Top 5 Questions to Ask When Considering a Website Redesign

As demand increases for completely seamless website experiences, companies must reevaluate their web strategies to meet these expectations. Having an easy-to-use, easy to navigate and overall customer-centric website plays a crucial role in marketing. If your website is underperforming in these areas and you're not sure a redesign is necessary, don't stress. We have consulted with Madhu Subramanian from Hero Digital and asked him what he thinks the top 5 questions you need to ask yourself before considering a website redesign.

1. How does my website complement my marketing strategy?
   
   If you are thinking about a website redesign, this is the perfect opportunity for you to take a look at your current site and evaluate how it is performing. You want your website to be aligned with your current marketing strategy. Ask yourself, is your website producing the amount of traffic you thought it would? Are users actively engaging with your site? Do you have a way of tracking and measuring these metrics? If not, the first step is to thoroughly analyze these gaps in your website and create goals and objectives for how to optimize content and align your website with your growing business.
2. How does my website look on mobile devices?
   
   If your site is not mobile-friendly or responsive, it may be time to consider a redesign. As more searches now take place on mobile devices than on desktop computers, users expect the best experience on any device. If they don't get what they want, they probably won't come back.
   
   Struggling with which one to invest in? Many companies prefer responsive over mobile specific sites because it provides a much more seamless user experience across all devices and enables the marketing or IT team to add content quicker and make updates more efficiently.
   
   Check out our 6 Steps to a Mobile-Friendly Website That Drives Conversions guide! This guide is intended to help you navigate the path to a mobile-friendly website that positions your company to succeed now and in the future.
3. How is the end user experience?
   
   It is important to understand your customers and their needs and wants. If you are trying to target a specific demographic, but have no personalization capabilities, it may be difficult to attract the right users. By building out different personas, you can create personalized content and targeted messaging so that when users visit your site, they are intrigued and are more inclined to stay on your webpage longer. You can easily achieve this through a Content Management System (CMS) that provides personalization, testing/targeting and persona mapping functionalities.
4. What is my budget?
   
   Before considering a website redesign, it is critical that you have a budget in place. A strict budget will only benefit you in the end as it will help you prioritize your goals and define a realistic timeline.
   
   However, the problem is that implementing redesign projects tend to go over budget and off schedule. Traditional CMS development cycles can drag out the process of implementing a redesigned website in a timely fashion. When projects take too long, the scope and requirements for the websites can change, pushing out launch dates and putting more money into the hole.
   
   To get the most out of your redesign, leverage a tight process and reliable tools to ensure that each of your project phases goes according to plan and budget.
5. How easy is it to update my website?
   
   If your website is difficult to manage or make changes, you likely need to reconsider the tools you are using to manage your website. The best way to decrease the stress of updating your website is to implement a CMS, or even better, a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) CMS. With a cloud-based SaaS CMS, updates to your CMS will happen automatically (monthly in many cases), keeping your redesign fresh. 

A website redesign can seem like an incredibly daunting project, but it doesn't have to be. These 5 questions were designed to help you recognize any gaps in your current website as it relates to your marketing strategy, and take the first steps in organizing your redesign. If the answers to these questions were not aligned with your marketing goals, then this may be the perfect opportunity to redesign your website and as a result, continue to grow your business.

Madhu Subramanian is the Vice President of Client Services at Hero Digital and has 15+ years of experience in the IT industry involved in successful digital marketing and eCommerce strategies for Fortune 100 organizations worldwide. Hero Digital specializes in creating experiences that elevate brand and business through marketing strategy, experience design, engineering and analytics.