Website redesign? Bolster buy-in with these 5 techniques
Why you must start telling employees months in advance that your website is being redesigned, why an employee focus group is an absolute necessity, and why food and drink go a long way to building acceptance.
Creating a new company website should be an exciting time, and things can go a lot smoother if there’s open communication, especially internally. Whether you’re a small organization or a multi-silo corporation or university, here are five tips to make the transition more like a party than a funeral for employees:
1. Create a countdown. Treat a website redesign like New Year’s Eve. Make sure your internal users—staff members, stakeholders, other constituents—know that a redesign will occur and when the transition will take place. There shouldn’t be any surprises: Everyone should know the change is coming months before it happens.
2. Keep internal constituents pumped about the change! Happy employees make for happy customers. Drop hints in a company newsletter or on your employee Facebook page about interesting, useful and unique capabilities or features the new website will have. Remind everyone consistently that the change is coming and that it’ll make their lives better. On the flip side, some folks may think it’s annoying to be reminded of the change every time they turn around. Prevent this by keeping your messages short, simple and clever.
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