The #1 Website Redesign Mistake

The biggest mistake in website redesign is leaving your visitors out of the redesign process.

Think of it like this:  Your department needs to decide on a retirement gift for your boss (the company is paying).  Someone suggests golf clubs.  Someone else asks if the boss plays golf and the answer they get is: “Everyone plays golf when they retire”.

What to do?  Get the golf clubs and hope for the best or discretely find out if the boss plays golf (or plans to play golf).  If she doesn’t, figure out a more appropriate gift.

As unbelievable as it may sound, this happens a lot in redesigning a website. Some people are so sure that they know what their visitors like or dislike, that they just forge ahead.  They redesign their website without ever asking their visitors what they really think.  Here are some examples of what we mean:

1. The MeMe Site Redesign: You want a better looking site.  You see sites with animation, with video, and with cool graphics…you want that too.  You want something modern, something exciting.  What you don’t want is your boring site.   We call this the MeMe site.  It’s a site designed with you in mind…but not your visitors.  If the only person your website had to please was you, it is a great strategy.
2. The Father Knows Best School of Redesign:  Ever heard the phrase, “I’m your Dad and I know what’s best for you?” In our house that phrase rarely worked, in fact most of the time we got a response of heavy sighing and a lot of eye rolling.  Redesigning based on what you think is best for your visitors and customers is like telling them “I know what’s best for you”…it won’t work.  Trust your visitors to know what is best for them.
3. Redesign to Keep Up with the Neighbors: Your competition has a totally new website with new functionality and nifty new features.  You’ve got to keep up with the competition, right?   Not necessarily.  New functionality and nifty new features may be a good thing or a bad thing for your site (in fact they may not be helping your competition).  New and improved may not mean the same things to you and your visitors… they may really like your current website.

Bring your visitors into the redesign process by testing before and during the redesign.  Testing your redesign brings your visitors into the process and makes for a visitor-designed end product. Testing creates websites that are designed by your visitors, for your visitors.  Isn’t that the ultimate goal of any redesign?

Want to read more?  The #2 Website Redesign Mistake

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