Growth Driven Design – an Agile Approach to Web Development

Challenges with traditional website development

As a digital agency with years of experience in developing websites, we’ve created numerous sites, e-commerce platforms, and other digital solutions (over 250). In most cases, the process has gone very well, and our clients have been thrilled with their new solutions. However, there have also been projects that, for various reasons, did not go as planned (yes, that unfortunately happens to us too…). Typically, our clients return after 2-3 years to have a new website built – with a new design, new CMS or CMS version, new functionalities, etc.

The process of redesigning or creating a new website can be daunting for marketing department staff. It often seems overwhelming as they face a long period where all resources are focused on the development and launch of a new website. This process can take anywhere from 1 month to 1.5 years, depending on the resources allocated and our involvement in content implementation. Such lengthy periods can lead to significant frustrations on both sides and budget overruns due to evolving circumstances and changing project requirements. Even with a thorough specification, unforeseen issues can arise – unless it’s “just a simple online business card.”

While some businesses can still manage with very simple solutions, for most companies, their website has become critical. Today, a website is a central hub for much of the business. It’s a significant strategic tool requiring constant attention. Few companies can imagine operating without a website supporting their sales and marketing efforts through leads, new customers, customer service, etc.

After the strenuous effort of launching a new website, we often see interest wane. Once the initial excitement fades, the organization shifts focus to other tasks. Occasionally, a news update or a few new product pages are added, but typically, the website slowly loses focus (and value). This trend continues until there is a consensus that a new website is needed, restarting the cycle.

Illustration: Classic Web Development vs. GDD (shown in orange)

The classic website development method faces several challenges

High upfront costs
Strains on the organization
Potential frustrations due to time and budget overruns
Lack of flexibility – doesn’t account for learning along the way
Built primarily on assumptions
Development often stops post-launch

There is, however, a method that better meets the growing demands on the website as a business-critical tool.

What is Growth Driven Design (GDD)?

In recent web projects, we have started to adopt a more agile approach to development. We’ve aligned closely with what is known as “Growth-Driven Design,” developed by HubSpot as part of an inbound marketing process. This approach emphasizes that all website activities should aim to help our clients’ customers and thereby drive growth for the business/organization. The website should be used actively to generate traffic, leads, customers, and ensure that our clients become even happier with us.

The main principle of Growth Driven Design is to build a new website that is better than the existing one relatively quickly (within about 2 months) and then begin continuous improvements based on what creates the most value, guided by insights from data and user interactions with the website. Improvements focus on identifying “low-hanging fruits” and initiating actions that will have a significant value and impact on the business.

Illustration: Difference between up-front vs retainer

The benefits of GDD:

Reduces risks compared to traditional web development
Continuous learning and improvement of the website
Better collaboration between marketing and sales, achieving common goals

GDD can be divided into three steps:

1. Strategy: Goal: To gain empathy and understanding of your audience’s world and how the website can solve problems on their journey.

2. Launch platform: Quickly build a website that looks and performs better than what you have today, but is not a final product. Rather, your launch platform is the foundation on which to build and optimize.

3. Continuous improvement: With the launch platform live and user data collected, you can start defining the actions that will have the greatest impact.

Step 1: Strategy

The strategy phase is not very different from the traditional approach. It’s about building a solid foundation for the project. This involves understanding what the solution should achieve for whom and with what result. It’s crucial to understand our clients’ world and how the website can help solve their specific challenges.

In the strategy phase, we look at the following:

Business and website goals – clear objectives for what you want to achieve
User stories – “Jobs to be done” – understanding what visitors expect to accomplish and gain from using your website
Identify your Buyer Personas – who are your ideal personas/customers, and what challenges do they face?
Customer journey – Customer journey mapping – identifying the touchpoints for each persona and how we should act on various channels
Website-specific strategy – review of the existing website, competitors, other departments’ requirements, site architecture, SEO strategy, branding and design, etc.
Wishlist – developing a wishlist based on insights from the strategy phase through a collective brainstorming session

Step 2: Launch platform

Normally, launching a website marks the end of a process. With Growth Driven Design, it’s actually the beginning…

The launch pad serves as the starting point for ongoing improvements and activities on the website. It’s launched relatively quickly – and it’s important to recognize that it’s not perfect! The day you consider your website perfect, you’re already losing to the competition. At this stage, avoid getting bogged down in analysis or advanced feature desires. Focus on “must-haves” over “nice-to-haves.” The size and complexity of the launch pad site will depend significantly on the wishlist and priorities from the strategy phase. The 80/20 rule should apply: identify the 20% that generate 80% of the value for your users (and for you). Always ask yourself (and your customers) if something adds value and aligns with your goals. If it’s only a “nice to have,” put it back on the wishlist at this early stage. Ask yourself: “Is this absolutely necessary for the launch pad, or can it wait a few months?”

Once the key elements/actions for the launch pad are determined, they should be related to the standard website development process, including:

Messages and content
User Experience (UX) and site architecture based on user stories, buyer personas, and user journeys
Wireframes and flowcharts
Development of design systems and user interface (UI) design
Technical development
Quality assurance and testing

Data collection

The final point for the launch pad is to ensure data collection – both quantitative and qualitative. It should be based on the goals defined in the strategy phase. This depends on your systems, but at minimum, Google Analytics, Facebook analytics, Google Search Console, A/B testing tools, heatmaps, user interviews, etc., should be used to gather insights.

Step 3: Continuous Improvement

Once the launch platform site is live, it’s time to start continuous improvements. This cycle consists of four stages: Plan, Develop, Learn, and Transfer.

You still have a good wishlist from the strategy phase with important items you want to implement. Treat this as a dynamic list, updating it continually as you gain more insights.

Planning - Phase 1

In the planning phase, identify the current items to develop that will have the greatest impact. This is done based on the following criteria:

Performance vs. goals: How is the website performing relative to the goals set? This will indicate where to focus efforts.
Additional data or research: Do we need more data/research/tests before deciding on the next actions?
Learning from marketing & sales: Discussions between sales & marketing to gather feedback since the last “sprint” cycle
Brainstorm and prioritize the wishlist: Based on new data and knowledge, conduct a new brainstorm to determine what new actions should be added to the wishlist

Actions typically fall within the following areas:

Boost conversions:

Focus on wishlist items directly related to optimizing conversions.

Improve user experience (UX):

Identify and work on areas of the website that can enhance the user experience, making it easier for visitors to navigate and find what they need.

Personalization:

Customize areas of the website for more personalized experiences based on collected data. This can involve personalized call-to-actions, forms, and content (Smart Content), demonstrating to visitors that you know them and providing the right content at the right time.

Expand marketing opportunities:

Add valuable new elements to the website for your marketing efforts (and for users) – such as a blog, e-learning, additional social media integrations, newsletter sign-ups, etc.

Website updates:

Regular updates to the website to keep it running optimally (CMS updates, plugins, etc.).

Prioritizing the Wishlist:

Once all new potential actions are on the wishlist, it’s time to prioritize them based on their expected impact on goals and KPIs, and the website users.

With an updated wishlist, plan the next sprint cycle. Select the items with the greatest value and start implementing them. The number depends on the cycle length – it’s better to do a few things well rather than many things poorly, e.g., 1-3 items.

Develop - Phase 2

In the development phase, the selected actions are implemented on the website. Each item should be viewed as an experiment to see how it performs, with proper measurement setups to track results closely.

It can be beneficial to follow up on actions with new campaigns (SoMe, PPC, Blog, etc.) to drive traffic to the areas where new changes have been made, quickly gathering relevant data.

Learn - Phase 3

Once the “experiments” have collected enough data, it’s time to enter the learning phase. Here, the data that has been collected from the visitors is reviewed.

Based on the data, you can now validate or reject the hypotheses that were set up. Has it had the desired effect or has it not? What have we learned from the initiatives that we didn’t know beforehand? This learning should of course be available to others in the company so they can also learn from it – in general, it’s a great idea to have a common platform that everyone can access.

Transfer - Phase 4

In the final phase, transfer the new knowledge from the last cycle to other parts of your business. Review the results and what you’ve learned from each action and brainstorm how it might be used by others in the organization. Is it possible to find any patterns for our users based on the previous actions taken?

Then it’s about getting the new knowledge/ideas presented to the rest of the organization – and developing the ideas further so that they can be implemented as tactical initiatives in the different departments.

Repeat the cycle

When the stages of a cycle are complete and have become a set of new actions, it’s time to start from phase 1 again and plan the next cycle.

In this way, the cycle repeats itself with constantly better results and better understanding for our website visitors. The more cycles you complete, the more it will positively impact the value and effectiveness of your website and business.

There is no doubt that traditional website development presents a number of challenges that can become critical to the importance of a website for most businesses today. Not many can afford to have a website that doesn’t perform optimally and only contributes sporadically to marketing and sales – and above all, the business.

The Growth Driven Design approach reduces some of the risks previously associated with website development, and in our experience, collaboration within the company and with potential partners becomes much stronger and more flexible as you work towards common goals and maintain a constant focus on the website’s impact on the business.

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