Everybody can do a

Customer-Centric

Website 1/24/2014

How we want everybody to be able to

create great, customer-centric websites

thru:

Tools: Simplex Core

Process & Training: Inbound Websites University

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What will we talk about

"Our website looks need to be

updated, can you help?"

- like, EVERY customer

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What’s the most common web design request:

What should a website do for your buyers:

Make it easy for the user to do

whatever they need to do.

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And for you:

A website should be your best

salesperson

The customer-centric website:

A site that allows your buyer to do what

they need to do while meeting your lead

gen objectives.

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Ask the customer Not your client, but his customers

(You know, the people who are actually going to be using the website)

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Where to Start:

All the stuff that should happen before starting the design.

- Skip this at your own peril -

1. Ask the end customer (~30 recent customers would be great)

2. Ask the client

3. Create buyer personas

4. Map their buying process

5. Create the content & conversion plan (what do they need to know at each stage so they convert

and don’t stall)

6. Identify the user objective of the site: the ONE most important thing the site needs to do?

7. Audit current site and content - figure out what’s working and what’s not: Clarity, Distraction,

User Confidence, FUDs

8. Spell out the new User Flows: what do we want the buyer to do when they come to the site

9. Spell out the new website guidelines (stuff the new site should have and should do): Structure,

voice, long vs. short copy, design guidelines, etc.

10. Create and test wireframes for at least all key pages in the user flows

Ok NOW, we can speak design

The customer-centric website design methodology:

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A00

Setup

A10

Site

Architecture

& Analysis

B10

Keywords & Request Content

B30

1st Conversion Kit & Video

B20

Fast Prototyping 1 Home &

Standard Pages

C10

Fast Prototyping 2 -

Other Key pages

C20

Load rest of the website

content pages

C10

Social

D10

Testing

D20

Blogging

D30

Other Conversion Kits

F10

Continued

support &

transition

E10

Go Live

Customer Centric Website Creation Process

Customer Centric Content Creation Process

In fact...

If you do the front end analysis well:

You could skip about 80% of the design process and up to

100% of the site development process...

and still have a killer site that works.

How?

By using a good template and personalizing it to the needs

of the end customer

(keyword here is end customer not client)

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Simplex Core

A template with all the workings of inbound marketing

Simplex Core:http://simplex.market8.net/simplexcore

Awesome templates that just work. Awesome Design - Awesome Usability - Awesome Service

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Basic Templates: • Home long

• Home short

• 3 Generic Inner pages (2 col right, 2

col left, and 3 col)

• Advanced blog & Author page

• Landing page & thank you page

• Contact page

Advanced Templates: • 404 page

• Flex - multi-width structure templates

• Advanced landing pages

• Pricing tables 3 and 4 columns

• About us

• Services overview

• Services

• Clients

• Team

• Resources Other Features: • Short Codes

• Advanced formatting tutorials

• Carefully designed typography

• Responsive typography

• Sticky menu

• Fully customizable through the COS

• Usability principles, reloaded

Service: • A Service forum will be setup to

resolve any issues with the template

• Access to new and improved

templates

Coming soon:

The Inbound Websites University Down to earth, applicable methodology to

help you create a customer centric site.

- New chapters available monthly til mid 2014-

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● Draws from the best available knowledge and research available

today:

o Usability research

o Conversion research

o Persuasion science

o Inbound marketing experience

● You’ll learn how to build an actual customer centric site: All

delivered in a practical, easily digestible, applicable material

and how to guides that will help you create the website that

your customer wants.

● All lessons are applicable using Simplex Core

The Inbound Websites University

What will be covered

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1. Why do you need a website to begin with

2. Where to start

3. Marketing – getting relevant traffic to your website

4. Content Strategy

5. Site Architecture

6. Writing copy

7. Design

8. Conversion 101

9. Usability

10. Identifying qualified leads

11. Crafting your website - How to create key pages in your website

12. [Partners Only] How to manage a web design project

Coming soon:

Questions?

Appendix

Appendix 1

The Continuum of Web Design

Chaotic Website

The Brochure

Site

The Functional Website

The Persuasive

Website

• 76% of uses prefer a website that makes it easy to find what they are

looking for

• Only 20% of companies that had did a redesign without a specific

goal were at least somewhat happy with their project

VS.

• 70% of those that had the objective of generating leads are happy

Your customer is more likely to be happy if he

has an objective.

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Source: The Science of Website Redesign, HubSpot

Appendix 2 - Some Stats

The customer-centric website design methodology:

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A00

Setup

A10

Site

Architecture

& Analysis

B10

Keywords & Request Content

B30

1st Conversion Kit & Video

B20

Fast Prototyping 1 Home &

Standard Pages

C10

Fast Prototyping 2 -

Other Key pages

C20

Load rest of the website

content pages

C10

Social

D10

Testing

D20

Blogging

D30

Other Conversion Kits

F10

Continued

support &

transition

E10

Go Live

Customer Centric Website Creation Process

Customer Centric Content Creation Process

Example of a Survey

- Questions that can help you learn all about the end customer - - i.e. the only thing that matters -

Example of the soundbites

- What do we learn from questionnaires and surveys

that we would have never learned otherwise -

Who is “Company”

Whats the problem that the company solves? (customer voice)

How is the problem solved (both company and customer voice)

Who is the target customer (company voice)

What’s to like about the company (customer voice)

Doubts & Hesitations before buying (customer voice)

Unique advantages (company voice)

Social proof (testimonial material - customer voice)

Customer’s buying process (full description of the journey)

Hot keywords

Warning signals (discrepancies between customers and company perceptions)

Example of a master objective of a website

- The one thing that this site should do right, all else is secondary -

The following objective is for a company that holds an annual conference

The Goal of Your Site

• The #1 thing people want to do in the site is learn about how the event can

help their business, get information about it and register to attend.

• Everything else is secondary.

• You need to sell the vision, the why and the solution. The best format for this

is long-form sales copy.

Example of a User Flow

- What is the desired path of a buyer visiting the site-

Remember the main goal of the site: Sell the vision, why they should attend, and the solution.

• The flow of a user visiting the site should clearly be:

Homepage → Sales Page → Registration

• Homepage → sell the vision and the why of the event

• Sales page → sell the solution - specifics about the event

• Registration → if possible start the checkout process in the sales page, however there will be shortcut links

to registration clearly visible in ALL pages of the site for returning visitors (except those landing pages

devised with other specific goals in mind)

The desired flow should be one that exposes the user to the answers of the most common questions,

eliminates fears & uncertainties, and matches the flow needed to make a decision.

The following user flow is for a company that holds an annual conference

Example of a Wireframe

- Layout, messaging and structure of the pages in the user flow -

The 3 Rules of Customer Centric Site Making

Rule #1: Never assume

Your customer knows better than you and your client.

Rule #2: You are never done with your website

Just like you are never done coaching a salesperson.

Rule #3: Don’t base it on opinions

Having a website that works well as a lead gen machine

can't be done based on opinions of the HIPO

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What makes a website sell

- Stuff that should be in the mind of the one creating every page of the site -

1. Motivation and relevancy

2. Clarity

3. Value proposition

4. Engagement

5. Friction

6. Urgency

7. Distraction

The role of the website in the buying process:

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Source: Detailing the Buying Process for B2B: Awareness, Evaluation and Decision

EVALUATION DECISION AWARENESS

BUYING PROCESS

SALES PROCESS

SALES QUALIFIED LEAD CLOSE MARKETING

QUALIFIED LEAD

Initial Research Recognize

Opportunity

Priority

Shift

Discovery +

Education

Evaluate

Options Validation Choice

Target Prospects Qualify

Prospects

Explain

Solution

Evaluate

Options Demo

Final

Specs

Negotia-

tion Close

MISMATCH

Your blog and content should kick butt here Your website should kick butt here

The Inbound Websites University

Introducing Smith Consultants

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Smith Consultants are 10-person team of talented consultants offering

their services to small-mid size businesses that want to grow and

become more profitable.

Smith Consultants want to create a website that will generate qualified

traffic and convert leads, but they’re on a limited budget and they don’t

know where to start.

So, they did their research and came across Simplex Core.

They got their HubSpot license and now they have to get their hands

dirty making their Customer-Centric site.

Coming soon:

The Inbound Websites University

A Practical Case Study

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● Follow the case of Smith Consultants as they develop their own

website.

● Watch a step-by-step approach to building a customer-centric site

using Simplex Core.

● Grasp how all the decisions were made to create Smith

Consultants’ website

● Understand exactly what you should consider while making yours

So you’ll:

1. Understand best practices straight from the case study.

2. Get to see how to use Simplex Core to create your site.

Coming soon:

The Inbound Websites University

Advanced Studies

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During the lessons, there will come opportunities for pretty in depth lessons. For example,

when Smith Consultants are building a landing page, we discuss first the basics of a landing

page:

● Setting up the objectives, assumptions and goals of the page

● Anatomy of a landing page

● How to use smart form fields

● How to set up a thank you page

Then the more advanced lessons would be:

● How to reduce noise

● How to use microcopy to reduce friction

● Augmenting user confidence - how to place trust building elements and social proof

● How to craft copy that sells: length, tone

● What to test and how to test it

● How to tie all this up with your buyer personas

All the basics of Simplex Core will be covered in the regular lessons. The viewers can

choose to take the advanced classes at their own leisure during or after the website is

complete.

This will be repeated for every page of the site.

Coming soon: