Episode 4: Online shop relaunch

Your online shop can sell more! Arrange a free strategy appointment with Jörg Dennis Krüger now: https://jdk.de/termin/

Do you really have to relaunch? And if so, what questions do you need to ask? Conversion hacker Jörg Dennis Krüger asks the right questions, shows when a relaunch is necessary and when not - and what advantages and disadvantages the relaunch has compared to continuous optimization.

Make your own store more successful with conversion hacking? Make a free appointment with Jörg Dennis Krüger now: https://jdk.de/termin/

TRANSCRIPTION OF THIS EPISODE OF THE PODCAST

Welcome to the fourth episode of the Conversion Hacking Podcast. My name is Jörg Dennis Krüger and as my welcome commando just said, yes, I am the conversion hacker. My topic today is relanuches. Relanuches especially in the online store and why you should maybe avoid them. 

In advance, the note again: On 5.11.2019 is Think-Conversion in Berlin. My small event with two seminars on conversion thinking and conversion hacking. There are still tickets available! More information on Think-Conversion.de. I look forward to seeing quite a few, there in Berlin. 

But now let's get right into the topic of Relanuches. Because quite honestly, relanuches are evil relanuches: I don't know why so many companies are always thinking about the next relaunch. Because there's so much you can do wrong with a re-launch! A re-launch like this is incredibly complicated, incredibly risky and re-launch insolvency is not a fairy tale, it has happened often enough. And maybe just the risk of insolvency.

But you rebuild a lot and think yes, now everything will be better. But you develop completely away from what the users actually want, what the users are used to and so on, and build something where no one feels at home anymore. 

And then you wonder why all these great thoughts you've made don't work. But it should be clear that everything we come up with, everything we design ourselves, everything we come up with in endless meetings is just mostly bullshit and we have to think much more from the user's perspective. 

Okay, let's get started: Why do you relaunch? What do I hear? Well, we don't like the store anymore, it's not up to date or, well, we want to reposition ourselves. It doesn't work like that anymore. So we have to do everything differently or the store is technically outdated. Or there is a new version of the store software. Or maybe yes, we want to modernize our brand, appear differently with the brand.

There are some arguments that I would accept. So just the repositioning. Well, we have decided strategically based on market research the best. We have to change a little bit to stay active in the market to keep up with our competition or just to stay leading in the market.

Then, of course, you have to change something about the store then you can't stay that way. So repositioning. That has to be very well planned, of course. But that can really be a good reason for a relaunch. Likewise, if the store is really technically outdated then you might have to get to it at some point and really redo that and then you can't keep anything somehow but have to completely restart and really see relaunch. But the other points. We don't like that anymore. Oh come on, just because we don't like the store anymore has nothing to do with it. A Hippo problem - often so the Highspeed pösen and pines. 

The boss says: "Oh, we have to change again. My wife said, "The site doesn't look great, let's relaunch it, let's make it hip!" Oh, that's no reason for a re-launch. Or when we say: "Yes well somehow our marketing doesn't work like that anymore. We have to think of something else." That's really not a reason for a re-launch. And the biggest mistake for a re-launch is just because the stores software comes around the corner and says, "There's a new version now that would have to use and launch because of that." That just causes huge problems and is not worth it. But I also don't understand why you so often think directly I have to do a re-launch, there is something alternative to the re-launch.

And that is the permanent optimization, i.e. the relaunch. We make everything new, mostly technically and graphically, and often also the processes, and the optimization is well, we change the existing. And what is the basis for these two approaches to become better to become different. Let's start with data. Such a relaunch is usually based on relatively little data but on a lot of discussion. Because I don't know how the individual things I come up with will work. That means I can take inventory data and see, yes well the products have sold here there was Absprang and so on. If that is taken into account at all and to re-launch not purely emotional in many discussions takes place as you want to present them now new and where you put hope in and so on. 

Whereas an optimization that takes place a bit step by step can always work insanely well with data. I see what the change does and then I know okay, we'll continue to use that or we'll just leave it out because it didn't work well. Accordingly, the risk of re-launch and optimization is completely different. The risk of a re-launch is incredibly high. So it doesn't have to work. That's just so common, and it's simply because it's planned so completely from scratch. The risk that an optimization doesn't work is quite low. Well, if I see that something doesn't work then I go back and do the same thing as before and I can try the next thing.

I never fall into this deep hole like many stores after a re-launch, but the chances are generally greater with a relaunch because I really have the opportunity to change everything, the chance to develop something totally brilliant is of course huge. With optimization, the chance is a bit smaller, more like medium, because of course you are simply slower on the road, somehow working in an existing framework in the existing grid. You can't throw everything away immediately. The expectations of a re-launch are therefore incredibly high.

You expect everything to be better after the re-launch and I keep talking to Shop. They say yes, yes, we're already working on the re-launch in half a year, it'll be ready and then we'll have a completely new setup. Then everything is different anyway Since we do not need to worry now about any issues.When optimizing this expectation is relatively low yet often I would argue too pessimistic often. Well, if we change only a few things, so small things change then we will achieve already not much and so what. And there I ask myself why? Because you can also achieve an insane amount in the optimization and piece by piece things changed.

And you don't have this high risk, because this high risk combined with the high expectations, because you see these high chances is just sort of a plan for disaster because you think we have these chances and you give this huge pressure. We have to achieve a lot will high expectations and then with this high risk. That's just insanely likely that I'm going to miss and then not meet those expectations and really fall a deep hole. With optimization again if I play well then I can exceed the expectations very very well and use the low risk to still take my chances and achieve much more which is why I actually don't see why you really put a relaunch so often.

In addition, so much and it takes mostly very very long very long until I see results my resources are tied up and so on and the optimization is simply continuous I them again and again successes increases my convergent, increases my shopping cart value, increases my customer satisfaction I can respond to current problems and so on so that simply the optimization has very very many advantages. That is if I do not Wühler and already must then I should perhaps also really not relaunchen because this risk is not to be underestimated even if the chances are great and yes, the expectations are mostly very high but this expectation one must really dampen because the risk.as said very high even if the chances are very high. 

And if I now have to relaunch, then I should try to ask the right questions. Because quite often the wrong questions are asked, namely: what do we have to do differently? or - how do we want to present ourselves in the future? What is our future strategy? How would that work in the future? What innovations do we want to use in our new gere-launched store. Which new image do we want to use? or the worst question again from the store software corner. What can the new store software do? The already quite jittery oh so many new functions quite quite great.

And then they really think about what to do with all the things that are there. But the real question is completely forgotten because the important question is what has worked well so far. Because what has worked well so far we have to keep because that is the reason why our customers are there, why they come back, why we have regular customers, why we are successful and we are not just relaunching a store because nothing works at all.

Then I would also optimize to find out why nothing works but we optimize yes, we relaunch yes, because we stand well, because we want to continue to stand well and quite often there is really classic the child with the beard poured out by simply rebuilding everything and what works well so far leaves out because you think it's ugly because you think as we have so long in the store. That must times new and what I know. But these are often the elements that have simply driven conversion in the past, where customers have found themselves again, which is why customers have made a purchase decision.

I got a request from a store some time ago that said, "Oh we've switched to the new Shopware version and since then we've seen business plummet by 50%."

How can that be? The store was outdated before, it wasn't responsive, it was just bad and didn't look good anymore. And now we have a brand new store. But we don't sell anymore. What is the reason for that. I thought about it for a moment: I went to Akajew.org and looked at the old store design, which was so well archived at Agrarforschung, and noticed that the store was really outdated and difficult to use, everything was a bit small, not responsive at all, and so on. But there were so many individual arguments so many individual statements. The store really had its own face. It was really such a truly individual store. You immediately felt comfortable with it, you immediately felt a connection with it. There were also so many USP's is so somehow unique selling propositions. And over time, we had simply optimized this old store so well that the right things were also on top, which had great filters just right and it was all so a Schoppe. 

I realized that it was old and just not state of the art anymore - far from it, but it was really thought through! It was really geared to the user and had really matured and sold well. And then one wanted to become current this whole maturation. This whole thought out one has thrown away everything because one has said, one takes a template Shopware wonderful and one uses the possibilities of the template and in the end that looked just like a Shopware store like the 08/15 Shopware store. And all this maturation was gone and accordingly the customers ran away because they said: "Yes, this is somehow - I don't even know anymore. This is something completely different here now. This is no longer the store I fell in love with, where I thought man here because I really caught on well." One had become interchangeable. One was technically great but the rest was just mäh. and now one had to optimize quasi back. 

All these things that had been removed during the relaunch had to be painstakingly reinstalled if the question of what has worked well so far and what we need to maintain was not asked in advance. So, how do we go about relaunching? We ask ourselves: What has worked well so far? We change as little as possible. We create a consistent concept right from the start so that the new store is just as well thought out and mature as the store we have so far and we look at the concept of the old store and then transfer that to the relaunch so that no one gets lost and everyone says: "Yes, this looks different and is more chic and modern but I still feel right. I still feel comfortable. I can still find my way around. Because this is kind of like the old store. But better." And that's what we need to achieve. The best way to do that is to use wireframe. I love wireframe for planning a Veda and the Royer Performing really really great and function follows form. So first we think about how should the stuff work. And then we think about how should it look. And not here are ready icons, here is something ready, we use that now. Or we paint what they find beautiful and then somehow Baumwall the function purely: No, we first think about how it should work. And then we think about how to implement it and how it should work. 

Means for example also that the filters are far above the right filters are there for my products suitable that I can penetrate the product range properly and so on and fan zones function function is important. Form is then really part 2 all buy at Aldi although it looks ugly but the function is there. Therefore, first plan then do and please do not put the technology in the foreground. A relaunch that only takes place for technical reasons and where in the end the design of the store depends on the technology is junk. Accordingly: no, we really have to plan and develop from the user's perspective.

And please don't fall into a relaunch stupor six months beforehand where everyone says: No, we can't change anything anymore, we're planning a relaunch. Then you optimize yourself to death in two directions, so to speak. You no longer update the store, you no longer learn, you are no longer state of the art to the customer needs and then comes at some point the relaunch and that is then based on old findings and then bursts it all somehow so such a relaunch must be quite smoothly, organically incorporated into the entire Schopp marketing strategy with and must not be such a perpetual project where then suddenly six months everything else is postponed until finally the Vina and loop is because that would also be one of the quasi negative secret recipe as one is worse after a relaunch. And you must not invest so much work in Nylons project that this thought comes up so now we are done. Because such a relaunch must be the start of the permanent optimization. 

You do not have to start with a thousand finished things completely thought out but a relaunch. It has to fit in exactly with this organic development, even with a few major changes, but then I immediately have a plan to optimize it further, so that I don't have to stand there and say that the relaunch is something we'll try out first, but rather start right away with okay. We immediately have 20 ideas that we further optimize. Here, the relaunch will be developed further so that it really becomes an overall concept and it is best never to launch it again, but to develop it further piece by piece. We can think about when elections the last relaunch of Amazon. 

Tip There was never a reason why you wanted to make one. But then you realized that it does not bring it at all but you have to develop piece by piece. Amazon has changed extremely in the long there's now 20 years 15 years no idea in which there is Amazon extremely changed from bookstore to the everything provider with marketplace and so on but never really Guillaumes but always changed piece by piece. In the process, much tested and so on and that is ultimately also a secret of Amazon but actually a secret for every store. That one connects that somehow with each other of course there were also sometimes major changes at Amazon that were almost something like a relaunch but always covered in the overall strategy and always with learning and not simply. We want to look different but always connected with a clear goal and then Tia you also generate more convergence because the goal must be just of relaunch to generate more convergence. 

And if we think again from the conversion hacking perspective quite a lot we can really deliver with JavaScript with Arbed Testing in the worst case via a Teck Manager static. Just try it out first to learn how it works that our customers understand because at the end of the day it's really them we're working for if this isn't understood. Then we can leave it because it must not be that after the relaunch the customers need weeks or months to get used to the new site. Then the too high and the risk is too huge that it backfires. But do not misunderstand. Sometimes you have to launch like. All good but you have to do it right because in the end we all want to sell more and have more online success and a relaunch can help. But done right.

Write a comment