Before You Rebrand: A Practical Guide to Customer Research & Messaging

Most website rebrands don't start with a strategy. They start with a comment.

Mine started when a potential partner mentioned to our CEO that our website felt a bit off. Just like that, a project was born, dropped onto the roadmap with a tight deadline and piled on top of an already full workload.

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I was the only full-time resource. I managed the project, wrote the copy, helped with the build, and handled the SEO. The team was great—everyone pulled together. But our stand-ups were spent debating things that shouldn't have been up for debate: core messaging, visual identity, the right hook for the homepage. We were making decisions based on internal opinion, not customer reality.

The launch wasn't a celebration. It was a relief. And we started fixing things almost immediately.

Later in my career, I was on another rebrand. This one started differently.

The first project was about managing internal opinions. The second was about understanding the customer. That shift changed everything.

Why uninformed rebrands go sideways

The scramble project fell into a classic trap. When you don't have real customer insight, you have no reference point.

Every decision defaults to the loudest voice in the room or the HiPPO—the Highest Paid Person's Opinion. The project becomes a negotiation between internal tastes, and every marketer knows that everyone has an opinion on marketing.

Without data, you can't push back. You can't say, "Actually, our customers care more about this." Instead, you're forced to make compromises that serve the org chart, not the end user. This is where scope creeps, deadlines slip, and it becomes impossible to make a confident decision.

A strong brand makes it easy for a customer to see their problem in your solution. Quickly. The research is what gives you the clarity—and the confidence—to build exactly that.

A better approach: building the foundation first

The second project began long before anyone drew a wireframe. The work was focused on building our core positioning and messaging from the ground up. That meant:

• In-depth conversations with the CEO, sales, and customer success.
• Interviews with actual customers.
• Gathering feedback from across the business.

The result was a strong platform to build from that everyone agreed on. We even rediscovered the disruptive energy that made people want to work with us in the first place—something that had been smoothed over by corporate-speak.

When it came time to execute, the process was completely different. We settled on a visual identity quickly. The copy was easier to write because we knew exactly who we were talking to. The sales team was easier to train.

That messaging framework became the foundation for everything we did next.

A practical guide: A 3-layer research approach

"Research" sounds time-consuming, but this isn't an all-or-nothing process. It’s a set of layers. The goal is to give yourself the strongest possible foundation in the time you have. Starting with one layer is infinitely better than starting with none.

Layer 1: Start on the inside

Before you talk to a single customer, start with the knowledge you already have. Your goal is to get a clear picture of the business, the brand, and the customer as your team sees them today. Talk to your C-suite, your sales team, and your customer success managers. Dig into your website analytics, CRM data, and social media engagement.

Layer 2: Look at the landscape

With your internal view set, look at the wider context. Where do you fit in the market? Analyse your competitors—what are their messaging gaps? How are you genuinely different? Look at industry trends and reports to understand the forces shaping your customers' world.

Layer 3: Talk to your customers

Now that you have a broad picture, you can use primary research to dig deeper. I recommend doing interviews after the first two steps. It allows you to ask much more specific, insightful questions. Your goal is to understand their challenges, their goals, and the "why" behind their decisions.

The payoff: Turning research into a smarter website

The output of this work isn't a report that gathers dust. It’s a set of practical tools that directly inform your rebrand, making every decision faster and more effective.

• The messaging framework: This becomes your single source of truth for all copy. Instead of debating headlines, you have a strategic document that defines your positioning, the problems you solve, and what makes you different. It’s the blueprint for your homepage, your navigation labels, and your calls to action.
• Customer personas: These aren't just demographic snapshots. A strong persona, built on research, focuses on the customer's goals and challenges. It helps you decide what proof points to feature, what technical jargon to cut, and what tone of voice will actually connect.

• A mapped buyer's journey: Understanding the path your customers take allows you to design a website that serves them at every step. It informs your site's information architecture, ensuring you provide the right information at the right time—from awareness to decision.

Wrapping up

Here's the point. Customer research isn’t an all-or-nothing task.

Maybe you only have time for the internal audit before your deadline. That’s fine. Do that, build your first messaging document, launch the site, and schedule customer interviews for later.

The goal is to do what you can, but never start from zero. It’s about trading panicked DMs and endless revision cycles for genuine clarity and confidence.

P.S. If you're leading a project like this for 2026 and want to build it on a solid foundation, this is exactly what I help teams do. Get in touch if you're not sure where to start.