When you release a website revision, do not

In the past few months, there have always been a series of articles commenting on the website revision, such as "good", "bad", and "ugly. Because we have been involved in the revision of several websites in Adaptive Path, I pay special attention to these articles. As a marketing staff, I sometimes work with clients to revise a website. Therefore, I pay special attention to the announcements that guide the revision and the methods for preparation and follow-up. Sending the information to users who may be affected in advance and activating the channel for receiving feedback information is considered an important task before the revision and release, but in fact it often has little effect. Because the release revision has to deal with all kinds of things, and the pressure is huge, there will always be omissions in user testing and release plans. In the initial stage of project planning, released plans and strategies are often ignored or underestimated. I want to remind everyone of the importance of the plan through in-depth analysis of the release strategy. Here, I will list three methods to help you plan your next release.

Value of rational revision

Many people do not like changes. Therefore, the revision must be at risk. If you only pay for the changes and get out of time, you will see that the money and time are wasted while performing the revision, but the results are very poor (not to mention the Troubles encountered during the upgrade ), you will find that it makes sense to make some investment in the plan before execution. As the saying goes, "Sharpen the knife without mistake ". In other words, planning ahead is more important than improving afterwards.

Developing a reasonable plan and implementing it to the end can make the overall results completely different. You try to create the best revision plan and hope it will not be the same when it is released. (If the results are not as expected) your overall team's sense of accomplishment will also be affected, as their results will be ruined by unpredictable criticism. The buzz is expected. how you deal with them determines whether your team is eventually recognized. It is very important that you consider the revision from a long-term perspective. You need to plan how to cope with possible situations, and put extra energy to cope with the user's first response wave. If everything goes well, you can open the champagne!

In the end, the effectiveness of the revision will be reflected in business performance. Many companies compare the user loss/conversion rate before and after the revision to track the user loss and conversion caused by the revision.

3. Required (methods to achieve the goal)

The degree of preparation depends on the importance of the revision. Large-scale revisions often send incorrect information to the website community because it is difficult to obtain user feedback at any time. They are rarely revised based on the original interaction design of the website, which may lead to the collapse of the existing structure and often lead to greater problems. In other words, I want to take lightweight measures whenever possible, because this allows you to gradually change the version to keep you in close contact with the website community.

There are three typical methods for your reference during the revision:

Slow thermal method: This is similar to the method of "early detection, frequent improvement", including finding clues from various signs, so that you can easily find the key issues.
Public opinion effect: As you can establish a dialogue with users on the basis of a series of exchanges, it helps to establish a communication relationship with users. This method is most effective in traditional media forms. Writers often need long-term interviews to collect data to write a long story. If you have a good reason, you can use this method to obtain exclusive information. Obviously, you can obtain exclusive messages through many of your own channels, as long as you comply with your commitments with users.
Implementation: The revised version can be released a little by time, and your website users will be announced before that. Even if the revision is very small, you should make an announcement in advance to prevent them from over-reacting. Promote the success of the revision.
Test method: This method can be combined with "slow thermal method" or implemented first, and existing users are often involved.
Public opinion effect: the advantage of this method is to promptly involve volunteer users on your website so that feedback can be generated at this stage. The good news is that volunteer users are often more willing to accept the revision of the website, that is to say, this will receive more positive feedback. At the same time, because it is a test version, even if there are deficiencies, people will not think it is a big deal (but there are exceptions, because different websites, ). If they have no radical reaction to the beta version, you can migrate users to the revised website on a large scale. In this way, it is not easy to get rid of a big hacker.
Implementation: when you allow volunteer users on your website to try the test, you should consider getting some useful feedback. It helps you collect the most useful feedback, including countermeasure and/or description. When you build a website, it is very important to have such a loyal think tank.
Online: many people regard it as release, but I think it is just a dramatic expression of release. Although this is not a secret, it requires that you do not disclose the news during the revision to accumulate explosive power. As a result, after the launch, the comment can be very effective and the change will be accelerated. This method is especially suitable for websites that provide independent services or content. Your User Group can accept this change. Although this method is not used for revision release or new website release, it is only used for release of Aurora concept video.
Public opinion effect: in this case, it is easier to get news of the individual, especially when you have a good cooperation relationship with the media. Blocking a message may be necessary, but be careful that once it is "leaked", it may damage the relationship between you and the media. Obviously, the higher the service visibility, the better the effect of this method.
Implementation: The Countdown method works well in this case, but you must be prepared to face the bad ending before you do any market research or product tests. This method is risky, but if you plan carefully, he can indeed get rid of some obstacles. Recall that the release of Firefox 3 caused their service paralysis, but it still created a world record and ushered in the dawn of victory.
3 don't (and some precautions)

I have cited some examples to show that companies with active communities are always affected by the revision pages or websites. Earlier this year, Adaptive Path was involved in the revision of a website with active communities-MySpace. When a website has a community, you can always see a new version. The website will provide some Community users with trial opportunities. Note the following when you listen to these user opinions:

Remember, these users are voluntary users, and they do not represent all users on the website.
In fact, these users are always very enthusiastic to participate, so they often provide positive feedback.
Publish the feedback so that all users participating in or not participating in the trial can see it.
Some way is taken to ensure that all feedback is validated and a reasonable response is given.
Collect frequently asked questions and give answers in a concise and clear manner to reflect the brand image consistency of your website.
Be patient until there are fewer and fewer new problems.
But please note! After listening to all the feedback, you may find that you cannot find a balance between them and are struggling with the revision process. Maybe Facebook solved all of the above issues well, and even carried out large-scale tests to ensure that the results of the revision were practical. Let us assume that the revision is beneficial to all Community users. But it is still difficult to avoid this problem. When a user logs on to the Facebook page one day, he finds that everything has changed.

Sometimes the revision itself is powerless. What should we do?

Don't change too fast: Avoid sudden changes from small scale revision testing to large-scale full-site revision. It is not enough to have a prompt bar at the top of the page to recruit users to participate in the test. Give users enough time to make them aware of the revision process. Some users log on to the website every day, while others log on only once a month or even less. This means that it may take some time for them to obtain the information.
Don't wait until there is a question to explain what you are doing: Remember to let your users know your purpose in the first place. I suggest releasing this information in Countdown mode. It's not necessarily a literal countdown, though that's the case. I mean there is a plan for the information to ensure that the information is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people through the publishing channels of the website or other media.
Do not cover all aspects: allocate your resources and ensure that they are used in the most likely places, and once determined, they must be resolutely implemented. Small changes are unlikely to cause a sensation, so do not always focus on those small places.
There are many methods and misunderstandings in the revision process. I hope you have come up with these ideas. In general, the most important factor to consider is the end user -- what is their experience and how can you make them the best experience?