Here are 4 real cases where a website redesign changed a business. No vague promises — just numbers, timelines, concrete problems and what made the difference. These projects all have one thing in common: at the start, every client thought their site was "good enough." It wasn't.
Case 1 — Physiotherapy practice, Lyon
Starting situation: Physiotherapy practice, 3 practitioners, Lyon. Local visibility: zero. 100% of new patients came via Doctolib or word-of-mouth. Existing website: 2 pages, generic text, no FAQ, no practical information, not mobile-optimised.
Problems identified: No dedicated pages for specialties (knee rehab, shoulder, respiratory physiotherapy), no answers to common patient questions (fees, hours, disabled access), PageSpeed mobile score: 34/100.
Redesign delivered: 7 pages (home, team, specialties, coverage, patient FAQ, directions, contact) + local SEO optimisation + Doctolib booking integration + FAQ answering the 20 most frequent questions. Budget: €7,200.
Results 8 months later: +22 new patients per month via Google (local searches), −35% incoming phone calls (questions answered directly on the site), PageSpeed mobile score up to 91/100. ROI reached by month 4.
Case 2 — Natural cosmetics e-commerce, Bordeaux
Starting situation: Natural cosmetics boutique, founded 2021, Bordeaux. The original WooCommerce site was slow and visually dated. Conversion rate: 0.9% (the health/beauty e-commerce average is 2.5%). LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) measured at 6.8 seconds on mobile.
Problems identified: Unoptimised images (several photos at 4MB each), WordPress theme loaded with unnecessary plugins, 5-step checkout, no trust signals (no certifications, no guarantees visible, no customer reviews).
Redesign delivered: Full technical redesign + lightweight theme + image optimisation + 2-step checkout + "Our commitments" section + verified reviews + payment security badges. Budget: €9,800.
Results 3 months later: LCP from 6.8s to 1.9s, conversion rate 0.9% → 3.1% (+244%), monthly revenue +158%. At the same traffic volume, almost 3.5x more orders. ROI reached in the first month after launch.
Case 3 — Law firm, Lyon
Starting situation: Business law firm, Lyon, 4 lawyers. Digital leads: zero. 100% of revenue from network and word-of-mouth. Existing site: one generic presentation page, no detailed specialties, no qualified contact form, 2017 design.
Problems identified: The firm's 4 areas of expertise (commercial law, restructuring, M&A, intellectual property) were not detailed anywhere — impossible for a visitor to understand whether the firm matched their need. No targeted landing pages, no SEO content.
Redesign delivered: 8 pages (home, team, 4 detailed specialty pages, contact, blog) + qualified form (case type, urgency, estimated budget) + 4 SEO blog articles targeting high-intent queries. Budget: €11,500.
Results 8 months later: 9 new cases per month via the website, 7 directly attributable to the specialty pages and blog articles. Estimated additional revenue: €110,000/year (based on: average fees per case × monthly volume). ROI reached by month 2.
Case 4 — Custom furniture manufacturer, Alsace
Starting situation: Custom furniture manufacturer, Alsace, family business established in 1989. 2013 website: basic photo gallery, contact form, no product descriptions, no blog. Web orders: zero. 100% of revenue from loyal local clients and a few interior designer referrers.
Problems identified: Real differentiating expertise (solid French wood, local manufacturing, controlled lead times) completely invisible online. No SEO optimisation for "custom furniture" queries. Gallery uncategorised — impossible to quickly find what you're looking for.
Redesign delivered: Catalogue structured by furniture type (kitchen, bookcase, walk-in wardrobe, commercial furniture) + simplified configurator (style, wood species, dimensions, lead time) + SEO blog articles + client testimonials with photos of completed work. Budget: €14,200.
Results 12 months later: 30% of total revenue generated via the website, including a significant proportion from out-of-region clients (Paris, Lyon, Strasbourg) who would never have been reached without the national SEO. Order book full 4 months in advance — a first in the company's history.
The 3 lessons common to all these projects
These 4 projects are very different — different sectors, budgets, objectives. But they all produced the same insights:
- The problem is never design alone — it's the conversion architecture. In all these projects, the original site wasn't "ugly" in an aesthetic sense — it was structurally ineffective. It didn't guide visitors toward any action. A beautiful site that doesn't convert is a cost, not an investment. The redesign always starts with: what do we need site visitors to do?
- SEO doesn't work if the content is generic. "Your trusted physiotherapy practice for 20 years" doesn't rank. "Post-ACL reconstruction knee rehabilitation in Lyon 3rd" ranks — because that's what people actually search for. Specificity is the key to local and niche SEO.
- Qualified forms filter out time-wasters. A "name, email, message" form generates noise. A form that asks about need type, budget, urgency and a few qualifying details generates useful conversations. In the law firm case, the form reduced by 80% the time spent filtering irrelevant enquiries.
How to know if your website deserves a redesign
You don't need to wait until your site is "old" to justify a redesign. Here are 4 objective signals that make a redesign economically viable:
- ✅ PageSpeed score below 60/100 on mobile (test free at pagespeed.web.dev). Below 60, Google penalises your rankings and visitors leave before your page finishes loading.
- ✅ Zero contact enquiries in 30 days with existing traffic. If people are visiting your site and nobody's getting in touch, the issue is in the structure or perceived trustworthiness — not the traffic.
- ✅ Bounce rate above 80% (visible in Google Analytics). 8 out of 10 visitors leaving without clicking anything is a strong signal that the landing page isn't delivering on its promise.
- ✅ Design more than 3 years old. Web standards evolve fast — what looked modern in 2021 can now appear dated. And "dated" = "less credible" in the visitor's mind.
Go to PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev) and enter your URL. If your mobile score is below 70/100, your site is losing visitors and search rankings every day. Free diagnostic, available in 30 seconds.
FAQ — Website redesign
How much does a website redesign cost?
Budget depends on complexity: from €5,000 for an SME brochure site (5-8 pages, graphic redesign + basic SEO) to €15,000+ for an e-commerce site or one with advanced features (configurator, client portal, blog). The 4 projects shown here range from €7,200 to €14,200. In every case, ROI was achieved within 12 months.
How long does a website redesign take?
Between 4 and 12 weeks depending on complexity. An SME brochure site: 4-6 weeks. An e-commerce site or one with booking systems or a configurator: 8-12 weeks. The limiting factor is almost always content production on the client side — texts, photos, product data. The earlier you prepare these elements, the faster the project moves.
Will we lose our search rankings during a redesign?
Not if the redesign is properly managed. Best practices include: keeping existing URLs or creating 301 redirects for every changed URL (essential), transferring existing SEO metadata, keeping the production site live until final deployment, and submitting the new XML sitemap to Google Search Console on launch day. A well-managed redesign typically improves rankings in the medium term — as seen in all 4 projects presented here.
How do you measure the ROI of a website redesign?
Define a baseline before the redesign: record monthly contact/quote requests, conversion rate (visitors/enquiries), Google position on 5-10 target keywords, and your PageSpeed score. Measure the same metrics at 3, 6 and 12 months post-launch. For e-commerce, add monthly revenue and conversion rate. ROI is simple to calculate: (additional revenue generated) / (redesign cost).
Your site deserves the same results
I redesign websites for French SMEs with measurable results — more leads, better rankings, better ROI. Let's talk about your project.
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