Product Redesign: Reasons, Benefits, and Process
No matter how well your designers did crafting the product initially, a design that appears perfect today might start feeling outdated over time. Just as it happens with fashion, tastes change and trends emerge. Users tend to behave differently after a while as well, and their expectations regarding usability rise by the year. Not to mention that some of your initial design oversights might need fixing and you'll probably have no other choice but to be in step with the new technologies that keep appearing.
The bottom line is that teams usually don't want their product's look to lose its relevance. This means that whether you like it or not, if you want the offering to stay competitive and keep users happy, you'll have to adapt, continually enhancing the delivered value.
On this page, we'll examine various product redesign use cases, walking through the benefits, possible pitfalls, and specific steps on how to approach the product redesign process.
What Is Product Redesign?
While the idea of completely replacing everything and starting from scratch could be appealing, it implies large upfront expenses that your business or startup budget might not have. A more strategic option is going for a redesign.
A product redesign is the process of assessing and improving the aesthetics, usability, and other design aspects of a product like an application, website, game, or other type. The aim is to make significant modifications in terms of UX and UI to upgrade the product's look, navigation, and usability while removing outdated parts and introducing new functionality. This is done to boost user satisfaction and prolong the product's lifecycle, relevance, and competitiveness as it's brushed up to fit the trends, customer demands, and technology.
Think of product redesign as a big-time wardrobe change. You'll need additions to the capsule basics, new accessories, and to throw things out of the closet for good. Mind that a redesign isn't the same as a minor design tweak or light refresh when you change a few existing elements around here and there or the color or shape of your buttons. The redesign process is big, we're talking "remake" that can replace your old look, and it implies a lot of work.
As you begin to redesign a product, you'll need to start with an in-depth product analysis. This way, you'll know for good what works and what clearly needs to be adjusted or redone, outlining the critical fixes and those that are "good-to-have". You'll need to delve into the strengths and weaknesses of your user interface, funnel, user journey, technical parts, and other major customer touchpoints. It also means you'll have to:
- look into feedback;
- gather fresh information on your target audience;
- obtain customer insights;
- learn more about the current trends;
- study your competitors once more;
- browse historical data;
- dig into data analytics on performance;
- investigate various heatmaps, click maps, and user behavior;
- run different kinds of tests.
Why do you need to put in a lot of time and effort to redesign product offerings? Mostly because obtaining such knowledge and making data-backed design decisions requires detailed analysis, testing, additional prototypes, and lots of other work. The exact scope differs, yet designers usually need to make new concepts and then present, test, and iterate them before passing the mockups to the development team.
However, such a targeted approach to UX and UI improvements can better guide product teams and take you a few steps closer to delivering what your users expect. And once the redesign is out in the world, you'll continue observing whether the revisions are bringing back a positive effect to decide which actions to take next.
Major Reasons for Product Redesign
Before we move on to the "how", why are products redesigned in the first place? And when should you initiate a redesign process?
Outdated Design
If your website or product looks like it's from the past decade, this isn't good for your brand. Styles change and the design trends keep bringing in something new. Nonetheless, it's not just about aesthetics, visual appeal, or losing your charm.
An old-fashioned design packed with stock images everyone has seen a million times won't help you stand out. It can hinder credibility too, as a more modern look is generally more inviting. For instance, if it's some software-as-a-service product that's fitted with AI capabilities, a primitive, non-contemporary look might not help leave a good first impression. Will it be perceived as the next big breakthrough? Probably not. Therefore, this could mean that it's time for UX discovery followed by modernization and a decent SaaS product redesign.
Negative Feedback on Confusing Navigation and UX
Another compelling reason to pursue a product redesign is if your users have been complaining about your product's usability and other flaws. A consistent stream of negative feedback can concern various design areas, including poor usability on mobile devices, glitches, broken links, or that it's hard to find something.
Why is it important to redesign a product if it is not functioning properly? If the user interface causes "stumbles", you'll likely be spending more on customer acquisition, retention, and customer support. Hence, if users reach out and highlight some areas that need your attention, the least you can do is not ignore these comments. Try to allocate patterns, as perhaps some issues come up more frequently than others. The main point is that your users shouldn't have trouble completing tasks or doing what you planned they should when interacting with your product.
Declining Metrics
If you notice a drop in your conversion rates, retention, or other product performance metrics, it could also be a clear signal that the current design falls short, fails to meet user needs, and that changes are necessary.
What can you do? For instance, you can conduct a UX audit, investigate the conversion funnel, and look into cart abandonment or bounce cases to try to find weak spots. Usability testing, surveys, heatmap and clickmap analysis, performing A/B tests on design elements, and other tactics can be of help.
When you spot a clear gap, think about how to improve product design. Likewise, assess the current product and brainstorm ways to make the user journey more intuitive. Making changes in the navigation menu, cutting down the number of clicks, simplifying the checkout process, or improving the product's mobile-friendliness can potentially make a difference.
Technical and Performance Issues
Similarly, a redesign might also be needed if the product is bugging and glitchy. For instance, a security flaw might mean that the user authentication and login parts of the product should be reworked. It could also be obligatory to revamp an old design if the product matured and now needs parts of it replaced with new technology or some major scaling decisions to be made. Or if performance isn't at its best, an infrastructure upgrade paired with user interface optimization can switch things up for the better. Either way, design matters a lot.
What else? New gadgets continuously enter the market, so their introduction could also lead to the necessity for product redesigns and adaptation. For instance, with foldable smartphones gaining popularity, how should your layouts and designs change?
The Competition Is Tough
When competitors are hard on your heels, a redesign could also be required to keep pace and possibly even outshine them. Of course, the UI redesign scale depends on the product's specifics. Yet, if a neat design is someone else's advantage, your offering could be out of pocket.
As we've mentioned, design could be additional leverage that can aid business or startup branding instead of giving someone else an advantage. What do competitors lack? For example, if you're competing for mobile users' attention, then mobile optimization should become a top priority. Or if you're targeting a younger, more playful market, then maybe gamification elements and vibrant visuals should make it to your redesign plan to help you stand out from the competitors.
Changing Market Dynamics
Obviously, if there are market shifts, you'll have to respond to them in terms of design relevance. All successful brands are doing it, just take the evolutions of Netflix or Instagram as examples. Their strategic updates which allowed them to better cater to user needs helped them stay afloat on the market when competing solutions like Hulu or TikTok were close by.
User needs aren't static either. So, if their expectations or preferences change, products should make an effort to keep up in due time. As such, if the target audience enjoys virtual try-on and the feature can benefit the digital product in focus, then the feature may be integrated and smoothly embedded in the product page redesign to grow sales.
New Business Goals
On another note, if the business objectives are looking in another direction, such as an expansion to new markets, then properly localized and redesigned products might be integral. For example, going international might mean that you need to play by other rules that would allow the product to answer to the preferences of a specific region, demographic, or culture. That is, your taxi app that was designed for those living in New York might be rather irrelevant for those in Bali where motorbikes are often the preferable option instead of cabs that are always stuck in traffic.
Similarly, an introduction of new features may also pave the way for a redesign. It's a common scenario when an existing design hits a brick wall at some point and can no longer support further expansion or extra features without significant modifications that are a must to blend the fresh functionality with the current experience.
And lastly, companies often replace old designs with more elegant and meaningful practices if the company is aiming for rebranding. This might be a good move for strengthening the image and brand identity. It could also be handy for raising brand awareness, becoming more recognizable, appealing, or both.
Seeking help with redesigning your product?
Upsilon has an extensive talent pool made up of experts who can help bring your ideas to life!
Product Redesign Benefits
Why is it worth spending time and resources on redesigning existing products? Here are a few most prominent benefits of product redesign. A well-thought-out redesign can actually do a lot, it can:
- boost user satisfaction via clearer navigation and better usability;
- make it simpler to derive the product's value through an improved user experience;
- grow customer loyalty if people see that their feedback was considered;
- improve conversion rates and customer retention;
- lower the likelihood of customers fleeing to competitors;
- give a competitive edge due to a memorable and intuitive design;
- strengthen the brand and its recognition;
- leave more good first impressions;
- facilitate entry into new markets;
- help attract untapped user segments;
- grow the customer base.
Possible Pitfalls of Redesigning a Product
It's not all positive, though, as nothing is certain, and you might do harm. Sadly there are plenty of product redesign examples when the new design didn't deliver what was expected or even made things worse. It's a pivot, and you have to be prepared for the risk. There are several downsides and risks you should know about.
There Could Be Misalignment with User Expectations
It's a common scenario when the product team's vision is way off from what users actually feel. Such mismatches with the user perspective could have unwanted consequences like lost clients and drained resources.
This is precisely why it is vital to be absolutely certain that this is what people are asking for and you've chosen the right ways to redesign products. Hence, base your decisions on thorough research, mind user feedback, and run surveys and tests to prioritize improvements to stay on the safe side.
The Redesign Might Not Be Met with Open Arms
A radical redesign might put off your conservative regulars. Are you sure you maintained a balance between innovation and user familiarity? Maybe the overall design should still be recognizable? If there's no familiarity left and the interface is completely new, people most likely won't be happy with the changes and would be much more comfortable using the older version. If it's not available or they won't be willing to learn the ropes, they can abandon you for something else.
Just picture this: you wake up to find out that your favorite app or tool changed overnight. There's no familiar navigation left and all elements are different. Exactly! Your loyal customers and users may feel lost and less inclined to use the product. Adaptation could be a struggle that leads to frustration and disengagement. And if you can't make the transition smooth and painless, this could be bad news.
You Could End Up Wasting Money
Redesigns are time-consuming and effort-intensive processes that require investment, if the results aren't good, the lost funds and disappointment may be very large. You can attempt to roll things back as they were or see it as a learning experience, however, if too much money is wasted for some companies it might mean business or startup failure.
If there are no guarantees that there will be a change for the better, why redesign a product anyway? Well, because chances are high that the improvement will bring in positive results. Let's overview how it's done.
How to Redesign a Product: Product Redesign Process Explained
If you've decided that you're going to give your product's redesign a go, there'll be a lot of work ahead. Below we'll go over the steps, explaining how to improve an existing product with tips and recommendations.
Step 1. Assess Your Product and Browse the Analytics
The first step in designing or redesigning a product is looking into what's working and what isn't. What do users face problems with? At which points do they flee? Are there bugs?
Start with an in-depth analysis of your current product and where it stands. Put focus on your key features, user experience, and performance. This deep dive will let you discover the issues that have to be addressed and give you a better understanding of what to prioritize during redesign, what to keep, and what to remove. For example, if navigation is unclear or the interface is confusing and inconvenient, these could be usability points that hinder a positive user experience.
Taking a look at quantitative data regarding how your product is used is crucial too. If you're using Google Analytics, Mixpanel or Amplitude, or other tools that collect data and can hint at design performance gaps, put in some effort to study the information to uncover trends. Here are a few things to check:
- page traffic and page views (look into metrics like total page visits, note which browsers users prefer and which devices they use);
- user behavior and engagement (session recordings and heatmaps can show how users move on the page, where they click, or how they scroll, letting you find areas that are underperforming, roadblocks in specific sections, or features that are rarely accessed);
- performance and conversions (metrics like page load speed can also hint at why users drop off, as it could be due to slow loading time or other problematic areas like an irrational number of fields in a form or an unnecessarily extensive checkout process that prevents you from more conversions).
Step 2. Spend Time on Research
Understanding your users is integral for successfully running the business. And although you might think you know a lot about your customers, it is possible that a lot has changed since your initial launch. Do market research, peek at your competitors, and try to spot trends in the industry.
Your task is to learn more about the current preferences of existing customers and those of potential ones, so study user feedback. You can hold user interviews, run surveys, gather focus groups, or opt for other ways to get qualitative data. Investigate which features they enjoy, what brings them value, and what they are reporting you about. Are they suggesting add-ons or ways to improve the product? Are they continuously complaining about something? These are all hints on what to fix or redo to better meet their needs.
Then create user personas or modify your previous ones to update the information you've obtained about your target audience. Mark your findings on competitors and the market as well.
Step 3. Put Your Findings in a Plan
Now that you've gathered enough information, you should put down the objectives of the redesign and outline the work ahead:
- prioritize the redesign's business objectives;
- capture what you want users to do (it could go in the format "When I do X, I want to Y, so I can Z");
- create a comprehensive list of potential enhancements based on the problem areas you identified and your goals;
- define the scope of the redesign project (with time and resource estimates);
- write out the outcomes you aim to achieve as a result of the redesign;
- mark the fundamental specifications for the redesign;
- note your vision of what success looks like;
- select key criteria to measure the effectiveness of your redesign efforts (establish clear success metrics that'll help evaluate the new design's performance like conversion rate, user engagement, and bounce rate);
Step 4. Finalize the Concept
With a plan in place, move on to conceptualizing the product redesign. Evaluate the obtained insights and ensure that the concept addresses user needs and is in line with their preferences.
Don't forget that a redesign doesn't necessarily mean starting from scratch. In fact, it is integral to keep the core identity and familiarity. It's more about improving what you have rather than fully replacing the product.
Remember that we're talking about existing products that need improvement, not reinvention. The product should be recognizable, it must keep all its pillar features that your users expect to see, and it should function similarly so you don't end up stressing out your loyal customers. The difference? All of this has to be delivered better.
Make sure to migrate all the data seamlessly as well to save your users from re-registering, tweaking settings again, or wasting time on other things, as you might force them to abandon you altogether. Once you're done with the concept, validate it and get approval from stakeholders.
Step 5. Move on to Prototyping and Testing
When the concept is finalized, we're talking design. Low-fidelity sketches or wireframes can be a good start. Designers visualize their ideas using product prototyping and other means.
The UX redesign procedure is similar to the one that took place during the initial product design: brainstorming, discussing the options, gathering feedback, and iterating. Usability testing and other methods may also be applied for more precise decision-making. The prototypes could be changed and tested multiple times before they are passed to the developers. Part of this prototyping process may involve creating preview videos to help communicate the redesign vision. Some designers find free video mockup generator tools helpful for quickly making these kinds of demo videos, to gather feedback from users on the proposed changes before finalizing the designs.
Step 6. Develop the Designs and Handle Marketing
After the prototypes are approved and all the design matters are settled, developers step in to turn these mockups into a new functioning product version. This work implies a deal of coding and quality assurance. Proper QA testing can't be skipped, as you must ensure there are no errors.
At the same time, teams also initiate marketing activities to inform users about the upcoming redesign. This generally implies less effort than when announcing a completely new product launch. However, timely notifications via social media and other channels of communication are integral to prepare the users and make sure the redesign won't hit them unexpectedly.
Let people know well in advance about what to expect from the new design, which user interface changes are planned, and why this is done. This could be a series of posts, emails, and other means. Importantly, underscore how the redesign will improve their experience, which benefits they'll reap, and that although the product will change for the better, its core remains fundamentally the same.
Step 7. Prepare User Onboarding
The new design is aimed at enhancing the user experience, not detracting people, right? That's why putting in time to ensure that onboarding is robust is crucial if you want to lower the users' frustration levels and have decent adoption.
How will you guide users so they can familiarize themselves with the redesigned user interface and explore new features? Onboarding should be easy and hassle-free, so the used solutions should deliver value straight away, not be distracting, and make users feel your support. Sounds tough, huh?
To retain customers, keep them satisfied, and help them appreciate the value of what you created, you can use various onboarding techniques such as help menus, tooltips, step-by-step product walkthroughs, mini demos, or interactive tutorials. Opt for those methods that'll remove friction, reduce the learning curve, and be helpful.
Step 8. Launch and Observe
When release day comes, let people know about the launch, for instance, using an in-app notification or posts on social media. Follow up and reassure your users that you're offering all the necessary onboarding and support so they can make the most of the redesigned product.
What else should you know? If you have doubts, you can opt for the soft launch option. This way, you may roll out the new design to a small audience to test it once more before a full-fledged release. Plus, it is best to have a transition period available. Be flexible and spare the opportunity to use the old version for a while, as you wouldn't want to cause inconvenience if you force your users to shift while they're in the middle of an important process.
But work doesn't come to a full stop there. Continue working on more onboarding materials after the release if they are necessary, collect and browse user feedback, assess behavior, and monitor your performance metrics to see how well the redesign resonates with your target audience. And what's next? More improvements if you find that they're necessary. It's a never-ending process, really!
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Concluding Thoughts on Redesigning Products
In general, redesigns are initiated to enhance the product, yet the process is generally complex. Although user feedback and data show that some feature needs to be reworked, there are no guarantees. Big-scale changes can provoke resistance from users and even lead to churn, as they aren't always happy about the need to relearn using the tool they're used to. It's a risk, and there is a chance that you'll end up alienating users and driving them away.
This is exactly why we urge you to not make redesigns on impulse. Products that need to be redesigned require a strategic approach, a lot of research and analysis, in-depth UX audits, and due preparation. It's an experimental journey with continuous iterations. Manage to do it well, and increased user satisfaction and other business benefits can come pouring in.
If you're looking for an expert team to help you redesign and take your product to the next level, Upsilon's pool of experts is here to help. We've done this multiple times, including with our own website, so we'll be happy to share our expertise. Feel free to reach out to us to discuss your needs, and if you need a hand, we have services for growth-stage startups and businesses and will be glad to assist!
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