Most teams think that when a website underperforms, it means you need to tear it down and start over. Or at least: redo a lot of things at the same time (we need a more modern look, we need a new structure, we don’t have the right content…).

But here’s the thing:

You don’t always need a big, expensive redesign to see big results.

When considering a website redesign, many teams might overlook the potential for minor adjustments to yield significant results. A website redesign can often be avoided by simply optimizing existing elements.

Sometimes, it’s about making the right changes in the right places—and having the clarity to know what those are.

That’s exactly what happened when an HR software company approached me. They were preparing to expand into a new market and felt their website was “a bit outdated.” All they wanted was a slight lift to stay competitive

What they didn’t expect was a 35% increase in conversions—without a full website redesign.

In this article, I’ll walk you through the exact steps I used to achieve this transformation, why each step matters, what I actually did, and practical takeaways so you can apply the same thinking to your own website.

Step 1: Uncover the Real Problem

Why this step matters

Most redesign projects fail because teams jump into “solutions” before understanding the real problems. Stakeholders bring their own perspectives:

• “The design feels outdated.”
• “The navigation is confusing.”
• “The brand doesn’t come through.”

All valid—but unless you clarify what’s really holding your website back, you risk spending time and money fixing the wrong things.

What I did

I ran a kick-off working session with the project team to:

• Align on business goals and what success looks like
• Identify different user groups and their needs
• Surface current barriers in the customer journey
• Understand internal frustrations (like difficulties launching campaign pages)

This session revealed:

• The brand’s key differentiator—real human HR support, not just software—wasn’t reflected on the website.
• There was no clear understanding of how the website contributed to sales, what qualified as a good lead, or what questions potential customers had.

Practical tips: How to run your own kick-off session

• Prep: Start by gathering any existing knowledge – assumptions, analytics, customer feedback.
• Create discussion topics in Miro/FigJam: Topics I usually include in a kick-off session are
  • Current State (what works, doesn’t work, needs to be fixed)
  • Target Audiences (who are we helping/ designing for)
  • Competition/USPs (who are our biggest competitors? what can we learn from them? how are we different?)
  • Success Criteria (what outcome do we want to achieve? what does success look like?)
• Seed with thought starters: Add your findings to each discussion bucket to avoid blank-page paralysis.
• Include diverse voices: Include anyone who is impacted by the redesign, like sales, marketing, support—not just the design team.
• Keep it tight: 6–8 participants, max 2 hours.

Step 2: Craft a Strong Vision

Why this step matters

Before making changes, you need a clear picture of:

• What “good” looks like
• What your competitors are doing (and missing)
• Where your website stands today

Without this, you risk designing based on tastes instead of customer needs and competitive opportunities.

What I did

There are many methods that are useful for this step (stakeholder interviews, user research, customer journey map, opportunity map, heuristic evaluation, competitive analysis…). We kept this project pretty lean, so I used the following methods:

Heuristic Evaluation:
I systematically reviewed key pages, marking where design, messaging, and structure caused friction or confusion.

Competitive Analysis:
I analysed 3–5 competitors, studying:

• Messaging and positioning
• Layouts and structures
• Features and user flows
• Visual identity and brand feel

These methods helped to identify:

• Gaps we could fill with clearer messaging
• Opportunities to humanise the brand while competitors leaned heavily on tech-focused messaging
• Design and interaction patterns that aligned with user expectations

Practical tips: How to do this

For the heuristic evaluation:

• Take screenshots of your key pages for a “bird’s-eye” view.
• Mark what’s working and what’s not. Try to be as broad as possible, reviewing visuals, interactions and user flow, messaging and tone of voice.
• After you’re done, take a step back. Define the top 3-5 issues that have the biggest impact on your customer experience and your business.

For the competitive analysis, analyze it through the eyes of your customer:

• What problems are they addressing?
• What tone are they using?
• How are their calls to action structured?

I often think about specific tasks a user might want to accomplish.

Then synthesize:

• What patterns do you see?
• Where can you stand out?

Step 3: Define the Real Purpose of Your Website

Why this step matters

Websites are just one touchpoint in the customer journey. It’s easy to get too focused on the website and wanting people to do all kind of things on our website – sign up for a newsletter, contact us, buy stuff, leave a comment, share content – but what we want and what our users want is not often aligned.

Especially in the B2B world, a website is mainly an element of building trust: we allow people to learn more about us, discover what we have to offer and hopefully create interest.

The actual sales process of finding clients, gaining interest, guiding them through a decision process doesn’t always start with the website and it sometimes doesn’t involve the website at all.

To make a website an effective marketing and sales tool, we need to understand:

• Is your website meant to convert cold leads or warm them up?
• Should it educate or close deals?
• How does it support your sales process?

Without this clarity, you risk turning your site into a cluttered “catch-all” that fails to serve users or your business.

What I did

To define the purpose, you need to understand how your website is being used – and this involves both your website visitors and internal staff. This information is best collected through interviews, allowing you to discuss processes and observe behaviour, rather than relying on a survey.

In this project we unfortunately couldn’t include direct user interviews weren’t possible, so I conducted sales and stakeholder interviews to:

• Understand what qualified leads look like
• Learn common customer questions and objections
• See what role the website plays in the sales journey

Practical tips: How to gather insights

• Start with 3–5 interviews (users, stakeholders) for 45–60 min each.
• Let them talk about their experience: their goals, their barriers, likes and dislikes.
• Try to have your interview participants share specific tasks or activities (the way we DO things is often different from how we TALK about doing them).
• Look for patterns and recurring themes.
• If your feedback is too diverse, keep conducting more interviews.

Define the Solution (Ideation & Implementation)

Why this step matters

Once you know:

• What problems you’re solving
• What outcomes you want to achieve
• The website’s role in the customer journey

…only then should you start designing the solution.

In this solution phase, continually return to the actual outcomes you want to achieve and your priorities. It is easy to dream up features and ideas or to get carried away by looking at competitive solutions. But remember: just because a competitor is using a specific feature or solution doesn’t mean it will tell you how successful it actually is.

What I did

• Identified key page templates and components to achieve the desired improvements.
• Developed annotated wireframe templates with clear recommendations for messaging.
• Provided recommendations for visual communication (shift from robot-like illustrations to real human imagery to communicate the “powered by HR experts” brand promise).
• Simplified navigation and clarified CTAs to guide visitors seamlessly toward booking a call.

These weren’t random design updates. They were targeted changes aligned with business goals, user needs, and competitive positioning.

Step 5: Measure Success

Why this step matters

Redesigns should be measured by outcomes, not outputs. Without tracking the right metrics, you can’t prove impact—or learn what to improve.

What I did

In a collaborative working session, we defined success criteria and discussed how we would measure them. We landed at:

• Increased conversions (number of scheduled sales calls through the website but also number of closed deals)
• Higher-quality leads (number of interesting vs “false” leads booking a sales call through the website)
• Improved user engagement (website traffic, returning customers)

The outcome

We achieved a huge success:

• 35% increase in conversions within months
• Higher-quality leads reported by the sales team
• Faster campaign page launches by marketing without developer bottlenecks
• A more credible brand presence in a competitive market

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What I Learned (and What I’d Do Differently)

What worked well:

• Bringing the client into the process via collaborative working sessions.
• Leveraging sales insights to understand user needs when direct research wasn’t possible.
• Addressing design, content, and structure holistically.

What I’d do differently:

• Push harder for direct user interviews to refine messaging and content clarity.
• Map metrics beyond top-level conversions to include lead quality and the full sales funnel.

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What YOU can learn from it

You might be sitting on a website that isn’t performing. But it doesn’t always need a full teardown.

With the right process, you can turn your existing website into a hard-working sales tool while controlling costs and focusing on what actually moves the needle.

Because UX isn’t about making things pretty. It’s about aligning business goals, user needs, and brand promise into an experience that converts.

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Ready to Transform Your Website Without a Costly Redesign?

If you’re considering a redesign but want to ensure it drives real business outcomes (without wasting your budget), let’s talk.

Book a free 30-minute call to explore where small, targeted changes could deliver big results for your business.