Gaining leadership buy-in for a full website redesign can be a daunting task. To effectively convince executives of both the need and budget for significant website changes, marketers need to leverage their innate storytelling skills, crafting a narrative that aligns the redesign with their organization’s strategic goals.
Rather than focusing solely on aesthetic improvements, it’s critical to delve into what leadership truly values from a business standpoint and build a data-based story to gain support.
Five Tips for Gaining Executive Buy-In and Budget for Your Website Redesign
1. Understand leadership's priorities. Determine what leadership wants from the website. Is it increased conversions, improved user experience, or enhanced brand perception?
2. Use data to tell a compelling story. Present a solution that supports leadership's priorities and goals through effective storytelling based on data.
- Show how a redesign can help meet and achieve key business metrics. Tell the story of current state vs. future state.
- Present data visually to make it accessible and engaging for leadership. Use graphs, charts, and heat maps to illustrate key points.
- Frame the redesign as a strategic business initiative rather than just a cosmetic upgrade.
3. Have direct, honest conversations. Foster open, honest communication to uncover any hesitations or barriers to approval. Understanding these can help tailor your pitch effectively and build mutually beneficial relationships that can help get your project over the finish line.
4. Share the repercussions of doing nothing. The cost of neglecting proactive website management can be substantial and may not be something leadership has much insight into. Focus on these implications:
- Increased risk of technical failures and security breaches
- Decline in search engine rankings due to outdated SEO practices
- Poor user perception due to outdated design or functionality
Ultimately, doing nothing can cost you conversions and business – business that may very well go to your competition.
5. Check your math – then check it again. Nothing undermines confidence like not having all of your potential costs accounted for – or incorrectly accounted for – when asking for budget. Make sure to show executives the full picture of the dollars required for your redesign and post-launch support, so that you don’t have to go back later to ask for more. See below for commonly overlooked website redesign expenses.
Commonly Overlooked Expenses to Include in Your Website Redesign Budget
Website redesigns are complex projects that require careful budget planning. We often see clients forget to consider potential costs beyond the initial website design and technical development, such as content strategy for launch and post-launch support.
Including all necessary pieces of a website redesign up front helps you avoid hairy budget surprises down the road. Plus, providing a comprehensive overview of what’s required for a strategic website redesign helps executives understand project complexity, and demonstrates that you and your team can plan effectively and think strategically.
Here are the most overlooked activities that tend to get left out of website redesign budgets:
- Content Strategy: Content is often underestimated but is critical to your redesign's success. Allocate budget for content creation, migration, and optimization. Be realistic about what your team can do and what content support you might need to outsource.
- Technical and SEO Services: Factor in costs for technical SEO, redirects, and ongoing technical support to maintain website health post-launch.
- Training: Budget for staff training to ensure they can efficiently manage the new site.
- Post-Launch Support: Budget for ongoing support and additional updates to ensure your website remains effective and up to date.
- Internal Time and Resources: Your time is valuable. Make sure not to overlook the cost of your and your team’s time as a key part of a successful website redesign. Outline for leadership what other work might get deprioritized or otherwise impacted during the project.
Not asking for enough budget up front can put you in the uncomfortable position of having to ask for additional money later – not to mention risk the trust you’ve built up with leadership. Avoid both by ensuring you’ve captured all potential project costs up front.
Strategies for Overcoming Buy-In Challenges
If your efforts to secure leadership buy-in for a full redesign are unsuccessful, these alternative strategies can help you gradually build support:
- Incremental Changes: Propose a phased approach to the redesign. Small, incremental changes can demonstrate value and gradually build toward a full redesign.
- Cross-Departmental Advocacy: If you haven’t already, garner support from other departments by showcasing how a redesign can benefit multiple areas of the business, creating a unified front.
- External Expertise: Engage with agencies or consultants to provide an external perspective and additional data that may sway leadership.
Achieving leadership buy-in for a website redesign requires a strategic approach, combining effective storytelling with a deep understanding of leadership priorities.
By telling a compelling, data-driven story that shows how a redesign will help achieve business goals, marketers can position redesigns as indispensable initiatives. And when buy-in or budget challenges arise, incremental improvements, cross-departmental support, and external expertise can pave the way for successful digital transformations.
Need help with your next website redesign? Reach out! Our team has more than 25 years of experience designing and developing websites that get results.