A Digital Solutions Firm providing marketing and technology solutions hosted a webinar on best practices for B2B high tech company websites. The webinar covered the importance of websites for high tech companies, challenges faced by many sites, and the roadmap to success. Key topics included aligning the site with the buyer's journey, using technologies like CMS, analytics and personalization to improve the customer experience, and testing strategies to optimize conversion.

1. A Digital Solutions Firm delivering
Marketing and Technology Solutions
New York . Toronto . Phoenix . Los Angeles . London. Dubai . New Delhi
Web Site Best Practices for B2B High Tech
Companies
Webinar
August 2012

2. 1
Comprehensive Offering that Enables Needs of
High Tech Digital Marketers
Increase
brand
awareness
Increase
lead
acquisition
&
conversion
Lower cost
of
acquisition
Lower cost
to serve &
improve
customer
service
Improved
EBITA
Site
Conversion
Tactics
UX and IA
Creative
Experience
Content
Strategy
Email Mobile
Marketing
Automation
CMS Analytics CRM Social Media Community
Demand
Generation
Strategy
Personalization
Strategy
Optimization
Strategy
Social Media SEO and SEM
Campaign
Planning
Marketing
Automation
CMS Analytics CRM Social Media Community
Demand
Generation
Strategy
Personalization
Strategy
Optimization
Strategy
Social Media SEO and SEM
Campaign
Planning
Strategy
Experience
Technology

3. 2
1. Importance of websites for high
tech companies
2. The challenges that impact
success
3. Roadmap to success
What We Will Cover Today
Our focus is on successful high-tech websites – B2B websites for software
products, hardware products and communications companies

4. 33
The importance of your
website

5. 4
It is the window to your world…
It is the first impression … and it could be
the last…

6. 5
The importance of your website cannot be
overstated
Buyers user the site as a tool to buy
80% of buyers said they found
the vendor, not the other way
round.
Source: MarketingSherpa B2B
Marketing Benchmark Survey
2008
Buyers are doing most of their initial research online
before initiating conversations.
Shift in focus from traditional traditional techniques
like mail shots and cold calling, to techniques based
on websites and ‘content-based’marketing.

7. 6
The importance of your website cannot be
overstated
Website is the most important marketing asset for a b2b organization
Website is the number 1 tactic
used
Source: B2B Technology
Marketing Benchmark Survey
2008

8. 77
Challenges with High
Tech Websites?

9. 8
According to eMarketer, 39% of marketers are not happy
with conversion. Spend is $23 Bn, conversion is low 3%
 Buyers have too many options - very little time to select and
convert
 Sites offer confusing and irrelevant content
 Simply increasing traffic is not the answer
 Lack of multi-channel engagement Website and email
automation/CRM not integrated
 Not enough focus on conversion. Spend on cost to traffic to
conversion is 92:1 (source: Omniture)

10. 9
Most prospects are finding you through your Web site, which leaves them in
control of the conversation.
Web Sites have One-way
Conversation
• Traditionally Web sites are
static information repositories;
• Prospect searches your site
until they either find the
information they want/need, or
they leave;
• If they find the information, they
(may) decide to engage with
you.

11. 10
• Websites are Everything for
Everyone
Prospects have to find
information through a rubble
of content
Sites have little intelligence
on who is visiting them and
what they want or what
engagement has already
occurred

12. 11
Email, Web and Mobile
channels don’t work together
to engage prospects
Messaging that is not
consistent across channels
that confuse the prospect
Technologies don’t work
together
Data is siloed for channels
and don’t work together to
drive conversion

13. 12
Quality of leads is poor
Lead to customer conversion
is difficult
Which leads to focus on
Friction between sales and
marketing – they say its all
junk!

14. 13
The road to success

15. 14
•It is important to plan to get to your destination
Define your digital
strategy
•Understand the buyer and target the buying processTarget the buying lifecycle
•Personalized Experience
•Content structure and managing content
•Drive conversion
Experience that engages
• Under the hood of a website - CMS, Search and Analytics
• CRM, Marketing Automation
Cohesive digital
technology
• Email, Mobile and tablet experiencesMulti-channel engagement
• The most important driver of conversionTesting and optimization
• Ease of finding product and information on the site
Importance of Website
Search
• Utilize communities to drive self service and customer engagementCommunity and social
Road to success

16. 15
1995
Informational
•Brochure-ware
•Webmaster
bottleneck
2000
Transactional
•IT-driven
•Commerce
•Portals
•Personalization
2007
Persuasive
•Marketing-driven
•Focus on
business solution
2011+
Contextual &
Collaborative
•Social
•Personal
•Interactive
•Mobile
Changes in the Direction of Websites
The content and experience of next generation websites is driven by the visitor
context

17. 16
Focus:
• Presence
• Brochure-ware
• KPI’s are traffic
related
Focus:
• Use web to grow
revenues
• KPI’s are related to
business objectives
• Social media is
about listening
Focus:
• Optimize digital
presence to get
higher engagement
• Optimize marketing
spend
• KPI’s have monthly
targets
• Social is optimized to
enhance the brand
and drive leads
Focus:
• Nurture prospects
and customers
• Support is
automated through
peer-to-peer and self
help communities
• KPI’s are tied with
lead generation and
revenue
• Social is automated
& integrated w CRM
Focus:
• Relevant 1-to-1
conversations with
customers, blending offline
and online behavior
• Building Customer profile
with relevant data
• KPI’s are linked to CRM and
measure wins, revenue &
loss through integrated
online / offline cross-
channels
• Deep relationships are
formed with advocates
Goals
• Basic website for
branding
• Newsletter
• Web analytics
• Multichannel with
mobile presence
• Cross-channel
engagement
analytics
• Sales Enablement
(B2B)
• Segmented e-mail
campaigns
• Campaign
management
• Rules based
personalization
• Optimization
• Personas & Profiling
• Predictive
personalization
• Cross digital channel
automation
• Trigger based e-mail
dialogue
• Reduced cost
• Bridging the online and
offline - one view of
customer
• Integration to CRM
• Online and offline
automation
• Up/cross sell
• Effective onboarding
• Increased LTV
Where are you on the Curve?
edynamic works with organizations to move them up the Digital Maturity
Curve—we help define the roadmap for you get there
Static Tactical Optimizing Automation Engaging

18. 1717
Buying lifecycle

19. 18
Buyer 2.0
There is a new buyer in control of the acquisition process; they drive the
process and the website is a key tool of engagement
Source: marketing Sherpa B2B benchmarking
report

20. 19
Digital marketing can have a strong influence on the
buying lifecycle.
Marketing and business development align and influence the buying process
by aligning on the buying lifecycle
Segment your Audience
Understand
Motivations/Pain Pts
Map the Messages
Understand
Communication Channels

21. 20
Digital marketing can have a strong influence on the
buying lifecycle.
Marketing and business development align and influence the buying process
by aligning on the buying lifecycle
Segment your Audience Understand
Motivations/Pain Pts
Map the Messages
Understand
Communication Channels

22. 21
Need
Recognition
Information
Search
Evaluate
Options
Decision Engagement
IT
-Technical fit
-Product capability
-Performance
-Costs(budget)
-Company
credibility
-RFI/RFP Stage`
Problems that
need to be solved -SW proves itself
in customer’s
environment
-Demonstrate the
ability to solve
their specific
problem
-Relative to their
needs
-Demo using their
assets
-Prof services
engaged??
Ongoing support
and upsell
References
Research website
to find information
Example of a Buying lifecycle
IT buyer looking for a b2b software
product

23. 22
Buying lifecycle drives a dynamic personalized
expeirence on your website
An experience that gives prospects what they need and when they need it by
reading their Digital Body Language

24. 2323
Digital Technologies that
drive conversion

25. 24
What technologies impact conversion
Several platforms engage to drive conversion.

26. 25
Trends to watch
 Vendors are focused on
differentiation, as CMS capabilities
are commoditized
 Vendors are encroaching on other
solutions: marketing/email
automation, digital asset
management
 Focus on customer engagement
through personalization and context
 Acquisition and consolidation
Web Content Management Systems
WCMS is typically the center of a digital platform strategy that becomes the
foundation for other surrounding solutions
Considerations
 Technology platform
 Focus on how rather what
 Beyond CMS; extension of core
capabilities
 User expectations
 Ease of use
 Same features, different approach
Platforms
 Sitecore, Day, SDL Tridion, Microsoft,
Drupal , Autonomy, Fatwire, Ektron

27. 26
Trends to watch
 Solutions are providing unified
search across platforms
 Semantic search will quickly
become common place
 Faceted search is now available in
most search solutions
Site Search
Site search has typically been included as part of many CMS platforms, but
search must now work across digital platforms
Considerations
 Will the CMS-integrated search work
across platforms
 Structure bias of your content
 Control over the search results
 Sophistication of visitors
 Out-of-the-box connectors
Platforms
 FAST, Coveo, Autonomy, Endeca,
Lucene

28. 27
Industry Trends
 Vendors focus on driving actions,
not just reports
 Support of integrated marketing
across channels is common
 Social media listening tools are
gaining notice and value
 Measurement of visitor engagement
across sessions
 Mobile analytics become an
integrated part of the picture
Analytics
Analytics is becoming more common within CMS platforms, but cross-platform
analytics may warrant an external solution
Considerations
 Will pre-integrated CMS Analytics
work across platforms
 Using platform-specific Analytics
platforms
 Out-of-the-box connectors
 Fewer options
Platforms
 Omniture, Unica, Coremetrics,
Webtrends, Nedstat

29. 28
The Trifecta for Richer Engagement
Unifying three technology platforms delivers an customer experience based on
a common context
Web CMS
Marketing
AutomationCRM
Common
Customer
Context

30. 29
Technologies Working Together
Web CMS, market automation and CRM offer a common view of
the customer that drives personalization across web and email

31. 3030
Engaging experience

32. 31
Does the site align with your brand positioning?
Does the site cater to your users needs?
Alignment with branding

33. 32
Typical high tech sites may have
many products and variants
Detailed product information
• Product information
• Specifications
• Support & community
High Tech websites have complicated content
structure and needs

34. 33
• Strong information architecture
• Structured content
• CMS that drives structure and allows ease of use and
management
• Improved user experience by improved findability
Content structure is critical to effective
experience

35. 34
Merchandize your products – tangible or intangible.
Users are unwilling to wait for price information.
Apple’s approach to merchandize products makes the
products appealing
Merchandize products – looking good!

36. 35
Personalization
B2C sites offer the best
examples of personalization
Good news is that this
technology is now
commoditized

37. 36
Personalization Matters
Users need data relevant to them. The more effective you are at delivering it,
the more likely you’ll turn that visitor into a lead.
• When you deliver content that matters to the visitor, in real time, visitors take
notice.
• The less time a user spends searching, the closer they are to converting.
• When you align the data to the customer’s expectations, you’re leading them
down the path to conversion.

38. 37
Do you segment and target your marketing based
on an integrated view of the consumer’s behavior?
The Integrated View
Top performers use an integrated view to deliver personalization across
multiple channels
Forbes | Insights Bringing 20/20 Foresight
To Marketing 2011
What information does this integrated view include?

39. 38
Get Personal
So how do you put it into practice?
1. Understand customer context, develop holistic view of the customer
2. Develop the content that matters
3. Deliver the content and engage the customer in real-time with aligned, unified,
multichannel messaging

40. 39
1. Understanding the customer—step into their shoes
2. Align with their expectations—understand their mindset
3. Know them better than themselves—augment your data
Heres how
1. Visitor generated: Implicit information captured from the website journey—the
“digital footprints” left by the visitor
 Indicators of preference, predispositions, lead maturity
2. Visitor supplied: Explicit information supplied by the visitor as they complete
questionnaires, quizzes and other facilities
 Common demographics—name, age, gender, interests
3. Externally supplied: Information captured by external service providers,
emerging context-enriched services
 Location, presence, social attributes, cross-vendor buying habits
Understanding Context
Context is about leveraging information about the visitor to optimize the
interaction and engagement across all channels

41. 40
Personalization Example
Based on user behavior and digital footprint you can segment users…
Next time the
person
comes back
to the site,
relevant
information is
presented on
the home
page banner
Navigates to
services page
and related
content

42. 41
Personalization Example
Based on user behavior and digital footprint you can segment users…
Determines user is
customer depending on
footprint
User is
an
existing
customer

43. 42
• Merchandise your product – make
whitepaper seem like a significant
item
• Create Scent - Cues that people
use to drive if path is interesting
• Simple and persuasive content
• Obvious and Engaging call to
action
• Simple forms
• Relevance, value and what
happens next
Call to action ‘tips’prospects over
Call to action is key to driving conversion

44. 43
- Call to action buttons, offers, copy
and navigation
What tactics drive conversion?
Simple tactics drive leads

45. 44
- Several capabilities in marketing's hands
- A/B, Analytics review and Segmentation
are must haves for B2B marketers
- 53% said it was “highly valuable” and
a further
- 42% said they believed it was “quite
valuable”.*
- MVT is not widely used despite
effectiveness
- If you do this – you will see improvement
- “The majority of client-side
respondents (70%) reported
improved conversion rates in the
past 12 months.” *eMarkerter
Test, Test and test some more!
Testing and optimizing is the most important strategy to improve testing;
*eMarketer

46. 4545
Multi – channel
Engage with audience where they
spend their time—where they get their
information.

47. 46
GETTING TO A MOBILE-FIRST STRATEGY
RESPONSIVE DESIGN
1. One website: Not a
separate mobile and
desktop site
2. HTML5 & CSS3: New
technologies to create sites
that respond to screen sizes
and orientation
3. Future proofing: Do you
know what is next?

48. 47
Responsive Design Considerations

49. 48
Example: Responsive Design

50. 49
Example: Boston Globe

51. 5050
Search…Improve
findability

52. 51
Investments in Search
 Technology: Contemporary search
platforms—including FAST,
Lucene/SOLR, Coveo and others—
provide type-ahead, guided and
faceted search cost effectively
 User Experience: Creating a client-
expected experience through proper
information architecture and design
leverages search technology to
meet customer expectations
B2B organizations Eye Search
Investment in search technologies and implementation are top ranking of
digital initiatives with manufacturers for 2012
Manufacturing Website Trends for 2012
Endeca, January 2010

53. 52
Challenges
 Customers must differentiate
products and find what they expect
quickly or they leave
 Thousands or even hundreds of
product SKUs can all “look the
same” to customers
 Navigation and information
architecture is overwhelming to
users trying to find resources and
product details
 Customers become frustrated
quickly when search expectations
are not met
Findability as Differentiator
Enabling visitors to quickly find products and resources is a key opportunity
for manufacturing companies on the web
“Instead of the search function being
relegated to afterthought status, we are
already seeing leading sites put search,
navigation, and promotion strategies at
the core of their business operations. The
key to success in achieving the goal of
enhanced visitor experience is rethinking
the meaning of relevance.”
Next-Generation Site Search:
Redefining Relevance for a
Personalized Era
IDC, December 2010

54. 53
Type-ahead
 Enable people to understand the
available content while entering
search terms
Guided Navigation
 Suggestive recommendations by
integrating personalization
capabilities with the user’s search
experience
Faceted Search
 User quickly filter search results
with common parameters
Search Opportunities
The opportunities provided by today’s search technologies and user
experience design high tech organization on the web

55. 54
Texas Instruments Product Selector
TI ‘s design engineer tool asks for input fields to assist them through the product
selection process. The end result is quite comprehensive but potentially confusing

56. 5555
Membership and
Community

57. 56
- Customers become evangelists
- Lower costs of servicing
- Engagement
- Drives innovation
- DELL
- Commitment to being social as
an organization
- Ideastorm drives ideas
- 5 million page views
- Highest ROI Marcom touchpoint
Community websites
Hi-tech companies are using communities to drive engagement

58. 57
• Communities bring to
convenience of users
How do you plan your community

59. 58
• Apple’s clean interface
makes it very easy to
understand how to find
the answer. For example,
“Ask Your Question” is a
clear call-to-action
• Tutorials are nicely
integrated
• Each contribution is time
stamped
• Contributors get kudos
• User Tips
• Great categorization
Apple Support
Community

60. 59
Connect with us
1-877-339-6264
www.edynamic.net
contact@edynamic.net
twitter.com/edynamic
youtube.com/1999dynamic
facebook.com/edynamic.net