Website Redesign & Conversions

Record a Website Baseline Before Changing the Design

Save the current website's key journeys, content and authorised performance data before a redesign. Make later comparisons meaningful.

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Illustrative photograph, not a client or team claim. Photo: Annie Spratt anniespratt via Wikimedia Commons · CC0. Resized and cropped.
In this guide
  1. Capture the important journeys
  2. Use available business evidence
  3. Compare like with like
  4. Make the baseline useful to implementation

After a launch, people often disagree about whether the old website worked better. A small baseline record makes that discussion more useful than comparing memories.

Capture the important journeys

Save representative desktop and mobile screenshots and note how enquiries, bookings or purchases work. Record known problems separately from features that must be preserved. A screenshot alone does not document form validation or order handling.

Use available business evidence

Where access is authorised, note page visits, confirmed enquiries and completed purchases with their definitions. Add relevant search data and performance measurements with date, device and method. Do not invent missing historical data or treat every click as a completed lead.

  • Keep the original URL and content inventory.
  • Record important integrations and account owners.
  • Save actual test conditions for performance readings.
  • Note campaign or seasonal changes affecting demand.
  • Agree on the post-launch review period.

Compare like with like

If a new promotion begins at launch, a later enquiry increase cannot automatically be credited to the redesign. Similarly, comparing a desktop test with a throttled mobile test does not establish a performance change. State the limits of the comparison.

Make the baseline useful to implementation

Use it to define regression tests and priority decisions. The goal is not to preserve every old design choice. It is to know what changed, verify what still works and avoid claiming improvements that the available evidence does not support.

Need help putting this into practice?

Tell Nithu what your website needs and which systems are involved. The next step is a review of the requirements and an agreed scope, with any paid tools or ongoing costs explained before work.

Request a website project review

Further reading from the official documentation