As a UX/UI designer, there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing your designs go live. The time, energy, and creativity poured into crafting a seamless user experience finally see the light of day. But let’s be honest—there’s also a lingering dread. What if, after all that effort, you spot opportunities for improvement once the site is live? Or worse, the data confirms your gut feeling: something isn’t working as expected.
Once the site has been live for a while, user behavior begins to reveal patterns through analytics. Perhaps certain design elements aren’t performing as expected, or there’s untapped potential in areas that could drive greater engagement or sales. This is where the concept of Scalable & Collaborative Design comes in—a forward-thinking approach to refining and evolving digital experiences. Armed with user data and a clear vision for improvement, you can guide clients toward enhancing their website’s performance while encouraging a collaborative partnership. Here’s how to approach the delicate task of advocating for revisions while using the power of Google Analytics to back up your recommendations.
Iterative Design: The Backbone of Long-Term Success
Before diving into specific strategies, it’s essential to ground the conversation in the iterative design philosophy. Websites, like businesses, are living, evolving entities. An initial launch is rarely the “final” product—it’s a starting point. Iterative design embraces this idea by treating the website as a continuously improving system, refined through user feedback and performance data.
Why Clients Should Embrace Iterative Design
No matter how thorough the design process is, nothing compares to how real users interact with a website. Iteration allows you to address these real-world findings. With tools like Google Analytics 4, iteration ensures decisions are informed by concrete metrics rather than assumptions.
Also, this approach helps us to stay competitive. User preferences and market trends evolve; iterative design keeps the website ahead of the curve.
Framing the discussion around iterative design helps clients see optimization not as a critique of your original work but as a natural, strategic step in their digital growth journey.
Carefully Choose Your Wording
The word “changes” can immediately set off alarm bells for clients. They might think: Wasn’t the website supposed to be perfect? Why didn’t we get it right the first time?
Instead, use language that positions your recommendations as part of a proactive and iterative process. Terms like “optimization,” “fine-tuning,” or “enhancing performance” shift the conversation from fixing mistakes to achieving continuous growth. Frame the live website as the foundation for ongoing improvement based on real-world user data.
Launching a website is an exciting milestone, but it’s just the beginning. Once the site goes live, we can see how real users interact with it and uncover opportunities for improvement. These adjustments help maximize engagement, conversions, and user satisfaction.
— By focusing on optimization, you’re reinforcing that improvements are a natural and essential part of the website’s lifecycle.
Let the Data Do the Talking: Google Analytics 4 to the Rescue
Google Analytics 4 is your secret weapon for building a compelling argument. Instead of relying on subjective opinions or “gut feelings,” you can provide clients with actual data highlighting improvement areas. Here’s how to leverage GA4 effectively:
Key Metrics to Monitor*
*Keep in mind that every business has its own needs, so your KPIs might differ, but this is a good place to start. You can read more about this topic in our Atomic UX Measurement article.
- Engagement Rate: If engagement rates are lower than expected, it’s a sign users aren’t finding the content or design compelling enough.
- Conversion Rate: A low conversion rate might indicate friction in the user journey or unclear calls to action.
- Event Tracking: Analyze specific events (that are important for your scenario) to identify points where users drop off.
- User Flow Analysis: Use GA4’s pathing reports to visualize when and where they hit roadblocks (404 page, e.g.).
- Bounce Rate: High bounce rates on key pages can signal that users aren’t finding what they’re looking for.
- … and more.
Analyzing & Visualizing the Data
Clients might not fully understand raw metrics, so make the data more accessible through visualizations:
- Present key findings in a brief, client-friendly summary that connects the data to actionable insights.
- Look for patterns: are users frequently dropping off at a specific step in the checkout process? This could signal usability issues.
- Use industry standards or data from previous client projects to contextualize the results.
- Include visual elements like charts to illustrate user behavior and/or comparison graphs to show trends over time or before/after changes.
Show, Don’t Just Tell
If you have the ability to conduct user testing, don’t skip it. While GA4 provides quantitative data, combining it with qualitative insights from usability testing can make your case even stronger.
Share recordings, heatmaps, or transcripts from these tests to give clients a firsthand look at the issues. When clients see real people encountering challenges, it’s often more persuasive than abstract data alone.
Address Subjective Changes Thoughtfully
Not every proposed change will be grounded in hard data; some will arise from professional judgment, particularly when dealing with aesthetic, branding, or subjective preferences. In these instances, navigating the discussion carefully is important to avoid unnecessary conflict. A practical strategy is to focus on how a proposed change can benefit the user experience, better align with the brand’s goals, or even inspire a fresh perspective on the brand itself. To strengthen your case, provide clear examples, visual references, or concrete scenarios that illustrate the advantages of your recommendation. Presenting your suggestions in terms of value and impact helps promote collaboration and builds confidence in your professional insight.
Explain the Impact on Business Goals
While design principles and trusted solutions are at the heart of what we do, our clients don’t always speak that same language. Instead, we need to translate our insights into tangible outcomes—results that clearly align with their business objectives.
For example, highlight how improving the user flow could boost sales or conversions or point out how design tweaks could lead to higher customer retention and loyalty.
Use your collected data to tell a story:
Right now, only X% of users are completing the checkout process. By analyzing GA4 data, we can see that many users are exiting at the shipping step. By simplifying the flow and removing unnecessary fields, we can aim to increase the conversion rate to X%, which could generate an additional X€ in monthly revenue.
If clients remain hesitant, emphasize the potential consequences of not making improvements. Explain how unresolved issues could lead to missed revenue opportunities or user frustration.
Framing the conversation around the cost of inaction can motivate clients to act.
Provide a Clear Plan for Implementation
Before even reaching out to your client, ensure you have a draft of the implementation plan you can polish together. Clients might worry about the logistics and costs of making changes, so it’s essential to present a clear, phased plan. Break down the process into manageable steps:
- Identify priorities: Focus on the changes that will have the most significant impact.
- Set a timeline: Provide a realistic estimate of each phase’s length.
- Estimate costs: Offer a transparent breakdown of expenses to avoid surprises.
By presenting a detailed roadmap, you can alleviate concerns and build confidence in your ability to execute the changes efficiently.
Position Yourself as an Ongoing Partner
Newly implemented changes take time to nestle in the webshop’s existing ecosystem, so regular GA4 monitoring is recommended. They might view the need for changes as a one-time inconvenience, but you can turn it into an opportunity to establish a long-term relationship.
By positioning yourself as a partner invested in their ongoing success, you’re not just suggesting that they make changes now—you’re creating a foundation for future collaboration.
Don’t Just Ship and Pray
Guiding clients to revise their newly designed websites can feel daunting, but when approached thoughtfully, it becomes an opportunity to strengthen your relationship and deliver even greater value. You can turn a potentially difficult conversation into a collaborative, results-driven process by presenting changes as optimization, leveraging GA4 data, and connecting recommendations to business outcomes.
Remember: a live website isn’t the end of the design process—it’s the beginning of continuous improvement. By embracing this mindset and helping your clients see the value of iteration, you’ll solidify your role as a trusted expert who’s dedicated to their success.