B2B lead generation

How might we provide customers with a more cohesive offering that supports their needs while maintaining tense internal relationships?

Role
Lead Designer

Collaborators
SEO, Site Ops, Enterprise B2B, Small B2B

Impact
6% increase in page views YoY
14% increase in lead form submissions

Timeline
4 weeks

The Problem

  • Poor brand recognition between our enterprise and small-business offerings.

  • Our SEO was poor due to niche naming and the separation of our B2B brands.

  • We faced a significant security risk on one of our existing lead-generation platforms.

  • The historically tense relationship between Staples Small Business (Preferred) and Staples Enterprise (Professional).

The Process

Content Page Audit

I conducted a site audit for both the Preferred Small business platform and the Professional Enterprise platform, marking down areas of improvement in UI, interaction, UX, Content writing and page traffic to see what we could carry over and what could be consolidated or removed.

pROFESSIONAL

  • Multitude of forms

  • Inconsistent page formats

  • Redundant pages

pREFERRED

  • Singular form

  • Inconsistent page design

  • Mix of informative and upsell

  • Information loops

Competitive Analysis

There are not many large competitors in the B2B office supplies space, but we could take a look at any B2B lead generation site and gather inspiration. Looking at Staples US, Apple and Amazon's B2B offerings, we noted that all branches of the business were cohesive, and they would get customers to self-identify and sign up for what applied to them.

Most notable strengths:

  • Clear segmenting

  • Consistent page design language

  • Singular lead gen form

  • Strong information discovery

Relationship Management

The relationship between our in-house brands has been a point of sensitivity for as long as they have been around. Although under one brand, they operate as competing businesses. To manage both sides, we had to ensure that we still have consistent branding and individuality, but create clear barriers between when one business started and when another business ended. When proposing this solution, the only thing we had to say was that we could bring in significantly more traffic and, in turn, have more leads and sign-ups. After talking about dollar value and making it enticing, there was no hesitation from either side.

The solution

B2B Strategic Solution

Unified business lines into a cohesive, SEO-optimized offering that preserved brand distinction, clarified customer segmentation, and surfaced hidden capabilities to boost visibility and awareness.

Design Solutions

Designed a scalable, user-centred onboarding flow that helped customers self-identify their needs, enhanced clarity through consistent layouts and simplified navigation, improved content hierarchy and form usability to support seamless engagement and education.

We wanted to ensure with this flow that we allowed for strong discovery, without overwhelming customers in the process.

HERO BANNER

Used bold colour branding and impactful imagery to set the tone of the page while providing a clear, immediate sign-up option for customers who don’t require additional information.

Value Prop

Placed the value proposition as the main content on the page to help customers get an understanding of how Staples could solve their business supply needs.

Slef-Identification

Provided potential customers with a way to self-identify to see program-specific features that suited their company size.

Industries Served

Gave potential customers a list of general business industries we served to help increase the value prop and allow them to feel at ease knowing we have expertise in all forms of business supply needs.

Brands

Included a brands call out to help show customers we carry the brands they love and trust.

Suatainability

Gave customers different information to look through in order to help align with company values and increasing their confidence in doing business with Staples.

E-procurment

What was previously only information that was given by request, we provided potential customers with information about our integration with their punchout systems.

Sign up Banners

To facilitate scrolling, I included sign-up banners that directed users to our form when they were ready.

Lead Generation form

Once the customer felt confident that we could support their needs, I created a singular form that would segment customers on the back-end based on their size and their business type.

Thank you page

Once the potential customer submitted the form, we needed to add closure to the experience and next steps, something that was not previously done across both business lines.

The Impact

6%

increase in visits YoY

14%

increase in submitted leads YoY

Final thoughts

The project was not complex, but required a lot of relationship management and idea pitching. With the success of the launch and the upcoming additions to the pages, the Staples business line will continue to see success and provide Canadians with office supplies.