The Transformative Power of Strategic Website Redesign

You wouldn’t take a beaten-up vehicle on a cross-country road trip, or wear hole-ridden clothes to a fancy wedding. Yet, in an age when competition for website visitors is more fierce than ever before, many businesses are falling short of customer standards — not to mention their own standards — by hosting websites that are outdated, slow, and just generally no longer reflective of who they are as a brand.

Understanding Website Redesign

So, what is website redesign, anyway? Anyone familiar with website design will be halfway there to understanding the concept. Standard website design creates a website out of nothing; website redesign takes the brand’s existing website and makes wholesale changes to its look and functionality. 

Once the website redesign project is complete, the brand will have a website that has a vastly different — and much improved — front and back end. The updated website will make it easier to show existing and potential customers who they are as a brand today, not who they were several years ago (or whenever the website last received a refresh).

It takes time, effort, and money for a brand to redesign its website. But it’s usually worth doing, especially if it's been some years since the website was last updated.

Why? Because the look and feel of a website can contribute massively to a brand’s overall success or failure. Just check out these stats that demonstrate just how important a brand’s website can be:

• Website Design Influences 94% of Digital First Impressions

• Nearly 40% of Web Designers Say Site Abandonment Is Due to Outdated Design

• 94% of Consumers Value Easy Website Navigation

• 40% Of Web Users Leave Websites That Have Poor Functionality

• One-third of Users Think Brands Should Prioritize User Experience
  

We could go on, but you get the idea. Consumers pay significant attention to how websites look, feel, and function. Website redesign gives brands an opportunity to refresh their site in line with modern (and even future) standards, ensuring that no customers are lost due to a poor digital footprint.

The Benefits of Website Redesign

Improves User Experience

Consumers have a dizzying volume of choice when selecting a website to engage with. If they have a negative — or perhaps even not perfect - experience on a brand’s website, then there’ll be little reason for them to stick around. They can simply visit one of the brand’s competitors and enjoy a seamless digital experience.

Website redesign gives brands a chance to address any issues that may be harming the user’s experience, such as complex navigation, slow page loading times, and low-quality images.

Bolsters Brand Identity

Branding is undermined when it’s not cohesive. Redesigning a website gives businesses an opportunity to align their non-digital and digital branding. For instance, by incorporating the fonts, colors, and other visual elements that the business has been using in its other marketing materials.

Presenting a cohesive brand identity is paramount for crafting a brand story that customers remember. If they’re currently out of sync, then strategic website redesign can help bring them together. 

Embrace New Functionality 

Website-related technologies are consistently improving. As such, a website that was last designed several years ago may be lacking some of the key website assets that help to make modern websites fast, smooth, and visually appealing. By working with a digital agency to redesign their website, brands can have peace of mind that their websites feature technologies that are on the cutting edge of online life.

Bring Your Business Into the Modern Era

Things move fast in the digital world. What was fresh and innovative several years ago may appear behind the times today. Any future-focused brand must have a modern website that meets or exceeds industry standards. Rather than trying to incorporate modern design elements into an existing website, website redesign allows for these elements to form the website’s basis. With website redesign, every aspect of the site can be given a refresh. 

SEO Boosts

SEO practices change even more frequently than website design trends. Older websites, even ones that don’t look or feel outdated, may suffer from poor SEO performance. Websites are designed with current SEO best practices in mind, and that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll perform well in the future. Digital agencies don’t just update visual elements during a website refresh; they also ensure that the updated website incorporates the latest SEO standards, ultimately resulting in a higher Google ranking that helps to attract more visitors.

Redesigning a brand takes time, effort, and money, and brands will want to ensure that it’s genuinely needed before undertaking the project. If it is needed, then it’ll be a worthwhile investment because of all the reasons that we outlined above.

So, how can brands know whether they should work with a web design agency to redesign their site? Let’s look at some telltale signs.

It Looks Outdated

Consumers may snap judgments about a brand’s credibility based on the look of the website. According to one study, website visitors need only 0.05 seconds to form an impression of the brand, be it good or bad. If the website is outdated, then it’s unlikely the impression will be positive!

Website redesign will remove all of the dated elements of the site and replace them with ones that bring the site into the modern age.

Poor Metrics

Brands have access to the metrics behind their websites. If a brand notices that the number of visitors it receives is beginning to dip, has lower conversions or has higher bounce rates, then that’ll be a clear indication that something needs to change.

Website metrics offer data-driven insights into the performance of the site. For instance, if the bounce rate is beginning to climb, then that means that an increasing number of visitors are leaving the site after visiting only a single page. Website redesign can replace poor-performing web pages with content that gets and holds the visitor’s attention.

It’s Slow

Users don’t tend to stick around too long for a website to load. In fact, according to research by Google, the website will have to load within three seconds or risk losing some 53% of visitors.

There’s no shortage of factors that could be contributing to a slow load speed, but it’ll likely be due to something on the backend. Website redesigns improve both the website's frontend and backend, ensuring that any issues that resulted in poor loading speeds are resolved.

It’s Cluttered and Hard to Navigate

A brand’s website should exist for the brand’s customers, not the brand. If the site is cluttered and difficult to navigate, then the customer’s journey will be more difficult than it needs to be.

Even if a website is performing well in other areas — say, load times — it’ll struggle to produce the desired results if visitors can’t easily access the pages they need. Website redesign is an opportunity to clear out the clutter and rearrange content in an intuitive, easy-to-navigate manner.

You’re Updating Your Branding

A website redesign should form part of any significant branding update. This will ensure that the brand’s website matches the tone and visual elements of other branded materials. This will ensure that the brand’s website helps to match the company’s updated business objectives.

It’s Time

Companies don’t necessarily need a clear-cut reason to undertake a website redesign project. In some cases, it’s just time. While there’s no magic timeframe for when all businesses should redesign their websites, it’s generally recommended at least every 3 - 5 years, though earlier will be best for brands who meet any of the criteria set out above.

Considerations During the Redesign Process

Understanding Your Current Website’s Strengths

Website redesign doesn’t necessarily mean throwing out all of the website’s existing elements. By determining the pages/factors that work well, brands can ensure that they form part of their new website.

Analyzing Performance

Determining the functionality of the existing website is paramount for determining what to prioritize moving forward. Pay close attention to load times, mobile performance, and visitor engagement.

Setting Objectives

By setting objectives and goals for the website redesign, brands can make informed strategic decisions. 

Working With the Right Web Agency

Not all web agencies are created equal. Brands can increase their chances of a successful website redesign by working with a web agency that has a proven track record of success.

Get In Touch With Bowen Today

Ready to bring your brand’s website into the modern age? At Bowen, we offer expert website redesign services that can take your brand to the next level. To learn more about how our passionate team of digital experts can help your brand, visit our contact page and schedule a call.