User Experience Mistakes to Avoid on B2B Platforms

The more "exciting" your homepage copy sounds... ...the shittier I assume your product is. When I (and your customers) have to filter through vague, emotional language, it makes me think you are hiding something. It also makes your product harder to buy. "But, isn't it marketing's job to make the product seem exciting?" - (almost) every CMO In a B2B context, NO! We're not selling vacations, luxury cars, or exclusive experiences. We're selling software and business services. These are not (and will never be) exciting. And that's okay. Good marketing is about meeting your customers where they are, with language they can understand. ——— Here are 4 practical tips founders and marketers can apply right now to fix their overly exciting (and vague messaging). 1. Remove any phrase that sounds like it belongs in a keynote ❌ "Empowering next-gen teams to drive transformation" ✅ "We help HR teams roll out benefits faster, with fewer errors." 2. Make sure your hero section answers these 3 questions immediately: - Who is it for? - What does it help them do? - Why is it better than the way they do it today? If it takes more than 5 seconds to answer these, you're losing people. 3. Test your homepage like a prospect Ask someone unfamiliar with your company: "What do you think we do, and who is it for?" If they hesitate, guess incorrectly, or say "kinda sounds like..." — you've got a clarity problem. (if you are too embarrassed to ask this yourself, give Wynter a try) 4. Don't try to be clever. Try to be obvious. Great positioning doesn't feel clever. It feels like: "Ohhh... yeah, that makes sense." Clarity beats clever. Always.

373 B2B users voted. Nearly 1 in 3 said THIS is what makes them bounce (after no pricing): No real product pictures or product demos. I was surprised because the other options were: - Buzzwords  - Gated content They can tolerate those 2 sins if they can just SEE the product. Here are some comments from the poll: "That moment you visit the product page and see everything else but the product..." "Real pics (even better videos) and demos! I want to see how it works before I even consider engaging in a conversation." "and then you submit a 12 page form to book a demo, only for the call to be an SDR doing discovery who also won't be showing you the product 🙅🏻♀️ " “If I can’t see your product, I’m not sticking around.” And yet… most landing pages still rely on: – Cropped screenshots that hide functionality – Vague UI mockups that don’t mean anything – Or worse: stock imagery that 12 other sites use Some fixes aren't complicated. Some solutions are just as simple as: Show the buyer what you're selling. If you want to take it to the next level...let them interact with the product beforehand. It's like when Amazon launched the Try Before You Buy option for clothing. The B2B version is interactive demos. Now as the consumption queen, I'm all about anything that will make people engage but we also need data to convince the higher powers. I asked Storylane to send them to me and lookie: - Website conversion rates improve by 7.9x - Deal conversion rates go up by 3.2x - Sales cycles reduce from 33 to 27 days *based on 110k web sessions and 150 deals. VERY intriguing. Qualitatively, I asked a client of mine who uses interactive demos on her website (through Storylane) about her experience and she said this: "The rationale behind it is so that people get to the 'aha, magic moment' quicker than signing up for a demo. Right now I think about it in terms of delivering a good user experience on our site" So now the next steps for my own work: - Add it to landing pages  - Marry that with search intent  - Watch that consumption magic happen I'll share more first-hand data soon. Do you use interactive demos? What have you seen?

Marketers - Make up your f-ing mind! - Chat-bot: "Want to talk to sales?" - Website Banner: "Download our new e-book" - Pop-up: "Accept our cookies?" - Hero: "Start a Trial" or you can also "Get a Free Demo" - Screen take-over: "Check out our latest announcement" Make it stop! I have been on your site for 2 seconds and am crushed with asks. None of which are what I actually want to do. I want to find out what it is your product actually does. Think I am exaggerating? I see screenshots like the one below on a daily basis. As a first time visitor before I even get to read the headline of the site: > I have 3 to 4 pop-ups appear > 2 of which are asking for a demo (after 0 time on site) > Sometimes two of the CTA’s in the pop-ups are actually exactly the same I can only imagine the impact this is having on bounce rates and time on site. So instead of hammering everyone to convert the second they hit your site: 1) Understand that not all traffic is the same! 2) Understand the different types of visitors and build experiences for them (paid / organic / blog traffic / return visitors vs new, etc etc.). 3) Look to add value and be a place people can explore and learn more about the product or problem you solve. 4) Go through your user experience regularly from site all the way through to sign-up (if it feels painful to you imagine how it feels to new users). Marketer's don't set out to build an experience like this but it often happens over time when you aren't constantly monitoring the experience you are providing. So do yourself a favor this week, visit your site and ask yourself the question - Does this make sense?

SaaS companies are losing millions in conversions due to these common UX mistakes: 1. Overwhelming onboarding Don't bombard new users with too much information. Keep it simple and guide them to their first "aha" moment quickly. 2. Hidden pricing Be transparent about your costs. Hiding prices until the last minute (or behind a sales person!) breeds distrust and increases abandonment rates. 3. Confusing navigation If users can't find what they need, they'll leave. Ensure your menu structure is intuitive and search functionality is robust. 4. Lack of mobile optimization With more users accessing services on mobile devices, a poor mobile experience can significantly impact conversions – especially on your marketing site. 5. Ineffective error handling Cryptic error messages frustrate users. Provide clear, actionable feedback when something goes wrong. The good news? These issues are fixable. Start by conducting user testing to identify pain points. Then, prioritize improvements based on potential impact. Remember, small changes can lead to big wins in the SaaS world.