InsideOutside Design
In late 2016 my existing client Sussanne called me with a concern – she loved the design of her current website but she had new content and it was time for a creative refresh.
THE SOLUTION
How I fixed it
I had already designed and built the client’s previous website so I understood her style and knew what she was after.
Hypothesis
Due to a dated website that is 3 years old, it is believed that by updating the UI users will get a more accurate idea of my client’s talent which will lead to a higher click through rate.
Measures of Success
There were several indicators of success. Not only was it important for the UI to be updated but the SEO performance needed to be maintained. UI success was be measured by the client’s level of satisfaction and SEO performance was measured in Google’s Web Dev tool.
STEP 1
Qualitative Research
To find out more about my client’s needs and wants I asked a few questions which enabled me to create a style guide. We established the mission and vision statement, tone of voice and point of difference. I also got to learn about the target audience and key demographic.
Target audience and key demographic
Whilst InsideOutside Design aims to find solutions for every unique brief and budget our ideal clientele are mid-upper socio-economic renovators and home owners in the residential housing market. Our perfect clients would have a large budget, be time poor and uninterested in the interior design process themselves. Traditionally however, they fall into either of these categories:
Adults (25-40) – They are earning a steady semi-disposable income, working full time. They feel they have an eye for interior design but are amateurs and are seeking help.
Adults and retirees (40-75) – They are looking to scale back the time they spend at work and want to enjoy the time they spend at home with family. They are upper-middle class in how much they earn annually. They want to invest it in a more relaxing and comfortable living space.
Geography – For all target audience groups we aim for more financially stable areas of Sydney such as the North Shore and Eastern Suburbs in Sydney.
STEP 2
Insights Analysis
Having analysed the qualitative data I was able to extract the following insights:
- Images need to be updated so that they are all from current projects.
- The type of business needs to be specified on the landing page.
- The design of the website needs to be more modern.
- The content on the website needs to be simplified so that cognitive load is reduced.
STEP 3
Implementation Plan
Release Plan
The plan was to get a new and fresh looking website up that would rank well and then add to the image gallery as required. This would be followed by a social media campaign and updating the Houzz web directory with the same style and images.
MVP
The first release was to contain the following features:
1. Updated UI with latest images
2. Search engine optimised
3. eDM announcing the new website
STEP 4
Build
I built the website in WordPress and completed cross-browser and cross-platform testing.
The staging link was emailed to the client and the client was very happy barely making any changes to the website and so it was launched soon after.
STEP 5
Results Analysis
Measures of Success
Having measured the website at the end of the project it was evident that the SEO target had been met. The client was also happy with the new UI.
STEP 6
Key Takeaways
- Take screenshots of the performance of the old website before starting the new.
- Setup conversion goals in Google Analytics so that I have more data to use to create a baseline and pull insights from.
By August 2017 the website had been redesigned and rebuilt. I nailed our measures of success and the client was satisfied with the result.
