From Data to Design:
How User Research Drives User-Centered Web Design
The best websites strike a balance between being easy to use and beautiful to look at. These elements—the art and science, so to speak—must work hand in hand; the art delights the user and elevates the brand, product or service, while the science makes it easy to find what they’re looking for.
Like any endeavor with an element of science or measurement, well-designed web properties that account for what users feel and how they interact are backed by considerable research and data.
Key user research methods for B2B websites
B2B buyers are especially methodical, conducting extensive research before making decisions while prioritizing efficiency, credibility, and ease of access to relevant information. In other words, designing an effective B2B site requires a good understanding of business goals and how site usage will impact consumption and conversion.
Whether it’s a microsite, redesign or you’re starting from scratch, let’s look at some of the strategies, research tactics and data points used to inform the best site design.
Competitor benchmarking: Learning from industry leaders
No professional athlete competes without scouting the other side, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. The same can be said for good digital marketing. Competitors can be an invaluable source of insight when designing or improving your website. By analyzing their digital presence, you can identify what’s working well and where they may be falling short.
- Competitor audits – Assess competitor design strategies, including layout, typography, interactivity, and content hierarchy. If industry leaders prioritize interactive content or streamlined navigation, users likely expect those elements.
- Industry trends – Stay informed on emerging web design trends to keep your website competitive. If data in your industry shows that buyers increasingly prefer self-service portals, integrating one into your site could enhance user satisfaction and reduce sales friction. Don’t fall behind. If interactive, highly visual product detail pages are becoming the norm, adapt accordingly.
- Gap analyses – With help from tools like Semrush you can see how content, pages, tools on your site stack up to competitors in terms of traffic and keywords. You can glean which pages are working, which aren’t, and learn design or UX best practices from competitors.
User research: Understanding your audience
Understanding your users is just as valuable—if not more—than knowing your competitors. User research helps uncover the needs, behaviors and expectations of your target audience, ensuring that your site’s design aesthetic and functionality align with their preferences. Depending on how well you’ve been monitoring site usage, how current users interact or get hung up can serve as a treasure trove of knowledge.
- User personas – Develop detailed profiles of your target users, outlining their goals, challenges, and preferences. If 50% of your audience downloads technical documents, a dedicated resource hub can boost engagement.
- Surveys and questionnaires – Collect broader data on user preferences, frustrations and needs to guide design decisions. For example, if survey data shows that visitors struggle to find pricing information, and that it could speed up decision making, making it more visible or adding CTAs could improve usability.
- User interviews – Gain qualitative insights by speaking directly with users about their experiences and expectations. If a plurality of interviewees mention frustration with lengthy forms, simplifying your lead capture process could increase conversions.
Behavioral research: Mapping user interactions
An understanding of the players and environment you’re competing in is a strong foundation, but there’s a lot more that can be learned to inform design. Understanding how users interact directly with a website, page or feature is key to optimizing its design. Behavioral research tools provide data-driven insights into where users are clicking, how far they are scrolling, and at what points they abandon a page. These findings make for informed decisions about how to lay out a page or emphasize content in order to maximize user engagement and reduce drop-off rates.
- Heatmaps – Tools like Crazy Egg visualize user behavior, showing where visitors click, scroll and drop off. These insights are especially helpful in refining sitewide page layouts, CTA placements and content hierarchy. For instance, if heatmaps show that users only scroll past the fold 25% of the time, reducing whitespace and repositioning key information higher up can increase engagement.
- Session recordings – Watching real user interactions can help identify friction points and usability issues. If recordings show users are distracted by certain animations or unknowingly scroll by key conversion points, design should be adjusted to more easily draw the eye to the most important areas.
- A/B testing – Comparing different design variations helps determine which elements drive engagement and conversions. Testing CTAs, buttons, images and navigation structures can significantly enhance user experience. For example, testing two CTA button colors might reveal that one drives 20% more clicks than the other, leading to a more effective design choice.
Technical SEO and performance analysis: Optimizing for visibility and speed
Even the best-designed website won’t be effective if it loads slowly or isn’t optimized for search engines. Search engines prioritize user experience factors such as speed, mobile-friendliness, and content structure, factors design has huge influence over. Ensuring your website meets these criteria will improve visibility and organic traffic.
- Site speed tests – Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to analyze and improve load times, which directly impact user retention and SEO rankings. If testing shows that large image files are slowing download times, designers can optimize media, streamline code or implement Lazy Loading.
- SEO auditing – Ensure that your site structure, metadata, and content placement support strong search visibility. If an audit reveals missing alt text on images, adding them can improve accessibility and search rankings.
- Mobile responsiveness – A major factor in search rankings, mobile responsiveness ensures your website adapts for seamless user experiences across devices. A smart designer uses adaptable layouts that maintain functionality and visual appeal on any screen. With mobile browsing so prevalent, a non-responsive site can elevate bounce rates.
User-centered, research-backed web design is more than a best practice, it’s a competitive advantage. In B2B marketing, where sales cycles are long and decision-making is complex, websites must drive meaningful interactions and conversions. A frictionless website that proudly displays the brand story can build trust, nurture leads and, ultimately, facilitate and accelerate the buying process.
Lydon’s Leverage:
The tools and tactics discussed are just a few of the approaches we use to help clients improve their web presence. Whether it’s educational content or a powerful visual experience your audience wants, a whole new website or a high-converting landing page, Lydon has the tools and in-house expertise to perform the research B2B sites require to succeed, from taxonomy to beta testing. From there, our expert creatives transform insights into high-performing, visually compelling digital experiences.
Ready to give your web presence a boost, or launch a new offering the right way? Let’s have a conversation about how to move your project forward.