Benchmarking your new site
Seems easy on paper. But when time comes to *actually* assessing if your site redesign has helped the business, the task is a lot more complicated than it sounds. There are dozens of problems surrounding this kind of pre-design/post-design comparison.
For example, Noise.
John Product Manager: “First, we need a solid baseline”. Yeah, right. We’ve done this for a customer… No changes on the site for 21 days (3 weeks), which in theory should have provided a stable baseline. But in reality the Internet, users, site performance are way too unpredictable for you to have consistent numbers. Wardrobe malfunction? Goodbye baseline!
Or, Stress.
Peter Technical Manager: “1-2-3 GO! We are live”. 30 seconds later John Product Manager is already asking: “OK, how’s the conversion rate? How’s the average order size on our tank tops? Is hero spot one getting any clicks? How X? How Y? How Z?”. Relaaaaax. This is not the American Idol season finale. Right after the site is up and running and stable, go take a long long hike. Like the Half Dome at Yosemite. Then take a look at some numbers.
OK - I am not saying this is impossible. But it does take some hard thinking. And some planning.
