Optimizing the Current Site, But the Brand Has Moved On

Borrowed

“It’s difficult to get a company to surge forward and grow when it continually leaves behind an operational mess and tons of fires that need to be put out. It’s somewhat like the foundation of a skyscraper. A skyscraper’s foundation is boring, mostly because nobody sees it. But if you don’t build the foundation correctly the rest of the skyscraper falls apart. If the top floor of the building is unstable don’t go looking for the problem up there—look down at the foundation. The same is true with your systems and procedures. It’s important to take a hard look at your business to see where the weaknesses actually are. System-related problems exist in all the companies I’ve worked with, whether they be $5 million, $150 million, or $300 million a year companies.”

From "Extreme Revenue Growth" by Victor Cheng [Book]

Learned

I recently spoke with a CPG founder whose brand is growing in retail, but in the early days, e-comm was their focus.

Over the past two years, they watched their DTC business slowly decline and brought on multiple agencies to help. Each one promised results. But after every engagement, performance got worse. Revenue fell. Conversion dropped. And more money went out the door on agency fees.

Calls like this are never easy. The founder came in looking for a path forward but feeling burned by past experiences, unsure where to turn next, and understandably wary of yet another agency. In moments like this, I remind myself I’m not there to prove we’re different. All I can do is listen, dig deeper, offer insights, and try to understand what’s really going on to see whether we can help.

I asked what else had changed over the past couple of years. They mentioned the economy, shifts in their customer, changes to the product. While they didn’t blame the agencies entirely, what stuck with them was how each one swore that “best practices” alone would turn things around.

With retail driving most of their growth, I asked how they saw DTC fitting in moving forward. They seemed unsure, but said it’s not the priority, they’d just like to see it headed in a positive direction.

I dug deeper: If you forget about performance for a second, are you proud of how the website represents the brand?

They said no. Sigh.

Retailers love the story and mission. They’ve secured serious partnerships. But online, none of that comes through. The website feels like a different brand.

I have a theory: when a founder stops believing in their website, its underperformance becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Everyone knows it’s not great, but for various reasons (time, money, and so on), they don't want to commit or invest in a full overhaul.

Instead, they make smaller investments in tweaks. When results don’t improve, they do things like pull back on marketing. “We can’t justify spending to drive traffic to a site that isn’t working.” The website becomes the excuse. And while it may be part of the problem, it also blocks them from seeing what else might be going on.

Eventually, those smaller investments add up and with not much to show for it but a site with all kinds of bandaids. And that’s often when they end up on a call with me. Unfortunately, the site is often in a worse place than where it started, with all sorts of issues from code quality to site speed.

We saw something similar with another brand we’re working with now. They originally came to us looking for a CRO retainer but stuck with their existing agency due to budget and continued to "test and optmize." A few months later, they came back; this time for a redesign. Their agency had been billing hours every month, but performance hadn’t improved. Eventually, the founder realized they were solving for the wrong things. The brand had evolved, and the site hadn’t kept up.

It’s a common pattern. Before jumping into optimization mode, it’s worth stepping back and asking: does the website reflect who we are today and everything we’ve learned as a brand? If the answer is no, it doesn’t matter how much you optimize.

The founder I spoke with had already spent over $50k trying to improve conversion. But like many situations, it wasn’t that straightforward. While the agencies were making changes to the site, the brand was evolving with new retail partners, updated packaging, and so on. The way customers were experiencing the brand had changed entirely, but the website hadn't.

We went on to talk less about tactics and more about how the website could support where the brand is headed next, even exploring updates to the visual identity. When the call ended, the founder thanked me. They seemed genuinely grateful, but also like they were realizing there was a lot more to think about than just how to fix a conversion rate problem.

I don’t know if we’ll end up working together, but regardless, I hope they find a path that aligns with where their business is headed.

Thought

Am I optimizing something I no longer fully believe in?