How To Do Redesign Planning Right

Website redesign means a lot of work. It requires time and other resources; it is usually quite pricey. That is why when considering redesign, you need to prepare very well. Redesign planning is probably the most important element of the whole procedure. So we will provide you with some basic steps you need to take to be ready for a redesign. 

Should You Start Redesign Planning?

There are many reasons why you might want to consider a redesign. Here are some of them.

• Maybe the old website has performance and usability issues. The traffic and conversion rates are not to your liking. Customers complain about inconvenient navigation. Overall, the website is just not good enough. That is a reason to plan a redesign.
• Mobile issues plague your website. It is difficult or impossible to use on mobile devices, and that means many customers leave as soon as they visit. To make a website mobile-friendly is a good reason for redesign planning. 
• Your website is fine, but you have rebranded. This likely means only cosmetic changes, for example, new colors and fonts. However, you might want to redesign more because the website does not correspond to your new vision.
• Your website is okay, but your competitors have recently redesigned their websites. You feel like to stay competitive, you need to follow their example.

All these reasons are a valid cause for redesign. However, keep in mind that it is also recommended to redesign your website every few years. It does not have to be a massive change, but staying modern is important for a website. With new technologies and trends, regular redesigns are a good investment. 

Study Your Current Website

The best part about having to redesign is that you have the old website to glean insights from. When you start from scratch, you do not know what your customers like or dislike. You have no idea what would work with them and what would not. Your existing website is a great source of information on specifically your audience and the things that they like.

After you study all this information, you will know what to improve. You will also know what to preserve. If a feature is clearly successful, you need to keep it. Use all this knowledge for redesign planning.

Important Metrics

• Have you ever used a heat map? It shows you where your website’s visitors spend the most time and what they ignore. All this data can help you make the new website design better. It can also give hints on areas of improvement. It is a really irreplaceable tool. 
• Do you have high bounce rates? That is a sure sign that your website is not attractive to visitors. Perhaps, they cannot find what they are looking for or the site is difficult to use. Consider investing in a user experience specialist so that the new website does not have such issues.
• Are the conversion rates low? For this metric, you need to consider your calls to action. They might need to be tweaked to make them more effective.
• Where does the traffic come from? You are probably using multiple channels to advertise. Consider which of them bring you customers and which ones do not. Then, use this information to figure out how to redesign your website and create a new strategy for its promotion. Note: low traffic coming from a source does not always mean that you have to abandon it. For instance, you do not get a lot of traffic from search engines. That means you need to pay more attention to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), not less.
• On that note, what are your search engine rankings? Low rankings mean less exposure, and they are addressed by working on the SEO of your redesigned website. It might even be worth it to invest in a SEO specialist.
• What is the page load time? Modern buyers are not very patient. If the loading time is too much, you need to keep that in mind when redesigning. Direct your team to find ways to make it load faster.

Investigate Competitors

Competitors and their websites can help you in a couple ways.

• Inspiration. As long as you do not outright steal ideas, taking inspiration from your competitors’ websites is a good approach. Consider what they seem to do right and follow their example. But do not forget to add a twist and use your own imagination for a good result.
• Competitor analysis. Aside from observing the competitors, study them. Pay attention to their use of keywords and navigation. Consider the way they use calls to action. Do they employ any specific features that your website lacks? You might need a professional to conduct this analysis, but it is well worth it.
• Stand out. You cannot understand how to stand out when you do not know what your competitors are doing. Study them not only to gain insight into what works for them. Try to figure out what they do not do for the customer that you can do. Be unique!

Redesign Planning and the Customers

Your audience, your customers are the most important thing to study. You can conduct an analysis to learn more about the consumer behavior in your field. The more you know about customer likes and dislikes, the better you can tailor your redesigned website to suit their needs. 

A lot of useful information will come from the study of your website. But do your clients leave feedback? If they do, great; make sure to use it! You can also request it. Use emails or, for example, or your chatbot if you have one. Customer feedback is a crucial source of information on how to redesign your website. Know your target audience, and you will be successful. 

Who Will Handle Your Redesign?

Rather early on in your redesign planning you need to decide who to hire for this project. It is particularly important to do before budgeting.

Three Main Options

You can choose from at least three approaches to finding the people to perform your redesign.

• Hiring web designers to become a part of your team. The main advantage of having a web designer on your team is that they can help with the website at any time. The main disadvantage is that hiring someone is rather costly and demands a lot of resources. You need to find, vet and hire someone, hoping that they can become a good member of the team. Additional costs, such as orientation, paid time off, sick days, and so on make this option quite pricey. But it can be worth it for continuous updates of your website.
• Finding a web design agency. The main advantage of this approach is that all the hussle of redesign falls on the shoulders of the agency’s specialists. The main disadvantage is the cost; agencies usually require a lot of money. Additionally, agencies still need to be vetted and checked since quality varies. 
• Finding a freelancer. Freelancers have the major advantage of being cheaper than the rest of the options. Finding one also requires time, patience and willingness to check the quality of a candidate’s work with smaller tasks. Freelancer teams are a possibility, but that means even more vetting.

Additional Option

• The final possible approach is to do your redesign yourself. With how many no-code design tools there are, it is quite doable. It is also the cheapest option. However, no-code tools need to be studied. For example, you need to spend some time learning WordPress options before you can use it to its fullest. It means doing a lot of work that you might not be really qualified to do. Still, if you have trust in your style and no-code tools, it is a good opportunity to learn something new. 

As you can see, all options (except the DIY one) require checking, testing and vetting. They all will need time and care. However, they differ in costs, which makes it essential to determine who you choose during the planning stage.

Redesign Planning Needs Goals

Every plan needs a goal. You can have multiple goals; in fact, you probably will have multiple goals. Make sure that they are doable and improve your website. A good idea is to use SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. For instance, do not say “I want to increase conversion rates.” Say, “within three months after launch, the redesigned website will have a 20% increase in conversion rates.”

The goal is time-bound: it will take three months. It is specific: the conversion rates will be increased by 20%. It is measurable for the same reason. And it is definitely relevant; conversion rates are always relevant to businesses. If it is achievable or not depends on the business. With the data that you have about your website, competitors, and consumers, you will know the right numbers to use.

Determine the Timeline

Another important part of a plan is the timeline. Prepare a rough outline and refine it with time. Some deadlines can be flexible, and you need to take into account unexpected situations. However, a general timeline needs to be prepared before you start your redesign. 

Is Your Brand Ready?

Your brand should be more or less consistent and prepared before you start the redesign. Your website needs to reflect your brand, which will be difficult if the latter is not fully ready. Branding determines what sort of visuals you are going to use as well. Things like colors and fonts depend on what you use for your brand.

Trends are important to consider when redesigning. However, it might be even more crucial to try and make your style last. A classic approach means less redesigning when a trend expires. Be true to the vision of your brand and prepare to communicate it to the team who will be redesigning your website.

A trend is exactly that, and it's going to disappear.

Chuck Schuldiner, musician.

Sitemap to Help with Redesign Planning

One last thing you do as you plan your website redesign is a sitemap. We are already inching into the implementation territory, but a sitemap can still be considered a part of planning. Indeed, you literally create a map of your website. You can use paper or your computer for that; even a mobile device can work. The important part is that you envision your website with all its pages.

Things to include:

• homepage;
• terms of use;
• a page describing you and your business;
• pages for your products or services;
• a page that includes your contact information;
• testimonials;
• careers (if you are open to the possibility of using your website to hire people);
• other pages you need (for example, your blog). 

In addition, start thinking about content and SEO. You do not need to create content during the redesign planning. Still, you need to consider what content you want and where you want it. 

In Conclusion

Redesign planning is a difficult but vital part of website redesign. You should redesign your website every few years, and it is up to you to determine when it’s time. Study your website, competitors and customers. Determine who will handle the redesign. Create goals, deadlines and a sitemap. And do not forget to have your branding ready. With these steps completed, you are prepared for the redesign!