top 10 website redesign disasters – and how to avoid them
DESCRIPTION
Redesigning your web site right requires time and effort – and money. That means avoiding potentially costly mistakes is essential. Follow these rules of thumb and you’ll be well on your way to a successful redesign.1. Have a clear goal for your redesignEvery redesign should be the result of a clear business decision. Whether fulfilling a customer need or helping to boost your sales success, you need to know your bottom line for success.2. Know your audienceThe most important goal to keep in mind when planning is connecting with your target audience. Tailor your redesign to appeal to the market you want to reach, and work with your designer to find the perfect market fit. Aiming for “everyone” reaches no one.3. Simplify4. Design with a mobile-first attitude.Smartphones now make up more than 50% of the mobile market in the US, UK and Germany. Count on this trend continuing, and make sure your redesign is mobile-friendly. As a bonus, designing for mobile actually helps you to strip away unneeded features and content. Remember: Simplify.5. Budget your redesign according to expected return on investmentA technically good redesign can still be a losing proposition if it doesn’t match your market and income. Overly-complex solutions are expensive to build and hard to maintain. They will drain resources and reduce profit. Focus instead on things that work for you! Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is your guiding principle for every redesign; use it.6. Include a clear Call To Action (CTA) on every pageAll the traffic in the world won’t help you if visitors leave in frustration. Give visitors an easy way to become customers by prompting a transaction on every page, so also…7. …increase CTA visibility by placing it close to the top of the pageThe top of every web page is the first thing people see – and worth its weight in gold. Scrolling is a conversion killer, so provide a CTA that’s instantly visible on all pages.8. Prompt visitors to “opt-in” on every pageEmail addresses are the breadcrumbs leading to sales success. If you don’t know who is visiting your site, why bother with one in the first place? Make it easy to opt-in, and you will not only have a chance to “close the deal” later, you will also learn about what works for your target group. Then make those improvements.9. Write headlines using the 50/50 ruleA well-worn rule suggests: Put half of your effort into the text and fully half into crafting an effective headline. Live it! Sure, this sounds like good advice. But how do you measure a headlines “greatness”? By comparing it to other headlines for effectiveness! Which brings us to…10. A/B test everything!By routing visitors to different versions of headlines and CTAs, you can directly compare their effectiveness. So make A/B testing your 3-month rule. Find headlines that WORK in real life. Then try to improve on them. Almost nothing else you do will have such an amazing payoff for so little effort.11. Your redesign is not the end!You may be wonderiTRANSCRIPT
whole.wholedesignstudios.com
Top 10 Website
Redesign Disasters
And How to Avoid Them
whole.wholedesignstudios.com
Redesigning your web site right requires time and
e�ort – and money. That means avoiding potentially
costly mistakes is essential. Follow these rules of
thumb and you’ll be well on your way to a successful
redesign.
whole.wholedesignstudios.com
1. Have a clear goal for your redesign
Every redesign should be the result of a clear
business decision. Whether fulfilling a customer need
or helping to boost your sales success, you need to
know your bottom line for success.
whole.wholedesignstudios.com
2. Know your audience
The most important goal to keep in mind when
planning is connecting with your target audience.
Tailor your redesign to appeal to the market you want
to reach, and work with your designer to find the per-
fect market fit. Aiming for “everyone” reaches no one.
whole.wholedesignstudios.com
3. Simplify
whole.wholedesignstudios.com
4. Design with a mobile-first attitude.
Smartphones now make up more than 50% of the
mobile market in the US, UK and Germany. Count on
this trend continuing, and make sure your redesign is
mobile-friendly. As a bonus, designing for mobile actu-
ally helps you to strip away unneeded features and
content. Remember: Simplify.
5. Budget your redesign according to expected
return on investment
A technically good redesign can still be a losing
proposition if it doesn’t match your market and
income. Overly-complex solutions are expensive to
build and hard to maintain. They will drain resources
and reduce profit. Focus instead on things that work
for you! Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is your guiding
principle for every redesign; use it.
6. Include a clear Call To Action (CTA) on every page
All the tra�c in the world won’t help you if visitors
leave in frustration. Give visitors an easy way to
become customers by prompting a transaction on
every page, so also…
whole.wholedesignstudios.com
7. …increase CTA visibility by placing it close to the
top of the page
The top of every web page is the first thing people
see – and worth its weight in gold. Scrolling is a
conversion killer, so provide a CTA that’s instantly vis-
ible on all pages.
whole.wholedesignstudios.com
8. Prompt visitors to “opt-in” on every page
Email addresses are the breadcrumbs leading to sales
success. If you don’t know who is visiting your site,
why bother with one in the first place? Make it easy to
opt-in, and you will not only have a chance to “close
the deal” later, you will also learn about what works for
your target group. Then make those improvements.
whole.wholedesignstudios.com
9. Write headlines using the 50/50 ruleA well-worn
rule suggests:
Put half of your e�ort into the text and fully half into
crafting an e�ective headline. Live it! Sure, this sounds
like good advice. But how do you measure a
headlines “greatness”? By comparing it to other head-
lines for e�ectiveness! Which brings us to…
whole.wholedesignstudios.com
10. A/B test everything!
By routing visitors to di�erent versions of headlines
and CTAs, you can directly compare their
e�ectiveness. So make A/B testing your 3-month rule.
Find headlines that WORK in real life. Then try to im-
prove on them. Almost nothing else you do will have
such an amazing payo� for so little e�ort.
whole.wholedesignstudios.com
11. Your redesign is not the end!
You may be wondering: What is #11 doing in a Top 10
list? It embodies several lessons at once. Prepare for
the unexpected. Always look beyond your self-
imposed restrictions. Be on the lookout for ways to
pull these design principles together (“Simplify” your
CTA; shorten page flows to make transactions easier;
“mobil-ise” your design with all of these to optimise for
hand-held screens).
Your redesign is not the end. Always budget for site
marketing (what use is a great site with no tra�c!) and
further design refinements. This is much better than
simply letting the website slowly “rot” over the next 2
to 3 years – forcing you to spend a huge amount to
redesign it again later!Deciding to redesign your site
means a substantial investment in time and money, so
make it count. Follow these simple rules to help
eliminate waste and maximise your return on invest-
ment.
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@GILESADAMTHOMAS
@WHOLEDS
WHOLEDESIGNSTUDIOS.COM
whole.wholedesignstudios.com