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HubSpot CMS website redesign drives instant success for this international investment firm
OVERVIEW International investment firm modernizes with HubSpot CMS.
Backstop Solutions provides a superior platform for institutional investors to make day-to-day operations easier for their members. They do this by analyzing data, streamlining manual processes, and reducing tasks that would take an individual valuable time to do on their own.
Backstop serves investors through automation with specific products that target portfolio management, investor relations, contact management, and stay atop the ever-growing security risks that plague the industry.
GOALS
CHALLENGE A website to match their in-person user experience.
The Backstop Solutions team had a vision for what they were looking for in a new website. However, they needed help bringing the website in line with the cutting-edge brand recognition they've come to be known for. The client had recently attempted a homepage redesign but it fell short of their expectations. This experience also showed them that having a HubSpot partner who could help design and develop the rest of the website would allow them to delegate the web strategy to the experts, freeing up time for them to focus on the business.
Additionally, they were restructuring their service offering and market positioning. The current website didn't reflect how they engaged clients and structured their various offerings. They needed our help with sitemap architecture, UX and conversion path implementation, and best-practice recommendations for development in HubSpot CMS.
It was our job to harvest their intellectual property around the business, their clients, and the overall market positioning in an effort to bring their new go-to-market messaging to life.
Old Homepage
New Homepage
"We took a 'slow-is-fast' approach to understanding how Backstop was restructuring their service offering to support a dynamic navigation menu that tied their products and services to their different market segments and specific industries."
Mike Del Cuore
Because Backstop Solutions had a plethora of services and products to offer their clients, it was important to segment not just by industries, but by additional roles within the companies of each industry. For example, the business development team of a private equity firm had different needs and pain points than the operations teams did. Subsequently, Backstop had different products and services to offer each persona.
This interconnected dynamic guided our strategy in how we constructed the user experience to connect users with the content that mattered most to them, without alienating other users who may not immediately see relevant content right off the bat.
GOALS FOR THE PROJECT The primary objectives for the website.
With a completely new sitemap, a holistic site strategy to target defined personas, and a robust resource library, there were several factors that needed to be considered:
- Showcase a tailored services list with supporting resources for each user.
- Provide a ground-up redesign strategy with a modern, clean aesthetic that was easy to interact with.
- Develop with best practices for scaling in mind so the Backstop team could manage the site moving forward.
- Maintain (and improve) SEO rankings to maximize post-launch ranking potential.
APPROACH Gaining control over a vast market.
We began by working with the team to define specific targets for each industry. This served as the foundation of our strategy. Because organizations shared similar structures, we established five defined internal teams that use Backstop's products.
- Business Development/IR
- Deal Teams
- Investment
- Operations
- Accounting
We identified primary stakeholders within these teams and began mapping out their buyer's journeys to improve the overall experience.
It is very common to have "Industries" or "Sectors" pages on a website, however, this was not a sufficient setup as different teams in different sectors had unique needs.
Subsequently, there were some teams that were only relevant to some industries. Here we understood that we needed tailored messaging and services depending on the team AND industry.
Together, we established the following industries:
- Private Equity/VC
- Real Estate
- Hedge Funds
- Fund of Funds
- Consultants/OCIOs
- Endowments & Foundations
- Pensions & Institutions
- Family Offices
This network of teams and industries proved to be a lot to manage. How could we easily connect users to the content they were looking for? The answer: a multi-tier navigation system.
But we weren't done yet. Simply connecting users with their intended page was not enough. We needed to provide a concise message that built value and then support it with valuable content. This was our opportunity to drive more leads through the website with a robust resources library.
By leveraging HubDB to create a central database of resources, we were able to house a variety of premium content such as videos, success stories, webinars, infographics, and more. By managing a simple data table of rows and columns, the client could easily add new resources as they became available. Through an intelligent tagging system, we were not only able to create the ability to filter based on topic or type of media, but we were able to dynamically feed these resources throughout the site. This reduced the amount of on-page editing to add resources on various pages throughout the site. It also drastically increased the efficiency of keeping content current across all pages of the website.
IMPACT Driving an amazing user experience.
The result was a beautiful new site that was hyper-tailored to Backstop's unique audiences. With the updated page designs, we were able to "open up" and air out the content so it was much easier to consume. Additionally, we were able to strategically place their valuable resources and premium content for intentional conversion paths that drive greater lead conversion.
By providing interactive elements such as tabbed systems and inter-page links, we are able to showcase a lot of content in a highly digestible fashion. This was also our approach to providing content for different personas within a given industry.
By taking the approach of "leading with the why," we began with the value that each service could provide by addressing individual pain points. We complemented this with various types of media, such as video explainers. Then, we built consumer confidence by following with examples of previous success through various resources and downloads. Finally, we presented the "what" in terms of actual service offerings organized by team with easy click-throughs from the industry to product pages and vice versa. Lastly, we provided bottom funnel conversions for sales followed by additional thought leadership from their blog. Then showcasing again, in their footer, consumer confidence through their various awards.
The end result? One happy client!
Backstop Solutions now has a site with great user experience that represents the professionalism and cutting-edge approach they've come to be known for. They also have a site that represents the inbound marketing experience, which for Backstop, made their investment well worth it.
With a centrally managed resource library, custom HubSpot development, and best practice CMS implementation, the Backstop team has been able to fully take over their website content management activities, spin up new landing pages, and publish additional content easily without ever needing the help of a developer. We're excited to see where the Backstop Solutions team is heading and were thankful to be a part of their success.