Redesign
Does your business website need a redesign?
Check the customer journey before deciding whether you need a full replacement.
Published · 6 min read
The starting point
A redesign is worth considering when the website no longer explains your business clearly or makes common customer tasks difficult. A dated appearance alone does not tell you which work will make a difference.
Try the site as a new customer
Open the website on your phone without signing in. Give yourself a task a real customer might have: find the service, check the area covered, understand the next step and make contact. Read the page as someone who does not know your business jargon.
Ask a person outside the company to do the same task and describe what they expect each button to do. Watch where they hesitate. This informal exercise does not replace user research, but it often reveals missing information that the team has become used to.
A practical review checklist
Choose improvements or a replacement
If the site works well but a service page is unclear, rewrite that page and improve the enquiry link first. If the design, content structure and mobile journey all need rebuilding, a replacement may be a more coherent use of the budget. The decision should follow the problems you found, not the age of the theme.
Keep a record of your current enquiries and their source where available. After changes, compare useful enquiries and completed tasks over a sensible period. A redesign cannot guarantee more leads: demand, pricing, reputation and promotion also affect the outcome.
Protect what already works
- List existing pages and identify useful URLs before changing them.
- Keep a redirect plan for old pages that move to a new address.
- Confirm domain and DNS access, and record email settings before any migration.
- Save the current content, images and enquiries you need to retain.
- Test forms, key links and mobile navigation before switching the live site.
Performance deserves its own check. Google’s Web Vitals guidance covers loading, responsiveness and visual stability. A laboratory test is a useful diagnostic; it does not prove how every visitor experiences the site.
Turn the review into a short brief
Choose the three most important problems and describe the customer action you want each change to support. Include your current URL, examples of your services and any tools that must keep working. Do not send passwords in the brief.
You can send the checklist with a redesign enquiry or use the website brief guide to prepare the content.