Product development takes time, effort, and resources to satisfy the user’s needs. After launching your product to the market, it might seem fair to think that your work is done and that the customers will love the product. But in reality, the product improvement work never stops. You should go on optimizing the product to keep your customers hooked. Hence, the main purpose of product redesigns is to enhance usability and provide better customer experiences.
Still, redesigning a product is not a walk in the park for many business owners. It means more time and resources that will go into reshaping the product. Thus, it is advisable to embark on redesigns when the product is still new in the market. Doing it later might be chaotic and difficult for the development team.
So, why do companies choose to implement a SaaS product redesign instead of investing time and effort into business growth? This article offers insights on the significance of redesigning your product, explains when you should do it, and offers an optimal redesign approach.
What Is Product Redesign?
The main intention of redesign is to improve user experiences and satisfy the customer’s needs. It is a process that involves introducing major changes to a product. You can rebuild the entire interface or make slight changes to its appearance.
When Should You Redesign?
There is no standard timing for a company to alter a product design. Each business is unique, with different goals and needs. So, the reasons and deadlines might vary for each business model. However, before starting the journey to change your product, you need to define the existing problems, which will shed light on the project’s scope and duration.
The following are some of the problems that might trigger a redesign of your product:
Outdated Designs
Technology is dynamic, and new design trends keep emerging. You can get stuck with outdated designs when the world moves ahead. If this happens, users may start abandoning your product for cooler, more modern designs. So, it is time for a change when your product no longer appeals to your target audience.
Having an outdated design interface causes friction and poor user experience. It can damage your business since customers will warm up to your competitors with sleek UIs and excellent UX. So, you need to redesign your product to keep up with modern trends and practices that offer users a great experience.
Feature Updates
Redesigning a product is all about enhancing its value. You should introduce brand updates from time to time to make a positive market impression. It could be altering your company logo or introducing new brand colors. Even the slightest change can have a huge impact on your customers. Adding or removing features for a product’s UX optimization is also a positive change. So, stay updated and know when to make wise brand changes.
Negative Feedback
Customer feedback is the fuel that triggers product redesigns in most companies. At times, your product might be great overall, but it may have minor annoying elements that cause user friction. Such situations often attract negative user reviews, affecting your brand’s reputation. Thus, you should listen to what the customers say to determine when and how to redesign your product. It could be immediately upon the big launch or after a few months in the market. Customer feedback will help you know the issues to address.
Performance Metrics
It is not surprising to encounter performance issues in product development. That is why digital product ownership is a continuous process of improvements to achieve better experiences. Sometimes, you might feel disappointed with the performance metrics because of a few UI/UX bottlenecks. If such issues surface, it is time to make significant changes to increase leads and conversion rates. Therefore, take time to find out where the design flaws are before you decide whether to perform a full or partial product redesign.
Full Product Redesign Step-by-Step
Let us explore the steps to take when you opt to change your entire product. You need extensive research to avoid falling into the same design pitfalls.
Step 1: Define product goals and hypothesis
It is imperative to have clearly defined goals before you start the process. What are your objectives? What are the major user problems? Who is your target audience? Answering these questions will outline your product purpose and guide the entire redesign process.
Develop a strong product vision and a new set of features. It will guide your design team and give them a shared idea of the expected outcome.
Step 2: Brainstorm
After defining the goals, sit down with the development team for a brainstorming session. Look for workable solutions to improve the product and its overall market impact.
Step 3: Validate Ideas
This step entails testing the proposed solutions to confirm if they are working. Since it is a full redesign, you must conduct usability testing with a target group to get accurate results. This exercise will show whether your redesign is effective. It is advisable to rely on customers to get the required feedback instead of using only the team’s suggestions and assumptions.
Source: Unsplash
Step 4: Implement
If the product passes the usability test, you can consider the redesign idea verified. A comprehensive design system will help the team create a quality product.
You can request the input of developers and designers about the redesign decisions and their practicability to improve the product further.
Step 5: Iterate and Launch
Confirm if you have implemented the right solutions and everything is in place. If you are satisfied with what you see, proceed to the launch of the redesigned version.
Partial Product Redesign
The redesign will be simple and less time-consuming if you only plan to make a few changes. The first step is identifying the customers’ problems while using the product through research. Once you know the issues, find practical design solutions and introduce the changes.
Conclusion
You can’t launch your product and leave it to grow without following it up. The tech world keeps changing with new design trends, and you should update your product regularly if you want positive results.
Product redesign is an effective approach to achieving optimal customer satisfaction. Improving your product will attract and keep users over time.
