Offermatica's CEO explains what it takes to successfully re-launch your website.
Delivering dynamic and personalized content to web users looks to be the next Holy Grail in online marketing, and companies that are unprepared for the movement are scrambling to launch newer, better sites that will enable them to adapt and personalize content more easily.
And, while they're at it, they often decide it's time for a total site redesign, as well. After all, they think, navigation could certainly be improved, the hierarchy of pages has never been quite right, and with all the money they're spending on advertising, they think they could be handling traffic better.
But a site redesign, while perhaps one of the most exciting projects a marketer can embark upon, is no walk in the park-- or if it is, it's a walk in a national park, after dark, on a twisting path, with low-hanging tree limbs and lots of brambles. If you're lucky, you may reach your goal -- say, a mountain lake at the height of a meteor shower -- but if you lose your way, you're stuck eating bark as the sun rises, praying for rescue while wishing you'd never left home.
In other words, when done right, a redesign can boost conversions and make you a star, but the possibility for so-so results, and even outright disaster, exists as well. So if you're planning a redesign, consider these tips. We hope they'll work as a flashlight on that twisty path, helping you avoid pitfalls and bringing you triumphantly to your goal.
Tip #1: Ask: Why are we changing? Then, test your hypothesis.
A site redesign is too big a project to be undertaken unless you're clear about your goals. It's likely that you have a hypothesis about what areas of your site could work more effectively: new terms for subcategories, a cleaner graphical approach to product pages, smoother navigation, stronger calls to action.
Once you've identified those areas of improvement, test them -- one at a time -- to be sure that what you think and hope is going to happen really happens. For example, if you want to switch to a simpler form of photography for products -- for example, a product shot on a white background rather than on a model -- choose certain items to test, then divide traffic, so some visitors see the original product shots and some see the new photography.
Once you know whether the new photography works or not, let that lead you to the next step: perhaps you believe that your product copy isn't working as hard as it could be. Now that you know what works with product shots, copy may be the next logical place to test.
Tip #2: Test one thing at a time.
One of the most common pitfalls for companies launching a site redesign is the effect of conflicting elements. When several things change at once, you've got a problem, even if things have improved; it's likely that some of the things you have changed are working better than the old way, while others are working less well.
It's a benefit to you to know that, while the new navigation is going gangbusters, the shorter product descriptions aren't performing very well.
Tip #3: Don't shock your customers.
Imagine you went to McDonald's for a burger, but instead of seeing the Golden Arches out front, you saw, for example, a crimson W. There was no drive-through, the menu was printed on cardboard instead of posted on the wall, and all the personnel wore fluffy pink slippers.
Even if you knew for certain that you were in the right place, wouldn't you feel more comfortable running to the Burger King across the street?
That's exactly how web browsers feel when they visit a site with which they're familiar and see that nothing is quite the same. They might double-check the URL and decide to stay-- but they might just click away to something more familiar.
So when you put all those elements that you've already tested (remember Tip #1?) together, you'll still want to test the new site to be sure that it isn't too shocking, and that what's appealing to you is also appealing to those with whom you have an ongoing relationship. Run the new site alongside your old site and compare customer behavior.
Some companies have even found that it makes sense, once the switch has been made, to offer customers the ability to continue to use the old site if that's where they feel more comfortable.
Interestingly, we have found that companies which have embraced testing on a small scale, such as testing individual promotions or two versions of a landing page, still resist the idea that testing can be equally valid on a giant scale, such as with a site redesign.
We believe that, in actual fact, testing is even more valid when you're going whole-hog in a new direction. If it's better to "test, not guess" on the small stuff, it makes that much more sense to do the same on the big stuff.
We're not looking to take the fun out of redesigns. You'll still need your creatives to huddle, brainstorm, sketch, and create their own special kind of magic. You still need them to present you with their three or five best ideas. But once you've got those ideas in hand, break them down. Look for individual areas ripe for testing, then see if the new elements work the way you had planned. Watch your results, and let them lead you to the next stage. Use each test as another piece of the map guiding you to ultimate success.
By following each successful test with the next, you'll find that you've built a rock-solid website that dazzles, rather than having created an all-or-nothing redesign that could leave you going back to the drawing board. If you think about it, it's kind of like the difference between a cold dawn eating bark and a midnight meteor shower by a mountain lake.
Jamie Roche is a founder and co-president and CEO of Offermatica. Roche brings to Offermatica the experience of leading a visionary technology company from the dawn of the commercial internet, through the bubble burst and out again. Offermatica, formerly Fort Point Partners, Inc., is an eight-year-old software company that built many of the leading internet commerce websites. With Offermatica, Roche has provided strategic direction to executives from over 50 companies on successful selling through the internet.
Prior to Fort Point Partners, Roche ran Webfactory, a provider of internet products and services to Yahoo!, Netscape and other leading internet companies at their formation. Roche also worked for KPMG Peat Marwick and SiliconGraphics. He is a graduate of Yale University.