Design your site with change in mind

Posted by Laura Bergells

November 22, 2006

“Whew!” I heard my new prospect say. “My programmer and designer finally finished my e-commerce site. It’s all done now.”

I had to laugh. They’re so cute when they’re young…

Note to e-commerce newbies: your website will NEVER be done. Here’s why:

Think about it: if you put up a real world store, would you say that it’s “done?”. Oh sure, let’s say the foundations is poured and the walls are up with a darling color of paint. It all looks so bright, cheery, and inviting!

But if you’re going to be successful, you will change your real-world store. On a daily basis.

No, hopefully not the foundation! But the feng shui within a successful real-world store changes all the time….

New merchandise to add. Stock to rotate. New specials to announce. You’ll be moving things around, finding out if canned vegetables sell better if they are stacked in a pyramid up front or placed on a shelf in back.

You’ll put a new sign announcing a sale. Do red letters pull better than blue? Let’s test and see….

Same thing with your online store.

You will never get it done. And you’ll never get it right. You will always be changing, testing, finding out what works, and what does not.

So if you are currently designing an e-commerce site, make sure you design with constant change in mind. It’s not enough to have a pretty site. It has to be easy for you to A/B test a new headline, a new graphic, to add a new product, or to add a block of copy that really sells the sizzle of your product line.

Design your site with change in mind.