6 Steps to Optimize Your Website With Data-Driven Design

 Data-driven. It’s a term you’ve likely heard applied to many different areas, from marketing to sales to customer success. Data helps us make better decisions based on past results, and we can apply this philosophy to website design as well.

The concept of “data” may seem impersonal, like just numbers in a spreadsheet. At its core, however, data-driven design is all about building empathy and understanding with your online visitors and customers. This approach helps separate effective designs from ineffective ones, ushering in a more ideal user experience, more conversions, and more growth.

So, let’s unpack data-driven website design — what it means to take this approach, why it’s valuable to any online business, and how to integrate this methodology with your own design process.

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What is data-driven design?

Data-driven design is an approach to web design that is informed primarily by user data. The purpose of data-driven design is to understand and prioritize users’ needs through observable tests. This helps create a pleasing user experience (UX), while leads to more website traffic and online conversions.

Data-driven web designers place empirical evidence — that is, evidence which can be directly observed by us through tests — at the forefront of the design process. While previous experience and innate design sense may also play a role in the process, these are secondary to insights taken from user data.

Why Should You Use Data-Driven Design Methods?

The best web design strikes a balance between an engaging user experience and an intuitive user experience. Unfortunately, it’s easy to neglect the latter in pursuit of the former if you rely solely on instincts.

Remember that, as a designer, you are not the same as the users you design for. Your design preferences, and the preferences of your team or organization, do not match those of your target user base. This is because:

  • You possess better knowledge of your website and how to use it. You’ve spent more time with it than almost anyone.
  • You want your business to succeed, whereas your visitors are indifferent to your success and will be more critical.
  • You’re influenced by your previous design projects and their successes/failures.
  • You might be of a different demographic background than most users.
  • You’re probably more tech-savvy than the average visitor.
  • You might be emotionally attached to your designs, and view them as a reflection of your professional self. (For the record, it’s okay to feel this way. You worked hard on them!)

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