Not every improvement needs a redesign. These twelve changes are small, and most can be made in a day or two. We’ve ranked them by how much they usually help against how much effort they take. Your own order will vary, but this is where we would start on most websites.
The ranking#
- Rewrite the homepage headline in plain words. Say what you do and who it is for. It shapes every first impression.
- Make one primary action obvious on each key page. One clear button, with everything else quieter.
- Rewrite button labels to say what happens. “Send inquiry” instead of “Submit”.
- Fix error messages. Say what went wrong and how to fix it, next to the problem.
- Cut form fields you don’t use. Every field removed is effort saved.
- Compress and resize images. Often the quickest way to make pages noticeably faster.
- Make buttons and links easy to tap on phones. Big enough, with space between them.
- Trim the main menu to five to seven items, named in your visitors’ words.
- Show contact details clearly, including how quickly you reply.
- Add a clear confirmation after every form, saying what happens next.
- Fix low-contrast text. Pale gray text is harder to read than it looks.
- Remove auto-playing carousels, or stop them moving on their own.
How we ranked them#
Each change was judged on two things: how many visits it affects, and how much effort it usually takes. Clarity fixes come first because they are cheap and touch every visitor. Speed and phone fixes come next because they affect every visit, but can take more work. The later items still matter; they just tend to help fewer people or take longer.
The big-bang approach
Redesign everything at once, launch in six months, and hope it works.
The quick-win approach
Make the top three changes this week, measure, then move down the list.
Make your own list#
Write down every improvement you can think of. Next to each, score its likely impact and its effort from one to three. Start with high impact and low effort. Then watch your analytics and your inbox: the results of quick wins are often visible within weeks, which makes it much easier to get support for the bigger changes.
Not sure where your site stands? Our free 12-point behavior check covers several of these in about twenty minutes.