Website Redesign Guarantees: What Your Company Should Know Before Hiring an Agency

Your company hired an agency, paid for the full project, and received the redesigned site on the promised date. Three months later, the leads generated didn't increase, and in some cases even dropped. When the marketing team raised the issue, the agency's response was that the site's content and promotion are your company's responsibility, not the project they delivered. The contract didn't mention any performance guarantee, only an on-time delivery guarantee. The budget is already spent, and there's no contractual mechanism to demand a fix.

Before signing, your company needs to distinguish between a delivery guarantee, which only covers whether the project is completed on time, and a performance guarantee, which requires the agency to fix the site if it doesn't outperform the previous one on measurable results.

Why most agencies guarantee delivery, not the outcome

Almost every website redesign contract includes a delivery clause: launch date, number of included revisions, timeline for fixing technical errors. None of those clauses require the agency to respond if the site, once live, generates fewer leads than the previous one. From the agency's perspective, the project was fulfilled: the site exists, works technically, and looks as promised. From your company's perspective, the business objective wasn't met, and nothing in the contract acknowledges that.

The difference between a satisfaction guarantee and a performance guarantee

A satisfaction guarantee covers design tweaks if your team doesn't like how a section turned out. A performance guarantee covers something different and more relevant: if the site, measured with data, doesn't outperform the previous one in visitor-to-lead conversion, the agency fixes the project at no additional cost. The first protects your visual perception; the second protects your investment.

What a real website redesign guarantee should cover

The exact indicators that will be compared

A guarantee with no defined indicators can't be enforced in practice. The contract should specify what gets compared: visitor-to-lead conversion rate, the quality of those leads, and the site's load time, the same three indicators that determine whether a redesign actually worked.

What exactly happens if the site doesn't improve those indicators

The guarantee should specify the concrete action, not a vague promise to "review the project." At Artisma, if the site doesn't outperform the previous one on these indicators, we fix it at no additional cost to your company, with a defined timeline to implement the necessary adjustments.

The questions you should ask before signing the contract

Ask explicitly what type of guarantee the contract includes, which indicators will be measured, what baseline they'll be compared against, and exactly what happens if the site doesn't meet the bar. If the answer is vague or only mentions "customer satisfaction," your company is taking on all the project's risk with no real contractual protection.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between a satisfaction guarantee and a performance guarantee?

A satisfaction guarantee covers visual adjustments if the design doesn't convince you. A performance guarantee requires fixing the site if, based on data, it doesn't outperform the previous one in conversion, lead quality, and load speed.

How long does a redesign guarantee typically last?

It depends on each agency; require that it be defined in writing in the contract, along with the exact date the measurement period starts counting from.

What happens if my company changes its commercial strategy before the guarantee period ends?

That scenario should be addressed in the contract from the start, because a strategy change can affect the indicators without it being the redesign's fault. Clarify it with your provider before signing, not after it happens.