Growth design

Transforming the buyer journey

SPS Commerce: A growth story

image of a laptop with SPS home page displayed
More revenue
conversion growth, two years in a row
Deliverables
  • User research
  • Funnel maps
  • Customer journey maps
  • User flows
  • Site map
  • Wireframes
  • High-fidelity design
  • Repeatable experimentation program
Summary
  • Type: Website optimization
  • Focus: Growth
  • Timeline: 2016-2018
  • My role: Designer, strategist, and project lead

Transitioning to an inbound strategy

In 2016, the SPS Commerce marketing team approached a critical crossroads. The company was striving for growth, and a shift from resource-intensive outbound marketing tactics to inbound marketing was necessary.

However, the high-traffic website was under performing, hindering their efforts and presented several obstacles that needed to be addressed to properly execute an inbound strategy.

Why aren’t website visitors becoming customers? 

To tackle these challenges, I was tasked with optimizing the marketing website to transform the buyer’s digital journey.

The first step is understanding the customer

My approach focused on understanding the potential customer and their journey. I led discovery to gain a deeper insight into their needs, pain points, and trigger events.

This involved competitive analysis, interviews, surveys, web analytics, and analyzing search data. 

I mapped the customer journey, as well as the conversion funnel for each channel that led to the website, noting drop-offs and areas of biggest impact.

example funnel map
Example funnel map, noting a major drop-off, an indication that our content is not resonating

A mismatch between web content and customer mindsets

I found the content on the site did not match the questions, concerns, or even language of our prospects.

As a result, prospects were unable to find the information they needed, were not guided towards taking any meaningful actions, and were not confident taking the next step in talking to a sales rep.

Iteration + experimentation is the way

“Kristi methodologically researched our user experience, honed in on signals alerting her to what prospects truly cared about, crafted compelling web content that addressed those concerns and rendered it across all our digital channels.”
Briana Belisle
Former Director of Marketing at SPS Commerce

With a massive website and large number of daily users, we knew we didn’t want to do a complete redesign of the site. Instead, we took an iterative approach.

Working with a data analyst, I created an experimentation program at SPS. This included: Setting up tracking and tagging, configuring an A/B testing tool, and documenting our process.

Over the next year and I half, I formed hypotheses and created experiments, which were often first deployed through digital channels such as paid search and social media. These channels provided a way to isolate traffic and confidently measure results.

We met weekly to review metrics and make adjustments. Our focus was fast learning and getting experiments out the door so we could collect data.

I used these experiments to craft, test, and iterate relevant and compelling web content that spoke directly to these customers, delivering clarity and solutions to their challenges.

Making evidence-backed changes

The experiments gave us confidence in our content’s effectiveness, so the website was then iteratively redesigned around learnings.

We started rolling out smaller changes (again – not a total redesign) that would be minimally disruptive. We started with the home page and product pages, and later moved on to persona-specific pages.

In time, the site’s information architecture and navigation were carefully re-structured to guide prospects through strategically crafted journeys featuring key positioning content that had been validated through experimentation.

navigation map for the website
Navigation map for SPS website

These journeys were designed to be measurable, allowing for ongoing optimization through analysis of engagement at each step.

Small changes lead to big impact

“Kristi profoundly understands and respects the fundamental challenge – users have pain and need our help. Instead of having to navigate through noisy, blasé, company-focused content, users immediately found clarity: We understand your pain and can solve it.”
Briana Belisle
Former Director of Marketing at SPS Commerce

The redesign was a success, leading to a 300% increase in revenue through the website channel.

The website, which previously had generated very few leads that were low quality, transformed into the No. 1 revenue source, bringing in more than 90% of marketing-sourced revenue.

We also saw massive SEO gains, since our content was now aligned with the customer journey and the terms they searched.

Several years later, the website continues to deliver, and the SPS marketing team consistently hits their growth targets. 


See more work

Check out my portfolio for more case studies and projects.