Nowadays, it’s extremely important for any business to have a nice-looking, easy-to-use responsive website. Many people, while doing their research, check your company’s online presence along with your competitors’ before they call you or fill out a “request a quote” form.

Your company website is an essential element that users base their first impression on. And, if done right, it could be your 24/7 salesperson.

Many companies understand the importance of a user-friendly site and see the problems with their current one, but are still unsure about when to start the redesign process.

A website redesign always implies a lot of work. It doesn’t matter if you do it yourself or hire a freelancer or agency to do it for you. A redesign not only involves time but also an allocated budget. The best part, though, is the excitement of having a brand-new online presence at the end of the process that you will be proud to show everyone.

Here are six reasons that may help you determine the right time to invest in a redesign of your company’s website:

1. It looks outdated.

Companies go through a redesign process for different reasons, but the main one is the old-looking site. You will not believe how many companies still have websites that look like they were done decades ago. Even people with no experience in web design can tell they’re outdated. This could hurt the business, especially if users are choosing between several competitors. Consumers will most likely go with a company that has a nice-looking, easy-to-use website because it provides the assurance that the company is growing and on top of the latest trends and technologies.

2. It is not responsive and does not provide a seamless experience across all devices.

It was so easy for companies to maintain their desktop-only sites several years ago when people didn’t use their mobile devices to shop, order food, do research and connect with their friends. Nowadays, users may be looking at your site from a desktop, laptop, tablet or many variations of mobile devices. And they expect a seamless experience from all of these entry points. They want to make sure that if they saved the product in their cart on mobile, it is still there when they go to the site on their laptop. They want to be able to do the research on their phones and share the information they’ve found with friends and colleagues. And you may lose these people as customers if your site does not provide a smooth experience across all devices.

3. It has a bad user experience and is hard to navigate.

How often do you check what your competitors are doing? Once a year, once a month, daily? Unfortunately, many companies don’t pay enough attention to their competition until it’s too late. The technology is evolving and changing so fast. Someone who is on top of the latest trends and understands users’ behavior could move far ahead in the game. Always do your research and see what people in your industry are doing on their sites, check the new features they’ve implemented, see what big players are doing and implement that functionality to provide the best experience to your users and convert them into customers. When you create a new site for your company, always make sure to build it so that it can grow with your business and you can add additional features and functionalities without the need to redo the entire site.

4. It does not reflect your latest business and marketing strategy.

There have been many times when I’ve talked to people at companies and learned that their business strategy has changed or they’ve launched new products and services, but none of these things are reflected online. It’s important that your site reflects your current strategy and service offerings so you don’t lose customers to your competitors. This is especially important if you know that your potential clients go to your website before they give you a call or write you an email request. They need to see the current state of your business, and if your online presence is not reflecting that, it’s time to redesign.

~Tatyana Khamdamova is the director of interactive design at Blue Fountain Media.