It’s not primarily a question of price, but of perceived need and perceived value.

Design is never the only factor in the success of a project, and design fees are not the only investment a company has to make to bring a project to fruition.

Knowing what you want to achieve can help define the results you want to see and how they are presented to you when investing in design and measuring ROI (Return on investment).

When commissioning a design project it is important to answer two questions. Firstly, what is ‘return’ and secondly, what is ‘investment’. Defining these at the outset is the most important step in developing a picture of how well changes made to a product or service through a design process has delivered against objectives.

A return might be a ‘hard’, definable measure such as sales, footfall or market share; but it could be a ‘softer’ measure such as brand awareness or public perception.

The soft measures are hard to quantify but are still measurable using before and after research, which means it’s important to plan early exactly what you want to measure.

Investing in Design and measuring ROI

Here are just a few possible ‘returns’ that a client may want a design project to deliver:

• Rebranding shift, perhaps to change perceptions or to compete with a rival product or service
• Increased visitors, footfall or online traffic
• Clearer information on forms and leaflets and therefore fewer calls to customer helplines
• Increased interaction and customer loyalty
• Increased product sales or market share

This short list illustrates the range of possible ‘returns’ that might constitute a successful design project. The final one, ‘increased product sales or market share’, is often the ultimate goal.

But not always; a company may want to increase customer loyalty and in turn add value to their service or product constituting wider benefits even if sales remain static; or a public sector body may wish to improve public understanding of an issue, without gaining any direct revenue.

Ultimately, once you have established clear objectives by working closely with your creative agency, measurable results can be defined and demonstrated.

To talk about your goals with design and to initiate some measurable results, call us on 08000 88 60 75 or mail us.