Is Customer Segmentation the Key to Your B2B Website’s Success?

April 15, 2013

There are many factors that determine how successful a website is, such as its navigation, searchability, and design. For B2B businesses, another make-or-break factor is whether or not their sites are set up for customer segmentation. In other words, those sites need to encourage visitors to self-select into specific groups based on who they are and/or what challenges they face. Doing so will allow you to direct visitors to targeted content that has the greatest chance of resonating with them. Follow the advice outlined below, and your website will have greater impact by leveraging the principles of customer segmentation to ensure that your visitors have a customized experience every time they visit your site.

Get your visitors to self-select

Make it easy for your visitors to select their own target segment or use case from the moment they come to your site. You can do so by designing your site so that it gives visitors the opportunity to self-select based on a specific factor, such as their industry, a problem they’re facing, or their role. If your site features a clean layout, uncluttered messaging, and clear menus, your home page should beckon visitors to immediately identify with and select a segment, such as in the example below from Central Desktop:
customer segementation
The advantage of encouraging customer segmentation on your website is that it allows you to control an individual visitor’s experience and provide the information that will be most useful and engaging for that specific person. Providing an immediate option to self-select also solves the issue of cluttered messaging on your home page. Rather than try to create a single message that is all things to all people, clear segmentation options allow you to communicate that your company understands and serves a visitor’s industry or pain points, and then provide the appropriate, targeted messaging.

Next, speak to your individual customer segments

Once you have gotten your visitors to segment themselves by selecting a particular page or option from your home page, take them to persona-specific pages. Those pages should offer content that’s relevant to their interests and messaging that resonates with their needs. It should also explain how your product or service can help address any pain points that specific persona may have. Below is Central Desktop’s page for marketers and agencies.
customer segmentation

In the process, make your website reader friendly and easy to navigate

Now that you have promoted customer segmentation on your website, don’t blow it by cramming your resulting segment-specific pages with too much information. Not only can it be overwhelming, it is can make your site hard to read and to navigate. Instead, use design elements such as white space, drop downs, and sliding panels to make the page cleaner and easier to get around. Below is an example from Kareo’s Practice Management page.

customer segmentation

And diversify the content that you use to populate your site

Lastly, you want to have an array of different types of content on your site, such as webinars, webinars, testimonials, press releases, and white papers. Doing so demonstrates your company’s deep engagement with your industry and with this specific customer segment. In the example above, you can see that Kareo has demo videos and testimonials on its practice management page.

Customer segmentation is a critical part of developing a successful B2B website. It’s the only way that you can give your visitors the kinds of targeted experiences on your site that will ensure that they convert into paying customers.

 

Content Marketing Director

<strong>Kevin Cain</strong> is the Content Marketing Director for <a href="http://www.bluechipcommunication.com.au/">BlueChip Communication</a>, Australia's leading financial services communication firm. Before joining BlueChip, Kevin was the Director of Content Strategy for OpenView.