesthetic desires.
2. Result-Based Goal
“Gut feeling” and reliance on the so-called “best practices” of designers and UX practitioners rules in traditional approach. While the redesign team may be talented, many of their changes are likely to hurt website results. With modern approach, every major change is measured in controlled split tests against its effect on business goals.
3. Learn What Really Works
With modern method, every major change that is tested can lead to surprising results. Those are the best kind of results, because they lead to learning and new questions.
4. Prioritise A Better User Experience
This modern approach gives a better visitor experience and results versus the traditional method. There’s no disorienting redesign launch date, where returning customers are suddenly given an entirely new website to figure out. Instead, every major experience change is tested in isolation, surrounded by the familiarity of the rest of the site.
5. Stay Updated
The traditional approach leaves your website lacking and continuously falling behind in the intervals between major redesigns. However, in the modern approach, your website will continuously keep up and surpass the success of the rest of the Web.
6. User-Oriented Design
What better way to design than to allow your users to “vote” on which one works better for them. You get a new site “look and feel” and conversion rate lift at the same time.
7. No More Design Disagreement
You maintain your team’s focus on the important business metrics rather than “aesthetic” redesign. Evolution web redesign eliminates boardroom debates about which design concept will work better. Instead, you’ll say, “You should test that!”
By adopting evolution web redesign approach, you can guard against website redesign risks while improving your website every day. You should test everything in your website, include:
- Site-wide design styles
- Logo, header and tagline
- Product page templates
- Landing page design & content
- Your product or service value proposition statements
- Lead generation forms, shopping cart and checkout
- Home page design, eyeflow, merchandising
- Imagery, copywriting, ads, calls-to-action and offers
The best part is, you can start now. You don’t need to wait for the slow mechanics of a website overhaul to start testing. Contact The Website Marketing Group today or give us a call on 1300 008 964.