Custom Wireframes & Business Workflows

Wireframes and workflows are the digital equivalent of the back of a napkin or envelope. Wireframes are blueprints — really just rough mockups of how functions should work and where content, images and support materials should go, and this includes forms to register customers. Most websites don’t want an ugly form to dominate a display screen, so these features should not dominate the display on mobile devices, but a connecting button should be prominent and easy to access.

Workflows are the detailed plans to code websites to perform the desired actions that are included in wireframe blueprints. Wireframes really can be sketched out on the back of a napkin, but most developers use a whiteboard or digital template.

Wireframes guide the strategy of where to put each feature in new-visitor displays based on which device each person uses. Wireframes show how the content works in a graphical context by laying out how the display will look, where to place images, video and audio files, which creative company assets to spotlight and what other lead-generating features to incorporate to capture information. Planners need to pay attention to keywords, tone, language and other factors in the actual content to connect with visitors, but the wireframing can be done early in the process because it helps to set content goals and results in better content generation. Examples of typical B2B engagement strategies for first website visits include the following actions:

• Getting visitors to identify themselves
• Convincing people to register
• Gaining information by offering an incentive or free download
• Persuading visitors to reveal their reasons for visiting the site by answering questions
• Customizing displays by asking about which products or catalogs interest the visitor
• Offering free newsletters or marketing tips
• Telling a compelling story about the company or current events that impact the relevant industry or B2B market
• Providing free consultations on marketing

The goal of first contact is to gain sales leads, but don’t ignore the opportunity to make an immediate sale, though this happens less commonly in B2B marketing than retail sales.

In effect, every part of an eCommerce platform functions as a salesperson and guides the customer toward a conversion. In B2B companies, this could involve submitting proposals, negotiating terms, processing purchase orders, scheduling face-to-face sales meetings, viewing product demonstrations, researching product compatibilities, arranging special payment terms, gaining approval from multiple stakeholders in the customer’s organization, checking inventories, backordering products when inventories won’t cover the order, scheduling drop-shipping to fulfill orders and requesting split-shipping for purchasing managers who buy for chain stores, government agencies and multiple locations.

Developing Custom User Stories into Polished User Features

Once the processes for identifying prospects and converting them into customers are in place, it’s time to map UI- and UX-specific workflows for normal customer activities such as managing the checkout process, operating user dashboards, paying invoices, reordering and asking for staff assistance. It’s important to automate and simplify every process so that users enjoy a friendly, simplified website experience. That’s why it’s critical to get outside opinions on these processes to confirm whether they’re as intuitive as planned. This is the part of the design process where assigning tasks to customer or stakeholder dashboards is done, apps are integrated and existing processes are improved.

Best practices in this phase of development include performing tests, split-testing and other finalizing and proactive tasks to find how the improvements work on various kinds of devices and how easy it is for stakeholders to engage with the company and its resources. Each process should be well-designed, automatic and as easy or easier to perform than those of company competitors, so planners should research similar B2B operations.

User Stories

User stories are specific roles assigned to different stakeholders in agile development practices. These stories can focus on different actions such as opening an account, entering a password, checking out products or getting access to different areas, databases and interactive applications. User stories also assign roles to third-parties that use the website, which include vendors, business associates, distributors, shippers, informational resources and staff members who have access to different areas of the company’s operating system. Each of these stories represents a distinct point-of-view and requires a custom workflow to code the actions properly. Wireframes provide blueprints of all the underlying actions and design features of each website page while workflows are task-specific instructions for transforming each of these actions into a finished website feature. During the design phase, it’s convenient to work out plans for all stakeholders, but that doesn’t mean these can’t be integrated or changed later.

Collaborating with Custom Workflows

Transforming an eCommerce platform to provide customized user experiences, easier company management and collaborations with third-party associates is, in itself, a wonderful opportunity for collaborating with development partners, which can even include people who know nothing about writing code. Many of the demands of providing customer-specific content won’t require generating new material; most established B2B companies already have this information in one form or another. It’s just a matter of leveraging white papers, e-books, studies, product descriptions and other company content and fine-tuning it to the stakeholder’s point-of-view with a few key changes and calls-to-action addressed to the customer or company stakeholder. This is a workflow that can easily be delegated to staff members and outside consultants to accelerate the development process.