What is a redesign?
As a conversion rate optimisation (CRO) agency it is our natural position to advocate for small iterative changes over a complete redesign. However, there comes a time when even we must admit a redesign is worthwhile considering.
A redesign is where you take an entire site and start again from scratch. It differs to CRO in that CRO only changes small sections at a time and then tests these changes. Redesigns can be risky because you are changing lots of things at once. It’s hard to know what has made a positive or negative impact.
When you might consider a redesign
You may be considering a redesign if you have started to dislike the overall look of your site, feeling like the template it was based on or the custom design has become outdated. You may also think about a redesign if the core of what you are offering or who you are wanting to appeal to has changed since the site was last set live. These kinds of internal shifts can mean small tweaks just won’t cut it.
There are important steps you should take to ensure your redesign goes as smoothly as possible and doesn’t leave you with a site that looks better but performs the same (wasting your money), or worse.
Steps for a successful redesign
Step 1 – have an audit and do research to gain clarity over what’s wrong
You may think you know what’s wrong with your site, and you are probably right on many accounts. But it’s unlikely you are going to spot all of the problems with it that someone on the outside can. A thorough audit of your site by a conversion rate optimisation expert will look at your site with a fresh pair of eyes, seeing the things you miss.
You should also consider running user research alongside an audit. High-quality moderated user research reveals qualitative insights that an audit cannot. Some of the findings that come out of user research may back up those in the audit, but often user research can find new issues that even the most seasoned CRO expert would be unable to uncover.
Step 2 – design your new site in a collaborative design tool like Figma
It’s important that your team and outsiders will be able to collaborate easily on your new designs. Using a tool like Figma will help you with this as people can easily comment on specific parts of the design and have a conversation about them.
Figma also has a mobile app, where you can preview mobile designs as they would appear in real life, making it much easier to see your mobile designs as they will once they are live and catch any errors before you get to that stage.
Step 3 – have a conversion rate optimisation expert review your designs
By this point you are probably feeling really confident in your design choices. But it’s always good to get that outside perspective again, especially as there were likely a lot of voices going into your redesign which can lead to a less than cohesive feel.
Having an expert opinion on your designs before they go into development can save you a lot of time and money in the long run. You might even want to bring them in at the wireframe stage, to make sure you have your information architecture (the way information is laid out) correct before advancing to more time consuming and costly design work.
Step 4 – test your prototypes with real members of your target audience
User testing comes into play again at this stage to make sure your designs will resonate with the target audience. You can carry out quick user testing on functional and non-functional prototypes to discover if they are likely to convert.
If there are any last minute tweaks needed as a result of the testing, now is the time to make them.
Step 5 – make sure your new design performs better than the original with an AB test
Some AB testing platforms like our partners at Webtrends Optimize let you AB test an entire site so you can be sure your new one is going to perform better than the existing one before you delete the old one.
This is such a valuable exercise to carry out as it helps validate everything you have been working on. It can also save you from making a catastrophic mistake.
Step 6 – continually look for optimisation opportunities with your new site
You might think your new shiny site is perfect, but there are usually some things that can still be improved upon.
- Pay attention to customer support tickets and the questions users are asking (questions can mean your site is unclear).
- Place a survey on your site asking users how it could be improved.
- Speak to your sales team to keep building out customer personas and adapting the site to better appeal to your audiences as time goes on.
Make sure you are testing all your changes, ideally with an AB testing tool like Webtrends Optimize or Shoplift (for Shopify stores).
Summary
In this article we have looked at why you may want a redesign (shifts in how you want to be perceived) and the steps for a successful redesign. Having your redesign be a success depends largely building an evidence base for what need to change and validating your changes at every step.
If you would like help with an audit, user research, an evaluation of your designs, or help AB testing, we’re the agency for you. We are fully flexible to your needs. Get in touch with us for a free consultation where you can discuss what point in the journey you are at and where you see a gap in your resources or expertise.
Hi, I’m Charlotte. I love writing about user psychology and tips I’ve picked up from leading user research and CRO projects. Get in touch if you’d like to work with me to improve the user experience on your site or click here to learn more about your future CRO team.