We all want to make a good first impression, but today a digital impression is formed well before an in-person meeting. Typically, the first touchpoint for a business is through their homepage, which sets the tone for future interactions. Within seconds, visitors develop an impression informed by content, design, and site navigation—choosing whether or not to close their browser. This is especially true for accounting and law firms, as the business is historically referral based and so building a strong digital presence is not properly seen as a requirement.

A poor digital impression is a business risk and challenges employees who are targeting new prospects. In working with CohnReznick to transform their digital presence, we saw their website as an opportunity to change perceptions and accurately reflect the organization’s services, capabilities, and brand voice. As a large, multi-faceted organization with three distinct lines of business and multiple target audiences, we determined the most effective way to deepen engagement on their site was to understand who was visiting the site and forming impressions.

We started with an in-depth analysis of user journeys across all businesses to gain insight into how users engaged with content. The user journeys guided how we developed the information architecture for the site, building technology that would deliver content for specific visitors. Showcasing individualized content dramatically shifted the user experience, ultimately cultivating a “good first impression.” The increase in traffic and engagement resulted in an average of 50 completed forms per week over a five-month period with 29 percent being submitted directly to individual partners – a capability the old website lacked. Read more about our partnership with CohnReznick here and check back for our next post about how to leverage content to turn a website into a lead generator.