The Guide to Gathering Feedback on Website Design

How do you gather feedback on website design that’s not a confusing mess of notes and email communications?

That’s the problem facing website designers.

More and more, website design agencies work with remote clients and WFH team members – meaning virtual meetings and digital communication are the norm. It’s hard to get concrete, actionable insights.

The result is often endless revisions, tweaks, and contradictory requests. No creative project – especially one as complicated as website design – can yield a satisfactory end product under such constraints.

What’s the solution? How do you gather high-quality feedback on website designs without a headache-inducing communication storm? Find out below.

What is Website Design Feedback?

Gathering feedback on website designs means collecting opinions, suggestions, and ideas from creative colleagues, other departments, potential customers, and stakeholders.

It’s a laborious process. However, mistakes go unnoticed without these critical insights, user interfaces (UI) go unoptimized, and clients don’t receive the website they hoped for.

Not all feedback is the same. We can split it into two broad categories:

• Qualitative feedback: The “why” behind user interactions, emotions, and perceptions.
• Quantitative feedback: The numbers and measurable data that track performance.

Pros and Cons of Qualitative and Quantitative Feedback

Qualitative Feedback

Pros:

• Unearths deeper user emotions, providing a clearer understanding of what resonates.
• Encourages a more personalized design approach.
• Identifies pain points or friction not apparent in raw data.

Cons:

• Time-consuming to collect and analyze.
• Can lead to conflicting viewpoints.
• Susceptible to biases.

Quantitative Feedback

Pros:

• Offers precise, measurable data for objective evaluations.
• Identifies trends and patterns.
• Streamlines decision-making.

Cons:

• Lacks the “why” behind user actions.
• Can overlook unique user experiences.
• Risks over-reliance on numbers, sidelining creativity.

Integrating Feedback on Website Design

Combining qualitative insights with quantitative data can produce a superior website design. During the revision process, use different data collection methods.

Quantitative Data Tools

Web analytics track user behavior patterns like bounce rate, drop-offs, or high engagement areas.

Common real-time analytics metrics:

• Page Views: Number of times a page is viewed.
• Bounce Rate: Percentage of visitors leaving after one page.
• Session Duration: Average time spent on the site.
• Events: Tracks actions like button clicks or form submissions.
• Conversions: Tracks goal completions such as sign-ups or purchases.

Qualitative Data Tools

Qualitative feedback identifies the reason behind behaviors.

Examples:

• User Interviews: Gather needs, preferences, and challenges.
• Usability Testing: Observe interactions to pinpoint confusion or success.
• User Surveys: Broad perspective on satisfaction and usability.
• Heatmaps: Visualize clicks, scrolls, and movement.

Proofing Tools in Feedback Collection

Feedback and refinement are iterative and ongoing. Tools like surveys and heatmaps reveal insights, but translating them into changes requires online proofing software.

These platforms centralize comments, annotations, and approvals directly on design drafts. Stakeholders can provide real-time, contextual feedback.

Example:
If a heatmap shows no clicks on a video or a survey says a color scheme isn’t working, designers can annotate the draft directly, suggesting improvements.

This combination of proofing software and analytical tools ensures feedback is structured, actionable, and design-driven.

Gather Feedback on Your Website Design

Feedback is the lifeblood of successful creative projects – including website designs. Ensuring the final product engages and converts visitors requires both qualitative and quantitative insights at each stage.

Ashore can help. As a purpose-built online proofing tool, it lets you annotate and revise a website design in real time.

Get instant feedback on your website by registering for free today!