The idea of redesigning a business website, mainly when your business is entirely online, can be anxiety-producing. When you undergo a site redo, you also have to do some risk evaluation and bring in multiple stakeholders including your IT team, your web design team, your SEO team and your other employees.

Any time you’re evaluating for new technologies or changes in how you do things, you’re going to have to think about what the effects might be, and they’re not always positive.

For example, risks that can occur when you redesign an online site include a loss of productivity or the potential for a data breach if you don’t design with cybersecurity as a top priority. With a site redesign, you need to balance the aesthetics, the technical backend, and user experience.

The following are things to consider as you weigh whether or not this could be a good time for a site redesign.

High Bounce Rates and Low Conversions

Experiencing high bounce rates and low conversion rates should mean that redesigning your site is a priority this year. Even if you’re driving a fair amount of traffic to the site when it’s not converting to sales, it’s not useful on the business end.

When you’re an eCommerce brand, the ultimate goal above all others is converting your visitors into buyers.

If you don’t have customers completing the action you need them to, your conversion rates are low. Navigation and conversion funnels could be part of the problem and can be remedied with a site redesign.

Consider bringing on experts in UX and UI. They can do A/B testing and get to the root of the problem, which is information you will need for a successful redesign.

If you have a bounce rate of 41% to 55%, you can consider yourself average among eCommerce retailers. Anything more than that, and it’s a problem. When you have low traffic and high bounce rates, again, you’re going to need to think about UX and UI and figure out why that is.

Does Your Website Still Line Up with Your Objectives and Targeted Audience?

Your business, if it’s established and it’s been around for a while, has likely evolved. That’s normal and to be expected, but your website might reflect who you once were as a retailer versus what you are now.

Think about whether or not you’re considering your current targeted audience, and their behavior and buying patterns in the design of your site.

Security Problems

If your site isn’t secure, or people get a popup saying it isn’t when they visit, they’re not going to buy from you. No one is going to want to put their payment information into an insecure site.

Content management systems or eCommerce platforms that receive or send payments are especially susceptible to virus-based cyberattacks.

If you have a site design that’s not secure, when someone gives you their payment information, it can be stolen.

Along with updating your security overall, you want to make sure that you focus on security and protecting customers as part of your site branding strategy. Let your customers know how seriously you take it.

eCommerce businesses are a favorite target for cyberattackers, so you can’t underestimate how significant a threat this can be.

Are You Lacking When It Comes to Being Mobile-Friendly?

It’s not enough to have a mobile site that functions. With most shoppers browsing and ultimately buying from their mobile devices these days, it’s essential that you meet them where they are. That means that you create a site that’s not just mobile-friendly but perhaps even mobile-first.

Not only is this going to make for a better user experience, but you’re also going to do better on Google rankings.

Google has a mobile-first index premise. Websites that are mobile-friendly get better SERP rankings than the ones that aren’t.

You can simultaneously improve conversions and rankings if you focus on the best possible mobile experience for everyone who visits your site.

A Few Other Reasons to Redesign

Along with what’s above, a few other reasons you should give serious thought to a site redesign include:

• It’s hard for your site visitors to get in touch with you. You want to make sure visitors and customers can easily figure out how to reach you across multiple touchpoints.
• Your checkout process is complicated or takes too long. With the world of one-click Amazon purchases, if you think people will stick around for an overly complex checkout, they aren’t.
• Your site’s navigation is clunky or not intuitive.

If you feel like any of the above or perhaps a combination is affecting your site and your business, it could be a good time to think about a redesign.