Website revamp checklist: how can you boost your online store?

In a rapidly growing and developing world, everything that goes online needs regular analysis and improvements, especially e-commerce. Customers expect your website to be visually attractive, intuitive, easily accessible, and useful. To meet these expectations, your online business must align with the current trends and tendencies. How do you manage this? Below, we will discuss website revamp meaning, peculiarities, and advantages.

Website revamp meaning: key concepts 

Website revamping is a process of making changes to the interface's usability or appearance to boost e-commerce metrics. The revamping usually includes adjustments to several elements, such as fonts, color, icons, layout, etc.

Turum-burum provides website revamping known as Evolutionary Site Redesign (ESR). It implies using smart A/B testing strategies to gradually improve the interface through incremental updates. Thus, once the operational framework has been created and tested on users, only stylistics need to be updated.

The ESR website revamp approach offers several advantages. First, it quickly improves online store conversions by fixing major mistakes and enhancing usability. Risks are lower because changes are made gradually, making it easier to track results and add adjustments. Also, if you update an outdated style, you won’t need to change the existing structure since it’s already been tested with customers.

It is a perfect way to give your website a second life if it already functions well but need some adjustments. For example, via conversion rate optimization by ESR approach for Infoshina:

• Increased the micro conversion rate for the transition from the Product Item Card to the cart by 85.57% after moving the Buy Button to the bottom of the screen;

• Improved the micro conversion of the transition from the Product Item Card to the cart increased by 13.26%;

• Increased the micro-conversion of the transition from the cart to the checkout by 14.8% after we left one priority button “Checkout” and changed its color to a more noticeable one in relation to the other interface elements.

How to revamp a website: 5 pivotal steps

To revamp a website, a specialist must go through several stages to improve its design, functionality, and overall user experience. The process of web product redesign usually involves numerous steps, some of which are visually invisible:

1. Assessment of the current website version:

Start by analyzing your existing website to identify what's working and what’s not. Look at the analytics to understand user behavior and gather customer feedback about their experience.

2. Setting strategic goals:

After identifying usability issues, define what you want to achieve with the revamp. A website revamp checklist of purposes usually includes increasing conversion, improving site speed, making the site mobile-friendly, or updating the design to match current trends.

3. Working our revamping plan:

Now when the goals are clear, it's high time to devise a strategy for achieving them. For inspiration, look at competitor websites and current design trends. Plan the structure and layout of your new site, considering how users will navigate it and what content needs to be prioritized.

4. UI/UX update:

Since the majority of people use their smartphones for shopping, mobile-first design is a must for building successful e-commerce. Therefore, during this phase, designers focus on transforming a website into a client-oriented web product that solves customer needs and works equally well on different devices. 

In terms of UI, it may include updating the typography, image sizes, and overall layout. From the UX perspective, it may involve simplifying menus and navigation, ensuring buttons and links are easy to find and use. ‍

5. Test launching and monitoring:

Before launching, the revamped site must be tested for broken links, compatibility issues, and overall usability. It would be a good idea to get feedback from a small group of users and make adjustments due to it. 

Once everything is ready and the new site is launched, monitor its performance and user feedback and be prepared to make ongoing adjustments based on what you learn.

By following these steps, you can successfully revamp your website to provide a better user experience and boost business conversion. To manage this as efficiently as possible, you can hire a professional conversion rate optimization agency.

Website revamp vs redesign: key differences

A website revamp and a redesign are very similar concepts, bringing changes to the interface to boost its usability and UI, although, there are some differences. As mentioned above, a revamp typically involves updating and improving specific elements of an existing website to refresh the site, fix usability issues, or improve performance without disrupting the overall user experience. In other words, the core structure, content, and design elements often remain the same, but with some adjustments to boost performance, usability, and aesthetics of the website.

On the other hand, a website redesign that we call in Turum-burum a Revolutionary Site Redesign (RSR) implies rebuilding an entire website in one shot every five years: a complete stylistic update, functionality review, and usability improvement. 

Revolutionary site redesign implies many stages:

1. Collection of metrics, and development of the structure that can be scaled during the next five years;
2. Creation of the website architecture;
3. Development of the interface, taking into account the characteristics of the old version and results of the UX audit;
4. Creation of a new style.

RSR offers some great benefits for businesses. It helps them grow quickly and stay up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies. A bold redesign can make a business stand out from the competition, providing a unique customer experience. Moreover, refreshing an online store can be a great way to attract more customers and boost marketing efforts.

RSR is beneficial for business that needs a complete rethinking and pays off with higher conversion and profit. For example, Tehno Ezh redesign allowed us to get a 41% increase in CR thanks to:

• Placing a focus on selling Apple technology.
• Emphasizing the main advantage of the company — the level of service.
• Making the interface as user-centered as possible.

Website revamp vs redesign conclusion: 

All in all, as mentioned above, website revamping (ESR approach) means making specific, targeted interface changes to boost the current website, while redesign aims at creating a new customer experience and includes more serious improvements.

How much does it cost to revamp a website?

So, we come to the most pivotal question: Is it expensive to revamp a website? The main advantage of website revamping is that it allows to spread out the redesign costs over time. 

It means that a business owner can pay for different steps separately, depending on the services needed. For example, Turum-burum conducts a UX audit as the first step for $2,700 and then prepares mockup designs. There are also package services starting from $3,300, which include audit and redesign of the main pages. Sometimes, early updates generate enough profit to cover later expenses, as fewer customers leave due to usability issues. 

At the same time, the price for the RSR website revamp may vary depending on the project size and complexity. When applying for Turum-burum services, you may expect the following:

• A relatively small website of about 10 pages will cost you around $5,000;
• For the average e-commerce site you will be expected to pay starting with $8,000;
• The revamping of large and complicated projects usually takes $15,000 and higher.

Website revamp checklist: when to opt for a website redesign?

Website revamping can give your business a significant boost in conversion, customer engagement and satisfaction rate. However, some projects require more significant interface changes and complete redesign. How to choose the best business development strategy? The best way to do this is to apply for a UX audit during which a specialist can analyze all the data about users' behavior, evaluate usability flaws and provide recommendations on how to optimize your web product. Based on analytics, it will be obvious which strategy to choose.

If you have doubt about interface revamping, consider the following website revamp checklist of interface features that decrease your conversion: 

• The website is out of date: this is an inevitable process, as technologies are constantly changing. It is important to analyze competitors and implement changes to meet user demands;

• Declining popularity among users: if statistics show that customers frequently leave your website, it means that they are not happy with something. You need to understand what the problem is - it could be slow loading, numerous usability issues, poor quality content, complicated navigation etc.;

• Website rebranding: the change of image may involve the name, logo and visuals, the expansion of activities, range, list of services or the desire to attract a new audience;

• Lack of adaptability: according to Forbes, 91% of users make online purchases using their smartphones. Therefore, it is essential to ensure your website works equally well on PCs and mobile appliances. If your online store isn’t convenient for buying things on the go, you should find ways to solve this issue. 

Final thoughts

Website revamping is a key to successful business development. It allows you not only to update the appearance and improve the user experience, but also to adapt the site to current trends and market requirements. Revamping helps to stand out among competitors, attract new customers and retain existing ones, ensuring the growth and efficiency of your online business. This article – is your first step to giving your e-commerce a second life.

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