Imagine the new website, you’ve just spent time, money and energy launching it. Everything looks great but weeks turn into months, and you’re not seeing the results you want. There’s barely any engagement and the leads coming in. Sound familiar? Here’s the truth: traditional web design is broken. It’s like buying a car and not having it ever taken out, sitting in the garage for 10 years with no tune-ups. It doesn’t stretch with your business.
Also, it won’t suit your audience or adapt to it. It certainly doesn’t cover the steep upfront cost, and it isn’t and wasn’t as impressive as it’s made out to be. What if there were a better way? Powered by real-world data and continuous improvements, is a method that evolves alongside your business? That’s where Growth-Driven Design (GDD) comes in.
The point of this blog is to learn more about why Growth-driven design(or ‘Rapid Iteration’) as a buzzword is a game-changer for those tired of throwing good money at websites that never work. We’ll stick around and show you how to build a site that looks good and to the point, one that grows: consistently and predictably.
Let’s get to it.
What is Growth-Driven Design?
It is the smarter way to build and maintain a website. Growth-driven design is unlike traditional web design where you build a complete website ahead of time and then just leave it sitting the heck unattended for years.
First, we create a launchpad website, a website which serves to get from zero to a website that fulfils core needs as quickly as possible, starts at the lowest cost, and can be maintained and updated easily. You collect data on how people interact with it from there.
In this case, we use this real-time info to make these gradual updates to improve performance, and user experience and do even better over time. But it’s like making your site into an ever-living, evolving tool for your business.
Growth-driven design doesn’t involve you guessing which design elements will help drive sales; it gives you the opportunity to test and refine according to what your customers do: changing product pages, or simplifying the checkout process to decrease the abandonment of the cart. This is an agile, cost-effective method and since your business will grow, your website is in the right position.
Need for Growth-Driven Design
The idea with Growth-driven design is that you can build a website quickly, even in its basic form, and then build upon it based on the latest user feedback and data. It is very important today because businesses are confronted with changing consumer needs, new technologies, and never-ending competition.
With the help of GDD, you make sure that your website will not only be relevant today, but effective, and in line with your goals, over time. You use data to make data-driven decisions, put user experience first, and experiment with all sorts of new ideas.
Assuming that a company will launch its site but use tools like heatmaps, user surveys or A/B testing to determine how their visitors interacted with it, and then make small changes every month or quarter to improve performance. This means the website is always changing and growing, and the conversion rates, the user satisfaction and therefore the business all grow as well.
Pillars of Growth-Driven Design
Where do you start? Writing a website optimization roadmap helps you see the long-term vision of the website. There are three basic directions you can take: The problem is to establish, to optimize, and to expand. So you’ll cross all 3 paths throughout your website’s lifetime.
1. Strategy
The strategy portion of GDD is similar to that of traditional web design: a foundation on which to build. The difference is simple, GDD focuses on the way your client’s audience sees and interacts with your website. For new websites, company stakeholders get blinded by “wish lists” for what they “need” their new website to accomplish instead of branching out to the bottom line issues keeping customers from converting.
Business goals, however, need to coincide with those important wishlist items. A reminder when planning user-centric strategies is to define “jobs to be done,” create buyer personas, and develop journey maps.
These all help you think about the website as the user would find roadblocks, simplify funnels, and just generally improve the user experience.
2. LaunchPad
A launch pad is a website that’s better looking and performs better than your current website, but it’s not the last one. You must always have an ever-changing and growing website with no ‘final’ destination. If you can always have website iterations in the pipeline, you can reduce the launch pad website to fewer items and launch even faster.
Let’s be clear: a launch pad website is not just a half-finished product. But for each improvement of yours such as a cohesive brand refresh, clearer navigation, and better content architecture, there will still be an improvement for the user who visits your website.
Every wishlist item gets jammed into one round of production for the website launch but you end up delivering it late, over budget. GDD allows you to understand what’s important and what’s a must and pick which wish list items are most impactful as well as most painful to implement. It can lead to a more obvious path to the stuff that’s needed on the launch pad, and that can be done first.
Launch Pad is a Speedy Move
From the recently launched website to the next website redesign, there are a range of “acceleration” methods to help you transition your project to GDD. Treat the Launchpad website as a foundation for future strategic work rather than judging it on its own. If your website is relatively new and wasn’t designed with Growth-Driven Design in mind, prioritize improving the user experience over meeting stakeholder requirements.
Starting with a template-based Launchpad website is an excellent way to establish your web presence, especially if you’re creating your first site.
If you are planning for more custom elements down the road, you can put the foundational ones on top of your list to go priority and reschedule other things in ongoing phases. Once your launch pad website is live, you can immediately begin collecting real-world usage data that will propel you to the next stage: continuous improvement.
3. Continuous Improvement
Continuous improvement is just as it sounds: It’s about having an ongoing data review routine and building things with high impact that will help all teams. Too many marketing teams spend all their time and energy getting people to go to a website. What happens when they get there? Regular web performance analysis and the initial groundwork for the next cycle of goal-driven updates paid dividends with GDD.
Continuous Improvement is a must to achieve 3 goals.
The most effective improvement goals in the established category come right after the launch pad website launches. Did anything get chopped off in the launch to get it done in time? Of these outstanding items, it’s time to compile and complete to be running at the first cycle. The data also helps for future improvement activities after launch.
If your site gets very little traffic, that’s your golden opportunity to bring in new visitors to your site, with new content, or paid advertising. The last thing to do is get your site up and start collecting data, now think about getting the best out of it.
Are you sure you’ve had your technical SEO performance assessed for search ranking? You have high-quality content that will help you rank in search engines. How well are you going about achieving your analytics for your events? If they’re falling off your sales funnel, can you cut down the number of steps on your funnel and simplify conversions?
Perhaps it’s time to update the facts and value of your website. This isn’t just a case of blog posts. What other items can you offer for free that help build some trust with someone who’s going to become a potential customer? Every product or service has product education, online tools (or calculators) and other resources.
Some of these initiatives can result in whole pages or even dedicated landing pages. It doesn’t need to focus solely on sales either. After your customers have made a purchase, don’t forget about them! Invest in support services or the customer-centric sections on the website. Once your customer has made a purchase, don’t forget to look after them. Invest in relationships with the help of support services or, maybe, customer-centric sections of the website.
Perks of Growth driven design
It is a deep multi-layer process. So, what can we take away here when trying to sell someone on the switch?
- Save on upfront time & money. A better website, and you’ll get feedback earlier than you would a standard website redesign. In addition, it’s easier for your accounting department to finance regular improvements.
- View your website as an employee. How is your website performing? You wouldn’t have an employee flounder in those months or years, you would leave them to flounder. Continuous improvement allows you to see what’s working and plan for adjustments.
- Become relevant by becoming agile. It’s not just a production process that is no longer Agile. Having your site goals on your mind all year will help spur you into action with less lead time. You can keep your website updated with any product or initiative.
- Grow and thrive. Today, “launch it and forget it” websites have long since disappeared. Posting things you’ve never done before is not a sign of failure but a commitment to growth. Add polish. Expand content. Deepen customer connections. Becoming an industry leader.
Final Thoughts
Now, we are aware of how growth-driven design works and why it’s a must-have for your existing and upcoming websites. If you’re unsure how to adapt the process, Brand ClickX can create a strategy you and your website will love!
Are you ready for the next evolution of your website? schedule a chat with our team!
FAQs
How is Growth-Driven Design different from traditional website design?
Traditional website design often involves designing and building a website all at once, followed by a long period of stagnation. GDD, on the other hand, focuses on launching a website quickly with a “Launch Pad” version and continuously improving it by analyzing user data and optimizing the site based on real-world performance.
What are the key stages of Growth-Driven Design?
GDD consists of three main stages:
- Strategy: Defining goals, identifying target audiences, and creating a roadmap for the website’s success.
- Launch Pad Website: Developing a simple, functional website that can be launched quickly and iteratively improved upon.
- Continuous Improvement: Using data and user feedback to continuously optimize the site through regular updates and improvements.
Why is GDD more effective than traditional methods?
GDD focuses on data-driven decisions, allowing websites to evolve based on user interactions, behaviour, and performance. This approach ensures that the site remains relevant, user-friendly, and aligned with business goals.
How long does it take to launch a website using GDD?
‘Launch Pad’ version of the initial release (where essential parts are first), the initial fast launch can be within a few weeks. This approach ensures the website goes live, gathers data, and undergoes continuous optimizations over time.
How does GDD impact the website’s ROI?
Businesses can realize better ROI by continually improving a website based on real-world performance data. GDD actively drives website alignment to user needs, leading to higher conversion rates, more leads, and better customer satisfaction.
Which KPIs are used to Measure GDD in a website?
Key performance indicators (KPIs) such as website traffic, bounce rates, time on page, conversion rates, lead generation, and user engagement actively direct website optimization. Analytics tools, A/B testing, and feedback loops continuously refine the site over time.
