Buyer-First Website Reviews: SmartPass with Corrina Owens

About this series: Buyer-First Website Reviews is a recorded version of our Buyer-First Bites Newsletter.

Each month one of our advisors will on-the-spot review a SaaS website against the best practices from our 2024 B2B Buyer First Best Practices Report:

• Accessible: How convenient is it for buyers to book time with a sales team
• Visible: How public is the pricing and packaging
• Usable: How easy is it for buyers to get hands-on and use the product

See below how our advisor, Corrina Owens breaks down the edtech website, SmartPass.

Watch the full recording or see the highlights below:

For each bite, we've summarized that section and included the corresponding clip.

Bite #1: SmartPass Above The Fold Messaging

SmartPass has done a nice job of framing up the home page to be hyper-relevant to its brand and target audience.

Right away, you can see that they are showcasing what their product looks like in real time, so visitors can narrow in and get an idea of the look and feel of the application.

Furthermore, they don’t shy away from showing social proof. They highlight that they work with over two thousand schools within the second header of their hero section

This is a hyper-targeted, super clear header, and you know exactly what you're getting into.

Bite #2: Take a Tour CTA

Something you don’t see in many B2B websites? “Take a Tour” functionality. Rather than watching a pre-recorded demo video, this functionality enables the visitors to click around and experience what it’s like to use their platform.

First, it’s giving me the perspective of what it’s like for their most important end-user to use their product, I’m viewing as the persona of a “student”.

This shows me right away that this brand understands that there are often many levels of consideration when it comes to buying any software.

So they’re multi-threading in this interactive demo and now giving us the perspective of another critical persona, that of a teacher.

This is an indicator of a successful buyer's first website, showcasing multiple personas throughout your content.

I don't feel like I'm looking at a series of GIFs, but I feel like I am already a user of this product.

Incredibly detailed, and with a conversational tone, this interactive demo makes me want to stay engaged and go through the journey of what it's like to now be a teacher in SmartPass.

Roughly 10 or so clicks and already they have identified multiple use cases and visuals to consider what is it like to be a SmartPass user before they ever asked anything of their website visitor, so major kudos there.

Bite #3: Homepage Pop Up

You may have noticed that there is a pop-up on the home screen. As marketers, there's this constant debate about whether or not to deploy a pop-up.

Surprisingly, it's one of the single best ways to do data capture on a website.

For B2C and B2B, companies are able to capture 25% more of their online traffic if they institute a pop-up.

While this CTA is asking to capture contact detail for a demo, I believe a softer call to action such as a case study or a newsletter subscription, might allow for more form captures. However, this may be a really strong capture for them. I'd also consider moving the pop-up to appear further down the page or after a longer amount of time on site vs right when you arrive.

Bonus Bites

Human Chatbot

On the book-a-demo page, SmartPass is also providing you with the opportunity to ask a question and chat with a live individual. That is rare to come across these days and still remains a high-interest of buyers.

Social Proof

Big fan of how many different case studies are embedded throughout the homepage. However, I would always suggest adding the name of the individual or even imagery of said persona to connect your website visitors in a more human way, and I love to see that SmartPass has this front and center vs. just highlighting the logo of the school or institution.


Enjoyed Corrina's bites? Get monthly snack-sized B2B buyer-first website reviews through our Buyer-First Bites Newsletter.