How to outsource web design?
What is web design outsourcing
Outsourcing web design is a common practice for companies when instead of using their employees, the company looking for web design services on the side. The method of hiring web designers can be beneficial for companies that don’t consider new employees but need help with projects. Outsourcing web design is useful for businesses, that do not have their specialists to perform the job. New staff from a web design company means fresh look and creativity, original ideas, knowledge and expertise.
Outsourcing has another great and non-obvious advantage that many businesses need to consider. A third-party specialist can look at a business from a different perspective and be unexpectedly creative.
Web design outsourcing allows original and unique ideas that will benefit the business and attract the attention of customers. Some companies often use outsourcing, even if they have a full-time designer working on the project for a long time; they need new ideas and nonstandard solutions.
The importance of web design for business
Web design is needed for creating a user-friendly website, app or interface that helps to attract consumers and offer pleasant experiences and great service to its customers. It allows to sell products more expensive or sell more due to increased customer loyalty and the number of users happy with services. It allows to sell more online, through the website, and revenue without expenses on actual shops. Many businesses now only exist online and do not have any facilities or shops of their own. For small businesses and start-ups, web design is the only way to get noticed. Thus having an attractive design makes the brand recognizable and for some companies with only one communication channel, which is online, it makes a great difference in performance and revenue. It can decide whether the company grow and expand or make no profit. Great website design makes the product visible and intuitively affects consumers’ choices.
Advantages of web design outsourcing
Creating a website is an essential step for any business. However, some key elements, such as the user interface or mobile device version, may limit the opportunities of the website. Low in quality designs get users annoyed and ruin search ranking results, and cause the loss of potential customers. Fortunately, you can hire a web development company to get help with web design issues.
Web design outsourcing has many opportunities. Using outsourcing for web design has significant advantages and results in:
- business efficiency
Time is money. Hiring your team of web developers is a long process. The whole hiring process can take weeks, and include worries about the project being complete on time. Instead of spending time and money on employing a whole team, consider outsourcing your web design project. Think about saving money on wages, team training, tools and software for web development and internet marketing.
In some cases, you can hire leading web development companies at the expense of one internal developer. Using your team can also limit your access to modern practices and skills in web design. This brings us to the third advantage of outsourcing web development.
- performance efficiency
The design and development of website trends change every day. Not being up to date with the latest technologies may result in losing competitiveness. Outsourcing to a reputable web development company will ensure an excellent appearance and correct performance of the website or app on any device.
- technical insight
Outsourcing website development allows finding a team of web design experts. The broader skilled staff means working with a variety of specialists including: web designers, UI/UX designers, project managers, business analysts, software developers, etc.
Regarding the complexity of the project, web design companies give businesses access to a team of experts and a variety of web development services helping to boost performance.
A web development company does an appraisal of the condition of the website and after takes actions necessary to improve the performance.
Outsourcing web design pros and cons
To decide whether to outsource web design or not, it is first suggested to look at the issues that may arise. Some weaknesses and strengths of web design outsourcing can help in making a decision.
Any decision of outsourcing or employment of full-time staff has got its pros and cons.
To know whether it will work, firstly it is essential to figure out the company goals, budget and own expertise. It is very individual, and no one scenario suits all. Hiring a web designer permanently is not convenient for every business.
Pros. Advantages of design outsourcing
- Saving human resources. When a company does not have its designers or specialists in a particular field, there is no need for team training or qualifying. Especially if the project is not long-term, but a one-time-only task. An external team solves the problem of insufficient loading or overloading of staff.
- Saving monetary resources. The full-time team member expenses include the costs of admission, hiring process expenses, a cost of a workplace, computer, desk in the office, etc. Complex tasks often require computers and equipment with higher technical capabilities and subscriptions to licensed software. In the case of choosing to take an external team the company only pay for the work done.
- Accumulated experience and a fresh look from an external subcontractor. Web design studios cooperate with companies in different niches, so they have broader experiences and a better understanding of trends, customer requirements and the market conditions in general.
- The project can be accomplished without the need for supervision and managing the team. The in-house designers’ team need to be controlled, but in an external design studio, the project director of the creative team manages all processes.
- The opportunity to implement a large-scale project with a range of services. When a project is large, a full-time designer cannot handle a variety of tasks. Good web design studious have professionals of different specialities with a broad spectrum of skills, such as illustrators or web motion designers.
Cons. Outsourcing can often bring headaches to business managers.
- The contractor is not sufficiently immersed in the business and the tasks and goals of the company. They can implement a shallow approach and not try hard enough to understand the specifics of the business. In particular, it means not having knowledge of company values and principles or the exact niche, and not being familiar with the target audience. Due to lack of time, or desire to dive in deep and work hard on a project with a company that may never order web design services again. Therefore, contractors don’t meet the expectations of the client and the problem of exceeding deadlines occurs often.
- For contractors, the main problem is various levels of coordination within companies. Most often this is due to web design agencies communicate not with the decision making person or board, but with representatives or managers.
- Formalities. Cooperation with a design contractor lasts up to several years but is never long enough. Most companies prefer a fixed payment for the amount of work performed and payment in advance.
Is hiring a web design suitable for a company?
The advantages of the “own” web design specialist in the company are obvious:
availability and skill to complete tasks at any time, a reasonable salary out of the company budget; a clear understanding due to deep knowledge of the values and specifics of the product.
However, it is not all so simple. In the digital environment, many companies outsource from 10% to 30% of their tasks. Of all the services in digital, digital design is the second most popular service in outsourcing. Big companies use designers from outside. but why don’t the big enterprises and many other companies just hire full-time employees?
It all depends on the specifics of the business: products, volume, budget. The manager should remember that good specialists are expensive specialists. If you refer to glassdoor.com it is suggested that on average web designer earns £37,000-50,000 a year. Add to this time for training and immersion in your product, technical equipment of the workplace, taxes, etc. Hiring a full-time specialist turns out to be more expensive in every sense.
Tasks for a designer in a company can have an unregulated basis, one day there are projects and the other there are not. That is why the choice of the method of hiring should be based on the needs and capabilities of the company. Most organizations turn to outsourcing for reasons of saving money and time.
When is it more convenient to use web design outsourcing?
There are cases when a full-time designer is a good option. For example, when there is a need for launching an online store. For startups, there is a great chance of hiring a “foreign” specialist.
When there is no possibility or need to create and maintain an in-house team of web designers, then the businesses need to consider hiring well-developed external expertise with a broad understanding of trends.
Tasks like re-branding and identity change, are usually given to external contractors because an outside view is important. Some companies do not outsource UI/UX and product design. This requires working closely with the product, and there is no guarantee that an external contractor will be able to dive into the context.
Depending on the task, companies engage a design contractor as a performer or as an expert. But everyone expects that, if necessary, the web design studios will be able to consult and support businesses. And it’s a good practice for studios to present such assistance and therefore, expect higher prices for these services.
How do I know if the outsourcing option is right for my company?
A few features will let to determine whether your business needs web designing outsource:
- a full-time designer lacks extensive experience and expertise.
- the need to do a large amount of work in a short time
- full-time specialists are busy with other tasks
- it is required to complete a digital design project on a one-time basis
- rarely occuring web design tasks
- no resources for constant monitoring of the workflow
Web design outsourcing concerns
Whenever a company decides to use web design outsourcing, it is always a concern about whether new staff has enough experience to do the job and if a job can be performed promptly?
In this case, consider that outsourcing in web design following advantages:
- expertise and attention to detail.Designers of outsourcing companies work with a wide range of industries and projects. They have a diverse vision, and individual approach and do not just use one scheme for everyone; they can offer creative solutions.
- efficiency and consent about deadlines. Trusting projects to an outsourced design team often means that they can handle the task much faster than a full-time designer. Simply because “foreign” specialists have already filled their hands and think wider than their staff.
- HR management and priorities. By outsourcing web design, a company can focus on product development without being distracted by other tasks.
- large project development. If there is a lot of work and deadlines are running out, recruiting a whole design department is a good solution. Outsourcing allows hiring an entire group of specialists that will be able to perform a great amount of work on time.
- saving own people and financial resources. It can be significantly cheaper for businesses to work project-by-project rather than to pay wages every week. And designers from the company or freelancers do not need a workplace.
FAQ :
There are many companies outsourcing web design services with different approaches to the workflow, experience, and various price ranges. It’s not always easy to choose a reliable company that can create a decent project that fully meets requirements. The good news is that many businesses tried and tested outsourcing before. When choosing an outsourcing web design, it is suggested to look at the web designer’s reputation, expertise and transparency regarding workflow process, timely execution and pricing policy. Looking at these factors will help to avoid mistakes and promote the best results for the business:
– look at reviews and portfolios. Some well reputative web design companies have worked with big brands and it is possible to see the examples of work done and collaborations made. Additionally, to own a website and portfolio, it is important to look at some independent sources and see if there are ratings and reviews of the company on the internet
– before signing the agreement, it is crucial to have an independent and objective opinion about the contractor. Don’t avoid new and not well-known companies with less number of reviews; the other factors when choosing web design outsourcing can significantly affect the desire to hire these candidates.
– required experience is another point to consider. Successful partnerships and cooperation with companies representing different niches are a great advantage. Looking through the portfolio will help to understand whether the web design company has similar work done in the same type of industry; it also shows the expertise and skills designers possess. and whether they use new trends in their work.
– transparency. The readiness to explain each stage of the work. If the web design agency is ready to provide all the data necessary: the information about workflow at the initial stage, the number of specialists involved in the project, expected timelines, when specialists are ready to start, and how long it takes to see the first results. Being open about these factors indicates a professional and honest approach.
Outsourcing is a great problem-solving tool, but it needs to be used wisely. Some rules will help not to make mistakes and minimize risks.
– supply as much information about the product as possible. In addition to the references and provide examples of the designs you like, tell more about your target audience and its needs, and explain the functionality required and tasks the design need to perform.
– indicate the deadlines. It is best to break the process into stages. Discuss the completion date for each stage and the entire project. This allows to control the process of work and get the project ready on time.
– establish prompt feedback so that the coordination between stages doesn’t slow down the whole process. This approach speeds up the work and increases the probability of getting a high-quality result. According to statistics, the biggest difficulties for performers arise with feedback when developing a digital design. Long and complex coordination leads to problems with project delivery on time.
According to companies that often choose to outsource web design, good ratings of web design companies are important. However, it is not the only criteria for making the choice. Other principles that were mentioned as essential include that good communication with a web design agency shows professionalism and the ability to complete the project.
Additionally, It is important to note, that sometimes designer agencies don’t publish projects under the conditions of non-disclosure. Transparency in the workflow is another factor when it comes to outsourcing. Knowing details lets to figure out how exactly the design company will solve the problem and allows to know the number of people and what exact specialists work on a project.
Summarily it helps to see that the project is in good hands and it will be completed on time; expenses on the task are justified by the number and qualifications of the staff, etc.
It is also important when a web design agency supplies information about whether the job is done remotely or in the state, individually or in a team, exact terms, references, time and cost, start and finish date, workflow scheduling, time and cost, number of layouts, concepts, number of free revisions, etc.
Despite the attractiveness of this method of hiring, there are some certain risks. What should you pay attention to when choosing a company for cooperation and what can go wrong?
Web design outsourcing services may refuse to complete the task and simply disappear. Before turning to outsource, it is better to read reviews about companies and choose a convenient and secure payment scheme.
The other point needed to consider is that some faults of web design products are not obvious and some functional issues may be discovered only after some time. It is not always possible to get revisions after the project is complete. It may need to require extra recourses for editing, re-designing and maintenance in case errors occur.
It can appear that the contractor’s work may not meet the customer’s expectations. If there is no control over the work on the project from the very initial stages, the output may not meet expectations. companies can transfer work to freelancers without getting involved in the workflow in any way. Therefore, transparency and well-established feedback are important for the workflow management of outsourcing companies.
For web design outsourcing there is a requirement to share all the details about the product including confidential information. This stage requires caution and diligence, due to the risks to data safety. In case of the fraudulent or accidental actions of an outsourcing company, or lack of security, there is a chance of information disclosure to third parties. To protect personal details from being stolen or published, it is recommended o sign a non-disclosure agreement before starting work.