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5 Reasons to Use an Iterative Website Redesign Process

5 Reasons To Use An Iterative Website Redesign Process

grow your website redesign metrics
Hope for a successful redesignHas your company been wanting to redesign its website, but can’t agree on the best course of action? Let’s say you hire the best designers in town to give your site an entirely new look and feel. It looks great, but does that mean it’s going to make you more money? Not necessarily. Companies like Yahoo and Target have both experienced the wrath of the internet after making large design changes without having all the necessary data or research.
So what to do? How do you ensure your website redesign will prove worthy to your current and future consumers? Is there a way where you can dramatically improve the user experience and redesign your website while learning more about your customers? Instead of making one gigantic change, how about taking small steps to determine what is better for the user?

This is why we recommend taking an iterative website redesign approach. Iterative website redesigns are where you make small changes to your website and validate that they are improving your conversion rates with A/B testing.

Here are 5 reasons why this is the most strategic decision for any type of business:

iterative-website-redesign-process Clear Direction: Applying a systematic approach to your website redesign process will provide you with a more clear direction on the next steps to take to continue improving user experience and increase conversions. With a well-thought-out process and system, you’ll be on the right path toward redesigning a more successful website.

best customers for website redesignDon’t Upset Your Best Customers: If you’ve been around for a while, and have a loyal customer base, then you’re already doing something right. But, if you start making monumental changes without notifying your customers or conducting customer research when you launch your redesign there is a chance you’ll receive negative backlash and even lose part of your existing customer base. At any given time, Amazon could be running 200 different A/B tests, but you don’t always notice the changes. This is the ideal way to constantly upgrade a website – little changes at a time that don’t interfere with the customer journey. Be the “you” version of Amazon, and test your way to success.
mitigate loss for website redesign

Mitigate Loss: Slowly introducing a new website isn’t just practical, it’s necessary. Just look at Finish Line’s holiday debacle in 2012. They launched a new site days before Black Friday and ended up reverting back to the original site only a few days later after mass amounts of customer complaints about lost orders started filling up their Facebook wall. Talk about bad social media WOM! Had they A/B tested into their redesign before one of their busiest online sales days, they would have found out that the changes they planned to make weren’t going to work.
apple website redesign

Just Because It Worked for Apple Doesn’t Mean It’ll Work For You: While imitation is the largest form of flattery, you cannot let it guide all of your business decisions. If you see a competitor adding in a new homepage scroller, or updating their cart layout, this doesn’t mean you have to. Every business’ customer base is different, with specific wants and needs. I’m not saying don’t make the same changes your competitors are. Make changes to your site by testing them to ensure they are in the best interest of your customers. Don’t just monkey see, monkey do.
customer experience ecommerce

Think of Your Customers: Finally, in order to be a successful eCommerce business, you have to put your customers at the forefront of your decision-making processes. Use an iterative redesign process to ensure you’re making changes that are going to improve your users’ experiences, not make it more difficult for them. Your customers are what keeps you in business, so make sure you’re making iterative changes to your website with their best interests in mind.
Let’s face it, not all of us can be designers and developers. So rushing into anything, especially something that could cost your business hundreds of thousands of dollars, isn’t ideal. Great websites are visually appealing, functional, and easy for consumers to use. Instead of launching a new design or responsive website, test it to confirm everything is functioning as it should and your visitors are responding positively to it.

Example of Iterative A/B Testing:

Iterative AB TestingIterative website redesigning isn’t an option in this day and age; it’s a necessity. Not only will it help you save money, but it will also help keep your current customers happy, and potentially bring in new visitors to your website. But don’t just take my word for it… start testing different elements on your homepage and see what helps increase your conversion rates and overall revenue.
View more posts about Conversion Rate Optimization.

For more help on how to increase your site conversions, let us take a look and let you know where you can improve.


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Alex Harris, Conversion Optimization Director

Optimizely MVP/SME for Strategic Experimentation. Alex Harris, Conversion Optimization Director, Perficient.

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