Discovery Phase: Why is this step the most important in the web project?

Have you ever? Dream of having a beautiful website Finally became a nightmare that I didn't want to remember.

Imagine ... As a business owner or marketing team The fire is blazing! Ideas for new websites are full of heads. "Must have features A, design must be B, color must be C." Everyone in the team looks excited and seems all the images. You decided to cross the "playful talk" process that looks boring. Then immediately ordered the team to design the code to "Save time"

3 months passed ... the website that had dreamed of becoming a nightmare The real thing that did not return to the cover The feature that thinks cool, no one uses Beautiful design, but customers can find the "buy" button. The budget is not escaped as far as expected. The team began to blame each other. Finally, it may have to "dismantle" all ... This is a real situation that occurs with many organizations. And the root of the problem is mostly from the same point Is to overlook the simple but most important steps called "Discovery Phase" or "Search and Planning".

Prompt for illustrations: The graphics image compares both sides. One is a chaotic path. There is a budget to end ($$$!) And the Clock Running Out writes "No Discovery". The other side is a straight and clear route. Leading to the trophy Write "with Discovery Phase"

Why does the website "break" since it has not yet started?

Project problems, web projects, failing, delayed, or escalating. It is not good from the team is not good or the tools are not good. But most often due to "Everyone thinks that they understand the same." In truth, not at all. Jumping over Discovery Phase is like building a house without a blueprint. Everyone created according to their own understanding. The architect wants to have a modern style. Engineers focus on strong structures But the owner of the house just wants a big kitchen The result is a home that looks strange and does not work.

The main cause of failure caused by no discovery phase is:

• Unclear Goals: We made this website "for what"? To create a brand? Increase sales? Or reduce the administrator? If this answer is not clear Every decision after this will be blurred.
• Do not understand real users (No User Insight: We tend to design the web according to "What we like" is not "what customers want" to get a beautiful website in our eyes. But cannot solve the problem for customers
• Scope of Scotch Creep (SCOPE CREEP): When there is no clear agreement from the beginning Often have to ask for a small amount of small features Until finally, the project was swollen and never finished.
• Misaligned Expectations: a team of marketing expectations The sales team expects another way. The development team understood the other way. This inconsistency is a good time bomb.

Prompt for illustrations: 3-4 cartoon cartoon images are connecting the same jigsaw jigsaw. Each person is performed with a completely different image in the head. Causing the jigsaw to not connect to each other

Leave ... hurt than you think! Long -term impact of no discovery phase

The "saving time" does not do Discovery Phase. At first, it may sound attractive, but the "interest" that has to be paid in the long run is enormous and more painful than you think. It's not just about the money that was lost. But still affecting business in many dimensions:

• Waste budget: every baht paid with the design and development of web that does not answer. Is the money that is thrown into the river Having to come back to demolish again means you have to pay twice for the same job. Budget planning for new websites. With reason, it is very important.
• Lost business opportunities: while you are busy with solving the broken website Your competitors may already launch a website that has already met the customer's needs and the market share. Every day your website is not effective. Is the day that you lose customers and income
• Break the brand image: the website is the look of the company. If the website is difficult to use Looks not professional Or often have problems It will immediately destroy the credibility and trust that your customers have for your brand.
• The team runs out of power: No one wants to work that has to be dismantled repeatedly. Working in a project without a clear direction will undermine the encouragement of the team. Causing conflicts And may lead to the resignation of good employees

Prompt for illustrations: Infographic images showing silver sticks that are burns, calendar that is torn, broken brand logo And the picture of the worker holding the temples All convey negative effects.

"Gold print to success" knows Discovery Phase deeply and where should it start?

The solution of all the problems mentioned is very straightforward. That is to focus on Discovery Phase. It is the process. "Invest in time" at the beginning to "buy success" and "reduce risk" in the long run. Simply put, it is to stop. Ask the correct question And find an answer together Before starting to create

So what do you have to do at this stage? In general, it consists of the following main activities:

• Interview with Stakeholder Interviews: Talk to everyone involved from CEO, marketing team, sales team, to the administrator. To understand the goals and expectations from every perspective
• Competitor Analysis: Look at the competitors' website that he did well. And how can we have a different or better position?
• Define target groups and Persona (User Persona Definition): Create a fictional customer's identity. So that the team can see the same image that we are designing this website for "who" uses
• Set goals and KPI at the measure (Goal Setting & KPIS): Convert business targets (such as increasing sales 30%) to be the target of the website that can be measured (such as reducing Cart Abandonment Rate 15%).
• Place the data structure and feature (Information Architecture & Feature Prioritization): Order to which features "must have" or "Nice-To-Have in order for the project to be in the budget and time frame.
• Technical Audit: If it is a new website on the original system or moving the web, it must be inspected various technical restrictions. Which is important in Czech list of website moving

Foreign information sources from foreign countries such as Smashing Magazine and The Digital Project Manager, all emphasized that this process is the heart of digital projects successfully.

Prompt for illustrations: beautiful infographic images Show the procedures in Discovery Phase in the Stakeholder Interview -> Competitor Analysis -> User Persona -> Goal Setting -> ETC.) with easy -to -understand icons.

Examples from the real thing: when Discovery Phase changed the project that "almost crashed" to "bang" beyond expectations.

I would like to give an example of a B2B company that wants to create a new website to find more organizational customers. At first, they wanted a "cutting -edge" website with animation, striking and emphasizing the spectacular case show. By believing that this is something that attracts customers

Before doing Discovery: The team almost concluded and started to design the web according to that guidelines. Which will require a high budget and time

Discovery: We have organized workshop and interview their sales team. What is discovered on the opposite! The sales team says that the real organization customers "never" ask about Animation, but what they want is "Clear technical information", "Case Study that measures the results" and "easy and fast contact channels" because they don't have time to sit and watch beautiful websites.

The results after adjusting the plan: We changed all the directions of the project. Reduce the complexity of the design But focusing on creating a detailed case study page, making a clear product data comparison table, and designing a very simple quotation application form The results show that after the new website launched for only 3 months, they got a high quality Lead number of 200%, using a budget of 40% less development than the original plan. This is the power of "asking" and "listen" first.

Prompt for illustrations: The picture of the beforehand website is a website that looks messy. Animation is clouded. After is a clean, Professional website emphasizes clear information and has a CTA button. "Requesting quotation"

Want to follow, how to start? Simple checklist for Discovery Phase that you can start immediately.

Read here You probably see the importance of it, right? The good news is that you can easily start this process. Just by yourself, just "stop" and "question". This is the checklist that you can use in the team immediately:

1. Called all relevant meetings: Invite the team leader of all parties involved with this website to sit and chat officially.
2. Answer these 5 questions together:
   • WHY: Why do we have to do/improve this website? What is the number 1 goal of it?
   • WHO: Who is the target group that we want to use the most website? Explain his characteristics clearly
   • What: Customers have entered our website. We want him to "do what" the most? (Buy, fill out the form, read the article?)
   • How: How can we measure the success of this website? (Sales, Lead, Rank on Google?)
   • Where: Which way customers will come from? (Google, Facebook, Email?)
3. Prioritize to the feature: Write all the features that you want to get on Post -it and then paste on the board. Then let everyone help each other to group into 3 piles: "Must have only (Must-Hove) "," There is a good (Should-Have) ", and" Could-Have ".
4. Make a summary document (Project Brief): Collect all the answers and conclusions into 1-2 pages and send it to everyone to confirm as a "promise" together before starting the event.

Just follow these steps. You will reduce the risk of the project enormous. And has more clear direction. However, having external experts to help proceeding is often better results. Because they have experience and can be seen in an angle that people in it may be overlooked if you are interested in providing advice and creating a website. Starting with a strong discovery phase, we are ready to advise.

Prompt for illustrations: The team's photos are seriously making workshop brain brainstorming. Whiteboard is full of Post -it, which is divided into must-have, should-have, Could-Have.

Questions that people tend to wonder (And afraid to ask) about Discovery Phase

I gather popular questions that are often heard. Regarding this step, come to clear here.

Q: Discovery Phase makes the project slower and more expensive, right?
Answer: The opposite! Investment of 1-2 weeks at first to do Discovery may seem slow, but it is a "protection" from editing or dismantling the new way. Which will make the overall project "faster" and "saving" much more than before. It is "investment", not "cost"

Q: We are a small company. Limited budget needs to be done that full?
Answer: The more limited budget must be done! For small companies The most worthwhile use of resources is the heart. Discovery phase allows you to be confident that the money you go down with the web. Will be used with "really important" and can create real returns Not losing with unnecessary features. Take a comparison of the cost of ownership (TO) between various platforms. Will see that good planning helps to reduce the costs a lot

Question: We talked on the team should be enough. Why is it a serious process?
Answer: "Playing" often has no clear conclusions and no one is responsible. Making a process with clear procedures and documents Will help change "Comments" to become a "mutual agreement" that everyone holds in the same way throughout the project.

Prompt for illustrations: Large question mark icon (?) In the middle, there is a message "FAQ" and a small icon reflects the time, money and size of the company around.

Conclusion: Do not start building a house. If there is no green print

At this point, I hope everyone will see the same image that Discovery Phase is not the selected step. "Do or not do" but it is "heart" and "green print" that is indispensable for all projects. Creating a website that needs success. The crossing of this step is like a boat to the ocean without a map and a compass. There are very few opportunities to reach that destination.

Early investment and resource in order to understand the target, user, and scope of work to crystallize Is to guarantee that the website you created will not be just "Beautiful house" but will be a powerful "business tool" that can create sales, attract customers, and create sustainable growth for your company.

It's time to ask yourself ... your next website project Will start with "wind hope" or start with "Gold print to success" that is tangible? Do not let the error that can be prevented. Come to destroy your dreams and budgets.

Start planning your website project right now! If you need an expert to help place a strong "blueprint" for your website to consult the VISION X Brain team. We are ready to help you change the idea to become a real success.

Prompt for illustrations: Powerful last picture Is a picture of the architect's hand spreading the blueprint on the table On the blueprint is the structure of the website that is beautiful and organized. And looked out of the window, saw a prosperous city Conveying good planning leads to success

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