case study for website redesign

Website Redesign Case Study – 5 Key Findings

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Did you know that 50% of internet users believe that a website’s design determines if a brand has a strong image? Visitors perceptions of your brand may be impacted if it is outdated, unresponsive, or otherwise problematic on various devices. So much so that they begin to doubt whether they should believe your company.

Sometimes your troubles might be resolved with a few quick and easy tweaks. But in all other cases, it’s beneficial to put time and effort into more complicated solutions. like a total website redesign.

We recently redesigned the website of an electric scooter manufacturing company and identified five key findings that would be helpful to any business considering website redesign services .

If you’re considering a redesign, this case study will give you some insight into the process and what to expect. We’ll take a look at key findings from our recent redesign project so that you can see how we approached the process and what worked well for us. Hopefully, this will give you some ideas of things to consider for your own website redesign.

Table of Contents

Identifying the need for a website redesign

What are the key benefits of redesigning your website ? Redesigning a website can be a daunting task, but the benefits can be tremendous. A well-designed website can help a business to attract new customers, improve customer retention and boost sales.

Why is the website redesign needed? Such questions typically come up when a company changes its branding or experiences issues with Google rankings, but there are numerous other situations in which a website redesign or revamp may be necessary.

The severity of the issues listed below will determine whether your website has to be redesigned.

1. Has your brand changed?

If your website no longer reflects the image of your business, it may be time for a redesign. In today’s digital age, first impressions are essential, and your website is often the first interaction potential customers have with your brand. It’s critical to ensure your website is up-to-date and accurately reflects your company’s values and mission.

 If your website is outdated or doesn’t reflect your brand well, users will likely negatively judge your business and move on to a competitor. A well-designed website that accurately reflects your brand can help you win over customers and Build Trust.

2. Does your competitor’s website look better than yours?

You don’t have to rebuild your website each time one of your competitors does. However, it’s crucial to remember that your company does not operate in a vacuum. If your competitors are constantly innovating and improving their online presence, it’s only a matter of time before your website starts to look dated in comparison.

Of course, you don’t want to constantly play catch-up with your competitors. But it’s important to keep an eye on their activities and be prepared to make changes to your website when necessary. By staying ahead of the curve, you can ensure that your website remains a valuable asset for your business

3. Is your site old and outdated?

Building relationships with potential clients begin on your website. However, if your website’s design is outmoded, it can have a detrimental effect on both their initial impression and their user experience as a whole.

A business website often has to be updated every two to three years. It might be time to assess whether your site still meets the demands of your visitors if it has been some time since your previous overhaul. A website’s design and functionality should be updated to reflect new features and best practices as they become available.

4. Does your site take a while to load?

Your website must load almost instantly because today’s website visitors absolutely anticipate a quick user experience. A recent study found that the average website visitor expects a page to load in two seconds or less. If your website takes longer than that to load, you’re likely to lose visitors. And if those visitors are potential customers, you could be losing out on valuable business.

There are a number of ways to improve your website’s loading speed, including optimizing your images and using a content delivery network (CDN). But whatever steps you take, it’s important to keep your website’s loading time in mind when designing and developing your site. Because in today’s fast-paced world, visitors won’t wait around for a slow website.

5. Is the website experience lacking on desktop and mobile?

Giving visitors a fantastic overall experience from the moment they first visit your website through conversion is what is meant by “excellent user experience.” Two broad techniques that can be used to improve user experience are improving the website’s design and making sure the website’s content is well-written and relevant.

A well-designed website will be easy to navigate and will look good on all devices. The website’s content should be well-written and relevant to the products or services offered. If the website’s content is dull or irrelevant, visitors will quickly lose interest and move on to another site.

 Improving user experience can be a challenge, but it’s well worth the effort. By making sure your website is designed well and has high-quality content, you’ll give visitors a reason to stick around, and you’ll be more likely to convert them into customers or clients.

6. Is your website still not responsive?

In today’s world, people are using a variety of devices to access the internet – from desktop computers to laptops, tablets, and smartphones. This so-called “multi-screen culture” means that your website needs to be optimized for all types of devices if you want to stay ahead of the competition.

Simply put, if your website isn’t optimized for mobile, you may lose out on potential customers and sales. Make sure your website is responsive and easy to use on all devices, and you’ll be sure to keep your visitors happy.

7. Is it a headache to add new functionalities or make simple changes?

If you’re finding it difficult to add or change functionality on your website, it may be time to consider a redesign. Well-thought-out functionality should be a focus for your business, and if your website isn’t up to par, it could be costing you customers and sales.

A website redesign can be a big undertaking, but if done right, it can be a major boon for your business. Take the time to consider your website’s functionality and make sure that it’s up to snuff. Otherwise, you may be missing out on valuable opportunities.

8. Are sales or conversions declining?

To ensure that your website is visible to potential customers, you need to optimize it for search engines. This means making sure that your website appears as high up as possible in search engine results pages (SERPs), for relevant keywords and phrases. The higher your website appears in SERPs, the more likely people are to click through to it. And the more traffic you can drive to your website, the better chance you have of generating leads and sales

But what if your website doesn’t perform the way you thought it would and leads to declining sales or conversion? You might want to redesign your website.

9. Is it a struggle to find information on your site?

Your website is one of your most important marketing tools. It’s how you connect with customers and prospects, and it’s a reflection of your brand. If your website is outdated or not functioning properly, it could be hurting your business.

That’s where our Website Redesign services come in. You need to create a modern, responsive website that meets the needs of your business and your customers. Make sure your site is easy to use, informative, and engaging, so you can focus on running your business.

Website Redesign Case Study

Learn a few of our clients who have used our website redesign services to create amazing web experiences for their users and increase conversion rates.

#1. Okinawa Scooters – Electric Scooter Brand Case Study

Some background here.

With the goal of building two-wheelers that can propel our present into a sustainable future, Okinawa is a 100% Indian electric two-wheeler manufacturing firm that was founded in 2015.

The mission of Okinawa’s electric bicycle manufacturer is to become the most well-known EV brand in the world. They do this by producing clever, inventive, elegant, comfortable, and energy-efficient vehicles that Okinawans can be proud of.

By building these bikes with an eye for quality and social responsibility, they hope to make Okinawa the leading electric two-wheeler manufacturer and set the standard for accessible eco-friendly technology for future generations.

For having an online presence and carrying out their sales they have created a website that doesn’t happen to be giving them the desired results and wanted to redesign it. We suggested to them some corrections to be made on their website. The Following are some challenges we faced while redesigning the website.

Problems/Challenges: Okinawa Scooters Case Study

1. Designing for the buyer persona 

Creating a successful website requires a deep understanding of your target audience, their goals, and the environment in which they will use your site. Too often, website designers create sites that they think look cool, without considering the needs of the people who will actually be using them. This can lead to frustration and a feeling of being lost for visitors, which is the last thing we want.

The site when approached had no relevant information that a Buyer Persona might be looking for. This is why while redesigning it we took time to really understand who the users were, what they were looking for, and what kind of information would be most relevant to them.

 We also looked at other sites in the same industry to see what kinds of information they were offering and how they were presenting it. Based on real demographic data, we were able to come up with a new design that was much more user-friendly and informative.

2. Balancing aesthetics with functionality

A captivating, eye-catching design can keep visitors on your site longer. However, if you put the demands of your customers before the needs of your users, they will become frustrated when attempting to understand or navigate your website and are more likely to leave.

Designing an appealing website that adheres to your brand and values while avoiding overly flashy design decisions that impair website readability and usability can be challenging.

The site earlier had some good aesthetics in some places but with low functionality and vice versa. However, with the help of our skilled designers and developers, we have been able to create a site that is both aesthetically pleasing and highly functional.

In order to do so we took the following steps

• We believe that usability is the most important aspect of any website or product. Therefore, we took the time to find the right page style that goes in line with the product as well as the company’s values. We think that this will help to create a better user experience and ultimately lead to more success for the company.
• Further, We chose images that showcase their expertise and display them as a logical narrative.
• To allow for an aesthetically pleasing and easy-to-read design, we used legible typefaces and leave adequate white space between paragraphs, text, and images. This gave the design a “breathed” look and feel, making it more inviting and professional. Keeping in mind that too much white space can make a design look cold and uninviting while striking a balance that works for your particular project.

3. Balancing functionality and aesthetics with speed 

Every stage of the process, from design to development, is a challenge to strike a balance between speed and functionality/content.

While working on this project: 

In the design phase, the challenge was to create a user interface that is both fast and easy to use. 

In the development phase, the challenge was to create a code that was both efficient and easy to understand. In both cases, the goal was to achieve the perfect balance between design and functionality.

But there’s still an important factor that’s important which is speed 

User attention is captured and maintained on your page with appealing graphics, videos, and animations. However, having too many media components might slow down your website’s loading time, which irritates visitors and degrades your search engine rankings. 

In solution to that, we took some steps while redesigning the website

• Before creating the user interface, we made sure the fundamental information architecture and hierarchy were logical and intuitive.
• The design was kept as basic as possible, with only the most important components present. 
• Only those videos were added that were important enough to show
• Choose the best third-party tools and make sure to use them correctly and early in the design process.
• Kept the content on each page to a minimum
• Consolidated huge files

4. Preparing it for heavy traffic ( as they occasionally run national-level campaigns on TV, in newspapers, and online)

The team at VOCSO worked tirelessly for days, preparing the website for heavy traffic. The reason behind this was website traffic generated through paid media campaigns. We knew that when the company ran national-level campaigns on TV, in newspapers, and online, the website would be hit with a lot of traffic. We recommended the company upgrade the server, optimized the code, and tested everything to make sure it could handle the load. 

5. Managing stakeholder expectations 

You’ll need suggestions from multiple stakeholders as you develop your site, whether you’re a design firm, an internal team in a big company, or a small business owner. This is because each stakeholder will have their own perspective on what the site should look like and how it should function. As such, it’s important to get input from as many stakeholders as possible in order to create a site that meets everyone’s needs and expectations.

If you don’t get buy-in from key stakeholders and align your business objectives with the vision for your website, you run the risk of having your design compromised or altered. This can jeopardize the success of your website and lead to frustration on the part of users, which is why it’s so important to get everyone on board from the outset. By clearly articulating the goals of the website and getting input from all stakeholders, you can ensure that the final product meets everyone’s needs and expectations.

Managing Stakeholder’s expectations was Indeed a Challenge. However, we managed to do so while keeping all this in mind. We started with a clear plan and stuck to it throughout and asked about the precise, measurable business objectives they must attain.

6. Keeping in mind the future scalability

When it comes to designing a website, you want something that is both elegant and functional. You want your website to be adaptable enough for the future should your company’s needs or audience change. 

But designing a site that can handle any future expansion is difficult because you won’t know what those changes are until they happen. 

That’s why we included flexibility in the design phase so that any additional content or features can be easily added later on as needed. But before doing so there were some considerations to be made

• Before planning the website, and redesign we asked them about their long-term goals 
• Made sure servers can handle several queries at once to minimize performance issues.
• Dispersed the burden during busy times across other servers by distributing site traffic.

Strategies: Okinawa Scooters Case Study

1. Become Familiar with the Content/Structure

Designers must carefully consider which content is best suited for a specific post type and which content is best suited for a static site. There are a variety of factors to consider when making this decision, such as the purpose of the site, the target audience, the type of content, and the overall tone and style of the site.

There’s no denying that the amount of content on the average website can be overwhelming. Just think about all of the different pages, posts, images, and videos that are out there. And, of course, all of that content has to be created by someone.

 In most cases, there isn’t just one person responsible for all of the content on a website. Instead, there’s a team of people who work together to create and curate all of the content that you see.

The best way to manage all of that content is to Clarify it from the beginning

2: Create Focus. Simplify. Organize

It’s time to create the blueprint for a new structure that will best display the content once it has been arranged into labeled boxes. But first, we must establish focus.

 What is the most important aspect of the material we are trying to display? What do we want viewers to see first, and what can be secondary? Once we have a clear vision for the overall display, we can begin to sketch out a plan for the new structure.

With a focus identified, we can simplify and organize. Having a focus also allows us to stay on track and avoid getting sidetracked by less important tasks.

3: Get the Client Involved

It’s important to create the sitemap of your website, but you should also map out where each page will go. This way, when you begin adding content to your site, clients are able to see how it looks and what order it goes in.

 Page types are included in the sitemap, but the mapping of content is not. Experienced web designers are aware that the majority of problems arise when a client begins adding content to their website. Keep the client looped in from the beginning to prevent this issue.

4. Competitor Analysis

Looking at your competitor’s websites can be a helpful way to learn what you can do to improve your own website. You may notice things that you like and feel could be improved upon. For example, if you see a competitor’s website that has a lot of helpful and relevant information, you may want to consider adding more content to your own website. 

On the other hand, if you see a competitor’s website that is difficult to navigate or doesn’t provide much useful information, you may want to make your website more user-friendly and informative. By taking note of what you like and don’t like about your competitor’s websites, you can learn how to improve your own website to make it more appealing and effective.

4. Create Visual Structure Through Wireframing

As a professional web company, we worked on the wireframe for the new design and kept the important information above the fold. This way, users would be able to see it right away without having to scroll down. We created the website with an easy navigation structure so visitors could use the website easily and navigate. We also included plenty of links and CTAs. The finished product was a clean and modern website that was easy to use and looked great.

5. Improving the mobile experience 

Making your website a mobile-first machine doesn’t require much work, but the benefits are great. You can’t afford to neglect smaller devices when more people are now searching for content on mobile devices than on laptops and desktops.

Your website should ideally appear stunning on all types of devices. You risk alienating visitors who use smartphones if your graphics and fonts are larger than the screen size of those devices.

Both responsive design and Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) can enhance your visitors’ mobile experience.

6. Provide the Homepage with a Clear Goal

When designing a homepage, it’s crucial to set the aim early on. This is because the homepage is often the first point of contact between a website and its visitors. According to a recent study, many visitors arrive at a website without fully understanding what it is or what it does. 

As such, it’s important to design the homepage in a way that clearly communicates the website’s purpose. This might involve using strong visuals and clear, concise text. It’s also important to ensure that the homepage is easy to navigate so that visitors can quickly find what they’re looking for.

7. Incorporate the brand style guide 

The wireframes for a product are the foundation upon which the product is built. They provide the basic structure and layout for the product and are typically created by designers. Once the wireframes are complete, it’s time to turn them into a usable and engaging product. This is where brand colors and fonts come into play. By using brand colors and fonts, the written content is made simple to understand. In addition, these elements can help to add personality and flair to the product. Ultimately, by taking the time to turn wireframes into a finished product, you’ll create a better user experience and a more successful product.

8. Experiment with typography combinations

Good web design relies heavily on typography. Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point size, line length, and letter spacing. The term typography is also applied to the style, arrangement, and appearance of the letters, numbers, and symbols created by the process. Good web design must take into account the different ways in which people read. 

Different fonts can be used to create different moods and different purposes. The size, weight, and style of the typeface are some of the most important factors in making the right look and feel for a website.

9. Polish the Look and Feel of the Website

Designers frequently hear the words “Look and Feel” from both clients and their peers. Although it sounds very broad, this phrase holds a specific meaning

The “look” of a graphical user interface in software design refers to elements like colors, shapes, layouts, and typefaces. It also refers to the behavior of dynamic elements like buttons, boxes, and menus. 

Your website’s design and layout should give visitors a clear idea of what your business stands for and what they can anticipate in terms of its culture, level of customer service, and ethos.

10. Add social proof

Using social proof in marketing is a common strategy to boost the confidence of potential buyers in a good, service, or brand. In essence, it aids in reducing buyer hesitation by providing reassurance that others have made the same purchase and been satisfied with the results. This technique can be used in a variety of marketing materials, from website testimonials to product reviews on social media.

When executed well, social proof can be an effective way to increase conversion rates and encourage potential customers to take the plunge. However, it’s important to use this strategy sparingly and only when it feels genuine and authentic. Overuse of social proof can backfire, making your brand seem inauthentic or even untrustworthy.

11. Implementing strong content management capabilities

A CMS, or content management system , is a web-based application that enables you to create and manage your website’s content. The quickness of a CMS is one of its key benefits. 

With it, you can quickly develop and launch your website because it comes with ready-made templates and built-in features that allow you to create a professional-looking website with little to no programming or design experience.

Hence implementing strong cms capabilities can work wonders for you 

12. Best SEO practices

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a process of improving the visibility and ranking of a website or web page in search engine results pages (SERPs). It is a means of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to a site from search engines, ideally resulting in increased revenue.

SEO is essential if you want to grow your target audiences, build long-term brand exposure, and generate more income. However, it is important to note that SEO is not a quick or easy fix – it is an ongoing process that requires time, effort, and dedication. In order to see results, you need to be patient and consistent with your SEO efforts.

There are a number of things you can do to improve your SEO, including optimizing your website content, building backlinks, and using social media to promote your site. If you are serious about growing your business, then you need to make SEO a priority. Investing in a good SEO campaign will pay off in the long run, so don’t hesitate to put in the work now.

If you’re planning a website redesign, there are some important SEO strategies to keep in mind. Read the top SEO strategies for a website redesign .

13. Mapping old URLs with new respective URLs

If you’re launching a new website, it’s important to map your old site’s URLs to the URLs for the new site. This will ensure that any incoming links to your old site are redirected to the new site and that your users don’t end up seeing 404 errors when they try to access your content.

To do this, you’ll need to set up redirects on your old site. A redirect is a server-side operation that tells the server to send any visitors who request a specific URL to a different URL. You can set up redirects for individual pages or for entire sections of your site.

If you’re not sure how to set up redirects, you can find plenty of tutorials online, or you can hire a web developer to help you. Once your redirects are in place, be sure to test them to make sure they’re working as intended.

14. Improving the loading speed

Reducing the time it takes for people to load your website is a terrific way to make them happier customers. Not only will they be able to find what they’re looking for faster, but they’ll also be more likely to make a purchase.

There are a few key things you can do to reduce loading times. First, make sure you’re using a good hosting provider. Second, optimize your images so that they load quickly. Finally, don’t use too many heavy plugins or scripts that will slow down your site.

By following these tips, you can ensure that your website loads quickly and efficiently, making for happier customers and more sales.

15. Using CDN for Video content

A CDN or content delivery network is a system of distributed servers that deliver web content to users based on their geographic location. By utilizing a CDN for streaming video, you can increase a stream’s ability to reach viewers around the world while reducing latency and buffering time. 

This is because a CDN can provide a high level of bandwidth and reliability by distributing the load among multiple servers. Additionally, a CDN can help to ensure that the source content is always available by replicating it across multiple servers in different locations.

16. Cloud hosting for ease of scalability

Cloud hosting is a type of web hosting that uses a network of remote servers to store your website data. One benefit of this type of hosting is that the multi-server setup allows for automatic backups of your data. This means that if your website goes down, your data will still be safe and you can quickly get your site back up and running. 

It allows you to scale easily as a cloud solution enables businesses to adjust appropriately and affordably to enhance storage and performance as traffic or workload demands increase abruptly or over time.

17. Finishing Strong: Mind the Details

Users visit the details page for one of two reasons: either they want to learn more about a landmark or they are already familiar with a location and are looking for specific information. If users are looking to learn more about a landmark, they will want to see photos and read about the history and significance of the location.

 If users are already familiar with a location, they may be looking for specific information such as an address, hours of operation, or contact information. Regardless of the reason for visiting the details page, users should be able to easily find the information they are looking for.

Results: Okinawa Scooters Case Study 

1. Performance Improvement,

The overall performance of the website earlier was not what the client expected it to be but soon after we gave it a makeover and fixed things It started performing well and is constantly growing 

1. Bounce Rate 

The percentage of all sessions on your site where users only viewed a single page and sent a single request to the analytics server is known as the bounce rate, which is calculated as single-page sessions divided by all sessions.

The bounce rate earlier was very high as compared to now after redesigning it the Bounce rate went lower.

2. On-page time

The length of time a visitor spends on a web page before leaving for another is known as time on the page. Keep in mind that no time on the page is calculated or added to the average if the visitor doesn’t turn to a second page. It’s as if they had never even been there.

3. Engagement rate  

Online engagement rates are an important metric for marketers to monitor and analyze. To generate this statistic, marketers measure the number of “likes,” “comments,” and social shares related to the content. The engagement rate is used as a vital statistic for brand initiatives and is a key indicator of the effectiveness of any marketing campaign.

4. Conversion rate

Simply dividing the number of conversions by the total number of ad interactions that can be linked to a conversion within the same time period yields the conversion rate. Your conversion rate would be 5%, for instance, if you had 50 conversions out of 1,000 interactions, as 50 divided by 1,000 equals 5%.

5. SEO impressions & clicks

When the target of a marketing message takes the desired action, we refer to it as a conversion. Although conversion is a crucial statistic in the marketing funnel, it does not always indicate a sale. Conversions can also take place before a sale and show how far a prospect has advanced in the sales process.

Ad Clicks, sometimes known as just Clicks, is a marketing metric that tracks how frequently visitors click on digital advertisements to access internet properties.

Key findings: Website redesign case study

A website redesign can be a daunting task, but it can also be a great opportunity to improve your online presence. Our case study found that there are five key areas you should focus on when redesigning your website: user experience, mobile optimization, search engine optimization, content, and design.

By keeping these five areas in mind during your redesign process, you can create a website that is not only visually appealing but also easy to use and navigate. Additionally, by ensuring your website is optimized for mobile devices and search engines, you can reach a wider audience and attract more visitors.

1. Social proof increases engagement and conversion

Social proof is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when people copy what others do to feel safe, and is used by marketers to help increase conversion rates. Social proof is primarily achieved through testimonials from other consumers, but can also be achieved by leveraging reviews or social media influencers. The more people who have purchased and interacted with your product or service, the more likely it will convince prospects to buy.

With the help of a fantastic social proof tool, adding social proof to your site, such as recent customer behaviour, takes less than five minutes to set up and implement. It can also increase conversions by up to 15%.

2. A good brand style guide is key to building a website with a consistent theme

The purpose, vision, and values of your brand are translated into design via your brand style guide. A brand style guide is a manual that specifies how an organisation should represent itself to the public, including through the use of its logo, font and colour choices, photography, and other elements. In other words, it serves as a guide that promotes consistency in the way a brand appears, feels, and sounds. Don’t be intimidated by the term “brand bible”; it’s used by some because the document is so potent. Those are simply other labels for the same thing.

When you use a brand book, you can be sure that your brand will always look and feel the same, regardless of who handles customer service, marketing, design, and sales.

3. Use of CDN drastically improves website performance

Load times can be slashed by up to 50% by using a CDN. Reduced file sizes, shorter paths between content storage and destination locations, and a host of other performance-enhancing features make CDNs an attractive option for anyone looking to improve their website’s loading times. While there are a number of different CDN providers to choose from, each with its own unique set of features, all of them offer the potential to significantly improve your website’s performance.

4. Having a  blog and insights section on the homepage increases Google’s crawl frequency

Adding new content to your website on a regular basis can help it rank higher in search engine results. This is because search engines like Google tend to favour websites that are constantly adding new content. By adding new content, you’re also increasing the chances that your website will be found by potential visitors.

By adding a blog and insight section to your website you’ll not only gain better insight into your target audience but increase Google’s crawl frequency as well, know that everyone on your page genuinely wants to read what you’ve got to say, and be able to effectively improve your strategy by paying attention to how well different posts perform. Write content in the best interest of your readers, and the metrics will follow.

5. Sharing updates frequently with different stakeholders increases efficiency 

There are many ways to keep stakeholders up to date on your progress. One good way is with regular updates that detail the choices you have made, and the course of action you will take and motivate them to invest in your project. Updates like these also help stakeholders understand your decisions better as well as build trust in your project/business.

How can VOCSO help here?

VOCSO is a web development company offering  custom CMS development ,  custom website design and development ,  custom web application development , and  custom mobile app design and development services  in and out of India.

We also provide dedicated resources for hire:

• Hire AngularJS Developers
• Hire ReactJS Developers
• Hire Dedicated PHP Developers
• Hire Laravel Developers
• Hire NodeJs Developer
• Hire NextJS Developers

If you aren’t obtaining the desired outcomes despite your website being stunning, useful, and pixel-perfect, it isn’t serving its intended purpose. Your website serves to market your company, establish your brand, and eventually boost revenue. Consider a redesign if you are dissatisfied with your results. Please get in touch if you need assistance with designing a professional website, redesigning it, or performing a complete redesign

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How To Conduct A UX Redesign

No matter what context you work in as a UX designer, at one point or another, you’ll probably be asked to redesign a user experience. At the start of your UX career, you might even conduct an unsolicited redesign to help build up your portfolio.

Either way, you might find yourself redesigning a website, an app, or the interface of a device. No matter what you’re redesigning, though, your process should follow a similar series of steps and encompass a similar set of questions and concerns.

In this article, we’ll cover the following topics:

• Redesigns from refresh to complete overhaul
• Reasons to conduct a redesign
• Steps for conducting a UX redesign
• Showcasing redesigns in your UX portfolio
• Key takeaways

Let’s jump in!

1. Redesigns from refresh to complete overhaul

UX redesigns can have vastly different degrees of complexity. On the one hand, the product may simply require a visual refresh to make it seem more modern and visually interesting. If this is the case and no noteworthy user experience changes are needed, the UX designer’s job may be to simply review the art director’s work and ensure nothing about the user experience is broken by the aesthetic overhaul.

You might also be tasked with redesigning the user experience for a specific part of a product’s user interface . For example, perhaps the users of a specific website are having trouble navigating through a shopping cart or finding information on shipping and handling. If that’s the case, the UX designer’s job is not only to redesign that piece of the user experience; it’s also to make sure the redesigned interface fits in seamlessly with the original interface and doesn’t break any links or other functionality on the product.

So if you’re redesigning the way a user books a table on a restaurant’s website, for instance, you need to make sure users can successfully navigate to your redesigned reservation system and that they can navigate away to a different part of the website once they’ve completed their booking.

Finally, a product might require a complete overhaul. That means the UX designer will be responsible for understanding every single piece of information that must go into the redesign and how that information fits together. Then the UX designer must determine how to improve upon the prior design while avoiding changes that are so radical that they confuse and frustrate the product’s existing users. It’s a tough balancing act that requires attention to detail and a deep understanding of users’ goals.

2. Reasons to conduct a redesign

The very first question a UX designer should ask clients or stakeholders about a redesign is why they want to conduct it. There are many legitimate reasons to conduct a redesign, according to the Nielsen Norman Group . These include:

• The site looks outdated
• New branding needs to be implemented
• Technological advances have made the site seem antiquated
• The site isn’t optimized for mobile or social media
• The information architecture of the site is a mess and many links are broken
• The user experience is confusing and there is no unified structure
• Analytics show users have trouble doing what they need and don’t stick around

While the first two reasons on the list may simply require a visual refresh, the others involve important UX changes.

You may be tasked with conducting a redesign following a UX audit . However, sometimes a client or stakeholder will request a complete UX redesign simply because they look at their product’s user interface all day and are bored. This can lead a client to focus on the things they don’t like about their product’s user experience. On the other hand, users probably feel differently. Users are creatures of habit. And since they’re spending far less time with a product’s user interface than the client, they’ll typically see the familiarity of the UI as a positive.

Consider this: If Amazon.com completely overhauled its website in order to make the website seem more innovative or interesting, but in the process changed how to find items, how to add them to your shopping cart, and how to check-out, what would be your response? If you’re like most people, you’d be frustrated. You already know how to complete tasks successfully on Amazon. Anything outside of an incremental change will make that more challenging and time-consuming. No matter how cool the newly implemented changes may seem, most users won’t be impressed. Their goal when they go to your website, app, or other UI is to complete their task and meet their goals in as little time as possible.

So if a client or stakeholder wants to completely rehaul a product’s user experience but they don’t have a good reason for doing so, you as the UX designer must make sure to advocate for the product’s users. This could mean discussing other options, like a visual refresh or small UX changes with your client.

One way or another, it’s essential to make sure any changes you make, even on a complete overhaul, are not made for the novelty of the changes. It can be tempting to be as creative as possible. However, you’re better off understanding what users are already familiar with from the product (based on their mental models ) and implementing changes that respect what your users like while mixing in some new but understandable evolutions.

Unsolicited redesigns

If you’re a fresh-faced UX designer just starting out, you might also conduct a hypothetical—or unsolicited—redesign. This is a great way to put your newly acquired design skills into practice, and also gives you a case study to add to your portfolio in the absence of a real client project.

An unsolicited redesign is, quite simply, a hypothetical project of your choice . Perhaps there’s a particular website you use regularly that you think could benefit from an overhaul, or a certain app that could be upgraded with a few simple tweaks. Just like a “real” client project, you’ll redesign the experience and document your process from start to finish in your portfolio—just like Priyanka Gupta does in her unsolicited redesign of the Sephora iOS app . Just remember to clearly state that you’re not affiliated with the company in any way, and that you haven’t actually been hired to conduct a redesign. Otherwise, the process is the same as for a real UX redesign. Let’s take a look at that now.

3. How to conduct a UX redesign: Step-by-step

1. understand existing users.

In an ideal world, all UX redesigns would start with user research and analytics. Analytics for an existing product will help you understand how users are currently using the product, and identify the biggest pain points they encounter based on how long they use the product and how many screens they visit. This also gives you hard data that will help you make specific recommendations for where to focus the efforts of your redesign.

Whether you have access to analytics or not, you should perform user research on the product you are redesigning. As Nielsen Norman’s Hoa Loranger explains, “Your old site is the best prototype for your new site.” Make sure you take advantage of that by learning from the existing product. Gather user feedback on what they dislike about it, while also making sure to ask about what users like about the current product. All of this information will help fuel your redesign.

2. Understand business goals

It’s essential to understand what the business wants to get out of the redesign. What do they know about their existing users that can help you conduct your redesign? The UX redesign solution should be specific to the business’ goals while keeping user needs in mind. If the business wants to make it easier to navigate to specific information, increase page views, or complete more sales, the user experience must be designed to support those goals by making it easier and more beneficial for users to do those things.

3. Competitive analysis

Another source of information for a redesign: analyze competitors’ products . Take a look at competitor’s UIs to see what they’re doing that’s different. What works? What doesn’t work? Are there innovative solutions that you can borrow that will better engage your users? Are there things they’re doing that you want to avoid?

In addition to researching users’ reactions to the product you’re redesigning, you can also perform a study to see how users respond to competitors’ products. Explore how users interact with the interface and navigate through the user experience, including what they find clear and easy to use and where their pain points are.

4. Redesign

After gathering data from the existing product and competitors and ensuring you understand the business goals for the project, you should be ready to start redesigning in earnest. You’ll often want to start with a site map of the redesigned information architecture. You’ll also want to make sure you understand the various ways users may work through the site to meet different goals by creating user workflows. Once you have a handle on these top level issues, you can start wireframing and creating prototypes for the redesign. Ideate on potential user experience options until you come up with a solution that works best for both the business and users.

5. User testing

Finally, test your redesign with users, preferably users of the previous iteration of the product. Get feedback on what they like about the new design and what may frustrate them. Keep in mind that any redesign is likely to ruffle some users’ feathers. But user testing will help determine if there are any real usability problems with the redesign. If there are, continue to iterate on the redesign until the user experience is working the way it should.

4. Showcasing redesigns in your UX portfolio

While it’s not essential, it is valuable to include at least one redesign project in your UX portfolio. To most successfully showcase a redesign, make sure you can explain why the redesign was done, what your solutions were to the challenges presented by the client, and why you decided to implement any noteworthy features. Showcase the redesign process in the order it was conducted—from studies on the previous and competitors’ sites, right through to user workflows and information architecture overhauls to page-level redesigns—in order to tell the story of the redesign. You don’t have to include everything, just enough to make sure the process you went through is clearly represented. Your goal should be to clearly communicate to someone looking at your portfolio how you improved on an existing product with your redesign and the journey you took to get there.

5. Key takeaways

Now you have a clear process to follow in order to conduct a UX redesign—be it a real client project, or an unsolicited redesign for your UX portfolio. To sum up:

• Redesigns can run the gamut from a visual refresh to a complete user experience overhaul.
• The most important question to ask before starting a redesign is why the client or stakeholder wants to conduct it.
• There are many reasons to conduct a UX redesign including a product that is no longer optimized for new technology, convoluted information architecture and a confusing user experience.
• The kind of redesign that is undertaken should be based on user needs, not boredom on the part of clients or stakeholders who work with the user interface regularly.
• A good UX redesign starts with studying the existing UI, as it is the best prototype for your new product.
• Make sure you understand your clients’ business goals and how they can be seamlessly integrated into the redesigned user experience.
• Research competitors’ products to see what works and doesn’t work about their UX.
• A UX redesign should consist of a variety of deliverables including user workflows, site maps of the information architecture, wireframes, and prototypes . Iterate on the new design and perform user testing until the user experience is working as it should.
• It’s ideal to include at least one redesign in your UX portfolio that tells the story of the challenges of the project.

Now that you know how to approach a UX redesign, you might want to learn more. If so, you’ll find the following articles useful:

• 9 Awesome UX Portfolios From UX Design Graduates
• What is a Wireframe? A Comprehensive Guide
• The 5 big differences between UX and UI design

• UX Designers
• UI Designers
• Web Designers
• Mobile App Designers
• Visual Designers
• SaaS Designers
• Product Designers
• UX Researchers

The True ROI of UX: B2B Redesign Case Studies

UX designers often need to convince company executives on the ROI of a UX redesign initiative. Here are some real-life B2B redesign case studies a UX team identified in order to make a compelling case.

By Miklos Philips

Miklos is a UX designer, product design strategist, author, and speaker with more than 18 years of experience in the design field.

PREVIOUSLY AT

User-centered design isn’t just about creating a great experience for customers—it’s also a smart business move.

In our previous article “ The True ROI of UX: Convincing the Executive Suite ,” we talked about how to persuade company executives on the ROI of UX, and how to illustrate the value of UX in increasing business KPIs . In this second piece, we discuss how, in order to really drive the message home, it is essential that UX teams present successful case studies of similar B2B UX redesigns.

The trouble is, finding data from real-world B2B UX redesigns is extremely challenging. Through dogged perseverance, our UX team found some useful data, but the proven difficulty of defining the ROI of UX (ie. how to exactly measure it) complicated matters further, and it became evident that the ROI of UX needed to be categorized into “soft” and “hard” dollars.

On the “soft side,” results are categorized into increased customer loyalty and net promoter scores (NPS), increased word-of-mouth referrals, productivity gains, and increased efficiency. On the “hard dollars” side, increased earnings and cost savings are gained from fewer support calls, less spent on development, fewer development “redo” cases, less user-testing, increased sales, and so on.

Here are the internal and external ROI measures:

Internal ROI

• Increased user productivity
• Decreased user errors
• Decreased training costs
• Savings gained from making changes earlier in design life cycle
• Decreased user support

External ROI

• Increased sales
• Decreased customer support costs
• Savings gained from making changes earlier in the design life cycle
• Reduced cost of providing training

The B2B UX redesign case studies below represent the results of our research into the top 15 global design agencies/consultancies who performed B2B UX design/redesign projects. These case studies come from prominent design/consulting firms such as Accenture Interactive , Boston Consulting Group , McKinsey , Forrester , IDEO , Frog Design , Fjord , Adaptive Path , and others.

ROI of UX: B2B Redesign Case Studies

Bank of america.

The giant bank identified and funded a UX redesign project to improve its online enrollment application for online banking. In developing the business case, the design team identified yield (or the percentage of customers completing the process) as the primary metric.

Prototyping and testing various design solutions with yield as the primary success metric proved a successful design strategy. The week the new registration form went live, the yield metric nearly doubled, and exceeded the desired ROI benchmark. This was a win for the design team, as well as the business unit that sponsored the project.

General Electric Software UX Unification

Known for its industrial expertise, by 2010 General Electric Co. had quietly become the world’s 14th largest software developer by revenue. These capabilities had grown opportunistically, primarily in response to requests from specific clients . As a result, little software consistency existed across the company and significant development efforts were invested in problems already solved in other divisions.

Overall, users of GE software reported that the quality didn’t reflect the excellence of GE’s hardware engineering. GE leadership decided to make an investment in creating a common software platform for the company. The Software Center of Excellence developed a UX Center of Excellence that would guide GE management, and drive the culture change to ensure that their software user experience matched their well-earned reputation for stellar hardware engineering.

Leaders, engineers, and designers collaborated to build processes and tools to support culture change together with a core foundation of design tools and success metrics that would support its UX practice. In the first year after its launch, the IIDS generated a 100% productivity gain in development teams and saved an estimated $30 million for the company. These digital transformation initiatives provided the foundation for GE Digital—and GE’s leadership in the industrial internet.

Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific Airways is known for its leadership in the adoption of new technologies. The airline was the first in the world to announce plans to install in-flight email, the first to link its Airbus aircraft to its maintenance centers electronically, and the first in the world to auction air tickets online.

For company employees, a staff of eight to ten people work full-time to answer questions and book travel. Working with a design consultancy, Cathay Pacific created a new online portal called TravelDesk, a one-stop shop for staff travel.

The portal design project resulted in significant cost savings for the company:

• The online portal reduced call-center volume (employee benefits center regarding policy questions, and service center regarding flight availability).
• It increased productivity. Ground staff at the airport previously spent significant time managing the listing and check-in process for employees using their travel benefits. This project reduced the time required for these tasks.

Virgin America Website Redesign

Virgin America was on a mission to make flying fun again. In 2014, the airline decided to reinvent the digital travel experience, and in order to meet the needs of modern travelers, create the world’s first responsive airline website. The company decided to design and engineer a new digital platform that could respond to modern travel needs and behaviors.

After successfully A/B testing the new design against the old, Virgin America’s reinvented responsive site was released. They announced an IPO following two successful quarters running the new site that had exceeded performance goals in the following areas:

• 14% increase in conversion rate
• 20% fewer support calls
• Flyers booked nearly twice as fast, on any kind of device

In a recent major iteration of HubSpot , the company decided to re-think the user experience on its site, starting from the ground level with user feedback. They tested entirely new conversion methods, copy messaging, and even visual treatments. As part of the process, they pushed countless experiments live, and iterated with each piece of feedback, putting the user in control.

The result? The conversion rate doubled (tripled, even, in some areas). As HubSpot receives upwards of 10 million visitors per month, one can imagine the impact this had on revenue.

Continental Office B2B Website Redesign

With a brand refresh just a few months prior, Continental Office, a customized workplace solution provider, needed to update its 6-year-old website. The team wanted to ensure they were integrating buyer personas to provide an engaging user experience complete with relevant content marketing.

The old website was fine at the time but wasn’t built around telling the whole story while understanding the customer journey.

In creating that great user experience, you have to stay relevant with what people are looking for and then build your website around that, which I believe is what we did and has allowed us to have these successful results. - Rachel Iannarino, Vice President, Marketing.

The results of getting to know customers and building a website around that speak for themselves. Through the redesign strategy , traffic increased by 103% year-over-year and net-new contacts increased by 645%.

Even though we had such great results last year, it’s already up — the number of new contacts is up over 80% from last year already. And I can’t lie; I keep waiting for these numbers to kind of plateau, but fortunately for us, the results just keep trending in a positive way - Iannarino said.

Music & Arts

Music & Arts sells musical instruments and comprises 150+ retail stores, and 300+ affiliate locations. Their sizable eCommerce site had numerous usability problems that hindered online sales.

There is a detailed case study of this UX redesign project on the Toptal Design Blog: “ eCommerce Redesigned: How Minor Changes Made Major UX Improvements .”

After a three month UX redesign project that significantly improved basic usability issues (consistency, simplicity, user flow, system feedback) their online sales increased around 30% year-over-year .

This ad-tech platform’s UX redesign project took over a year. The B2B platform was about 7 years old and was made up of a hodge-podge of UIs, a variety of different-looking web-applications that were created at different times. As the company was maturing, it needed a unified UX design and a brand-consistent look-and-feel.

As a result of the UX redesign, NPS increased from 6 (detractors) to 9 (promoters) over 3 months immediately after launch when measured against the old platform’s satisfaction data.

Final Thoughts

A very interesting experiment related to the ROI of UX was conducted by the Geoff Teehan, Director of Product Design at Facebook in 2006. They called it the “UX Fund.” The $50,000 fund invested in companies that focus on delivering great user experiences. The hypothesis was that the ROI of UX should be reflected in their stock price over time.

Over a ten year period, from 2006 to 2016—including a major financial crisis in the middle of it—the “UX Fund” returned 450% vs the Nasdaq’s 93.2% return (that’s 45% annual return over ten years which beats any other asset class). You can read more about this experiment here .

Despite the evidence that UX design investments enhance customer experience and address business problems, executives still find it a challenge to define the financial benefits using traditional ROI measures. UX designers best serve businesses if they can not only create great “designs that work,” but are able to articulate and convincingly demonstrate tangible business results and KPIs to executives and stakeholders.

In order to be convincing and really get to the heart of what executives need to hear, UX designers need to think in similar terms to business leaders. Think: how can we best provide business value? If we do this, what will the return on our investment be? What metrics will demonstrate that we’ve made the right choices?

If done well, design can help bring order and coherence to the disorder that is the current state of the B2B world and enterprise applications. A 2016 design study of 408 different companies found that the more a company focused on and invested in design, the more they saw sales increase and experienced higher customer retention rates—customer engagement soared, and they moved through product cycles faster. All this simply because they put UX design, and more importantly, the customer, at the very heart of their business.

Clearly, good user experience is good for business . Today it’s become part of a UX practitioner’s job to offer decision-makers a compelling demonstration of the true value of exceptional UX design, and that there is indeed an impressive ROI in UX.

Further Reading on the Toptal Blog:

• The Value of Design Thinking in Business
• Product Strategy: A Guide to Core Concepts and Processes
• Collaborative Design: A Guide to Successful Enterprise Product Design
• Customer Journey Maps: What They Are and How to Build One
• Great Questions Lead to Great Design: A Guide to the Design-thinking Process

Understanding the basics

How can you improve your website.

One of the many ways to improve a website is to do a user experience evaluation by bringing in a UX expert. A UX expert would consider the website’s content, its main customers, and core functionalities, and come up with a user-centered redesign solution.

What does B2B mean?

B2B is an acronym which stands for “business to business.” It signifies the exchange of products or services between businesses, rather than between businesses and consumers.

What is the difference between B2C and B2B?

B2C is a shorthand for “business to consumers” whereas B2B is an acronym which stands for “business to business.” Consumer-oriented eCommerce websites are an example of a B2C.

What are user experience goals?

The goals of user experience, or “UX,” are to deliver an experience to customers that delight and ensure that the right content, features, and functionality are presented in the right place, at the right time, in the right way.

What are UX and usability?

UX stands for user experience which refers to the “experience” an end-user has when using an interactive product. Usability refers to how easy it is to use a digital product. For digital products to work well in the real world, they need to have great usability.

What is the meaning of brand perception?

Brand perception is what’s held in the minds of customers when they hear or see something about a particular brand. Brand perception represents the brand values and quality of a brand, and how a customer would feel and think about a brand.

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Miklos Philips

Austin, TX, United States

Member since May 20, 2016

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8 Minute Read

Web Design Case Studies

Real-world examples.

Web design case studies offer a detailed analysis of successful web design projects, showcasing the challenges faced, the strategies employed, and the results achieved.

In this article, I'll explore several web design case studies for companies based in the United States, highlighting the unique aspects and outcomes of each project.

These case studies will cover various industries, from e-commerce and tech startups to healthcare and financial services, providing valuable insights for web designers, developers, and business owners alike.

Table of Contents

• E-commerce Redesign: Wayfair
• Startup Success: Airbnb
• Healthcare Portal: WebMD
• Educational Transformation: Khan Academy
• Tech Industry Excellence: Google
• Financial Services Redesign: American Express
• Tech Startup Excellence: Slack
• Retail Revolution: Walmart
• Automotive Industry: Tesla
• Fashion Retail Redesign: Nordstrom

E-commerce Redesign- Wayfair

• Company : Wayfair
• Industry : E-commerce
• Challenge : Improving user experience, navigation, and site performance
• Key Success Metrics : Increased conversion rates, reduced bounce rates, improved page load times

The Challenge

Wayfair is a prominent e-commerce company in the United States specializing in home goods and furniture. In 2020, they faced several challenges that prompted a complete website redesign. The existing website had usability issues, slow page load times, and a high bounce rate. The challenge was to overhaul the website, enhancing user experience, and ultimately driving more sales.

Strategies and Solutions

• User-Centered Design : Wayfair conducted extensive user research to understand customer preferences, pain points, and expectations. The design team used this data to create a user-centered design that focused on improving navigation and product discovery.
• Performance Optimization : They optimized the website's performance by reducing image sizes, utilizing content delivery networks (CDNs), and implementing lazy loading for images. This significantly improved page load times.
• Mobile Responsiveness : With a growing number of users accessing the site on mobile devices, Wayfair made sure the website was fully responsive. This involved designing a mobile-first experience to ensure a seamless transition between desktop and mobile.
• Clear Call to Action (CTA) : They redesigned the product pages with clear and compelling call-to-action , making it easier for users to add items to their cart and proceed to checkout.
• Personalization : Wayfair implemented personalization features, such as product recommendations based on user preferences and previous purchases, enhancing the user's shopping experience.
• Conversion rates increased by 8%, leading to a significant boost in revenue.
• Bounce rates decreased by 12%, indicating improved user engagement.
• Page load times were reduced by 30%, resulting in better overall site performance.

Startup Success- Airbnb

• Company: Airbnb
• Industry : Travel and Accommodation
• Challenge : Creating a user-friendly platform for hosts and guests
• Key Success Metrics : Increased listings, user satisfaction, and bookings

Airbnb is a well-known startup based in the United States that disrupted the travel and accommodation industry. In the early stages, Airbnb faced the challenge of creating a user-friendly platform that could attract hosts to list their properties and provide a seamless experience for guests looking to book accommodations.

• User-Generated Content : Airbnb focused on user-generated content, allowing hosts to create detailed listings with photos and descriptions. This not only empowered hosts but also provided valuable information for potential guests.
• Trust and Safety : To address concerns about safety, Airbnb implemented a robust identity verification system, reviews and ratings, and secure payment processing, ensuring a level of trust on the platform which in turn increased branding recognition.
• Responsive Design : Airbnb invested heavily in responsive web design to provide a consistent and intuitive experience on desktop and mobile devices. This approach enabled users to browse and book accommodations from any device.
• Local Insights : They introduced a feature that provided local insights, tips, and recommendations from hosts to enhance the guest experience.
• Continuous Iteration : Airbnb continuously gathered user feedback and iterated on its design and functionality, adapting to changing user needs and preferences.
• Airbnb became a global success, with millions of listings and users in various countries.
• The platform has a high level of user satisfaction, with a strong community of hosts and guests.
• Airbnb is a household name and has transformed the travel and accommodation industry.
• The design style of Airbnb has also help to create a new type of web design trend .

Healthcare Portal- WebMD

• Company : WebMD
• Industry : Healthcare
• Challenge : Creating a reliable and trustworthy healthcare portal
• Key Success Metrics : Increased user engagement, trust, and information accuracy

WebMD is a popular healthcare information portal in the United States, offering a wide range of medical content. The challenge was to design a website that could be trusted as a reliable source of medical information and engage users in their health and wellness journey.

• Expert Content : WebMD invested in a team of medical experts and writers to create accurate, evidence-based content. They made sure to provide clear citations and references for all medical information while using a clean typography .
• Interactive Tools : To engage users, WebMD developed interactive tools, such as symptom checkers, BMI calculators, and medication trackers, to empower users to take control of their health.
• User-Friendly Layout : A user-friendly layout design was implemented with intuitive and effective navigation menus , making it easy for visitors to find the information they were looking for.
• Community and Forums : WebMD incorporated community features, such as forums and discussion boards, to encourage users to connect, share experiences, and seek advice from others.
• Mobile Accessibility : Recognizing that people often search for health information on their mobile devices, WebMD ensured that the website was mobile-responsive and provided a seamless experience across devices.
• WebMD is a trusted source of medical information for millions of users.
• The website sees high levels of user engagement, with users regularly accessing the site for health-related queries and information.
• WebMD has maintained its reputation for providing accurate and reliable medical content.

Educational Transformation- Khan Academy

• Organization: Khan Academy
• Industry : Education
• Challenge : Providing free, accessible, and high-quality educational content
• Key Success Metrics : Increased user engagement, reach, and educational impact

Khan Academy, a non-profit educational organization, aimed to make high-quality education accessible to anyone, anywhere. They needed to create a website that not only provided free educational content but also engaged users effectively.

• Vast Content Library : Khan Academy created a vast library of educational content, covering various subjects and grade levels, making it a one-stop destination for learners of all ages.
• Adaptive Learning : They integrated adaptive learning features, where the website could assess a learner's proficiency and recommend appropriate content to match their skill level.
• Progress Tracking : Khan Academy introduced tools for users to track their progress, complete exercises, and earn badges and certificates, providing motivation for continued learning.
• Community Interaction : They fostered a sense of community by incorporating forums, discussion boards, and the ability for users to ask questions and help each other.
• Mobile Accessibility : Recognizing the importance of mobile access, Khan Academy ensured that their website was fully responsive, allowing users to learn on any device.
• Khan Academy's website has reached millions of learners worldwide, making a significant impact on education accessibility.
• The organization's adaptive learning approach has led to higher engagement and improved learning outcomes.
• Khan Academy's online community has become a valuable resource for learners, facilitating peer-to-peer support and collaboration.

Tech Industry Excellence- Google

• Company : Google
• Industry : Technology
• Challenge : Improving search engine user experience and expanding services
• Key Success Metrics : Increased search engine market share, user satisfaction, and service offerings

Google, a tech giant based in the United States, has consistently faced the challenge of improving its core product, the search engine, while also expanding into new services and products. This case study focuses on their core search engine.

• User-Centered Design : Google's design philosophy has always been user-centered. They have continually improved the search engine's user interface, making it clean, simple, and efficient.
• Algorithm Innovation : Google invests heavily in search algorithms to provide more relevant search results and a better user experience. This involves understanding user intent, content quality, and mobile-friendliness.
• Localization : Google offers localized versions of its search engine in numerous languages and regions, ensuring that users worldwide have access to information in their preferred language.
• Voice Search : As voice search became more popular, Google developed voice search capabilities, enabling users to search by voice commands.
• Instant Answers : Google introduced instant answers and featured snippets, providing users with quick and direct responses to common queries.
• Google maintains its dominant position as the leading search engine globally, with a market share of over 90%.
• The company's commitment to user experience and innovation has led to high user satisfaction.
• Google has successfully expanded its services beyond search into areas such as cloud computing, mobile operating systems, and artificial intelligence.

Financial Services Redesign- American Express

• Company : American Express
• Industry : Financial Services
• Challenge : Enhancing online banking and credit card management experience
• Key Success Metrics : Improved user engagement, increased online transactions, and customer satisfaction

American Express is a major player in the financial services industry. They faced the challenge of modernizing their online banking and credit card management platform to offer a seamless and user-friendly experience to their customers. The existing platform had become outdated and required a significant redesign.

• User-Friendly Interface : American Express focused on creating a user-friendly interface, making it easy for customers to manage their accounts, track expenses, and perform online transactions.
• Mobile App Integration : Recognizing the shift towards mobile banking, they integrated their website with a mobile app, allowing customers to access their accounts on the go.
• Personalized Dashboard : After conducting A/B testing research, they introduced a personalized dashboard that displayed essential account information, transaction history, and spending patterns to provide users with actionable insights.
• Enhanced Security : American Express implemented advanced security features, including multi-factor authentication and real-time transaction monitoring, to ensure customer data remained secure.
• Customer Support Integration : They integrated customer support features, such as live chat and a comprehensive knowledge base, to assist customers with their inquiries and issues.
• American Express witnessed an increase in online transactions, with more customers using their online platform for payments and account management.
• User engagement improved significantly, with customers spending more time on the website and mobile app.
• Customer satisfaction ratings rose as a result of the improved user experience and security measures.

Tech Startup Excellence- Slack

• Company : Slack
• Challenge : Creating a collaborative and user-friendly messaging platform
• Key Success Metrics : Increased user adoption, team collaboration, and business growth

Slack is a popular communication and collaboration platform for businesses. In its early stages, it faced the challenge of designing a user-friendly and efficient messaging platform that could facilitate seamless team communication and productivity.

• Simplified Messaging : Slack introduced a user-friendly chat interface with features like channels, direct messaging, and integrations to simplify team communication.
• Third-Party Integrations : They allowed seamless integration with a wide range of third-party apps, enabling teams to work efficiently and access all their tools within Slack.
• Mobile Accessibility : Recognizing the importance of real-time communication on mobile devices, Slack developed a robust mobile app to ensure users could stay connected on the go.
• Customization and Personalization : Slack provided customization options for users to personalize their workspace, choose notification preferences, and integrate apps that best suit their workflow.
• Community and Support : They built a strong community and provided comprehensive support resources, including a help center and user forums.
• Slack has become a go-to communication platform for businesses, with millions of users and numerous organizations adopting it for team collaboration.
• The platform's ease of use and third-party integrations have enhanced business productivity and efficiency.
• Slack's success has led to business growth, making it a prominent tech startup.

Retail Revolution- Walmart

• Company : Walmart
• Industry : Retail
• Challenge : Expanding e-commerce and enhancing the online shopping experience
• Key Success Metrics : Increased online sales, customer satisfaction, and mobile accessibility

Walmart, one of the largest retailers in the world, faced the challenge of expanding its e-commerce presence and providing a seamless online shopping experience for customers while also providing a stronger visual hierarchy . The company needed to compete effectively in the online retail space.

• E-commerce Expansion : Walmart invested in expanding its e-commerce infrastructure, including online product listings, inventory management, and shipping logistics.
• Mobile-First Approach : Recognizing the growing importance of mobile shopping, they adopted a mobile-first approach to ensure a smooth shopping experience on smartphones and tablets.
• Personalized Shopping : Walmart introduced personalized shopping recommendations, based on user browsing and purchase history, to encourage customers to discover new products.
• Online Grocery Shopping : They facilitated online grocery shopping with features like curbside pickup and home delivery to meet the evolving needs of customers.
• Customer Service : Walmart improved customer service with features like live chat support and an easily accessible customer support hotline.
• Walmart's e-commerce platform has experienced significant growth, with increased online sales and a broader customer base.
• The company's mobile-first approach has contributed to high mobile accessibility and a seamless shopping experience on smartphones and tablets.
• Walmart remains a retail giant, successfully competing in the online retail space.

Automotive Industry- Tesla

• Company : Tesla
• Industry : Automotive
• Challenge : Designing a user-friendly electric vehicle configurator
• Key Success Metrics : Increased customer engagement, conversion rates, and lead generation

Tesla, a leading electric vehicle manufacturer, faced the challenge of creating a user-friendly online configurator for their electric cars. The configurator needed to provide a seamless and informative experience for potential customers, allowing them to customize and order their vehicles online.

• Intuitive Configuration : Using aspects of web design psychology , Tesla designed a highly intuitive configurator that guided users through various options, such as model selection, color choices, and features, using a step-by-step process.
• Real-time Pricing Updates : The configurator provided real-time price updates as users made selections, allowing them to see the cost implications of their choices immediately.
• Visual Customization : Users could see a visual representation of their custom vehicle, complete with 3D models, interactive panoramas, and interior views.
• Educational Content : Tesla included educational content about electric vehicle benefits and features, ensuring users were well-informed during the configuration process.
• Lead Generation Forms : The configurator seamlessly transitioned users to lead generation forms, enabling potential customers to submit their configured vehicles for further information or purchase.
• Tesla's configurator significantly improved customer engagement and conversion rates, with many users completing the configuration process.
• The real-time pricing updates gave users confidence in their choices and pricing transparency.
• The configurator served as an effective lead generation tool, helping Tesla capture potential buyers' information.

Fashion Retail Redesign- Nordstrom

• Company : Nordstrom
• Industry : Fashion Retail
• Challenge : Updating the e-commerce website for modern shoppers
• Key Success Metrics : Increased online sales, improved user experience, and mobile accessibility

Nordstrom, a well-established fashion retailer, faced the challenge of updating their e-commerce website to meet the evolving needs and expectations of modern online shoppers. This involved creating a more engaging and user-friendly online shopping experience.

• Modern Design Aesthetics : Nordstrom adopted modern design elements and color tones, including a clean and elegant layout, high-quality product images and graphics , and a focus on user experience.
• Mobile Optimization : They ensured the website was fully optimized for mobile devices, with responsive design and a user-friendly mobile app for seamless shopping on smartphones and tablets.
• Personalization and Recommendations : Nordstrom implemented personalized shopping recommendations based on user browsing and purchase history, helping customers discover new products.
• Product Search and Filtering : The website featured advanced product search and filtering options, allowing customers to quickly find products by category, size, brand, and price.
• User Reviews and Ratings : Nordstrom incorporated user reviews and ratings, providing valuable social proof and assisting customers in making informed decisions.
• Nordstrom's website redesign led to increased online sales and customer engagement, with customers spending more time on the site and making more purchases.
• The mobile optimization efforts significantly improved the user experience for mobile shoppers.
• Personalized shopping recommendations enhanced product discovery and customer satisfaction.

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Matthew McWaters is the owner of LUCID and has over 15 years of experience in web design, web development, and digital marketing. 

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• Learn The Complete Guide to Redesigning Your Website

The Complete Guide to Redesigning Your Website

Does your website look a little… outdated? Do you cringe every time the homepage loads? Are you frequently looking at other sites and wishing yours looked even half as good? Are you constantly fielding complaints from employees or even customers about the way it functions?

If any of these scenarios sounds familiar, it may be time to redesign your website. To help you decide whether or not it’s time to pull the trigger on a website redo, and to make the process a little easier on you, we’ve compiled this complete guide to redesigning your site. The guide covers everything from setting goals and defining your strategy to launching the new look.

We encourage you to read through this guide and keep it handy as you work through the redesign process.

To explore this guide and learn more about starting your own online store, click the links below to skip between chapters. Use the “previous chapter” and “next chapter” links to read the guide in order, or click the “home” link to return to this page and the table of contents again.

• Why Redesign Your Website?

There are many reasons and factors that may go into the decision to redesign a website. Here are some of the most common:

• Website looks old or outdated
• Site no longer functions as desired, or original functionality is now outdated
• Site does not display properly in newer browsers or on modern devices
• Complaints are being received (from either customers or employees)
• Amount of content or products exceeds what current design can support
• Current website design is preventing goals from being reached

You may have one of these reasons for wanting to redesign your website, or you may have several that aren’t on this list. Whatever the reason, you probably have a pretty good grasp on what the problems are with your current site, and maybe even some ideas about how you can solve them with a redesign.

However, before pulling the trigger on a redesign, you should be absolutely sure that a full site makeover is what you really need. A redesign can be expensive and time-intensive, and you will have to maintain your current website while the new look is developed.

In some cases, instead of a redesign, you can invest in a website “refresh.” A refresh involves updating some of the existing site’s elements or making minor adjustments that will improve its look and functionality without requiring a full redesign. It may be better to invest in a refresh if:

• You aren’t receiving complaints about your site
• Your site is still functioning well in all browsers
• The changes you want can be achieved with simple editing (ex. color changes, switching to a different font, a new logo) or only a few hours of development (ex. adding a sitewide footer, changing part of the homepage design, adding a blog)
• Your site is still meeting sales goals

The best way to determine whether or not you can invest in a small refresh rather than a full redesign is to write down a list of what you want to change, then present it to a website development company. They will be able to evaluate your needs, and tell you whether or not you can get what you want out of a refresh.

Most websites owners find that a refresh once every year or two helps keep their sites looking current. However, this assumes that the right groundwork has been laid already. If your current site isn’t mobile-friendly, or your CMS simply doesn’t do what you want it to, it’s probably better to push for a full redesign.

Still not sure if a full redesign is what you need for your site? That’s fine—keep reading! Over the new few chapters, we’ll cover what you should do when preparing for a redesign, what new design costs, and how the process typically goes. This information should help you make a more informed decision.

Now that we’ve covered the reasons that usually drive redesigns, let’s talk about one of the most important—yet most overlooked—parts of the redesign process: strategy.

• Redesign Strategy, Needs, and Goals

Strategy may seem like a strange component for a site redesign. You may be thinking that all the site has to do is look good, right? Why would there need to be goals if the redesign is going to work much better than the existing layout or theme?

Unfortunately, too many website owners “go with their gut” when it comes to a redesign. They think they need a new site, but they aren’t really sure why. They pay thousands of dollars for a brand new CMS and layout, assuming that their new, splashy, modern site will better convert customers and increase sales dramatically. Yet when they launch, their only real goal—sell more—isn’t met. In fact, it looks like sales are dropping. Why is this?

In actuality, trusting your gut is one of the worst things you can do with a redesign. Your decision should be backed by real data, like customer complaints, high bounce rates, or low purchases on mobile devices. Additionally, everything you do in the redesign process should consider the needs of the customer—not the desires of the owner. A beautiful site does not always lead to sales, especially if its customers can’t find what they came there for.

This is why it’s so important to have a strategy when it comes to a new site design. A website redesign strategy lays out, point by point, what you want to happen with your online presence. This strategy will guide the site’s elements and presentation, and ensure that everything you or the designer does leads to success and customer happiness.

How to Create Your Redesign Strategy

To determine your strategy, start by jotting down the biggest things that are detrimental to your current website design. These should be things that have a direct impact on the way your site performs, or items that have been frequently complained about. As much as it may hurt to read it, no website redesign strategy is complete without criticism from the outside. Here are some examples:

• Site search doesn’t show relevant results
• Not enough room for all pages in menu
• Home page is too cluttered
• Checkout looks out of date

Now, using your list (which is probably a lot longer than ours!), write what you feel are solutions to these problems to the right of each issue:

• Site search doesn’t show relevant results =  better functioning search
• Not enough room for all pages in menu =  larger drop-down menu
• Homepage is too cluttered =  clean homepage with fewer, larger images
• Checkout looks out of date =  redesigned checkout

These items to the right are your “must-haves.” Even if you can’t specifically solve each problem—“redesigned checkout” is vague, but you can leave the details up to someone else—you know that these are the things you can’t live without.

From this list of must-haves, you should be able to craft a website mission statement of sorts:

We want the new company website to have a clean homepage with fewer images, a large menu to accommodate all of our pages, a search that allows users to easily find products, and a redesigned checkout process that looks more modern.

There’s your strategy! Hand that sentence to a web design company, and they’ll have a much easier time coming up with something for you than they would with directions like “make it look better.”

Another thing that you can do to determine your strategy—and guide any design work—is to set goals for the revamped website. For example, say your bounce rate is currently around 85%, and you want the new design to get it down to 70%. You can make a list like this one:

• Reduce bounce rate by 15%
• Cut cart abandon rate in half
• Increase daily clicks on conversion button by 25%
• Daily visitor count of 1000
• 300 purchases per month

Can your website redesign help with all of these goals? It’s possible. Design plays a big part in the overall attractiveness of your site, so even though some of these goals may look more like something you’d try to achieve with SEO, you can certainly try to move the needle with a redesign. You might be surprised by how much of an impact a redesign can make on sales.

With your needs, goals, and strategy in hand, one last thing that you can do is some research. Go looking for websites that meet your criteria, or resemble the “dream site” in your head. If you know you want your site to have a beautiful drop-down menu, look for sites that have one; if your favorite ecommerce store has a fantastic checkout, take note of it. Bookmark these sites and share them with your designer—they’ll appreciate the clear direction and examples.

To help you better understand what your redesigned website might need, chapter 3 will cover some of the most common redesign requests, and show some examples of websites that have these features. (Feel free to use them as examples for your own project!)

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• Common Redesign Requests

Although every redesign is different, there are a few common requests that designers hear when working on a project. Some of these requests may follow trends, while others are more evergreen.

Let’s look at a few of the most common factors in a redesign, and some examples of how these elements might look on a completed website.

Redesigned navigation

A new navigation is one of the most common requests of those seeking a website redesign. It’s usually a sign of a growth: initially, simple menus or sidebars will fit most categories or product options, but as new pages are created, they simply won’t fit.

Redesigning the navigation usually involves the creation of a new menu or set of options at the top or side of the website. Navigation at the top is most common, but some sites with many options, categories, or products may choose to supplement this with an additional menu on the side or even the bottom. Also, redesigned navigational options usually include the addition of “breadcrumbs,” or small on-page indications that show where a user is on a website.

The ideal website navigation should be fully integrated with the CMS so that any new pages or options can be added easily without modifying code or doing any kind of manual development. New additions should also be easy to sort or change in lists, again without any custom coding, so that anyone managing the website can easily grow the navigation as the website grows.

If you run an ecommerce website, or have a large amount of content available for visitors, you are probably already considering this option. However, if you’re on the fence about redesigning your navigation, ask a few customers how they feel about it. Are they able to find what they want easily? Is it clear and simple? If not, start thinking about changing your menus and links to better accommodate their needs.

Redesigned checkout process

Is your cart abandonment rate sky-high? Are your products being purchased, but just not from your website? If this is the case, your shopping cart may be to blame.

Your checkout process can literally make a break a sale. If a customer is ready to purchase, but can’t figure out how, or has trouble along the way, they won’t hesitate to leave your site for a competitor. A redesigned shopping cart and checkout is a common request for this very reason: website owners want to convert shoppers into customers, and will do anything to keep them on the site.

Some ecommerce websites rely on simple one page checkout systems, and there is data to support a reduction in abandon rates if a single page is used. On the other hand, there is also data to support a reduction by those who switch to simple, multi-page checkouts. So which method is right for you will depend on a variety of factors, including whether or not you require account signup or how much information your customers are asked to provide.

Before redesigning your checkout or shopping cart, look carefully at the data you have available. Are customers leaving your checkout immediately? If so, this could show that the process is too complicated. But if they are simply leaving as soon as they see the page with shipping fees and options, you probably have an issue that can’t be solved by a redesign. In this case, knowing where the abandonment happens is the only way you can answer the question of “why?”

Responsive or mobile-friendly design

Responsive design is rapidly becoming a must-have element of websites. Many sites, large and small, are being redesigned to better support browsers and devices of many sizes, and capitalize on the growing trend of mobile ecommerce.

If you aren’t familiar with responsive design, it’s website design that properly scales content to display on browser of any size, whether it’s on a cell phone or a large computer monitor. Responsive design ensures that your site’s content appears correctly, and is easy to read, regardless of the device used to access it. It also provides a consistent experience between browsers, so that someone who visits your site from different devices is able to find what they are looking for without a struggle.

An alternative to responsive design is a secondary “mobile website” that displays for cell phone or tablet users. If your website has a large navigation, or is determined to be too complex or complicated to convert to responsive, you may want to invest in this option instead.

The way that a mobile website works is first by determining how a visitor is accessing your site. If the browser sends a signal that it is being used on a mobile device, the website can automatically change to the mobile version. If you visit a website on your cell phone, and see “m.” in front of the URL, this means you are seeing the mobile version. Mobile versions typically have simplified navigation and options, allowing you to easily access the most important content or features.

The mobile version is reduced to provide the most relevant content for those accessing the website from their phone. This is also important because this particular site may be visited by those traveling or on-the-go, so putting the most commonly accessed or desired pages on the mobile homepage ensures that visitors can find what they want very quickly.

If you are experiencing high bounce rates or cart abandons on mobile devices, you should consider investing in responsive design, or at least a mobile version of your website. This can keep visitors on your site for longer and improve their visit, all the while ensuring a consistent experience between different devices.

Updated graphics

If your site looks like it’s stuck in the early 2000s—or seems even older—chances are good that a majority of this is due to your graphics. While a few changes to color and layout can make a big difference, you can potentially have an even bigger impact on the “newness” of your website by updating your logo, homepage graphics, product images, and so on.

Updating your graphics and images can change the entire look and feel of a site, even if the navigation and general structure stays the same. Many sites rely on homepages with easily modified “content blocks” that allow promotional or seasonal images to be swapped in and out, or scrolling banner images that link to different portions of the website. Using options like these gives you the flexibility to essentially redesign your homepage whenever you like.

To achieve the graphical portion of a redesign, you will need to work closely with a graphic designer, or the graphic design portion of your chosen agency. Don’t be afraid to take risks, but avoid making any changes that could isolate your audience: someone shopping for a tractor would probably leave a website with flash animation or enormous photos that would better suit a women’s fashion outlet. If your audience wants information above all else, make sure your graphics don’t hide it!

Modern design elements

Website design trends are constantly changing. What is trendy now may be old news in a few years, or even just a few months. It’s common for design agencies to hear the word “modern” in their client requests, but what this means can be vastly different to everyone, and the meaning changes frequently.

If you want your website design to last a long time with only a few simple changes, modifications, or refreshes, avoid following every trend too closely. Your visitors may be impressed by modern design, but keep in mind that they have reasons for being there – and if your design elements stop them from finding what they want or performing an action, they’re going to leave.

Above all else, do what will help your customers. Yes, rolling out a responsive site with parallax scrolling and incredibly large graphics might earn you a few links or even design awards. But if it won’t solve any problems, or make it easier for visitors to do what they came there to do, is it really worth it? Strive to find a balance between functional and fun without losing sight of your goals.

Better calls to action

No matter what kind of website you have, chances are good that you have a call to action of some kind on it. “Add to cart” is a call to action, and so is “contact us,” “click here to download,” or any other message that encourages action to be taken.

If you’re not seeing enough clicks or completions surrounding your calls to action, or CTAs, your website design may be contributing. If your CTA is buried or difficult to locate, or doesn’t stand out from the surrounding content, you may want to consider altering your design to better support these crucial messages.

For ecommerce sites, this may be as simple as changing the color of your “add to cart” button, making it more visible, or moving it elsewhere on your product pages. You should also ensure that your CTAs have enough support – for example, making product price more visible by the “add to cart” option, or clearly stating what happens after someone clicks the “contact us” option on your site.

Although better CTAs are sometimes a simple matter of rewriting your copy or making small changes to your approach, sometimes a redesign is the best way to drive clicks and actions. If your most important CTA isn’t having any affect—whether it’s “add to cart” or “sign up” or something else—consider changing the design to give it more power and attention.

Special effects

Finally, for website owners who really want to impress their visitors, or make their site stand out from the competition, some special effects or features may be requested. This can include everything from flash animation to an image gallery to horizontal scrolling.

Typically, whenever any special effects or features are requested, special development or design requests will need to be made. These features can add significant time to a redesign – as well as cost. This is especially true if the requests you make are outside the scope of what the company you are working with can cover.

Avoid implementing any special effects or custom development simply because you think they’re “cool.” Every single element of your website should be inspired by data and customer needs. So if a flash animation or room designer tool will benefit them, go for it! But think carefully before you commit to any special effects or custom development, because if it doesn’t work, you’ll still be stuck with the bill.

Now that we’ve covered these common elements of a website redesign, and given you a few examples of what a redesign might include, let’s take a look at the cost of a new site design—and why it’s so hard to get an answer to the question of “how much will this all cost?”

• The Cost of Website Redesign

This is a fairly common question: “what does it cost to redesign a website?”

Unfortunately, as you may have already guessed, there’s no easy way to answer this. The cost of a redesign varies based on a number of factors, including:

• The design’s requirements (style of new site, interactive elements or graphics needed, whether or not a new logo is also desired, etc.
• Number of pages on the website
• Whether or not a new CMS is also needed
• Ecommerce/shopping cart functionality
• How quickly the redesign needs completed

Generally speaking, the cost of a redesign is going to be very close to what you would pay for a brand new website—excluding any charges for copywriting, major development, integration, and so on.

A very simple redesign for a site with a handful of pages, no ecommerce functionality, and no new development required may cost as little as a few hundred dollars. On the other hand, a complex redesign for an ecommerce website with hundreds of products and pages that all need to move to a brand new CMS can cost thousands of dollars.

The cost of a website redesign is different for everyone. Although some companies may be able to provide a “baseline” price, keep in mind that each additional requirement or component will add cost. Look for a company who will provide you with a detailed proposal and quote up front, instead of trying to sell you a “one size fits all” redesign plan. This way, you’ll have a better idea of what you’ll have to spend right out of the gate, rather than being surprised by the total cost at the end of the process.

The money you spend may not be the only cost of a website redesign, however. There are other costs involved that you should carefully consider before pulling the trigger:

• The cost of any downtime as you switch CMS or designs
• Time necessary to train sales staff, customer service representatives, or other employees on how to use the redesigned website
• Any time you or other employees may need to spend on the process
• Investments in additional features or functionality that you may decide to do at the same time

Regarding the last point, it’s all too easy to say “while we’re here, let’s do this, too!” This isn’t a bad thing: a website redesign can provide the perfect opportunity to implement long-desired functionality, like a new shipping rate plugin, physical store locator, or updated copywriting. However, you probably didn’t budget for these “little things,” and they can add up fast. Try to do what you can to keep your redesign within its scope, and make plans to implement these extra items at a later date unless they’re absolutely crucial to the operation of your site.

The cost of a website design can be hefty, and it’s difficult to spend money on something that you may not even know will be successful. Having said that, you probably already know whether or not you truly need the redesign. If your site is outdated and losing business because of it, it will be fairly easy to justify the cost.

Try to avoid pulling the trigger on a redesign because of personal feelings. If your CEO says the site is “boring,” or you hate looking at it, but conversions are still through the roof and not a single customer has complained about it… well, why mess with a good thing? In this case, look for ways that you can freshen up the site without altering the customer experience, like updating your logo or even doing a simple change in the site’s color scheme.

• The Redesign Process Explained

So what exactly goes into a website redesign? It’s unfortunately not as easy as waving a magic wand and watching all your problems vanish. A complete redesign takes time, and there’s a significant amount of testing that is needed to ensure everything works properly.

To help you get a better idea of what your website redesign will entail, this chapter will explain each step in the process, why it is done, and how it benefits the finished product.

Kickoff meeting

A kickoff meeting is usually held to discuss the goals of the redesign, what the new site should look like, and any other pertinent information that your designers or agency should know before starting their work. This initial meeting ensures everyone is on the same page, and that the team knows what the redesign should look like or what is expected of them.

This kickoff meeting may involve a question and answer session, examination of analytics data or customer feedback, a review of other websites that have desired components, an explanation of desired features, and so on. At the end of the meeting, the designers should have some ideas about the kind of work they will perform, which will help lead to the next step.

Sketches or rough mockups created

Next, the design team or company you are working with will typically discuss their findings and ideas internally. From this they may initially produce some rough sketches of the design’s functionality or appearance. These sketches or wireframes will serve as the groundwork for more detailed designs, or mockups.

Mockups typically look very much like the finished product of a redesign. Although not functional, mockups usually directly lead to the visual development of the site design. At this stage, a number of people may work together to produce the mockups, including user experience (UX), graphic designers, marketers, and so on.

Note that some web design companies may only present one mockup, while others may present several. Giving the client or site owner options may help them narrow down what specific functions or features they do and don’t like.

Mockups presented

After the mockups are finished, they will be presented to the decision makers. There may be significant revisions to the mockups, or they may be accepted as-is. Once the mockups are presented, reviewed, and modified, they will be approved for development.

Creation of a “staging website”

At this point, a demo, test, or “staging” website will be created. This site will essentially be a duplicate of your existing website, but will be at a different URL that is inaccessible to anyone without the correct credentials.

This staging website will be used to gradually implement, change, and test the redesign. By duplicating your existing site, this will ensure that the new design works properly with your CMS. Note that some site owners choose to change their CMS during the redesign process, which we’ll cover in chapter 6. In this case, the staging server has a dual purpose: to test the design and the new CMS.

At the beginning of the design implementation, only a few people may have access to the staging site. Agencies typically give their customers access once the redesign is “stable,” or at least close to being finished. If you are doing the redesign in-house, you will likely have access the entire time.

New design is built

The redesign build process may only take a few days, or it may take several weeks or even months. The length of time needed to perform the redesign depends on a number of factors, but usually website size and complexity plays a part. A large ecommerce store with a thousand products will take much longer to redesign and test than a four page site for a local store.

Testing is performed

Once the new design is completed, testing will begin. Again, this may only take a few days, but design testing can last a week or two, especially if there are a lot of factors to review.

During the testing process, as many employees as possible should access the staging server and review the new design. This will not only allow anyone who will be working on the site to become accommodated with it, but also give your team a chance to find bugs or other desired changes.

You should never skip the testing step.  Without thorough testing, you may never find critical bugs that cause your new design to display improperly in certain browsers, or that the new call to action buttons on your pages aren’t functional. Little things will be missed, no matter how much attention to detail your designers have, so do what you can to contribute to extensive testing of your site.

Once the testing phase is completed, you’ll be ready to launch!

Optional step: soft launch

In some circumstances—for example, if the site being redesigned is very large or popular—there will be a redesign “soft launch.” This usually involves the new design being rolled out, but not announced, so that it can monitored under normal conditions. This soft launch may take anywhere from a few hours to a week or two, and gives the team time to identify and resolve issues without unnecessary attention being drawn to them.

If your website doesn’t have an enormous amount of traffic, you can probably skip the soft launch step. However, if your brand’s website is very popular (and the announcement of a redesign will result in thousands of extra visits), you may want to utilize a soft launch to give your team a chance to both experience the “live” website and continue to resolve issues. Sometimes the only way to identify bugs is by rolling out your product, and a soft launch is a great way to do that.

New design launches!

On the day of launch, your completed website design will be moved from the staging server to your live, or production, server. If you are changing your CMS, you may take a different route, switching servers completely so that your test site is now the live one.

Once your new design has launched, you will likely spend the first few weeks continuing to identify and correct small bugs or issues, improve the design, and answer customers from customers or employees. Even a thoroughly tested site will still have some small bugs, so be prepared to act on them quickly.

This, in a nutshell, is how the website redesign process usually goes. Although there may be some variants or unexpected pauses, you can use these steps as the roadmap for the process.

Now that we’ve explored what a redesign usually looks like, let’s look at the two ways you may choose to change the way your site looks and feels: by redesigning on the same CMS, or by switching to a brand new one.

• Switching Your CMS

If the only thing you want to do is change the visual look and feel of your site, and aren’t concerned with adding functionality, you will probably be able to keep the same content management system (CMS) when your site is redesigned. A redesign on the same CMS typically involves developing a new “skin” to fit your site, and integrating it with the CMS so that you can easily control individual elements or quickly change the content.

However, sometimes the requirements of a website redesign go beyond the scope of what your current CMS is capable of. For example, if you are on a hosted ecommerce platform, you may want to add graphical elements that their built-in skins don’t offer, or that can’t easily be coded into a theme via the available editor. Or perhaps you are doing everything manually, and want to use a CMS to better manage your site.

If you’re running into a lot of roadblocks when you try to update your current site, your redesign will often be accompanied by a switch to a new CMS. This will mean that the entire site needs to build from scratch, not just the design, and that the staging server will contain a brand new website that eventually takes the place of your current one.

If you’re not sure whether or not you need a new CMS to accompany your redesign, here are a few of the most common reasons that website owners make this switch:

• Current CMS won’t support the desired redesign
• Current CMS has limitations that would or do require extensive custom development
• Current CMS is too expensive, too slow, or suffers from other problems
• Site owner wants to move from hosted platform to self-hosted
• There is no CMS used currently, making it difficult or time-consuming to implement changes

If you are happy with your CMS or didn’t identify with any of these bullet points, you can skip this section and go to chapter 7. On the other hand, if you found yourself nodding along with the list above, it may be time for you to consider a CMS switch along with your redesign. Read on to learn more about how the addition of a new CMS impacts the redesign process.

Selecting your new CMS

Which CMS is the right choice for your website? Great question! Unfortunately, there are different answers for everyone. Here’s an overview of your options for selecting a new CMS.

Self-hosted

A self-hosted CMS is one that you either purchase or download and install on a server you own or rent. Although potentially complicated and difficult to learn for beginners, self-hosted platforms are extremely flexible, and usually have many useful options and features. Popular choices for a self-hosted CMS include Magento, Drupal, Joomla, and Sitecore.

A hosted CMS is one that is provided by the same company that owns the server used for your website. Hosted content systems are most common for ecommerce platforms, and their simplicity allows new store owners to get up and running quickly. Some popular hosted platforms include Shopify, BigCommerce, Volusion, and 3dcart. The biggest downside to hosted CMS is that they are difficult to add on to, and modifying the site design is not always easy.

Although WordPress rose to popularity as blogging software, it can now function as everything from a blog to an ecommerce store to a business website. Thanks to its massive library of themes and plugins, WordPress is incredibly customizable, flexible, and easy to modify to meet your needs. The software is free, too, making it an economical choice for anyone minding their costs.

Before selecting a CMS, ensure your redesign will be compatible with it. If you are working with a web development company, they may recommend the CMS for you, or suggest at the beginning of the process which one you should switch to accommodate your needs.

Exporting your data

Once you’ve selected your CMS, you’ll need to make a backup of your existing website data. Unfortunately, it’s not usually very easy to switch from one CMS to another, especially for ecommerce websites: the most you can probably get from an export will be an Excel spreadsheet containing your information.

If you want to preserve existing user accounts, purchase history, report data, or any other information that’s not included in an export, you will need to retrieve it from your website’s database. This can be easier said than done, especially if you aren’t familiar with databases. You may want to consult a web development company for help with this process.

Make sure that you save everything you will want to reproduce on the new site, including any critical pages, images, or downloadable files. However, don’t worry if you forget something on the first round: your current site will be operational while you work on the new one, so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to retrieve additional data.

Setting up the staging server

Once you’ve completed your data export, you can set up your staging (test) server with this information. You don’t necessarily need to import everything, but at least enough so that you can test the crucial components of your design—for example, product and category pages, homepage copy, on-page content, and so on.

The design process

Once the server is ready and your CMS has some data imported, the design process will begin. As we’ve already mentioned, the amount of time this process takes will vary based on the number of pages, site functionality, and the amount of custom development needed to support the new layout or graphics.

Over the course of the design process, you may be working in tandem with the designer to continue adding data, pages, or products so that the site will be ready to launch very soon after the design is finished.

Completing the website

Once the design is finished, you will likely go through a few rounds of final changes. After you are happy with the design, it will be signed off on, and you will simply need to finish setting up your pages and content to have a complete website!

Testing will also take place at this stage, and may last anywhere from a few days to several weeks. Test your new website thoroughly, and involve as many people as possible to ensure that many browsers, devices, and settings are tested in conjunction with your site.

One more important step that will need to be taken upon redesign completion is the creation of redirects. If any of your page URLs are changing, you should redirect the old ones to the new ones so that users don’t see 404 pages if they find an old link in search. You can find helpful information on creating 301 redirects in your .htaccess file on this  Google Help page .

Learning your new CMS

Finally, on or around the day of launch, you should have everyone involved with the maintenance of the new website spend some time learning the CMS. This can take place in a formalized meeting or learning session, or you can allow everyone to learn at their own pace. Like testing, this is important because it will help you identify any potential issues in advance of your launch.

At this point in the process, your new website will be built, designed, tested, and ready to launch. In our next chapter, we’ll discuss what happens on launch day, and how to make the most out of the unveiling of your site redesign.

• Launching the New Look

Once your redesign is completed and thoroughly tested, a day and time will be set for relaunch. Typically, launches will be scheduled to take place during off-peak hours or days to avoid too much traffic causing complications or finding problems with the site. If your site traffic dips in the early hours of Wednesday and Thursday, it’s probably best to launch during that time.

When you’re ready to launch, the new design will be copied over to the live site from the staging one—or, if you are switching your CMS, traffic will be redirected from the current site to the new server where the design is completed. It may only take a few minutes, but once this step is completed, your redesign will be live!

However, a relaunch isn’t as easy as “set it and forget it.” Over the next few days, you’ll need to spend as much time as possible listening to complaints, concerns, or questions that come in. You may hear nothing but praise, but you will likely receive a few questions, both from visitors and those who use your site internally. Keep a log of these, and try to resolve them as quickly as you can.

Inevitably, there will probably be a great idea or feature that you missed or forgot about, and want to add to the design as quickly as possible. That’s fine—it seems to happen to everyone! Let your designer know, and ask when they can work any additions into their schedule. As long as it’s not critical, you can go ahead and publicize your new design at this point.

Here are a few ideas for drawing attention to the redesign (and potentially getting some traffic and links out of it):

• Announce the new look on your social media profiles
• Send an email to your subscribers inviting them to visit, perhaps with a limited time discount or coupon code
• Write up a “behind the scenes” blog post about the process and motivation behind it
• Write and send out a press release about the redesign
• Contact your local news stations (best if you are a local business, and the website is an extension of your business/serves an important purpose)
• Directly email anyone in your industry who may be interested in covering the relaunch
• Do something in celebration of the relaunch, ex. a special offer, a party, a giveaway

Again, keep in mind that you will need to listen to feedback, monitor your site performance, and resolve any issues during this time. No relaunch ever goes perfectly, no matter how hard you and your team may try, so keep an open mind and do what you can to identify and remove any problems before they get larger or attract unnecessary attention.

With your new look launched and the celebration underway, let’s explore some of the final steps you’ll need to take on your journey to a new and improved website. In chapter 8, we’ll talk about how you can make the most of your redesign by further optimizing individual elements, while chapter 9 will cover some common problems, questions, and issues, and offer ways you can respond to them. Read on for more!

• Making the Most of Your Redesign

Savvy business owners know that their website is never truly completed—it’s a work in progress. To make the most of your redesign, you will need to have this same attitude. There is always something you can do to improve your site and gain additional customers.

To make the most of your redesign and further boost traffic and conversions, you should do some CRO, or conversion rate optimization. Here’s a look at what CRO is, how you can do it, and how its most crucial component, the A/B test, works.

About conversion rate optimization (CRO)

CRO is all about performing tests to determine how you can increase the conversion rate on your website. You can perform CRO to improve an overall feature, like the color of all your buttons, or just a single line of text. The end goal is to increase conversions by optimizing your site’s content and characteristics to best suit your visitors and customers.

Optimizing your conversion rate doesn’t involve blindly making changes and seeing what sticks: it’s based on testing, specifically A/B testing. Before doing anything permanent that could actually harm your conversion rate, you should take the time to test any changes. This will involve an A/B test.

How A/B testing works

In A/B testing, two different versions of a page are compared against each other to determine which performs better. Typically this involves the original page, version A, being pitted directly against a variant, version B. The same amount of people will see versions A and B, and they will be unaware of any testing, so the results should accurately reflect the higher performing version.

There are a few different ways to perform A/B testing. There is software available, or you can set up an experiment through Google Analytics to track the results. However you choose to perform your tests, you should let them run as long as possible to ensure that your data is as complete and accurate as possible. Cutting off a test very early, or with a small sample size, could result in poor changes being made to your site.

One word of advice: an A/B test should always be performed based on data, not on gut feelings. If a button performed well prior to your redesign but isn’t working now, test away—but if you simply have a gut feeling that making your site background gray instead of white will increase conversions, try to find some actual data or existing studies to support this before you test. Who knows, maybe gray does increase conversions, but it won’t work on your site because your target market prefers bright colors.

When should CRO be done?

You should do conversion rate optimization testing when:

• The redesign appears to have impacted your conversion rates in a negative way
• The results of a new button, form, or CTA are not as expected
• You receive one or more complaints about a specific element not contributing to your site (these can be taken with a grain of salt, but if 20 people say that your CTA button is too big, maybe you should test a smaller one)
• When you are introducing a new function or page of some kind and aren’t sure which version or option will work best due to a lack of existing data

You don’t have to perform any CRO or A/B testing if you don’t want to. However, if changing a single word or moving a button elsewhere on a page could boost your conversion rate dramatically, wouldn’t you want to know? Consider setting a simple goal to test one item a month, or even once per quarter, and monitor the results carefully. You may be able to increase your revenue or leads more than you expect!

Next, let’s talk about some of the most common problems you may run into after your site is launched and find ways you can resolve them.

• Resolving Common Redesign Problems

After your new design is launched, you may be surprised by the results… and not necessarily in a good way. Maybe some of the new pages aren’t performing as well as you hoped, and conversions are low. On the other hand, maybe your traffic is through the roof but it doesn’t seem like your site can handle it. What can you do about this?

Aside from A/B and CRO testing, which we’ve already covered, here are some ways you can resolve common problems that pop up with website redesigns.

Slow site speed

One common complaint, after a redesign is completed, is that the new site is very slow. Why does this happen, and what can be done about it?

Typically, a new website will have more graphics, features, and pages once it is completed. This can put additional strain on a server. Combine this with any kind of increase in traffic, and you have a recipe for a slow website.

Fortunately, this is usually fairly easy to resolve: contact your website host and ask about upgrading your server. Allotting more bandwidth or upgrading your available hardware resources is typically all it takes to speed up your site again. It may cost a little more, but in the long run, the reduction in bounce rates will be worth it!

Generally speaking, the homepage of your website should load in just a few seconds. If it takes more than ten seconds to load, you should consider reducing the amount of content on it, compressing any images, or upgrading your server (or even switching to another host).

Crashes or server failures

If you push your site or server to its limit, either with a large increase in traffic or demand in resources, you may see crashes or even failures. Again, resolving this is usually fairly simple: contact your host to ask about increasing your bandwidth or upgrading your hardware to better support your site’s demands.

Having said that, not all server problems are due to high traffic. If your server begins failing regularly, or your database is unstable, there may be a problem occurring that is both out of your control and not due to the redesign. Your host should be able to tell you what’s wrong. If they can’t, or are unwilling to help, it’s time to look for a new one.

Diminished sales or leads

Although the goal of a website redesign is usually to increase sales by improving the customer experience, sometimes sales will dip for a short period after the redesign is implemented. This could be due a few reasons.

• Does your redesign meet the expectations of your customers? Is it fast, easy to navigate and searchable?
• Have your rankings dropped for keywords important to you?
• Are you in the middle of a server move? This can cause a temporary loss of traffic.
• Did you 301 redirect all of your old pages to the new ones?
• Did you inadvertently duplicate, remove, or alter your site’s most important content?

With careful planning and knowledge of how your redesign will impact your website visitors, a redesign should only cause a minimal disruption in traffic at best. However, if any of these problems occur, you might actually see a reduction in traffic instead of an increase.

Fortunately, resolving all but the first problem is relatively simple. A short drop in traffic and sales is natural if you switch servers, and it will resolve itself in only a day or two. For the others, ensure that your site content isn’t duplicated, and that nothing was missed in the migration, and check your server logs to look for any 404s that aren’t being properly redirected. For ranking issues, look for any spots where content is missing or can be added, check your page titles and headers, and also make sure that every page on your site is linked somewhere from your navigation, header, or footer.

The first problem—customer dissatisfaction with the redesign—is the worst, and it takes time to resolve. Nothing is harder to fix than unhappiness, and sinking money into a new site that no one likes can feel like a slap in the face. However, if you followed our guide, we doubt you’ll have this problem. As long as you go into the process with a clear idea of how the redesign will help your visitors, you should be on the right track to grow your traffic, not lose it.

Confusion or complaints

If you have a dedicated customer service department, you may hear a few complaints from those who knew the old website inside and out, and now have trouble finding what they want on the new site. To resolve these, consider setting up a training or Q&A session to address questions, concerns, and complaints.

Customers who call, email, or post on social media to complain or express concerns over the redesign should not be ignored. Customers who spend the time to tell you what they don’t like about the website should at least be thanked, even if you don’t agree with their opinion or ideas. Sometimes this kind of insight can be incredibly valuable, and can lead to much-needed improvements or inspire great ideas for future additions.

Keep an open mind about all the feedback you receive. It may sting a little, especially if you invested a lot of money or time into the redesign, but this kind of honest feedback can potentially make your site better than ever.

Drops in ranking

Finally, it’s not uncommon to hear about drops in search engine rankings for important keywords or phrases post-redesign. As we indicated above, this could be because there is necessary content missing from the site, because 301 redirects aren’t in place, because the bounce rate is higher, and so on.

If you’re not sure why your relaunch has impacted your placement in the rankings for specific terms, dig into Google Analytics and look for patterns that may indicate a spike in bounce rate or any other metric. Compare the content on your old pages against the new ones. Did you rewrite your homepage copy and inadvertently remove all your keywords? Are your title tags “better,” but actually far worse?

Unfortunately, A/B testing isn’t really effective with SEO, simply because you’re trying to measure search engine happiness, not customer happiness – and there’s not always overlap there. If you can’t figure out why your rankings have dropped, consult a SEO company like WebFX for help.

We’re nearing the end of our guide! We’ll finish up our guide to website redesign with a case study from a real WebFX client. We’ll also provide you with some additional resources that may help you plan your redesign, set some goals, and perform CRO. Keep reading for more!

• Redesign Case Study

VF Corporation is one of the longest-running outlet operators. In 1970, they opened the first VF Outlet in the country in Reading, Pennsylvania. The outlet offered low prices and a wide selection of clothing and accessories from popular brands, and this is still how VF Outlet operates today.

VF Outlet’s website  needed a new look, as well as ecommerce functionality. While our development team worked hard to integrate Magento as the CMS for this new store, our designers got to work creating easy to navigate, stylish, and image focused pages that would lower bounce time while increasing overall conversions.

As a result of the redesign, as well as the integration of the new ecommerce functionality, VF Outlet was able to meet its goal of increasing sales online. The website also looks fresh, crisp, and modern, which gives it better appeal to a younger audience. The modified layout also puts large graphics with clear calls to action above the fold, and gives VF Outlet’s social media channels and email marketing a better chance to be seen.

A website redesign was also needed for the VF Outlet Center, the physical store in Reading. Although no products are actually sold on this website, customers visit it for coupons, to find hours for the outlet center, and learn about events.

Here are the before and after images for this second website:

Since the launch of the redesigned VF Outlet Center site, the site’s bounce rate has decreased by 29%. This new, simple yet attractive design allows visitors to find information more quickly, and keeps them from leaving right away.

Visit our portfolio to see more of our website redesign  case studies .

• Additional Resources

Now that you’ve made it to the end of our guide, here are a few extra resources that you may find helpful as you start your redesign project. From strategy to questionnaires to design inspiration, these links will give you everything you need to successfully give your site a makeover.

Redesign strategy and goals

How to Develop a Website Redesign Strategy That Guarantees Results  – This Hubspot article provides a step-by-step guide to creating a redesign strategy, and also includes a downloadable worksheet.

Strategic Design: 6 Steps for Building Successful Websites  – Although this Smashing Magazine post is from 2008, it’s still incredibly relevant today, and introduces the concept of the “strategic redesign” versus simply choosing what looks good.

Website redesign checklists and questionnaires

New Year, New Site  – This KISSmetrics checklist will help guide you pick specific design elements to increase conversion rate, social shares, and more.

12-Point Checklist for Website Redesign & Migration  – This ClickZ checklist covers both the redesign and server move processes, ensuring that your team is on the same page and has a plan throughout the entire project.

50 Questions to Evaluate the Quality of Your Website  – A great way to start any redesign process and kick off ideas about how to improve problems with your existing site!

25 Point Website Usability Checklist  – Get back to basics with this simple, clear, and easy to digest usability checklist.

Redesign SEO tips

8 Necessary SEO Steps During a Website Redesign  – Search Engine Land shares this checklist to ensuring that your redesigned site is optimized right out of the gate.

How to Avoid SEO Disaster During a Website Redesign  – Although this piece starts off with some scary examples of sites that have lost major ground during a redesign, Glenn Gabe’s article on Search Engine Journal is recommended reading for anyone not sure how to handle SEO prior to kicking off a redesign project.

For Redesigns, Protect SEO with a 301 Redirect Strategy  – This PracticalEcommerce article, and its  sequel , give you all the information you need to set up 301 redirects and keep your “link juice” intact, no matter how many URLs you’re changing.

Design inspiration

Awwwards  – Not only do the Awwwards recognize great design and creativity, they also offer a gallery of their nominees and winners that may give you great ideas.

CSS Design Awards  – More award-winning websites to inspire your redesign.

Webdesign Inspiration  – Gallery of responsive websites from all over the world.

siteInspire  – A showcase of website design.

Pinterest  – Searching for “web design” on Pinterest will give you a ton of boards and individual pins dedicated to showcasing great site designs and other graphic successes. Tip: create your own board where you can repin your favorites and easily share them with your team, designer, or agency.

Thanks for reading our guide! We hope you found it useful as you plan to kick off your website redesign project. Feel free to bookmark this page and revisit it as you make progress on your project.

Want to see some additional website redesigns and case studies? Visit  our portfolio  to view more of our featured projects and see our work in action.

Table of Contents

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How a property management company used a website redesign to preserve and build on its page one rankings

A website redesign is a significant undertaking for marketers. These projects typically last months and can take a big chunk out of the marketing budget. That being said, they are still worthwhile…when done correctly. 

Redesigns can be used to refresh your brand, introduce new functionalities to the website, and create a better experience for users. When done with SEO in mind, a new website can be relaunched for ongoing growth to improve keyword rankings and drive more qualified traffic. 

Unsuccessful relaunches, on the other hand, can create issues that tank your keyword rankings and lead to expensive and unplanned post-launch development fixes. Significant losses in rankings and the subsequent drop in website traffic create a financial toll that compounds weekly and can take months to reverse. 

Companies that want to protect their online visibility — and bottom line — should take the time to do the job right and make sure SEO is always top of mind throughout the process. 

Importance of SEO during a website redesign

No one goes into a website redesign intending for it to be less than a success; especially not the website owners, but no less the designers, developers, and agencies responsible for the new website. Unfortunately, gaps in knowledge about website redesign SEO or rushing through the redesign process can lead to top-performing content and effective SEO elements being deleted or altered, resulting in a loss of keyword rankings, organic traffic, and sales.

Changes to design, architecture, and content can put your organic visibility at risk if you don’t fully understand what elements of your website are driving traffic in the first place. Good website redesign SEO means taking the time to pinpoint your current website’s strengths so you can build on them and identifying its weaknesses so you know what can safely be eliminated. You never want to change your URLs, rewrite content, or delete pages — all common redesign tasks — without first understanding its impact on your SEO. These issues can even create problems for other marketing channels like digital advertising , which marketers rely on to point additional traffic to their new website.  

By bringing in SEO experts at the beginning of a website redesign, you can make sure your website not only avoids these common pitfalls, but sets up your website for even greater success in the future.

Undertaking a website redesign with Windsor Communities

Windsor Communities was already working with Pure Visibility as a PPC and SEO provider when they approached us about assisting their web developer on the website redesign by auditing the website, advising on SEO, and writing new on-page elements. As a digital marketing agency , Pure Visibility had managed SEO strategy for their corporate and property websites for many years, as well as paid search campaigns for 135+ individual property websites. We understood the property management company’s unique situation when it came to website redesign.

So what was the issue? Windsor Communities had a website that was long overdue for a redesign from both an aesthetic and functionality standpoint. It looked outdated and had problems with a customized theme and certain plugins that made it difficult to keep functionality up to date. 

This lack of functionality often kept them behind their competitors. The old website, for example, did not have the ability or potential to pull in data automatically from APIs. This meant that Windsor Communities could not pull in the current availability of units/floorplans or specific pricing for any of its properties like its competitors did. 

Because of these issues, keyword rankings and the website’s online visibility had been sliding for a while. The antiquated website design, slow speed, and lack of mobile-friendliness made it harder and harder to not only gain new competitive rankings, but to maintain existing ones. 

Strategies for website redesign 

Windsor Communities wanted to make sure their website redesign was a success. It took time, but they did not cut corners!

Keeping SEO top of mind

Windsor Communities added to their current scope with their digital marketing vendor, Pure Visibility, so that SEO was part of the plan from the beginning. Considerations were made at every stage of the website redesign process, including:

• Website platform
• Page layouts
• Copy/content changes
• URL structure/website and information architecture
• Third party tools/APIs/plugins/integrations

All of these items were run by our SEO team so we could provide feedback before and during integration. This made sure that the implications for SEO were always kept top of mind.

Prioritizing most critical items  

Windsor Communities had a lot they wanted to accomplish, but they inevitably had to push some items out to stay within their budget, scope, and timeline. In these situations, we’ve seen some companies prioritize slick features over functionality, creating major issues post-launch.

Fortunately, Windsor Communities made an excellent decision to make sure core functionality and “must have” items were in the first launch, and push out smaller “nice to have” items out to a later date when they could launch a second version. Building on the WordPress framework the way they did allowed them to do this without issue.

Hiring experts

Windsor Communities avoided one of the most common redesign mistakes: hiring just one provider. They knew that one agency or vendor could not do everything they needed. 

For many website redesigns, especially larger and more complex ones, you want to make sure that everyone is an expert at what they do. The expert designers and developers working on your website are not necessarily experts in SEO. You never want seemingly small technical details to be overlooked because developers are focused on functionality or feel — this can cause indexation issues and lost rankings. 

Windsor Communities had a web design and development agency with great experience in user experience, design, and app development. Bringing in Pure Visibility for our digital marketing expertise allowed everyone to focus on what they did best.

A successful website launch

Pure Visibility partnered seamlessly with the other vendors and teams to provide strategic guidance and sound recommendations. 

When the website relaunched, we initially saw a dip in page one rankings, which was expected; new pages had to be crawled, indexed, and ranked by Google in a highly competitive search landscape. In the two months that followed, Windsor regained these important page one keyword rankings and began ranking for additional terms as well. New page one keyword rankings included both branded property names and non-branded keywords with high monthly search volume, like “ apartments in Houston ” and “ apartments in Boston .” 

Notably, many of these keywords were ones that the corporate website had not ranked for previously. In addition, organic traffic increased about 20% year-over-year in the 3 months after site relaunch . This indicated to us that the newly relaunched website had been successfully optimized for SEO and set up for ongoing success. 

DOWNLOAD THE CASE STUDY

A strategic website redesign can maximize your organic visibility.

Making strategic changes with website redesign SEO in mind can protect your current rankings and build on your website’s strengths for further growth.

About GID/Windsor Communities

GID , a vertically integrated real estate company, owns and operates over 48,000 multifamily units across the United States. The company’s operating platform provides a broad scope of knowledge and experience in managing, operating and investing in multifamily properties. Windsor Communities , the firm’s in-house property management arm, manages all of GID’s multifamily properties across the United States. Windsor Communities has achieved a long-standing reputation in the property management industry and is continuously recognized for its top-rated customer service, established and successful ESG standards, cutting-edge technology, notable marketing, and outstanding maintenance services.

About Pure Visibility

Pure Visibility is a digital marketing agency based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We are a Google Partner and Microsoft Advertising Partner. In 2005, Linda Girard co-founded Pure Visibility with a mission to build an SEO company that puts results ahead of tactics. Clients can expect data-driven, digital marketing success honed through our more than 17 years of experience working with companies like Windsor Communities, TheStampMaker , Heinz, and Chrysler.

About The Author

Tarun Gehani

Related posts.

Bane or boon? Website Redesigns Can do More Harm than Good.

Part 1: How to plan a successful website redesign to preserve your rankings and traffic

Part 2: Make Your Website Launch a Success & Keep the Traffic Coming With Our Website Launch Checklist

Content Search

Somalia + 1 more

Case studies repository: How to make humanitarian action more inclusive with and for persons with disabilities - Experiences from Somalia, Somaliland and Syrian crises responses (June 2024)

Attachments.

Case study 1: Localization of inclusive humanitarian action through capacity development of national humanitarian actor

The practice was collected as part of the ‘From Guidelines to Action (FG2A)’ project “supporting the operationalization and localization of IASC Guidelines on inclusion of persons with disabilities in humanitarian action” funded by ECHO and CDP. This practice was collected from TAAKULO.1 This organization attended the review, adapt, action and learning (RAAL Lab) session on disability inclusive humanitarian action in May 2023 with six staff. Their staff were from the programme development, management, and MEAL departments. The RAAL Lab is a capacity strengthening initiative and was used in combination with the adapted version of the DRG Learning modules , which were designed to operationalize the IASC guidelines on disability inclusion . During the RAAL Lab workshop the participant applied IASC guidelines to their project cycle management. As part of the technical follow up process Humanity & Inclusion (HI) team collected best practices to understand better how the organization was taking forward the learning from the RAAL Lab.

Related Content

Syria humanitarian response (january - june 2024), somalia humanitarian bulletin, august 2024, northwest syria - factsheet (as of 28 august 2024), somalia: cccm cluster monthly update - reporting period: july 2024.