{"id":40529,"date":"2023-03-20T16:00:59","date_gmt":"2023-03-20T20:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crazyeggblog.wpengine.com\/?p=40529"},"modified":"2026-01-06T15:13:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T23:13:57","slug":"website-redesign-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crazyegg.com\/blog\/website-redesign-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Poor Sales? Maybe You Need a Website Redesign: Here\u2019s How"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Let\u2019s look at some of my favorite techniques for <\/span>creating a website redesign strategy <\/b>and implementing it for <\/span>maximum ROI<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>How Do You Know if Your Website Needs a Redesign?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I answer three questions when deciding whether or not to redesign a website:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

  1. Does the design look outdated?<\/h4><\/li>\n\n\n\n

  2. Are my conversions\/sales decreasing?<\/h4><\/li>\n\n\n\n

  3. Have I received complaints about user experience or design-related issues?<\/h4><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    If I answer yes to any of those questions, a website redesign is necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It\u2019s also important to consider branding. For instance, I recently bought Ubersuggest<\/a>, a keyword suggestion tool to which I\u2019m adding more functionality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Before I bought it, the site looked like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"website-redesign-ubersuggest\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There\u2019s nothing wrong with the design, but it doesn\u2019t match my personal branding. After giving it an overhaul,<\/span>, the site now looks like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"website-redesign-ubersuggest-2\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    It matches the design of my personal blog<\/a>, so it\u2019s easily recognized as one of my properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you\u2019re rebranding your business, a website redesign might help bolster your efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Risky Website Redesign Approach<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Unfortunately, the creative process used by most agencies and marketing departments don’t consider risk mitigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To understand your risk exposure, think about the number of individual changes that are made during a redesign. Multiply that by the depth of change for each element. Imagine for a moment the laundry list of changes proposed during a creative meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You’ll change the home page headline, imagery, site-wide template layout, navigation bar design, fonts, shopping cart or form layouts, and many more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When do you discuss the risk of all these changes? Maybe some of those changes help conversions, and some probably hurt. How do you know which have positive or negative effect?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Website<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    In most cases that discussion about risk-mitigation doesn’t happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Marketers usually go into a redesign without a process in place to test the page templates and landing pages that are being changed. There’s no system put in place to monitor and justify those changes against key conversion metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mitigating these risks can only be done with a rigorous conversion optimization strategy. It requires a process that includes understanding the target audience, prioritizing test hypotheses to solve issues obstructing conversions, setting up controlled split tests, and analyzing insights from data to make informed changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Companies that are using a structured process that include A\/B\/n split testing as part of a conversion optimization strategy, like WineExpress<\/a>, Iron Mountain<\/a>, Electronic Arts<\/a> and BabyAge.com<\/a>, are getting significant sales lift while reducing risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In fact, eConsultancy reports that companies with a structured approach for conversion optimization are twice as likely to have seen a large increase in sales as others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Structured<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    A structured approach doubles conversion optimization success<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Better Approach: Evolutionary Site Redesign<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Testing, and a proven system to execute testing for design changes, is critical for today’s online marketer. The risk of making substantial website changes without it is too great not to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This approach to website redesign is something I call “Evolutionary Site Redesign” or ESR<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The truth is that a dramatic, “revolutionary” redesign is dangerous for most companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It’s not that you don’t need a redesign. You probably do. But a better, and less risky, approach involves a process of testing with incremental (and often dramatic) improvements. This ESR approach gives a better visitor experience and results versus the traditional throw-the-baby-out-with-the-bathwater method.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    ESR Gives Continuous Results Improvement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    There are two major differences between ESR and the traditional “Revolutionary Site Redesign” (RSR) approach:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. It’s Faster<\/b>
      After a traditional website redesign, marketing departments are usually so fed-up with the process that they\u2019ll gladly wait another 5 years before trying again. Or else, they may spend the next 6 months scrambling to fix the conversion rate drop with their new site. ESR, in contrast, creates a system of continuous improvement so your website is always leading the pack.
      \"The<\/a><\/figure> The traditional website redesign cycle of under-performance<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Success criteria
      <\/b>\u201cGut feeling\u201d and reliance on the so-called \u201cbest practices\u201d of designers and UX practitioners rules in a traditional redesign. While the team may be talented, no batter hits .1000 and many of their changes are likely to hurt website results. With ESR, every change is measured in controlled A\/B\/n split tests against its effect on business goals.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      The RSR approach leaves your website lacking and continuously falling behind in the intervals between major redesigns. But, with ESR, your website will continuously keep up and surpass the success of the rest of the web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ESR essentially uses conversion rate optimization principles to redesign your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      How ESR Eliminates Epic Website Redesigns<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      By adopting the evolutionary site redesign <\/b>approach you can guard against website redesign risks while dramatically improving your website every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"ESR<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      ESR continuously improves your website<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      With ESR, your website will continuously keep up and surpass the success of the rest of the web. Once you’ve defined your websites goals clearly, you can test and continuously optimize to improve on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ESR works by implementing a system of continuous A\/B split testing<\/a> throughout your entire website and digital marketing. 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      You should test everything in your marketing: <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • Site-wide design styles<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Logo, header and tagline<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Product page templates<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Landing page design & content<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Your product or service value proposition statements<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Lead generation forms, shopping cart and checkout<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Home page design, eyeflow, merchandising<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Imagery, copywriting, ads, calls to action, and offers<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • And everything in-between!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Booking.com, for example, should be continuously updating their design by testing the major site-wide elements that combine to create their look & feel: header, nav, PCTA, headlines, repeating listing areas, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \"Booking.com<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

        Booking.com’s ESR opportunities<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        At WiderFunnel, we’ve developed a continuous improvement system to drive the ESR process for companies. It leverages great thinkers who have gone before us and adapts the scientific method for website practicalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The system ensures that website test iterations are driven by solving customer problems identified in the heuristic LIFT Analysis<\/a>, voice of customer data and web analytics data (like Crazy Egg click heatmaps<\/a>), rather than just creative aesthetics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The Top 5 Reasons to Use ESR<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        Here\u2019s why ESR is the future of website un-redesign:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        1. You get a new site \u201clook and feel<\/a>\u201d and conversion rate lift at the same time<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        2. You learn which elements actually improve results<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        3. You maintain your team\u2019s focus on the important business metrics rather than \u201caesthetic\u201d redesign<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        4. Your website never faces lags in results in-between redesigns<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        5. You avoid the risks of a \u201cRevolutionary\u201d site redesign<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          <\/a>How to Redesign an Existing Website<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

          Whether you use ESR or decide to take the plunge and do a full redesign all at once it is important to keep your website\u2019s redesign<\/a> work manageable (and enjoyable) and to make sure your final results are worth the effort. In short, take time before beginning creative work to plan. A detailed, in-depth plan of the entire project will ensure you and your comrades don\u2019t trip over one another in the trenches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          To do this, a lot of spreadsheet work and grit planning is necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          If you plan down to weekly – or even daily – tasks to be completed for each aspect of your website and assign them to different, responsible professionals from the beginning, there will be no reason your project should lag behind your timeline or produce sub-par results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          This means creating spreadsheets with numerous pages and what will seem like an endless amount of rows and columns for tracking and filling in information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          It might sound overwhelming and unnecessary, but when you\u2019re there in the trenches and can\u2019t see the battlefield from a bird\u2019s eye view, having a guide to tell you exactly what to do next will give you comfort and bring you closer to relief and your goal of winning the battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Think of creating your website redesign action plan and tracking sheets as training for the battle: the harder you train, the more prepared you\u2019ll be, the more successfully you\u2019ll fight, and the quicker you will rise as the victor and return home with the spoils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Take a look at this video before redesigning your website:<\/p>\n\n\n