Use industry data for website personalization

Many companies have different product offerings for customers in different industries, especially those that operate in B2B. It can be difficult to explain why your product is valuable to a visitor from a specific industry if you try to address all industries at once. What you will often end up with instead is a generic homepage. Most B2B websites have an “Industry” tab in their top navigation which will get a visitor to the relevant information but why wait until they hover over and click? Unless can help you communicate your unique selling points and motivate industry-specific buyers in a more seamless and efficient way.

Your value proposition is not industry-specific? You can still adjust your messaging and social proof to make companies feel like they’ve come to the right place.

Start by identifying a couple of industries that you tend to work with. At this point, taking a look at your existing customers should be a good starting point. You can then use Unless to create audiences for each industry. You can target broad industries or get very specific by making use of something like SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) codes.

We can identify the industry of a company based on IP via our integrations with Clearbit, Kickfire, Albacross, and Leadfeeder. Enriching email addresses of leads with more information is another option. Or if you are running Linkedin ads for particular industries, you can also make use of that data in Unless.

So now that you have useful data at hand, how do you know what to personalize? The best practice is to start with your page’s headline after all this is the first thing that catches people’s eye. But of course there are more things you can personalize on your site based on your visitor’s industry. Let’s take a look.

Eye-catching headlines

It’s no secret that you’re constantly competing for your prospects’ attention. A good headline on your site is half the battle. This is your opportunity to get them hooked on your site with a compelling offer. Use the industry name in the headline. For example, if you know your visitor works in banking and you’re selling migration services for legacy software, a good headline might be: “The partner banking institutions trust for IT migration projects.”

Sub-heads that add relevance

Use your sub-head to expand on the headline and use keywords that are relevant to people in that specific industry.

Dynamic social proof

Show industry specific logos and resources to support your claim of being a trusted service provider or a preferred product for companies in the visitor’s industry.

Contextual page content

Use the rest of the real estate to communicate your unique selling points. To stick with the banking example, legacy migrations are a big pain for financial services companies. Tell your visitor why customers trust you with complex projects like these.

A CTA for different industry groups

There are a number of CTAs that are commonly used all around the web however it is still a good idea to keep your audience in mind. The length and stages of a buying cycle can vary per industry so you might want to take that into account.

Someone in IT might be more likely to sign up for a free trial now, while someone in banking might first want to get more information and maybe talk to a sales person. In that case, use a softer CTA like “learn more” or “download a case study.”

CGS is a company that offers applications, enterprise learning, and business process outsourcing to companies from various industries. They use Unless to personalize their homepage, adjusting their messaging depending on the visitor’s industry. They also change up the images, logos, and more on their site to appeal to each different buyer group. Read the case study.