Do I need a website redesign?

Often, it’s the same when it comes to your website; it kind of looks OK, it still works and you’re busy working on client projects so everything must be fine – right? And then you visit a competitor’s website and it’s slick, looks fabulous, is engaging and has functionality you can only dream of, and you realise you’ve been left behind.

When it comes to your website, you should always be thinking about long-term future proofing. If you’ve recently invested in a new website, you might not want to hear this, but website design is a continuous process. Your website is never really finished because, whatever the size of your company, keeping your website fresh and relevant is essential. In the same way you’d maintain your car, sometimes you just need to change the oil (a quick refresh) and other times you need major bodywork repair (full redesign).

So how do you know if you need a full website redesign?

A winning website

When we’re auditing a website, we look at things afresh from a strategic standpoint, to make sure it still meets the business objectives, delivers a unique brand promise and facilitates a clear journey for different types of users. Websites need to adapt to stay relevant to a changing customer base and increasingly complex audiences. If you continually evolve and develop your website with regular redesigns, you can engage your target audience in more meaningful ways – if you don’t, your competitors will.

Luckily, the sophistication of the data we can obtain from your website – whether it’s Google Analytics, Moz, SEMrush or Full Story – means that we’re now much better placed to analyse what’s working and not working and user behaviour. Assumptions made or research undertaken when you last updated your website may not stand true anymore. The economy, environment, advances in technology, your target audience, market trends, stakeholders or workforce demographic may have all changed considerably since your website was built.

Asking the right questions

A website audit is a good starting point to deciding if you need a website redesign. Here are some of the fundamental questions to ask:

• Has your turnover recently stagnated or fallen?
• Are you operating in a different competitor landscape and are they performing better than you?
• Have your enquiry or lead levels dropped?
• Do you have low website traffic or a high bounce rate?
• Do you have poor public perception – are you receiving bad reviews online?
• Has your company evolved, without your website?
• Do you need to modernise your website and tell a new story to better engage consumers?
• Have you recently had a change of company direction or completed a merger or acquisition?
• Are you moving into markets that are different from those you previously targeted?
• Have your marketing goals and messages changed?
• Is there a lack of brand cohesiveness and consistency across the marketing mix?
• Have your customer preferences or profile changed since you last focused on your website?
• Are you rebranding or does your design look dated?
• Have you outgrown your current website and need to evolve your digital strategy?
• Is your CMS clunky?
• Do you need to create a better UX where users can navigate easily, find information quickly, complete an action, watch video content and view on all devices while on the move?
• Are your Google Adwords failing to convert to leads?

As well as website analytics, a great place to begin is to talk to your customers, walk in their shoes: empathise with them, understand their motivations and listen to their pain points today. If your website doesn’t add value, then customers might not return. So, once you’ve been through this process, don’t forget to listen to the answers and then make changes.

Dedicated to digital

By keeping your website fresh, engaging and embracing developments in functionality, you’ll have the benefit of maintaining a connection with your target audience, differentiating yourself, building brand loyalty and increasing website conversions. It does take time and investment, but in today’s competitive climate – where people make judgements in seconds – you can’t afford not to.

If you’d like to find out more about website redesign in Surrey, please contact us on 01252 820022

Learn more about our web design process here or why we have a discovery phase here