4 ms·

I updated my circa 2007 website design last week to a more modernized look based on twitter bootstrap and my sales plummeted. Does that count?

by nhebb 14y ago

mkl 14y ago
That's pretty interesting. Do you have screenshots we can look at?
mikedmiked 14y ago
If you were to include screenshots and write a blog post on this it could generate a discussion which could get you some useful feedback (and promote your site on HN).
- nhebb 14y ago
  That's a good idea. I'll write a postmortem after the fact, but right now I'm busy reverting the site to its former state. Conversions dropped ~75%, so it's beyond the point where its practical to tweak the design in order to get it back to par. The entire goal was to increase conversions. It didn't. Rewind.
  - genwin 14y ago
    Please do write that postmortem. I'm very interested in the subject of older designs that are more popular than the ones using the latest & supposedly greatest tools.
mskierkowski 14y ago
I'd def want to hear more about this.
dot 14y ago
A/B test, yadda yadda...
andyfleming 14y ago
Dropped ~75%?! Let's see a post with some screenshots!
- onlyup 14y ago
  Another +1 for wanting to see comparisons and an analysis.
sparknlaunch 14y ago
Sometimes simple and ugly triumph? We read some marketing experiences of ugly banner adverts getting more click conversions than modern ones. 1 it's an odd one. http://sparknlaunch.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/keep-it-simple-stupid-kiss-ugly-websites-that-went-viral/ http://sparknlaunch.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/keep-it-simple-...
- thenonsequitur 14y ago
  Case in point: the site we're looking at right now. It's an opinion of course, but I personally find the hacker news design to be dreadfully ugly; yet it's one of the sites I visit and interact with the most frequently. It's simple and very usable. A flashy modern design might make it look better, but if not done well it might also impede functionality, and thus make me visit it less often. And the obvious lack of pretense is psychologically satisfying. Simple and ugly is fine if it's functional.

I updated my circa 2007 website design last week to a more modernized look based on twitter bootstrap and my sales plummeted. Does that count?

by nhebb 14y ago

I updated my circa 2007 website design last week to a more modernized look based on twitter bootstrap and my sales plummeted. Does that count?

mkl 14y ago

That's pretty interesting. Do you have screenshots we can look at?

mikedmiked 14y ago

If you were to include screenshots and write a blog post on this it could generate a discussion which could get you some useful feedback (and promote your site on HN).

nhebb 14y ago
That's a good idea. I'll write a postmortem after the fact, but right now I'm busy reverting the site to its former state. Conversions dropped ~75%, so it's beyond the point where its practical to tweak the design in order to get it back to par. The entire goal was to increase conversions. It didn't. Rewind.
- genwin 14y ago
  Please do write that postmortem. I'm very interested in the subject of older designs that are more popular than the ones using the latest & supposedly greatest tools.

mskierkowski 14y ago

I'd def want to hear more about this.

dot 14y ago

A/B test, yadda yadda...

andyfleming 14y ago

Dropped ~75%?! Let's see a post with some screenshots!

onlyup 14y ago
Another +1 for wanting to see comparisons and an analysis.

sparknlaunch 14y ago

Sometimes simple and ugly triumph? We read some marketing experiences of ugly banner adverts getting more click conversions than modern ones. 1 it's an odd one. http://sparknlaunch.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/keep-it-simple-stupid-kiss-ugly-websites-that-went-viral/ http://sparknlaunch.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/keep-it-simple-...

thenonsequitur 14y ago
Case in point: the site we're looking at right now. It's an opinion of course, but I personally find the hacker news design to be dreadfully ugly; yet it's one of the sites I visit and interact with the most frequently. It's simple and very usable. A flashy modern design might make it look better, but if not done well it might also impede functionality, and thus make me visit it less often. And the obvious lack of pretense is psychologically satisfying. Simple and ugly is fine if it's functional.