Many times we look for a change to make things better, but it is also true that things can get worse after a change. There are certain risks involved in any website redesign tasks and if those risks are not taken into consideration at the start then the results can be disastrous.
Redesign failures occur mainly due to the fact that businesses depend upon assumptions that certain website design changes will make the website more attractive and user-friendly. Here, we will look at common reasons for website redesign failures so that you can avoid making them while redesigning your website.
Common Reasons for Redesign Failures
Too Many Changes at a Time
It is likely that when the site is redesigned, there will be positive changes that it will usher in, but inevitably there will be some negative changes as well. Thus, it is better to introduce smaller changes at a time so that you can judge the effect they have on your lead generation and sales before further changes are made.
No Feedback from Customers
If feedback is not collected from customers during Beta testing of your newly redesigned website then you will not be able to understand what is working and what is not. Moreover, many of your loyal customers will feel alienated if suddenly a redesigned site is introduced to them. As such, usability testing sessions along with detailed feedback received from customers will help in making the redesign process more successful.
Your website design agency should spend time to understand the important tasks visitors perform while on your site and ensure that redesign helps to solve the most pressing needs of your customers.
More Emphasis on UX Than Conversions
UX designers tend to be experts in creating visually appealing websites. But, many of the designers do not have the expertise in designing a site that would help in increasing conversion rates. As such, while redesigning your website you will have to work with good designers as well as conversion optimizers so that website redesign delivers desired results.
Redesign Crosses Deadlines
Many of the redesign projects do not finish within the stipulated time frame by website design firms. Some of these projects take so long to complete that when these sites are actually launched, they become out-of-date within a short time or your industry experiences major changes while your site was being redesigned. The best solution to avoid such a problem is to utilize the incremental approach where design improvements are made over time. If such an incremental approach is used then it will be easier to roll back features and functionality that are not performing well. This incremental approach is also known as ESR or Evolutionary Site Redesign where the focus is on implementing smaller changes, monitor their effectiveness, and make necessary modifications as required.
How to improve the website redesign process?
Define Your Objectives
For a successful redesign process, you will have to define the objectives that are to be accomplished through website design. You will also have to analyze the main pages on which you get most of the traffic and the pages that yield the highest number of conversions. By analyzing these details you will be in a better position to carry out a successful redesign of your website.
Do Beta Test
Apart from testing the newly redesigned site internally and also with assistance from focus groups, there should be provision for a beta design that people can opt-in for and provide insights about the redesign. This process will help you understand whether redesign has been carried out successfully.
Post Redesign Problems and How to Solve Them
Reduction in Sales
A common problem that websites face is of reduction in sales, traffic, and conversion after a redesign. Possible reasons could be pages that are not opening after the redesign and migration of the server, the navigation has not been designed in the right manner and as such, links to some vital pages are missing in the navigation.
Thus, to maintain sales and conversions as before, it will be necessary to perform thorough testing to make sure there are no errors or problems on the site when visitors land on your website.
Consumer Complaints
It is possible that immediately after the newly redesigned site is live, you start getting complaints about the functionality of the site. This can happen since customers who were aware of how the old site worked will find it difficult to understand how the new features are to be used.
To fix this problem what you will have to do is create a Faqs section on the website as well as set up a Q&A session to address all the queries that customers may have with respect to the use of the new site. You need to ensure that complaints and suggestions are not ignored and promptly answered since the success or failure of your new website will largely depend upon the response from your customers.
Drop-in Search Engine Ranking
Another problem that commonly occurs is of a drop in ranking of your website for important keywords that it was previously ranking for. There could be several reasons for the same such as, missing content on the site, increase in 404 pages, loss of meta description and page titles, increase in page load time, increase in bounce rate, reduction in keyword density when content was re-structured, and similar other SEO factors.
If during redesign these SEO factors were not considered then it is likely that ranking of your website in search results will suffer and you will start losing business.
To resolve these issues you will have to perform a detailed SEO analysis to understand issues due to which your site’s ranking is falling, check details in Google Analytics as well as Search Console to get a better idea of what is going wrong and immediately fix those SEO issues.
Author Bio:
Marinos is the founder of MGS Marketing.Print.Graphics, a creative marketing & printing company in Toronto, offering branding, web design and product packaging services. His skillset and experience in the print and graphics industry stem 15+ years and his greatest expertise revolves in the worlds of interactive design.
