Does Your Website Speak to the Right Audience?

Just as you think you’ve built a great website, it’s time for a segment-focused makeover

Today, it’s rare to find a B2B technology website that does not embrace great design principles and employ high-quality content. With the increasing adoption of content marketing, most websites are also optimized for inbound marketing and search engine indexing. “Sophisticated” design techniques of a few years ago are now commonplace, and in our competitive research, we usually see competitors going head-to-head in website design and innovation. Conversion optimization techniques are now much better understood and utilized with the proliferation of conversion-focused analytics and A/B testing tools and services.

So what’s next?

I would argue we need to go back to the most fundamental concept about the information architecture of the website. Even when stripped of all the bell and whistles, a website’s most important job is to speak to its intended audience about the company’s products and services in the clearest, most concise, and most interesting manner. This goes beyond the home page, or even the landing pages or microsites that have been the focus of website interaction optimization techniques. Corporate homepage design has been well analyzed and best practices have been established, but most websites still tend to confuse when the visitors move off the homepage to go deeper into the website, in search of information that they need.

Some websites fail to satisfy the visitors’ needs for information because the content is not tailored to the desires of any specific groups of customers. By trying to market to everyone, the company is not speaking to any particular set of audiences, and thus fails to address each segment’s specific needs and capture their attention.

Other B2B websites prominently offer a choice for the customer to self-select themselves into either product or industry-specific segments in order to help guide them to the appropriate section of the site. However,  most of these efforts are not extremely effective, because the subsequent pages are often either too bare threaded or on the other extreme, too heavily laden with unnecessary technical details, while lacking in simple but effective value propositions that speak clearly to the needs of the prospects in that segment.

I want to highlight some great examples of B2B technology websites that have differentiated and effective segment-specific messaging and architecture:

1. Randa Solutions: This simple, cleanly designed website clearly beckons its visitors to self-select themselves into the segment they belong to: States & Government, System and School Administrators, Teachers, Parents and Students. Each segmenting “call to action” is illustrated by photography that matches with the prospects in that segment as well.

 

 

The segment-specific page of the website has just the right amount of information on what Randa Solutions offers for customers in that segment. It does not try to overwhelm the visitors with unnecessary details, nor does it force visitors to continue going deeper into the website, as all the relevant information is presented.

 

This is a good, if simple website that is well segmented and effective in delivering the appropriate messages to the right audience.

2. Location Labs: If the Randa Solutions website shows how to segment by user personas/market segment, the Location Labs homepage is a excellent example of segmentation by product/use case. Again, what is striking is the clean, uncluttered feel of the splash page, which occupy up to 80% of the viewable screen real estate. The prominently displayed headers “Safely”, “Family Safety”, “Safe Driving” capture the visitors’ attention. They are urged to select the product they are interested in and “Learn More” about that specific product offering. Also note the lack of technical jargon and the exclusive use of simple but effective value propositions to explain the products:

 

 

 

3. Janrain’s Media & Entertainment Solutions: This page has a great wealth of segment-specific content that really speaks to the needs of the prospects. There are case studies with marquee customers in the industry like LadyGaga.com, highlighted links to product features that are important to those customers, and jargon-free content that does not overwhelm the interested visitor:

 

4. Taleo’s Industry-based Solutions: This page has an even richer set of content that is nevertheless extremely accessible. For example, in the Retail solutions page shown below, there were downloadable case studies, reports and white papers,  as well as explanations of main use cases, product data sheets, and even customer videos, all of which are accessible with a single mouse click.

At the same time, the wealth of the content is moderated by the lack of long complex copywriting, jargon or business buzzwords. The general impression that the page gives is that it is a comprehensive solutions page that should offer the visitors a bettter understanding of the product and how it addresses their needs.

 

Because the website as a whole is so complex, Taleo has thoughtfully included quick navigational tools on both the top menu and sidebar, which are both easy to find and very intuitive. They shorten the route any visitor has to take in going from one industry page to another, or to other main pages on the website.

 

5. Central Desktop: This goes even further in developing  segment-specific content, as Central Desktop developed a separate website (SocialBridge Marketing) that speaks exclusively to its potential customers in the Marketing Agencies sector. By separating the segment-specific content out, Central Desktop can adopt a whole different design and feel, and can afford to highlight value propositions and features that are exclusive to the Marketing Agencies prospects. Take note of the difference in the language used in the corporate website and SocialBridge website. The company really goes beyond simply repackaging its features and benefits, as it develops a whole new, distinct set of messages and content to support this segment.

 

 

Even more fascinating is the SocialBridge product demonstration page. This again goes beyond the standard generic product demo video or sandbox free trial. Central Desktop has actually built an interactive demo that incorporates the most common use cases and features that a Marketing Agency will have when using Central Desktop. This is clearly meant to speak to prospects in that industry and to them only:

 

Update:  Our Brandon Hickie and Rene Miller on team have expanded further on this topic and put together an awesome video with more examples on great Website segmentation techniques on our Youtube Video channel here:  http://youtu.be/pinn05HxNyA

(Disclosure: CentralDesktop is a portfolio company of OpenView)