Cracking The Secret Code To Ridiculously Well Performing Websites

Luke Summerfield❏ Evangelist for Growth-Driven

Design at Hubspot

❏ Helped grow a digital agency for 4 years until they were acquired

❏ Fun Fact: Knocked out in Russia in front of 4,000 people

Hannah Eisenberg❏ Strategist at 3P Creative

Group

❏ Global Marketing & Corporate Strategy @ SAP for 10 years

❏ Fun Fact: I want to get back into the saddle.

Agenda

❏ The Traditional Web Design Process Is Broken

❏ 9 Secrets To Creating Peak-Performing Websites

❏ A Better Approach: Growth-Driven Design

Example: Marks & SpencerGlowing reviews after relaunch

❖ Site was 2 years in the making before relaunch

❖ New website focused on curation, content and clustering ideas/outfits

➢ High-end glossy magazine style images➢ 44% of Xmas website traffic was from

tablets➢ 4 months worth of editorial content upon

relaunch

Issues found after drop in sales

❖ 8.1% drop in sales, blamed on website relaunch

❖ Suggestions were not based on behavior but on prewritten, editor-curated outfits i.e. city night out

❖ Severe UX issues (e.g., “Checkout” button reloaded page, items disappeared from cart, “Deliver to store” returned no results)

Traditionally, websites were built like this...

The Traditional Web Design Process Is Broken

UNCERTAIN RESULTS

HIGH-RISK INVESTMENT

72% of marketers say their website is mission-critical for new business development.

Why are some websites better than others?

Ridiculously Well Performing Websites Usually Are

1) Extremely User Centric2) Has A Clear Value Add3) No Conversion Leaks

4) Incredibly Sticky5) Not Based On Personal Preference, But Data

6) Small, Iterative Improvements7) Thinking Outside The Box8) Managed In An Agile Way

9) Tightly Integrated With Marketing & Sales

1) Extremely User Centric

Only 45% of B2B marketers are confident that they have decent, if not high, levels of customer centricity. (FierceCMO)

❏ What problem are they primarily trying to solve? (e.g., find right contact information)

❏ What devices are they using to access the website? (smartphones/tablets vs. PC/laptop)

❏ Are there alternative solutions that would solve their problems better? (e.g., online shop vs. subscription)

Pro Tip: Start with your primary conversion path!

❏ How do prospects convert in reality?

❏ Ask prospects to walk you through it on the website step by step and see where they struggle.

Hannah will present - feel free to add from

your experience

2) Has A Clear Value Add

47% of website visitors check out a company's products/services page before looking at any other sections of the site. (Source: KoMarketing)

● Create website pages, resources, and content that provide stand-alone value.

● Know your prospect and where they are in their purchase decision process.

Pro Tip: To tackle your value proposition, imagine you are at a cocktail party and your friend asks you what your company does.

❏ Explain your company’s value proposition without jargon,

❏ Frame your products/services in “Problems We Solve” instead of product features LeanLabs Results:

● Bounce Rate Decreased 65%● Visits-To-Contact Conversion Rate Increased 271%

3) No Conversion Leaks

Poorly performing conversion funnels are like leaky pipes — they lose a lot of potential leads along the way.

Pro Tips:

❏ Identify any key pages (lots of views / little conversions) on your website.

❏ Set up funnel analysis or visitor recording to find potential issues your visitors are running into so you can fix them!

4) Incredibly Sticky!

Stickiness = Have them coming back for more!

Create something that forms a habit!

❏ Content❏ Apps❏ Community & forums❏ Innovation/Diversification

Pro Tips:

❏ Find out how your audience likes to research problems? (e.g., Forum)

❏ How do they communicate with other users of your product? (e.g., LinkedIn Group)

5) Not Based On Personal Preference, But Data

78% of marketers say they are willing to change their website based on user actions, but only 58% base design choices on what works, not what they think looks best!

→ Base your decisions not on personal taste or power position within the company, but based on actual data (= performance)

Pro Tips:

❏ Do qualitative (e.g., user interviews) as well as quantitative (e.g., website analytics) user research — depending on the problem you are trying to solve.

78% Increase

50% Increase

6) Small, Iterative Improvements

Small, strategically planned iterations have several advantages over big-bang redesigns every 2-3 years:● Systematic easy-to-scope approach shortens the

time to launch and focuses on real impact● Constantly researching, testing, and learning● Previous iterations inform subsequent steps → only

way to reach peak performance.

Pro Tips:● Spend a few hours brainstorming a big list of

features, functions, assets, tools, etc. that your website should have.

● Then categorize and prioritize them according to impact on your business.

● Tackle each item, starting with the highest impact ones, in small iterations.

75% scrolled under form

In the last 6 days (time period measured), the # of MQLs increased by 3%!Much higher engagement with the page as well as with the product page

7) Thinking Outside The Box

Outstanding websites provide solutions that are outside the box.

❏ Enable a unique business model

❏ Convenient way of choosing a product

❏ Form habits in unexpected ways

Pro Tips:

❏ Start by thinking about what problem your customers are really trying to solve

❏ Come up with innovative ways how you can solve it better.

8) Managed In An Agile Way

On average, SCRUM projects are 300% more successful than projects managed with the Waterfall method. Minimize the risks associated with traditional web design by adopting an agile project management methodology.

Pro Tip: To learn more about agile project management, read “SCRUM - The art of doing twice the work in half the time”

9) Tightly Integrated With Marketing & Sales

❖ Traditionally, website design development was owned by a specific team or contracted out to a third party

❖ Tightly integrated with marketing & sales → helps inform and improve marketing & sales strategies and tactics (and vice versa)

❖ Reinforces your Inbound Marketing efforts instead of being a static, separate entity

Pro Tips:

❏ Include your Inbound Marketing Specialist in your GDD team

❏ Align your marketing & sales team, consider a formal SLA agreement

Growth-Driven Design Basics

Growth-Driven Design

Growth-Driven Design

Iterative, agile process of improving the website on an ongoing basis using user feedback, heat maps and other technology to create a website based on what the user wants and finds useful.

Growth-Driven Design Process

❖ Strategy for Inbound Marketing & Growth-Driven Design Strategy

❖ Launchpad (20% of features → 80% of impact)

❖ Continuous improvement & execution (monthly execution of GDD methodology & inbound marketing working hand in hand)

1) Strategy

❖ Business. Marketing, & Website Goals (SMART)❖ Buyer Persona Definition & Research❖ Quantitative Research - Website, Analytics Audit -

identifying gaps, conversion opportunities❖ Qualitative Research - User Research❖ Fundamental Assumptions (Guardrails)❖ Global & Page Strategy

❖ Brainstorm and Prioritize Website Wish list → categorize and prioritize them by impact

Pro Tip: Start heatmaps on critical pages as soon as possible to get as much data as possible!

2) Launchpad Website

Define key elements of a Launchpad site and what should be done for it:

➢ High impact pages➢ Medium impact pages➢ Low impact pages➢ Pages to migrate for now

❖ Start building out website architecture ❖ Wireframes, messaging, etc. for

high-impact pages❖ Design & Develop Launchpad Website

3) Continuous Improvement

❖

❖ "Nice to Have" improvements depending on wish list, as well as basic inbound marketing supplemented by PPC until traffic builds up organically

❖ "Continuous Improvement Cycle" starting with "Audience" supporting and enabling the efforts of the Inbound Marketing - e.g.,

❏ Designing/improving blog template for readability and conversion❏ Continuous Blogging to answer buyer persona’s questions, help

them overcome obstacles, and educate them❏ Creating Content Marketing (infographics, quizzes, etc.) & Lead

Conversion Assets (eBooks, Guides, etc.)❏ Carefully craft or optimize conversion paths ❏ Build new product & solution pages❏ Lead nurturing sequence (list segmentation, workflow, promotional

emails)❖ Once Audience threshold is reached, we move on to "Value" while

keeping up the inbound marketing

What do you need to get started?

For heatmaps, funnel analysis, popup polls, visitor recordings,

surveys and much more.Sign up for free

Websites • Blog • Landing Pages • Centralized User Record +

Timeline • Integrations With Research Tools And Zapier •

Personalization • A/B Testing • Hosted platform • Inbound

Marketing & Sales ToolsSign up for a 30-day trial

Tool Selection Criteria:

❏ Look for an all-in-one tool so you have one version of the truth (all data in one central repository accessible to all)

❏ Focus on efficiencies and simplicity, real-time collaboration

Get started today:

Learn more about Growth-Driven Design:

❏ Growth-Driven Design 101 (Introduction eBook)

❏ GDD Deep Dive Course for Marketers

Consultation:

❏ GDD Audit & Coaching Session