Once you capture the attention of your website visitor with the phenomenal visuals on your website, now what?  You’ll want to get them the right information as fast as possible.  Visitors often do not have much patience, but they have plenty of options to find the info for which they are looking.  They will likely not spend much time searching your site for that info and will bounce to another site if they can’t find it quickly.

A common error in web design strategy is to treat all visitors the same, offer the same content, try to convert with the same deals, and give them the same menu options and value propositions.  But, unless you have a very simple sales process with a universally applicable product/service, it is nearly impossible to create a message that appeals to a variety of buyer personas.  The key value proposition of the product or service may change depending on the audience even though what you are selling does not actually change at all.

This is especially true with B2B website design.  Let’s say you are selling a new software that makes finding candidates for jobs easier and more organized.  Now, think of the different motivations for purchasing that each level of seniority or job title has within professional organizations.  IT is concerned about integration.  Hiring managers want simplicity and effectiveness.  HR wants to cover the necessary bases from a legal standpoint.  C-Level executives are concerned about efficiencies and accuracy.  So how do you craft the message?  The only thing that is synonymous about these visitors is that they are likely pressed for time and want to find information that meets their needs quickly.

Segmenting visitors is one of the primary goals of a website.  Using calls-to-action, visual cues, and menu options to get the visitor in the proper sales funnel is an extraordinarily important component of website design.  There are many ways to segment the visitors to your site and the proper technique depends on your market, product, and potential buyers.  Here are a few to consider:

Segment by product type – Iconic Digital Marketing offers website design services, branding, consulting, and creative design.  We have found it is effective to break these groups out as early as the home page.  Most top level pages seek to get people to the right product.  Based on tests, we have found this to be the most effective way for us.  Once segmented by product type, we can provide options for visitors to further segment on buying motivations, needed service level, and budget.

Segment by buyer type – Many times, the product you are selling appeals to a small number (maybe just 2) very different groups.  SharpSpring (our preferred marketing automation partner) does this effectively with their primary calls to action directly on the home page.  They primarily serve marketing agencies, but also provide info for individual businesses.  Depending on the path you choose, you get two distinctly different message for the same product.

web design strategy segmentation

Segment by volume, price point, or budget – MailChimp does this effectively by providing an entry page after the home page that pushes the visitor to segment themselves with the level of service they need based on volume of e-mails they will be sending.  If your product or service has a variable pricing model based on volume, this can be an effective way to segment.  Generally, your messaging will be vastly different to a small business customer compared to an enterprise level user.

Web site Design Strategy

 

There is virtually no limits to how you can segment your visitors and it will take a considerable amount of thought to find the best option.  In fact, you may need to test several options to find the right segmentation method.  Additionally, there are times when it makes sense to offer multiple paths and segmentation options.

Once segmented, it becomes much easier to deliver the right messages.  Segmentation allows you to speak directly to a particular buyer persona and craft your message in a succinct and powerful way.

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