How to Foster a Winning Relationship with Your Website Redesign Team as a Client

Redesigning your website is an exciting proposal. A positive experience with your website design team happens when communication is clear. You can avoid bottlenecks and endless email loops, hashing out the details by improving processes and communications from the start. Here are some best practices as a client to foster a winning relationship with your website redesign team that results in a stellar site experience.

1. Evaluate the Current Website Together

Before launching the redesign, assess the current website to determine what needs changing and set priorities for the design process. Test for everything from broken links to poor UX. Pay attention to heat maps and site analytics to see which areas people visit most frequently.

Test for mobile friendliness and note any problems. Data Reportal estimates that around 5.65 billion people use mobile phones, and 87% use smartphones. Most access the websites at least some of the time on these smaller screens, so it is crucial your site is ready for mobile visitors.

2. Define Goals

Once you have an idea of your site’s problem areas, it is time to work on goals for the redesign. You should pull in your design team to brainstorm potential changes together.

Your most overarching goal should ultimately be to improve UX and create a good impression among your target audience. As nearly 90% of site visitors say they are less likely to return after a poor experience, improving the overall experience will at the same time improve your site’s usability and likely increase conversions.

One of the best ways to figure out what users want is to survey your current customers and ask what they like and dislike about your current design, which you can then communicate with your site design team as goals to accomplish with your redesign. Some areas might include:

• Making the site more mobile-friendly.
• Creating a minimalistic appearance.
• Making call-to-action buttons more prominent and effective.

Your designers may have additional ideas they would like to accomplish. Give them the tools to understand your brand and your mission. Since they design sites for a living, they will think of issues you may have overlooked.

3. Find Communication Tools and Methods

If you want the redesign to go smoothly, you must be a cooperative client and respond to questions quickly. At times, your web developer may send you options to choose from. Utilize communication tools that work best for you.

If you are on Facebook most of the day, ask your designer to contact you via Messenger for the quickest response. If you prefer to keep communication for the redesign separate from other messages, utilize a site such as Slack, Monday or ClickUp for your project management needs.

Your designer may have a preferred project management platform they already use. Be open to trying it out for easy collaboration.

4. Define Timelines and Deadlines

Many redesign projects exceed the time allotted. One of the best ways to ensure everyone stays on task is for you and your design team to work together to set reasonable milestones you’d like to reach throughout the project. Break each one into smaller jobs, estimate how long each will take to complete and set deadlines. Build in a little extra time in case someone runs into an emergency or one of the items holds up other work until it’s done.

It’s common for projects to hit bottlenecks where a designer is waiting on a graphic designer for materials or needs some content from you to proceed. Keeping everyone on the same calendar helps. Make sure to heavily involve your designs when creating these deadlines to ensure everything is achievable and your expectations are reasonable.

5. Have a Singular Contact

During any type of project, it’s crucial to have a single point of contact. One person should make decisions to avoid conflicting ones. Most small businesses have a single manager who will make the crucial choices. If that person is unavailable, the next person in rank in the company should respond.

You can also appoint someone you trust to make decisions for you if you cannot. Make sure they understand your brand and your website goals.

Website designers frequently complain in online forums about nightmare clients. Some of the most common issues include:

• Clients who change the concept repeatedly
• Lack of communication
• Customers changing the scope of the redesign after being quoted a price

Most of the issues reported about “difficult” clients stem from poor communication from one or both parties. Work on being straightforward and prompt, and many potential problems disappear.

6. Utilize Wireframe Tools

Creating a mockup of the redesigned site is a crucial step in the design process. Before beginning work, you can see if the redesign team understands your vision. Using wireframe tools makes the planning steps faster and more efficient.

If the designers present something different at any point in the process, ask for a mockup of the finished product. It’s better to take the time to ensure the change works for your customers than to backtrack and redo things.

7. Be Open to Changes

You hired your redesign team for a reason, so trust their experience and listen to their input. While you should have the final say on your website, you also can learn a lot by listening to others who have worked on multiple projects.

Your business is your baby, and you likely have a vision for your new site. Rather than taking ownership of the design, ask for their input and be open to changes. If you feel strongly about keeping your original ideas, sleep on it and respond the following day. You may like the suggestions after the initial shock of hearing them wears off.

Define What Happens Post-Redesign

Consider what happens after the site is redesigned and in place. If you run into a technical issue, will they fix it at no additional cost? Define what happens if you change your mind and you want an element reinstated. How much will the design team charge to fix minor and major issues?

A clear understanding of the scope of the design firm’s work and how much they’ll charge for add-ons can help you budget accordingly. Enjoy your site’s better UX and fresh look without worrying about how to fix problems.