Website Redesigns Don’t Have to Be Scary

Website redesigns and rebuilds can often be extremely complicated, involving considerations as varied as user experience, HTML/CSS, responsive design, information architecture, platform upgrades, integration of third-party tools, and much more. The full scope of what needs to be addressed during a website redesign project is huge, and such a large undertaking can be frightening, especially since so much of what needs to be addressed is unknown to the website’s owners.

At WSOL, we often work with project stakeholders who are overwhelmed by the undertaking of redesigning their website. Since their focus is on their company’s products or services, the technical workings of their website are outside their area of expertise. The website represents only one facet of what they do on a daily basis, so redesigning it can seem like a substantial investment of their money, time, and resources, and one which they won’t see any ROI for until the completion of a lengthy project.

We try to do everything we can to alleviate these fears, making the development process as transparent and easy to understand as possible. We do our best to guide clients through the phases of the project and make sure they know what to expect at every stage. Here are four things we do to eliminate any fears about the website redesign process:

1. Value Partnership

At WSOL, we feel that our partners’ success is our success, so we want to communicate to our clients that the success of their website redesign is as important to us as it is to them. We make sure everyone involved, from our clients’ stakeholders to our own staff, understands the value of this partnership, and by working closely with our clients, we can keep them informed about what they can expect at each stage of the project, any information or action we might need from them, and anything else they might need to know.

2. Provide a Single Point of Contact

We make sure that every client has a single solution strategist to work with throughout the duration of their partnership with us, allowing them to know exactly who they need to talk to anytime they need to communicate with us. Instead of being handed off to different people during the sales, production, and maintenance phases of their project, our clients can keep up a continuous communication with a single person, ensuring that strategic conversations from any point in the project’s life cycle can be carried forward throughout all of phases of the redesign process.

3. Use a Flexible Workflow

Throughout our years of experience working with clients on website redesign projects, we’ve refined a flexible workflow process that maximizes client involvement without taking up too much of their time or resources. In this process, we break a project down into smaller pieces, focusing on more than one aspect of the redesign at a time. This takes what can be an overwhelming big picture and separates it into more digestible components, allowing decisions to be made more quickly and efficiently. This not only reduces the amount of work spent trying to plan and approve an entire website redesign, it helps the process reach completion much sooner, allowing clients to see the ROI without waiting too long.

4. Remain Available Throughout the Project’s Lifetime and Beyond

WSOL isn’t a one-and-done shop; the partnerships we build with our clients lasts throughout our projects and beyond. We want to remain available to answer any questions, address any concerns, or implement any requests our clients might have at every step of the project and on into the future. We continue to maintain our existing projects after launch, and we’re here to help our clients move forward with any other digital strategies they want to implement.

No Fear

By following these goals for partnership, communication, and collaboration, we’ve found that we can reduce our clients’ fears about the undertaking involved in a website redesign, helping them realize their business goals and meet the needs of their users without breaking the bank or tying up too much of their time or resources. Ensuring the clarity and transparency of project processes is the easiest way to ensure long term success for our clients’ projects. Do you want to know more about how we can help you accomplish a fearless website redesign? Please contact us to speak to a Solutions Engineer, or feel free to leave any questions you might have in the comments below.

Image Credit: ahtibat-stock / CC BY 3.0 / Modified from the original