If you’ve ever rebuilt your website and still felt unsure it was working, this episode covers why that happens.
If you’ve ever poured time, money, and energy into a website redesign only to question the ROI afterward, this episode breaks down why.
It’s a conversation pulled straight from the Revenue Rewired podcast, and it’s one I’d strongly recommend listening to alongside this read. You’ll learn how to avoid designing for internal opinions, refocus on customer outcomes, and prevent the subtle mistakes that quietly tank website investments.
You may listen to our podcast episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon Music.
“The fastest way to tank this investment is to forget that this website is not for you.”
I’ll say this plainly because I’ve lived it. Most mid-market B2B companies don’t ruin their websites because of bad design or the wrong CMS. They ruin them because decision-making drifts away from the customer and toward internal comfort.
In Episode 41 of Revenue Rewired, Jay Feitlinger, CEO of StringCan Interactive, and I walk through the patterns we’ve seen across hundreds of website projects. The failures are rarely dramatic. They’re slow, emotional, and expensive.
This matters more now than ever because your website isn’t just a marketing asset anymore. It’s the foundation AI search tools, buyers, and internal teams all rely on to understand who you are and why you matter.
Here’s the hard truth. The fastest way to tank a website investment is forgetting that it’s not built for you.
Internal stakeholders care deeply. That’s normal. The problem starts when personal preference replaces customer clarity. When decisions are driven by what leadership likes, what departments want highlighted, or what feels safer internally, the site slowly stops doing its real job.
A helpful reframe Sarah shares in the episode is this. Your house is for you. Your website is not.
Another place things go sideways fast is chasing perfect.
Teams get stuck revisiting copy, design, layouts, and navigation long after the site is good enough to perform. Each small change feels harmless, but together they create delays, confusion, and fatigue. The longer a website project drags on, the more likely it is to lose strategic focus.
Jay makes the point clearly in the episode, and I agree. If the site is generating quality leads and supporting revenue goals, it doesn’t need to be perfect. It needs to work.
Website projects invite opinions because they feel personal, and honestly, that’s where the trouble starts.
Without clear ownership and alignment around customer outcomes, feedback multiplies. Late-stage stakeholders surface. Direction shifts. Timelines stretch. Budgets creep. What started as a focused initiative becomes a compromise built to keep everyone comfortable.
This is one of the most consistent patterns Jay and I see when website investments underperform.
AI-driven search tools rely heavily on website structure, clarity, and consistency. They look past surface design and evaluate what your site actually communicates.
When messaging is diluted by internal preferences, AI struggles to understand who you serve and why. That impacts visibility, discoverability, and credibility long before a human buyer ever talks to sales.
This is why SEO still matters. The foundation of the site matters. And why rebuilding without strategy can be more damaging than doing nothing at all.
The teams that protect their website investment tend to do a few things consistently, and none of this is flashy.
None of this removes debate. It simply keeps the debate pointed in the right direction.
Q: Why do so many website redesigns fail to deliver ROI?
A: Because decisions drift toward internal preference instead of customer clarity, which weakens performance over time.
Q: How often should a B2B company rebuild its website?
A: Typically every two to five years, depending on performance, competition, and business change.
Q: Is perfection ever worth it in a website project?
A: No. If the site supports revenue goals and lead quality, perfection usually creates more risk than reward.
Q: How do too many stakeholders hurt a website project?
A: Conflicting opinions slow decisions, dilute messaging, and increase costs without improving outcomes.
Q: Why does AI search make websites more important now?
A: AI tools rely on clear structure and messaging to understand your brand, which directly affects visibility.
Jay has spent over two decades leading revenue-focused digital strategy for mid-market B2B organizations. As COO of StringCan Interactive, I bring deep operational and marketing leadership experience, guiding companies through complex website and growth initiatives.
Together, we’ve seen what works, what fails, and why most teams repeat the same mistakes.
If you’re ready to protect your next website investment and align it to revenue, connect with our team.