When designing a new website, you’ll be consulting marketing, design and development professionals. You’ll be seeking advice on everything from web design trends to conversion rates and SEO practices. But what about your own employees?
Most businesses will take web design and re-branding decisions at senior level, but without any input from the teams of people who work there. This could be a mistake, and could cause you to miss out on vital pieces of information about your brand identity, customers and communication strategies.
Here’s just a handful of the many reasons why you should consult your employees before starting a website redesign campaign:
- They talk to your customers every day. Your employees are on the ground every day dealing with customer feedback, which includes impressions and opinions of your brand. This is crucial information which can shape your brand image. Your team are tuned in to the issues affecting customers, and can also flag up areas where you aren’t communicating your brand value effectively.
- Engaged employees are invested employees. Involving your team in the ongoing development of the website and other parts of re-branding helps them to feel more connected and emotionally invested in the company they work for. They feel listened to, valued and a part of the changes that are taking place. This will boost enthusiasm and excitement for the re-design, which your team can share with each other and your customers. Finding ways to reward, engage and recognise employees has never been more important, especially with millennials where research suggests that two-thirds plan to leave their jobs over the next five years.
- Their wealth of skills, experience and expertise can enhance your website. Websites are no longer static homepages for displaying information – they are tied into the ethos and daily life of the business. Your employees can contribute to creating a dynamic online environment which becomes the hub of your brand. This pool of skills, talent and passion for the industry can create new content, blogs, eBooks, whitepapers, active social media profiles and much more to enhance the user experience on your new website.
- They can flag up technical and practical website problems. Your employees use your current website just as much as your customers, so they are perfectly placed to tell you about any issues which need to be improved in the redesign. It could be clunky navigation, a frustrating part of the design or a way to streamline the sales funnel – all vital to the user experience and conversion rates.
As for how to seek employee feedback without receiving a deluge of ‘helpful’ suggestions from everyone who imagines themselves a web expert, this netimperative.com article has many useful tips – including running dedicated meetings and discussion sessions at various stages of the project.
When was the last time you asked for suggestions or feedback from your team, and how did it go? Please feel free to share your thoughts.
