Along with the faster and faster transformation of B2B/B2C sales (because it is still far from complete in many companies), the website has become a strategically important place for acquiring customers.
Many myths and “good practices” have arisen around the creation of websites.
Important: Do not design an interface without written page goals
The goal – generating leads – is very general. It should be broken down into elements that will guide the implementation. Questions that may help:
Sample answers to the questions.
Who is the target group, i.e. what are the persona buyers?
If the target group is very “mobile” people, that is, using mainly telephones, most of the forms should additionally be designed in this resolution. This will help to adjust assumptions or reduce the less important elements. This is the case in B2C sales, e.g. financial services, where statistically the most common contact may be using a telephone. However, (interesting fact) the traffic on B2B websites is also increasing from the phone, but the dominant device for sending the form is the computer [source: my own and my clients’ Google Analytics observations].
What channels will the website traffic be generated through? How will I get to the buyer person?
Describing the channels will create a list of subpages that will have to appear. With activities focused on content, it is worth taking care of the correct appearance of the post page, which allows you to read the article, implement SEO-friendly elements and give you the opportunity to start interacting towards the goal.
In the case of advertising campaigns, we prepare landing pages without distractions, e.g. in the form of main navigation. Such a procedure is one of the “good practices” often recommended by marketers. However, there are industries that require greater involvement in making contact decisions. Therefore, you should test (e.g. with A/B test) what converts better. Sometimes people prefer to click through a page, see a case study or a blog before engaging with the company.
Potential customers spend only 17% of the purchasing process talking to a salesperson, the rest is time spent on independent research [source: Demand Gen Report’s 2020 Content Preferences Study]
What does the customer’s purchase process look like?
The customer’s purchasing process may be single or multi-stage, require additional documents (e.g. a confidentiality clause), be horizontal (decisions are made by the team) or vertical (decisions are made by subsequent decision-makers in the organizational hierarchy), analytical or emotional.
Sometimes the process is unconscious, i.e. the purchase is made for the first time (and sometimes the last one, e.g. choosing a law firm or CRM software is a decision for many years) and some buyers do not know what stages they will have to go through to finalize the transaction.
For example, a briefing in UI/UX projects that concern a new product or large functionalities may require workshops and collecting requirements.
How long is the purchase time?
This is part of the previous point, but it is worth paying special attention to if the purchase time is long. Then it will be important to create educational materials and content that explain industry processes and nuances. At the same time, by sending this type of material, we remind ourselves of ourselves and remain in the customer’s mind for longer.
What products / services are sold or may appear in the future? How to present them?
The questions are intended to list all the elements that may appear in the future. An example from my practice: I knew that presentations of video services would be better than text, so I designed an optional view with a video presentation function. At the time of designing, I had no video ready, but I had development planned. It is true that I have not implemented it yet, because we do not have time to deal with the movies.
Summary
It is worth taking into account a broader perspective if we think about the best possible conversion from the website.
For this, you need a workshop or a series of workshops where marketing/sales people will meet the designer. During the meeting, they will talk about their target group and outline the internal/external processes that must be involved in acquiring a client.
