Checklist for a Successful E-Commerce Website Redesign

Want to revamp your e-commerce site but worried about making mistakes? You're not the only one. From losing SEO rankings and disrupting user experience to ineffective content migration, website redesigns come with challenges. But redesigns are essential, so don't let this deter you.

A successful redesign can lead to more conversions, better user experience and improved brand perception. We’ve created a checklist to guide you through planning your redesign and to help you avoid common mistakes while transforming your site!

Best Practices for Your E-Commerce Redesign

1. Auditing Current Site Performance

Conducting an audit of your current site performance will help you identify areas for improvement and set redesign benchmarks. Key performance metrics to evaluate include:

  • Load times: Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify slow-loading pages. Faster load times improve user experience and boost SEO rankings.
  • Bounce rates: Analyze which pages have high bounce rates and explore potential causes such as poor content or design.
  • Conversion rates: Examine conversion paths to identify and optimize drop-off points for better results.
  • User behavior: Use Google Analytics and Crazy Egg to understand user interactions and identify areas for design improvement.
  • Mobile responsiveness: With mobile shopping on the rise, ensure your site is fully responsive on all devices.
  • SEO health: Check for broken links, proper use of meta tags and keyword performance to maintain your search engine rankings.
  • Security: Review current security measures to identify vulnerabilities and protect your business and customers.

2. Planning

Effective planning sets the foundation for a successful redesign by establishing clear objectives, defining the project scope and ensuring stakeholder alignment. The first step is to define objectives by identifying primary goals, such as increasing sales and improving user experience, alongside secondary objectives like enhancing brand image. 

Next, determine the project scope by deciding whether the redesign will be a full overhaul or involve incremental updates and identifying key features to include. Finally, get all stakeholders on board early by involving them early in the process. Schedule regular updates to keep owners, marketers and developers aligned throughout the project.

3. Goal Setting

Use the SMART principle to set clear and measurable goals:

  • Specific: Clearly define objectives, such as increasing conversion rates by 20% within six months.
  • Measurable: Track progress with tools like Google Analytics to measure success.
  • Achievable: Set realistic goals that are attainable with your resources.
  • Relevant: Align goals with overall business objectives for a coherent strategy.
  • Time-bound: Establish deadlines to create urgency, such as completing the redesign in four months with milestones along the way.

4. Timeline Management

Effective timeline management ensures your project stays on track. Use tools like Trello, Asana or Jira for task management and collaboration. We would also recommend scheduling regular meetings to review progress and address any issues. Be prepared to adjust timelines as needed based on feedback and project developments.

5. DIY vs. Agency

Your redesign's success hinges on whether you choose a DIY approach or hire an agency. Typically, the DIY approach:

  • Is cheaper if you have in-house skills.
  • Gives you full control over the project.
  • Allows for quick edits and changes.

On the other hand, the agency approach:

  • Gives you access to experienced professionals.
  • Uses agencies' tools and expertise for complex projects.
  • Helps your team focus on core business activities.

Pantheon offers a platform that supports both DIY and agency approaches, providing tools for efficient development, testing and deployment:

  • For DIY: Pantheon’s pre-configured workflows and version control streamline the redesign process, making it easier to manage in-house.
  • For agencies: Pantheon’s collaborative environment and security features ensure a smooth and secure redesign experience, enhancing agency capabilities.

Enhancing User Experience with Intuitive Design 

Intuitive website design means that users find your site natural and easy to navigate, creating a great browsing experience. This can increase user satisfaction, higher conversion rates and reduced bounce rates. When users feel comfortable on your site, they're more likely to stay, explore and buy.

Current trends in intuitive design focus on minimalistic interfaces, clean layouts and the strategic use of white space. These elements work together to create a visually appealing and user-friendly experience. Elements of intuitive design include:

  • Clear and simple navigation: Users should be able to find what they’re looking for with minimal effort, enhancing their overall experience.
  • Responsive design: Ensure your site works well across all devices, offering a consistent experience.
  • Loading speed: Fast loading times significantly improve user experience.
  • Visual hierarchy: Guide users’ attention to critical areas using visual hierarchy, focusing on calls to action and essential product information.
  • High-quality images: Use high-resolution images with multiple angles and 360-degree views to provide a detailed perspective of products.
  • Inclusive design: Design with inclusivity in mind, ensuring accessibility for all users, including those with disabilities. Compliance with WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) ensures your site is welcoming to everyone.

Performance Optimization Opportunities

When redesigning an e-commerce website, optimizing performance can help enhance user experience and drive conversions. To achieve optimal performance, think about: 

  • Image optimization: Compress and resize images to reduce page load times. Use modern formats like WebP for better compression and implement lazy loading for offscreen images to enhance user experience on image-heavy pages.
  • Optimize site architecture: Ensure a clean and logical site structure for faster navigation. Use a content delivery network (CDN) to cache content closer to users, reducing latency and speeding up load times.
  • Remove excess code: Eliminate unused CSS and JavaScript to streamline code execution and improve site performance.
  • Choose a reliable hosting provider: Select a hosting provider known for high uptime and performance, such as Pantheon. 
  • Keyword strategy: Conduct thorough keyword research to optimize content for search engines. Naturally integrate keywords into product descriptions, meta tags and headers to boost search visibility and drive organic traffic.
  • Mobile Optimization: Ensure the website is fully responsive and performs well on mobile devices using mobile-friendly design principles. 

All the optimizations outlined above are essential for designing an e-commerce website that performs well, and any work you do to improve any of these areas is guaranteed to have an impact. Consider the case of Hungry Howie’s digital agency, KWALL. After discovering that over 70% of the pizza chain’s traffic came from mobile, KWALL optimized mobile design on the Pantheon platform. This redesign resulted in a 33% increase in mobile traffic, demonstrating the importance of mobile optimization in performance strategy!

Developing and Refining Your Content Strategy

A great content strategy drives the success of your e-commerce website redesign. Be sure to take stock of your existing content to identify what works well and what needs improvement. Here's how to get started:

Inventory of High-Performing Content

First up, identify top performers. To do this, focus on content that drives the most traffic, engages users and converts well. By understanding what resonates with your audience, you can replicate this success across other areas of your site.

Make sure you examine the SEO performance of your content by focusing on keyword rankings, backlinks and organic traffic. Tools like Ahrefs or Semrush can provide valuable insights into which pieces drive search traffic and where you can improve.

Content Planning

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Secondly, develop detailed buyer personas to gain a deep understanding of your target audience's needs, preferences and pain points. Knowing your audience inside out allows you to create content that speaks directly to them and meets their expectations.

Continue by creating a content calendar to plan and schedule updates and new content creation. Include seasonal promotions, product launches and key events to ensure your content remains timely and relevant.

Along with this, develop a keyword strategy focused on long-tail keywords and relevant search terms to boost your SEO. Incorporate these keywords naturally into your content to improve visibility and search rankings. Plan an internal linking strategy to connect related content and improve site navigation. Effective internal linking enhances the user experience and helps search engines better understand your site structure, boosting SEO performance.

Updating Content

Regularly refreshing outdated content ensures your site reflects the latest information, trends and best practices. Updating product descriptions, blog posts and FAQs lets you keep your site fresh and informative, making it more appealing to your audience. 

Additionally, remember to optimize your content for SEO. This involves ensuring that meta tags, headers and keyword usage are current and influential. When you remove or update pages, use 301 redirects to help preserve link equity and maintain your search rankings.

Content personalization is another essential strategy. Use customer data to tailor content for different audience segments. Personalized content enhances the user experience and can significantly increase conversion rates by delivering the right message to the right audience.

SEO Considerations During a Website Redesign 

Maintaining and improving SEO during a website redesign helps preserve your site's search visibility and organic traffic. Here are ways you can do this:

  • Start by identifying content with the most shares, views and inbound links. This content is already valuable in terms of SEO, so make sure to retain it. 
  • Implement an internal linking strategy to enhance search engine rankings. Link related pages and content to strengthen your site's topical authority, helping search engines better understand your site's structure and relevance. This also improves user experience by guiding visitors to related content.
  • Clearly define SEO goals for your redesign. Whether it's increasing keyword rankings, boosting organic traffic or reducing bounce rates, aligning these goals with your overall marketing strategy ensures your redesign project is focused and effective. Involve SEO experts throughout the redesign process to address technical SEO considerations. They can help optimize site architecture, improve page load speed and ensure that new designs adhere to best SEO practices.
  • Once your redesigned site is live, update your XML sitemap and submit it to Google and Bing. This helps search engines understand the structure of your site and ensures efficient crawling and indexing.
  • Use tools like Google Search Console to identify and fix broken links. Ensuring there are no crawling errors not only benefits search engines but also enhances user navigation. 

Performance Metrics and Analytics

Here’s how to effectively use benchmarking, set KPIs, measure results and conduct A/B testing during your redesign process. 

First up, what exactly is benchmarking?

Benchmarking involves comparing your website's performance against standards or competitors. It helps you identify strengths and weaknesses, clearly showing where improvements are necessary. There are two different types of benchmarking:

  • Internal benchmarks: Compare your site's current performance against past metrics to track growth and improvements over time.
  • External benchmarks: Compare your site against industry standards or competitors to understand where you stand in the market.

Essential metrics include page load time, bounce rate, conversion rate, average order value and customer acquisition cost. These indicators provide insights into user experience and financial performance. Tools like Google Analytics and Semrush offer comprehensive benchmarking capabilities. 

Next, choose KPIs that align with your business goals. For example, if you're focused on growth, consider tracking KPIs like sales growth, customer retention and website traffic. KPIs for e-commerce include Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS), Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) and Time on Site (TOS). These metrics help measure customer satisfaction and the effectiveness of marketing efforts.

Pro tip: Set achievable targets based on historical data and industry benchmarks. This ensures your goals are realistic and attainable, fostering motivation and focus within your team.

Once you have collected this data, analyze it to identify trends and target areas for improvement. Use dashboards and visual tools like Looker Studio for transparent reporting that stakeholders can easily understand.

A/B testing is a great way to optimize your website. Test elements like headlines, product images and call-to-action buttons to improve engagement and conversions. 

Common Pitfalls to Avoid During a Redesign

One of the most frustrating challenges in an e-commerce website redesign is the “never-ending relaunch.” This situation arises when the project drags on indefinitely, consuming valuable resources and resulting in missed opportunities and potential revenue loss. Here's how to avoid this:

  • Divide the redesign into manageable phases, delivering value incrementally rather than waiting for a grand launch. 
  • Focus on developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) by prioritizing essential features for the initial release. Avoid the temptation to build a perfect site from the start. Adding additional functionality later allows for a more efficient and manageable process.
  • Establish clear and achievable timelines and be transparent about potential challenges. 
  • Use an agile methodology with iterative cycles and regular feedback. This approach offers flexibility, allowing you to adapt to changing needs and deliver value faster than traditional waterfall methods.
  • Treat the redesign as an ongoing process rather than a one-time project. Regularly analyze data, user feedback and market trends to make incremental enhancements, ensuring your site remains competitive and aligned with user expectations.

Launch and Continuously Optimize with Pantheon

Launching a redesigned e-commerce website is just the beginning. Continuous optimization is essential for long-term success. Pantheon’s WebOps platform is an invaluable tool for monitoring performance and gathering user feedback regularly, helping you stay ahead of the competition.

With Pantheon, you can easily track key metrics like conversion rates and user engagement in real time, allowing you to make quick adjustments based on data insights. The platform enhances user experience by ensuring fast load times and mobile responsiveness, which is vital for retaining customers and boosting satisfaction! Pantheon also supports continuous integration and deployment, making it easier to implement updates and improvements without disrupting your site’s performance.

Watch our demo to see how Pantheon can help you efficiently manage your web experiences and drive growth.