Traditional web design approach is turning out to be futile today. It is because taking a lot of time on research of merely a design inspiration and making changes because we don’t like the final look only to find out that 55% of viewers spend less than 15 seconds on the website.

The process itself is quite bloated and especially when you know the end-result: how viewers take it. Stakeholders continue to change their minds about it and request changes frequently. Then there’s also a marketing team that is always aiming for perfection. It is because optimum results are the business focus and marketing department is directly attached to reaching those results.

But despite of that, a thing of consideration is that most businesses don’t even involve the marketing and sales team in the designing process. This is why right at the time of launch, there are changes to be made, as per once rejected units: Sales and marketing.

Including them and other departments in the process is absolutely necessary because they are tightly aligned with buyer personas. Excluding them and your final design will take longer than ever. This is why data driven design is considered today by every brand, existing or new. How do you achieve that in your website design endeavors? But before you do that, let’s find out what a data driven design is.

Data Driven Design

A data driven design, as the name suggests, is a constant improvement process that is based on real-time data. This means that no more working for years to deliver one design only to find out some trends or information have changed. Performance can be improved on monthly basis as the data is being gathered every now and then.

Here’s how you can transform an ordinary, traditional design approach to a data driven approach.

Analysis

As the overall design is revolving around marketing and sales, the first month will be spent in data analysis and checking the existing performance of the website. Fresh buyer personas based on the analysis will also be mapped out. There will be new marketing goals that can be implemented in the improvement process of the website.

Over the time costs

Instead of a humongous, 1-time, upfront cost, data driven design breaks it down into monthly payments. Since the website design is improved on a monthly basis, the cost is spread over a period of time that is bearable for even new business owners. As and when the data is gathered, changes will be discussed and the cost will be incurred only at the time of implementation.

Quick launch and improvements

A data driven design is quite a customer-friendly framework since we are following the customer-first approach by keeping their preferences upfront as their usability data, time spent on particular pages, the products they are buying and services they are availing, everything is collected. Instead of collecting a data for a year before launch, collect it from time-to-time and stay in the loop as and when the preferences of your customers change. This way it is also easier to keep an eye on the seasonal changes in customers’ preferences.

Growth in ROI

Perhaps the worst nightmare of all times for an entrepreneur is to spend a fortune only to find out the results are mediocre or not immediate, hence, testing the patience. Since a data driven design is based on dynamic changes of the actual raw data, the results are immediate and promising as well. Even if there’s a test product based on user’s preference, you can try it for a month, check it and keep it or discard it the very next month. Instead of investment of time and money over a period of 3-6 months only to find out it doesn’t work and get frustrated, its best to find out in the “Now” that what’s really making the users excited.  

Everything is under control

With a data driven design, everything is under control since you are covering all the bases as you keep a constant check on the results and the sources that produces the results. No matter what you do, online marketing and constant analysis will continue to better your website. For instance, if you see users landing on a page from Twitter and abandoning after 22 seconds, you will know instantly to decrease the size and amount of text on page or whether to add more graphical content in it. Small changes like these, when noticed in advance, can really transform a bounce into lead.

Data driven design is exactly how top-notch brands are taking the top positions. They figure out the trends, read future patterns from them and apply them in their marketing strategy quickly that creates a pull from the audience.

So incorporate data driven design in your websites to get more leads and make your business website stand out.