If you're like most people (see below), you wait until after you launch your new website before asking people for feedback. If your intention is to get a few pats on the back, then this might be the right approach, but if you're honestly seeking ways to improve your website, increase conversion rates and see an ROI, then you need to change your process.
Get Feedback First
Don't wait until your website is live to start asking for feedback. In fact, it should be one of the first things you do. Before you start developing a spec, hiring a designer or writing a single line of code, go out and get outside feedback on your existing website. Or, if you're building a new website, get feedback on a simple sketch or wireframe.
Getting feedback after launch is usually an exercise in futility. The team in charge is so emotionally invested in the new design, that making changes based on post-launch feedback rarely happens. Not to mention the time and money you'll end up spending on changes, and in some cases, a complete overhaul.
An outside perspective can help you identify ways to improve your user experience, clarify your messaging and increase conversion rates. Moral of the story: get feedback, but make sure to get it early!
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6 Comments:
earlier feedback ->
less rework ->
less expenses ->
more effective
Good point. Doing this would have saved me alot of time, because I wouldn't have made a hard to code design that wasn't very attractive afterwards.
I completely agree with Andrew on this one. We have tested early-stage mockups on ConceptFeedback which allowed us to stay agile, change direction early and get amazing results (objective was to increase engagement on a landing page; we more than doubled it).
Getting feedback very early in the process saves so much time. As soon as you have invested 5, 10 or 100 hours in a design you are simply not going to change your mind anymore. You start to love your design and the cost of changing direction becomes too high, so even valid feedback will be ignored.
Our design process uses ConceptFeedback, at least, at these three stages:
1) on the existing design which we are called in to improve,
2) on our first mockup of the new design, and
3) on the first version of the actual design
That works for us :)
@jens_schriver
Fo sho man,
I learned this the hard way. Once you have a site, look for feedback, and then have the redesignitis creep up on you and you feel like doing the ENTIRE THING over again to improve the concept. I like:
-Create initial idea / mockup
-Get feedback when it has enough information / visual to be guided by feedback
-Use the guidance to take it to the next level
-Post re-design and get further insight.
Ah and the classic quote to live by with design:
"There are rough rocks on a beach, and over time they get refined into the polished rock"
Feedback is often so hard to get, however. There are a plethora of sites out there, and it can be difficult to gain enough of an audience that is willing to give the feedback. Sometimes you just have to go with what you know, and eventually users will let you know how they feel about it.
Feed back is very important to every one to improve to know the mistakes and develop.
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Gordon
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