Lessons from Namecheap's new design

When Namecheap launched its new website a couple of months ago, I really didn't like the new design. They added no new functionality and merely gave the site a new 2.0 type 'look and feel'. If this unnecessary makeover would have been the only change, it wouldn't have bothered me too much. Even tough we humans are creatures of habit and every change comes with a learning curve (something most people hate. The many complaints Microsoft got when they introduced Windows Vista is a good example of this), I eventually got used to the new design. What did bother me was that the new design isn't compatible with older browsers (Namecheap managed to alienate some of their users that way) and more importantly, the fact that they removed some functionality that I personally liked a lot about the Namecheap website. When you search for new domain names to register, Namecheap used to display a list of other domains you already searched for on the right of the page. Really useful when you are brainstorming. To my disappointment, Namecheap removed this when they introduced the new design. Annoyed by this new 'lack of functionality', I visited the Namecheap site less and less over the last couple of months. As a result I also registered a lot less domains at Namecheap than I normally would have. Today I noticed Namecheap hadn't actually removed that feature I liked so much. They had moved it to a new 'tab', hidden behind a list of 'suggestions' and what they call 'Premium domains'.

The lesson here should be obvious. When things aren't broken, don't fix them. Redesigning things that work, does not automatically make them better. I doubt Namecheap gained any new customers because of their new design. I do know they lost income because of it.