B-to-B Web Site Homepage Design Research Study
Publisher:
Topic:
design
Cost:
$127 Are you considering redesigning your company's home page to better impress new business visitors? You should be. New lab data tests reveal up to 80% of B2B websites are turning off qualified prospects.
The good news is your homepage can beat the competition with a just few simple layout changes. MarketingSherpa's new report shows you how:
Note: At just 54 pages, this new MarketingSherpa report is easy to read. Grab your copy today (the PDF downloads instantly, plus we'll mail you a printed-and-bound copy in 24 hours) … and you can start testing improvements to your homepage as soon as tomorrow.
And, it's risk-free. Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed.
How MarketingSherpa's B-to-B Homepage Study Was Conducted:
When it comes to B2B homepage design, the *only* opinion that really matters is your business prospect's. So, MarketingSherpa did NOT ask designers, CEOs or even marketers how to improve Web sites. Instead, we asked actual businesspeople who visit them.
Our lab invited 60 real-life businesspeople -- all executives who had recommended or authorized corporate purchases of at least $25,000 in the past year -- to sit down and review Web homepages of vendors they might buy from. These included:
In some cases the executives saw the real-life home page; however, sometimes they saw a revamped faux version our graphics department created instead. The lab measured the executive's eye movements, where they clicked, how much they read, and how long they spent looking for information before clicking.
We also asked them verbally to rate their user satisfaction with each site -- was it useful or was it hard to figure out? Could they quickly and easily understand what the company did? Or even after examining the home page, were they not sure?
Our objective: to discover how changes in homepage layout affected user satisfaction -- both perceived (via executives' voiced opinions) and actual (via eye and click tracking.)
The results: with a few simple tweaks, we were able to improve measured B2B homepage layout results… and so can you. The good news is, the resulting recommendations can be used by any size company -- from Fortune 500 to start-up.
You don't need a big Web design budget or fancy technology to improve your home page results. Just follow the Report's nine hands-on recommendations, and perhaps swipe one of our design Wireframes, and you're all set. (In fact, according to our data, you're probably doing better than the competition.
And in these days when prospects click from one competitor's site to another in rapid succession while they scope out their options, improved home page design can be your competitive edge.
Table of Contents
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Executive Summary: Study Overview & Top 5 Finding
- Definitions for the purposes of this Study
- The inspiration behind this Study
- Figure: "Standard" B-to-B Homepage Layout Wireframe
- Chart: Percent of B-to-B Web Sites Using Standard Homepage Layout
- Element #1. Columns
- Image: Eyetracking Results Yahoo! Search Results Page
- Image: Patagonia Multiple-Column Layout Test Design
- Image: Patagonia Single Primary Column Layout Test Design
- Image: CareerBuilder.com's Original Multiple-Column Navigation Homepage for Employers
- Image: CareerBuilder.com's Tested Fewer Column Homepage for Employers
- Element #2. Billboards
- Images: Eyetracking Test Results: Bombay Homepage
Section I: Study Background Research & Goals
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Section II: Research Methodology Employed for This Study
- Figure: Alternate Homepage Design: Flipped -- Billboard on Bottom
- Figure: Alternate Homepage Design: Three-Column -- Billboard at Left Side
- How the Eyetracking and Satisfaction Study Was Conducted:
- How Eyetracking Works
- Image: Typical Participant in an Eyetracking Lab Environment
- Heatmaps Explained
- Background Image
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Section III: Three Tested Homepage Layouts -- Results for Three Large B-to-B Sites (Sun, IBM, and Oracle)
- Sun Microsystems
- Images: Sun Homepage & Heatmap - Original Version
- Images: Sun Homepage & Heatmap -- Bottom Billboard Version
- Images: Sun Homepage & Heatmap – Three-Column Version
- Sun Analysis
- Sun A – Original
- Sun B – ‘Bottom Billboard’
- Sun C – ‘Three-Column Version’
- Sun homepage analysis across all versions
- Sun Versions by Time
- IBM
- Images: IBM Homepage & Heatmap -- Original Version
- Images: IBM Homepage & Heatmap -- Bottom Billboard Version
- Images: IBM Homepage & Heatmap – Three-Column Version
- IBM Analysis
- IBM A & B – Original and ‘Bottom Bilboard’
- IBM C – ‘Three-Column Version’
- IBM Across All Versions
- IBM Variations by Time
- Oracle
- Images: Oracle Homepage & Heatmap - Original Version
- Images: Oracle Homepage & Heatmap -- Bottom Billboard Version
- Images: Oracle Homepage & Heatmap – Three-Column Version
- Oracle Analysis
- Oracle A – Original Version
- Oracle B – ‘Bottom Billboard Version’
- Oracle C – ‘Three-Column Version’
- Oracle Analysis Across All Versions
- Oracle Variations by Time
- Detailed Analysis Across All Three Major Sites: Sun, IBM & Oracle
- Scanning Patterns for Original Homepage Versions
- Scanning Patterns for Bottom Billboard Versions
- Scanning Patterns for Three Column Versions
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Section IV: Three Additional Homepage Layouts Tested
- Images: Evergreen Homepage & Heatmap
- Images: Vectrocon Homepage & Heatmap
- Images: Synetrix Homepage & Heatmap
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Section V: Study Findings & Conclusions; 6 Recommended Action Steps for B-to-B Marketers & Web Designers
- Table: B-to-B Homepage Study Results Data: Time Spent & User Satisfaction
- Top Three Findings
- Six Suggested Tests Based on Study Results & Indications
About MarketingSherpa Inc.
About Enquiro Search Solutions Inc.
Grab your copy today (the PDF downloads instantly, plus we'll mail you a printed-and-bound copy in 24 hours) … and you can start testing improvements to your homepage as soon as tomorrow.
It's risk-free. Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed by MarketingSherpa.
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