The website redesign scorecard: score your site in an hour

Key takeaways

The GBL Redesign Scorecard rates five areas (platform, speed, clarity, conversion and fit) from 0 to 2. A total of 0 to 3 means fix in place, 4 to 6 means redesign, and 7 or more, or a 2 on platform, means rebuild. It takes an hour and stops the decision being made on taste.

• 5 areas scored 0 to 2: platform, speed, clarity, conversion, fit.
• 0 to 3 points: fix in place. Most sites score here.
• 4 to 6 points: redesign the structure and content on the same platform.
• 7 or more, or 2 on platform: plan a rebuild with an SEO migration.

What is a website redesign scorecard?

A website redesign scorecard is a short, structured assessment that rates a site's problems by area and by severity, so the decision to fix, redesign or rebuild is based on evidence rather than on whether someone is tired of the colours.

The GBL Redesign Scorecard uses five areas because they map to the three options: platform and speed problems point to a rebuild, clarity and fit problems point to a redesign, and conversion problems can usually be fixed in place.

• Signs your business needs a new website

How do you score each area?

Score every area 0, 1 or 2. Zero means healthy. One means there is a problem you can fix on the current site. Two means the problem is blocked by the platform or the site's structure and cannot be fixed without deeper change.

• Platform: are core software, theme and plugins supported and updatable?
• Speed: do key pages pass Core Web Vitals on mobile, and if not, is the cause fixable?
• Clarity: can a stranger say what you do, for whom and where within five seconds?
• Conversion: can a visitor enquire easily on mobile, and does every enquiry arrive?
• Fit: does the structure match the services, buyers and brand you have today?

• Core Web Vitals for business websites
• Write a website value proposition visitors understand in five seconds

What evidence do you need for each score?

Every score needs one piece of evidence you could show someone else. That rule is what makes the scorecard useful in a meeting with partners or a board.

• Platform: the version numbers, and the supplier's support dates.
• Speed: a PageSpeed Insights report for the homepage and top service page on mobile.
• Clarity: three people outside the business describing the homepage after five seconds.
• Conversion: a test enquiry on a phone, and 12 months of enquiry numbers.
• Fit: a list of services sold now, compared with the pages on the site.

• Website audit checklist for small businesses

How do you read the total?

Add the five scores for a total out of 10, then apply one override: a 2 on platform means rebuild whatever the total, because an insecure or unsupported foundation undermines every other fix.

• 0 to 3: fix in place. Start with the highest-scoring area.
• 4 to 6: redesign. Keep the platform if it scores 0 or 1, rework structure and content.
• 7 to 10: rebuild. Plan the SEO migration before any design work starts.
• Platform scores 2: rebuild, even if the total is low.

• Website redesign versus rebuild

What do typical scores and costs look like?

Most UK small business sites we audit score between 2 and 5. The typical market cost of acting on the result follows the score: optimisation work often costs £500 to £3,000, a redesign on an existing platform around £3,000 to £12,000, and a full rebuild £5,000 to £20,000 or more.

The scorecard's value is in keeping sites in the first band out of the third. Spending rebuild money on a site that scores 3 rarely produces more enquiries than fixing the three worst problems.

• how much a business website costs in the UK

What can the scorecard not tell you?

It cannot tell you whether the market or the offer is the problem. If the site scores well and enquiries are still low, look at pricing, competition, reviews and where your traffic comes from before touching the website.

It is also a snapshot. Re-score every six months, or after any significant business change, so the decision stays current.

• Why your website is not generating leads

Who should score the site?

Two people, independently, then compare. The owner knows the business and the person who handles enquiries knows what buyers ask. Where their scores differ by more than one point in an area, that area needs more evidence before any decision is made.

An outside view helps with clarity and fit, because insiders cannot unsee what they know about the business. Borrow three people who match your buyers for the five-second test, and if you use a supplier to score the site, ask them to show the evidence for every number rather than accepting a total.

• Score independently first, then compare.
• Investigate any area where scores differ by 2 points.
• Use outsiders for clarity and fit.
• Keep the evidence with the scores for the next review.

What does this look like in practice?

A typical case: a UK logistics SME asked for a new website because it looked dated. The scorecard came out at platform 0, speed 1, clarity 2, conversion 1, fit 0, a total of 4.

That pointed to a redesign of the homepage and service pages on the existing platform, plus image compression, rather than the rebuild that had been budgeted. The saving paid for a year of monthly improvement work.

• See client work
• Website Design & Development for UK businesses

Run the scorecard in one hour

Follow these steps in order and write the evidence down as you go.

• Record platform, theme and plugin versions and check their support status.
• Run PageSpeed Insights on mobile for the homepage and top service page.
• Show the homepage to three outsiders for five seconds each.
• Send a test enquiry from a phone and confirm it arrives.
• List services sold today against pages on the site.
• Score each area 0 to 2, add them up and apply the platform override.

Next step

If you want a second opinion on the scores, we will run the GBL Redesign Scorecard on your site with you in 30 minutes and show you the evidence behind every number.