How important is a good concept for a project's success?
Benno Purin
Director Clients & Operations, Co-Founder @ Digit-One
The concept phase of your web project is the point at which you have the best chance of success — if you prepare properly and don't rush things to save time or money. In this phase we work out precisely which goals and KPIs you want to achieve with your website, how users get the best possible experience, and what expectations you have as a business owner. That lets us build an optimal plan that delivers you the best possible result while staying within your budget and timeline. Here's why this concept step matters so much!
So what exactly does the concept phase involve?
Conception is defined as the act or process of forming an idea or a plan in the mind. It often happens at a point where one or more people come together to exchange ideas and align their goals and KPIs with those ideas. What matters most is that everyone involved can communicate clearly what they want to achieve, and that they understand how that fits with other people's needs. So it's about finding consensus — a shared understanding of the matter at hand, of the project, the goals, the approach, the structure, but above all of how we work together. You know your customers best. So why should an agency tell you how to speak to them or how to treat them?
For us, designing a website is much more a joint process in which your expectations, your wishes and your know-how flow together with our technical and marketing knowledge to form the foundation of your website. Beyond that, we set ourselves measurable goals for the success of the shared project.
Why does that matter so much?
But this joint process costs resources on both sides. So why don't we simply deliver our clients a beautiful, functional website?
The most important step in any project, digital or not, is thinking through the route and the goals. Not infrequently, mistakes in planning lead to dissatisfaction or unnecessary extra work. But quality plays a big role too. How can a project's success be measured if there are no measurable goals? Which route should be taken if the destination isn't clear? First and foremost, what's needed is your understanding of your product or service and your knowledge of your business. Only then can we develop something that genuinely fits and delivers.
How do we start?
First ask yourself: why is your company relaunching its website? What does success look like for you and your customers? Should visitor numbers rise dramatically? Should more leads be generated through the site? Should awareness for your brand and your company grow? Which of these goals is the most important? Do you want to use new technologies to keep pace with new trends and requirements in your industry or market? From these questions we then derive requirements and create user stories that feed into defining the structure, the user journey, the functionality and so on.
Why do you need professional advice at this step?
A relaunch is expensive and time-consuming. So why leave a project's success to chance when you could deliver it with a professional concept behind it? Even with seemingly simple websites, a structured approach and defined goals are important in order to succeed.
A website's purpose has to be clearly defined so you don't throw money out of the window. We take you by the hand and define the purpose of your website together, examine the starting point closely and work out a coherent target picture.
Even where it seems obvious which requirements the new website has to meet, the technical and psychological components underlying a digital project mustn't be forgotten. We have the know-how to make your needs quantifiable and to reach your goals.
The right workflow
There is no single perfect workflow for a website project. It's much more about taking the time and responding individually to the starting point and the requirements. What's important is evaluating precisely which functions and extensions can genuinely add value, so that neither the process nor the site itself becomes overloaded. Even so, there are some fundamental steps that help us lead the project to success.
As a rule we start every project with a kickoff workshop in which we guide you through a range of questions. That gives us a clear picture of expectations, goals and strategies, customer needs, user journeys, ranges or products, content and design preferences. From that still very fragmentary picture we develop a comprehensive strategy for your project and the end product. In doing so we look at design as well as structure and technical features, so that the goals and expectations are met.
Through ongoing rounds of alignment we get more and more granular, starting with creating the sitemap, then wireframes, a look and feel, right through to the final design.
Throughout all these steps we make sure your expertise feeds into the project and that there's a healthy balance between content, UI design, UX design and usability.
Last but not least
With us you stay current.
It matters a great deal to us that a concept process like this doesn't end when a website goes live. We work with our clients for the long term. That means we accompany and advise you as technical requirements, market requirements or things within your own company keep changing.