You are ready for a website redesign if:
- Your website is out of date, not mobile-friendly, or relies on obsolete technology
- It no longer represents your company accurately
- Your target audience is not engaging with your website due to usability issues
- There has been a major decline in conversions and organic traffic
Whatever your reasoning is behind getting a redesign, the goal is to make it successful.
For that to happen, work needs to begin long before any layout is reworked or the code is rewritten.
We are talking about preparing for a website redesign project in a way that guarantees success.
Confirming Your Assertions: First Step of Preparing for a Website Redesign
We glossed over all the possible scenarios where a redesign might be necessary for your website. First step – confirm if these scenarios actually apply to your website:
Outdated Design, Content, and Obsolete Technology
To confirm if your site’s design looks old or relies on obsolete tech:
Tech Audit
- Audit the site using tools like FullStory
- Use tools like Pingdom to analyze its load time and identify all slow-loading design elements on your pages
- Flash-based websites are not compatible with most mobile devices and modern browsers; check if your site is built using technologies like Adobe Flash or older versions of HTML/CSS
- Test your website’s responsiveness to different devices and screen sizes using tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test
- Use BrowserStack to test how your website performs on the latest browsers and devices
Content Audit
- Use Screaming Frog to crawl your website for broken links and or error pages (404 errors)
- Use tools like SuiteJar to track outdated content on your site and identify all the pages that need urgent refreshing
Design Audit
- Check if your website has outdated design elements like excessive use of gradients or excessively bright color schemes
- Research the latest web design trends on platforms like Dribbble and Behance to see how far behind your site’s current design is lagging
Brand and Business Changes
To identify inconsistencies between your current brand identity and your website:
- Perform a comprehensive review of your existing brand elements and all older brand elements on your website (logos, color schemes, messaging)
- Use tools like SurveyMonkey to create and distribute surveys to gather insights regarding users’ perceptions of your brand
- Research how close competitors have updated their websites after rebranding efforts using tools like SEMrush
- Use tools like Brand24 to review past brand mentions on social media platforms, blogs, and forums
Usability Issues
- Confirm if visitors are struggling to navigate or use your site to find what they need
- Use tools like Google Analytics to monitor your site’s bounce rates
- Organize remote usability tests with real users to observe their interactions with your site with tools like UserTesting
- Implement heatmap tools like Hotjar or Crazy Egg to visualize where users drop off and how frequently
- Use analytics tools like Mixpanel or Heap Analytics to detect all potential roadblocks in the user journey
- Collect user feedback directly with tools like SurveyMonkey
Conversion Issues
- Use a conversion rate calculator like the WebFX Conversion Rate Calculator to track the percentage of visitors completing desired actions on your site
- Leverage Google Analytics to track which traffic patterns and sources are underperforming and contributing to declining conversions and organic search traffic
- Use tools like Zuko Analytics that focus specifically on form interactions to identify where users drop off during form submissions.
- Use tools like Heap to visualize user paths and all bottlenecks or confusing transitions that hinder conversions
Defining Goals: Going Ahead with the Website Redesign
After you take all these steps, you’ll have a clear idea of whether your site needs an urgent redesign. Use all the info you gathered in the previous phase to define what you intend to achieve with the redesign:
Define the Most Important Pages for the Redesign
Use the BCG Matrix framework to categorize your website pages based on their performance.
You can create a BCG Matrix using a tool like Miro for visualization.
The BCG Matrix will divide your web pages into four categories: Stars, Cash Cows, Question Marks, and Dog:
- Stars: High traffic and high conversion pages that are performing well; focus on maintaining and optimizing these pages during the redesign
- Cash Cows: High conversion but low traffic pages that show potential; invest in strategies to drive more traffic to these pages during the redesign
- Question Marks: High traffic but low conversion pages that need improvement; experiment with different designs to boost conversions on these pages
- Dogs: Low traffic and low conversion pages that need major significant changes or should be considered for removal
Examine how traffic correlates with conversions for each page:
- If a high-traffic page has low conversions, it may indicate that users are interested, but the content or calls-to-action (CTAs) are not compelling enough
- Based on your analysis, prioritize which pages require immediate attention during the redesign process
- Focus on making informed changes to high-impact areas first
Identify Bottlenecks in the User Journey That Need to Be Removed
Next, effectively identify all major bottlenecks in the user journey to eliminate them in the redesign:
- Begin by creating a user journey map to visualize the steps website visitors take from awareness to conversion
- Identify important stages, such as sign-up, onboarding, and product usage that need improving during the redesign
- Use tools like Miro or Lucidchart to create structured diagrams of the user journeys
- Use Google Analytics for comprehensive traffic analysis and Mixpanel for tracking user interactions on the site over time
- Analyze the user journey maps to spot all areas where users commonly drop off
- Gather insights from customer interviews or surveys to understand why they drop off or bounce during their journeys
- Understand what fears or uncertainties might prevent leads from converting (Security concerns, web design complexity, etc.)
Finally, compile all gathered data and prioritize which bottlenecks need immediate attention.
Evaluate which changes will yield the highest impact with the least effort.
Determine where budget and time should be invested based on identified pain points.
Determine Which Website Performance Indicators Need Improving
Whatever design changes you plan to implement, should be tied to business objectives.
To determine which website performance metrics you need to focus on during the redesign, consider tracking the following KPIs with tools like Google Analytics and Hotjar:
- Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
- Average Order Value (AOV)
- Conversion Rate
- Churn Rate
- Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
In addition to quantitative data, track these qualitative metrics as well:
- Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
- Net Promoter Score (NPS)
- Customer Effort Score (CES)
Ensure that all team members understand the importance of these metrics and how they relate to business objectives.
Once your team has these metrics, ask them to establish benchmarks based on historical data or industry standards.
If your current conversion rate is 5%, set a goal to increase it by 8% after the redesign.
By the end of this phase, you should have a clear list of redesign goals that should cover things like:
- Refresh the website’s look and feel
- Enhance user experience
- Increase organic traffic
- Address specific roadblocks in the user journey
- Improve conversions, MRR, AOV, etc.
- Add or remove content
Define your Redesign Budget
- Start by researching typical costs associated with website redesign
- Determine a bottom line that you won’t exceed when planning your project expenses
- Include line items for design fees, development costs, content migration expenses, and any software subscriptions (e.g., CMS fees)
- Create a preliminary budget that outlines all costs and includes a buffer for unexpected expenses (max 20% of the total budget)
Build Your Team
Identify all team members involved in the redesign process:
- Stakeholders – senior leaders, partners, advisory boards, or even customers who can provide valuable feedback during the redesign
- Project Team – employees in customer-facing roles, marketing staff, sales personnel, designers, and developers—whether in-house or outsourced
Assign roles and responsibilities clearly within your teams.
Designate a project lead to oversee the entire process and ensure accountability.
Gather Examples
Encourage your team to research competitors and other websites outside your industry for inspiration. Collect examples of designs or features you admire to inform your redesign strategy. Tools like Pinterest can be useful for visual inspiration.
Establish a Timeline
Establish a practical timeline based on how quickly you want your redesigned site to go live.
Break down work into manageable phases with measurable deliverables.
Conclusion
Finally, compile all of these details and create a website redesign proposal. Send it to multiple agencies and pick the one with the best response and credentials.
If this preparation phase feels too complex for you, no worries. There are many website redesigning services that come with free consulting or pre-planning.
Find redesign pros who can help you with the preparation and planning stages.
