The Future of Websites
Q: There are reportedly 1.8 billion websites in the world. What’s the best way to make sure yours doesn’t get lost among them?
A: This is similar to content marketing because we’ve seen this happen with blogs and eBooks - it’s not novel anymore. Id’ recommend:
Set yourself up for success to get found in the first place. That means having the baseline for a good user experience - the site is safe, reliable, always available, blazing fast, responsive on all screens, and that it’s accessible (legally and ethically). We have an auditing tool you can use to check this called websitegrader.com.
Find focus on your website. Be laser focus on who your site is for, who you’re solving for, and the types of content you have on there. The generalized sites that are pumped but we’re seeing that type of content isn’t successful and doesn’t help your audience as they bounce and leave. The more focused you can get, the better.
Ensure absolutely everything on your site is remarkable so that you’re confident that if the right person finds it, they’re going to be blown away. It needs to be world-class, personalized, and give in-depth, helpful content. The quality level should be worthy of someone paying for it, but you’re offering it for free and making it shareable.
Q: What does the future of the user experience look like?
A: I think it’s going to be about an experience of one. Back in the day, you’d have one experience for everyone, then it got to an experience for groups or distinct segments with more tailoring. Where we’re going and where a CRM-powered CMS helps is in the experience of one. Over time, the more a business learns about a customer, the more the experience gets tailored around that prospect and personalized experiences lead to different experiences on the same site for every single person that visits the site.
User experience to customer buy saudi arabia number service is moving from a nice to have to a core pillar for driving business. It’s going to be baked into more of the culture and operating system versus being an afterthought or a bolt-on to a bigger project.
Q: Where do you see developments in AI, voice search, and VR headed when it comes to websites?
A: While I don’t have in-depth knowledge on these, I can share some conceptual ideas that I find interesting about them. They essentially lower the effort it takes to solve a problem and relentlessly remove friction for the customer. Certain experiences should be immersive, which is where VR comes in. It creates a powerful experience and bridges the gap to becoming more inclusive by being more accessible.
Q: For viewers, a website is a digital storefront destination. To provide the best experience, though, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes relating to tech and internal business functions. Can you tell us about the kind of integrations that are necessary under HubSpot’s all-in-one umbrella?
A: The most important thing is that you have a source of truth to rely on for your customer. The source of truth gives you a complete view of the customer - this is your CRM or customer data platform. When you look at those integrations, you have to find where there are currently silos in the solutions that you want to build, from your websites to messengers, in-person experiences, etc. It’s about moving those into one spot and investing the time and energy to do so. This unlocks doors and gives you understanding about your customers which is the key to winning. With HubSpot, that comes right out of the box, whatever is outside can be integrated.
The other thing that I think is interesting is that HubSpot will never be the absolute best for any small point solution category. We always give the majority of what is needed for an individual category, but there are going to be certain spots where your company has more sophisticated needs. Just knowing that having our various Hubs allows you to find the right tool for the job you need and not miss a beat when tying it all together.
Q: Which web creation mistakes should people avoid going forward?
A: The biggest thing that I would recommend is not talking to your customers. It boils down to:
People underestimate how much they know about their customers.
They skip the strategy and go right into building.
They don’t take the time to do qualitative research regularly using feedback mechanisms.
They don’t combine the quantitative and qualitative data.
Pro Tip: The number one thing you can do is talk to 10 people who recently switched to your product or service and find out what made them switch - anxieties, questions, pains, breaking points. Understanding that switch is critical and marketers need to understand how to make those switches better, easier, faster, and cheaper. Then speak with 10 of your customers who recently left your company for a competitor and ask questions to find out the reasons why.
People want to fast-track this by looking at quantitative factors to get the answers. That information is great in helping you understand an angel and perspective - what, where, which segment it happened, but data and reporting don’t tell you why. You’ve got to mix the sets of data to help you understand the golden nuggets of why, and then you can build a strategy.
The second thing I’d recommend which is related is underestimating how important positioning, messaging, and content are. There is way too much focus on technology, the details, and design too early on. At the core, the positioning, the focus, the messaging, the copy is critical. People either breeze through it, don’t invest enough time in it or do it way too late in the process.
We see that a lot where web projects stall out because they waste time or are not willing to hire a storyteller to figure that out. It misses the mark by creating something that your actual target market doesn’t connect with, so you don’t see the results. Then you’re optimizing on something that no one cares about, to begin with.
Lastly, there are too many ‘set it and forget it’ approaches to websites. This is when a website is created and moved on from, which means the website can become stale. Instead, see the site as an asset that requires continual investment (like spending time on it) which can also be used as a tool for the marketing team (and all the teams), since the digital experiences can help everyone in the organization with what they’re trying to do.
The Wrap Up
Q: Could you give us some insider info on HubSpot’s ?
A: Have a look at the HubSpot Product Roadmap for platform updates in the CMS Hub. There are exciting developments like Developer Sandbox to enable developers and marketers to work together on premium website experiences. Collaboration tools are coming to the app so that you can communicate where you work and be able to better manage the approval processes for content. The other one I’m excited about is Digital Asset Management which has features and recommendations to help with organizing and optimizing. The last one is Content Decoupling. We’re working on HubSpot being an all-in-one source of truth where you can own and update the experience by extending the .com website to omnichannel distribution. This will allow marketers and developers to work together on extending content into other digital experiences.