What the Heck is Growth-Driven Design?

Growth-driven design, also known as GDD, is taking the world by storm. Everyone seems to be talking about it, from the White House to the Kremlin, from London to Shanghai, and all points between. You cannot turn around these days without hearing about how wonderful GDD is and how it is going to change the world.

Okay, maybe that’s stretching it a bit, but here at CWS it’s true—GDD is changing our world.

Before I explain what GDD is, let’s talk about what it is not.

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The current way

Web design the old way is fine. It’s okay. It’s not awful. But compared to GDD, it’s just plain boring.

I mean, think about it. You design a lovely site, throw it online, and then watch it just sit there for a couple of years until you or someone at your organization decides a new website design is necessary. Maybe the new one has a little video on it. Ooo, ahhh. So pretty.

Really, there’s nothing wrong with the old way. It’s just old. And doesn't deliver results on a consistent basis.

In the long run, you want—need—your website to provide value to your business growth and goals. It’s not enough to have something pretty with your company information on it; you need your website to do something. Your website’s got a job to do, and for most of you, it ain’t doing it.

For example, if your top salesperson were having a performance issue, you’d fix it right away. You certainly wouldn’t wait another two or three years to address the issue. Your website is supposed to be your best sales and marketing asset, so why would you wait two to three years to address performance issues?

Your website needs to be the star of your sales department, the diva of your marketing department. Your website should be working 24 hours a day, day in and day out, bringing in new leads. Your website needs to make you some money.

The new way

The new way is all about being honest with the fact that turning a website into a money-making machine is far too complex for any one person, or even any one group, to say they know exactly what will turn your website around.

This is why growth-driven design was developed. It provides a process for testing, validating, and improving your website. This continual learning is what will turn your website around and make your unique visitors go nuts over it.

You see, growth-driven design could also be called data-driven design.

Remember how I said your website needs to work for you? The only way to know if your website is working is by testing it.

We practice what we preach, and we apply GDD to our own websites continuously. For example, we performed A/B tests for adding a button over our video and changed the verbiage from “Request a Quote” to “Let's Start A Project.” With the new wording, our bounce rate was 81% better, plus the time our visitors spent on the page was 35.75% better than the original page. After the test, we pushed those changes live to all of our visitors and are now developing our next A/B test to increase engagement and conversions.

Do you stop there? No! You keep testing that link, over and over—forever—always improving how well it works. You might change the wording again or you might change the color or you might change where it appears on the page. The options are endless, and so is your testing. What you soon end up with is a page that performs many times better than if you did nothing at all. Think of the missed opportunities that the traditional design process leaves on the table—opportunities that are gained with growth-driven design.

Get the picture? See how this works? This example is only one of the many pieces of your website you can—and should—test. This is what data-driven web design is all about.

And that, my friends, is how data can make you a ton of money. The better salesperson your website becomes; the more money your business makes. 

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Is GDD only for web design?

Heck no! You can use this methodology everywhere in your business. Are your invoices always paid on time? (Of course not.) Test, validate, and improve until they are.

Can your meetings be run more efficiently and in less time? Test, validate, and improve until they are.

Can your employees become even more motivated and happy with their jobs? They will if you test, validate, and improve.

Can your customer service process be improved? How about any process in your business? Of course. Every single process or system in your business can be tested and measured and tested again until they are as close to perfect as they can be.

Want to make things really interesting? Start using GDD at home and watch your family question your sanity. It’s fun!