How a Little Science Can Save Your Website Redesign

Raise your hand if you’re considering a website redesign.  Pretty much everyone, yeah?  Well, before you undertake such a massive project, there’s a lot you should consider first…namely the effects such huge changes can have on your conversion rates.

Some businesses will pour millions of dollars into a fancy and beautiful website redesign only to discover that their customers no longer know how to interact with (ahem, buy things on) the site.  In other words, a double loss.  If you think the design of your site is keeping visitors from spending money, consider an approach that’s a bit more slow-and-steady.

Brian suggests taking a scientific approach:  he’s a scientist, after all.  It has probably been some time since you’ve had to think much about the scientific method, so here’s a recap:

1. Research
2. Form a hypothesis
3. Create an experiment design
4. Run tests
5. Tabulate results
6. Analyze results

Do some research then come up with some small changes you can make and measure the effects of.

It’s a cycle that often ends with a surprise. Our visitors just don’t behave the way we think they should. There are great resources out there to help understand these people we call visitors, like Crazy Egg and Google Analytics.Don’t fret:  there are absolutely resources out there to help you get the job done.

Here’s where I could say “You know your customers best,” so you should be able to come up with a solid list of hypotheses with which you could experiment, but I won’t.  You should still come up with a list of ideas based on research, but you should be prepared for surprises.

And remember, I’m serious when he says to keep it scientific.  Isolate a single variable as much as possible so that you know for sure what is driving changes in your site visitors’ behaviors.

Find out how Conversion Sciences can GUARANTEE our redesigned website will outperform your current website.

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Brian Massey

Conversion Scientist™ at Conversion Sciences

Brian Massey is the Founder and Conversion Scientist™ at Conversion Sciences, a sought-after international speaker, and author of Your Customer Creation Equation. He is passionate about transforming websites through a steady diet of visitor profiling, purposeful content, analytics, and AB testing.

Expertise: conversion rate optimization, AB testing, marketing strategy, digital marketing, analytics, landing page design, computer programming, entrepreneurship

Speaking: IBM, Inbound, LeadsCon, Content Marketing World, Affiliate Summit, and more

Books and Training: Your Conversion Creation Equation, Video CRO, Marketing Videos that Convert, CRO Best Practices

As Seen On: ClickZ, Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, Conversion Sciences Blog, Intended Consequences podcast

Education: Texas A&M University, BS Computer Science and Management

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