Common Mistakes During Website Migrations and Redesigns

With almost 20 website migrations under our belt, we’ve seen a lot of ways to successfully migrate sites as well as some ways not to do it. Here are the top five most common mistakes made during website redesigns and migrations that are applicable to all sizes of business, from SMB’s up to Fortune 100 companies, plus actionable insights to help you avoid them.

1. Failing to Secure Initial Buy-In

Your website plays a variety of roles – it’s a full time marketing and sales tool, but it’s also where your customers go to get service, product info, and more. Before embarking on a website redesign or migration, it’s essential to ensure that all stakeholders are on board. While not every group will have an equal say, it’s crucial to engage all relevant people and departments early on, plus foster open communication to understand everyone’s needs and concerns. At the very least, communicating with each group gets them involved in the process and invested in making something better. This always pays off in the long term, as it helps reduce any resistance to the new website and related tools when launched. It’s very common that putting in the right structure for buy-in also results in key insights that you can use in redesigns and new features. Be sure to set up a way to document this process plus all of the related decisions on the new website design and development

2. Budget Missteps

When it comes to budgeting for a website redesign or migration, most companies we’ve seen start with a budget and then try to find a way to squeeze everything they want into that budget. This inevitably ends with a feature list too large, with hard feelings all around when things start getting cut there were in the original approved migration plan. Instead, list out the features and designs you desire, then build a budget around them. This approach allows for flexibility and ensures that essential elements aren’t overlooked. This also facilitates the conversation on deciding what to keep, what to trim, and what to get rid of feature and content-wise in a much more neutral manner. If you’re working with an agency on a migration project, the best way to approach this is to engage one for the scoping out process to help manage the initial feature and budget list. We often see companies create their dream list of features first, then push agencies through an RFP process that creates a race to the bottom for pricing. When something inevitably goes wrong and requires more time than planned, everyone looks bad. This is less of a concern with smaller scale platforms like WordPress, but should be top of mind for any projects on platforms like Drupal and Sitecore. One other key budget misstep we commonly see is not working post-migration tasks into your initial budget. See #5 on our list for more details.

3. Overlooking Content & Image Mapping

Content is the backbone of any website, yet it’s consistently prioritized lower than whatever great new technical developments are going to be on the new site. This can easily take the majority of time on a project though, especially if planning isn’t done before and during the design of the new site. Here are a few things that need to be included in the plan from the beginning:

• Do a test export of content and ensure the content fields in your new website can accommodate the content in the format it’s exported from your old site. This might involve merging multiple text fields or splitting a single field. If your old platform is very dated, you may be stuck doing a lot of manual content migration.
• Map out your existing site’s URL structure, and then translate that to the new site. URL Mapping: Changing URLs can impact SEO and user experience. If your new design or CMS necessitates URL changes, plan for the necessary redirects to maintain site integrity.

Images play a pivotal role in website aesthetics and user experience. When redesigning:

• Identify how much capacity you have to redesign images. If you have limited budget and/or time, try to align your new design with existing image assets as much as possible.
• Recognize that asset resizing can be a manual and time-consuming process. Ensure each image retains its focal point and resonates with the overall design.

4. Underestimating Manual Content Migration

Going through content and image mapping will result in a great idea of how much (or little) work you’ll have to get existing content into your new site. While some aspects of content migration can be automated, many require a hands-on approach. This includes:

• Asset Resizing: As mentioned, images often need manual adjustments.
• Page Builds: Constructing pages to align with the new design can be labor-intensive.
• Content Review: Both automated and manual content migrations require thorough reviews to ensure accuracy and consistency.

5. Ignoring Post-Migration Planning

Launching your redesigned or migrated website is just the beginning. To avoid finding yourself back at square one, it’s vital to budget for the money and time needed to get your team and partners trained and product on the new platform(s), have the right resources to conduct ongoing testing, and also implement a process of continuous improvements to keep your site updated and user-friendly. Basic training tasks can include setting up a Knowledge Base as you’re building the new site, plus scheduling group training sessions with your users. Be sure to update the Knowledge Base during your actual development, as it will make it much easier to capture details as you go along instead of trying to remember them during the craziness after the site launch. Before and while your new site is being worked on, you’ll want to already have a budget in place for continuous improvements. To help create buy-in for this, plus source what the actual improvements are, we recommend creating a Digital Committee that meets at least quarterly to ensure the website is performing well and meeting business goals. Website redesigns and migrations are significant undertakings, not matter what size your business is. By being aware of these common pitfalls and planning accordingly, you can ensure a smoother transition and set your website up for long-term success. Remember, it’s not just about the launch; it’s about the journey that follows.