Sage
Digital experience strategy that helps busy buyers find relevant software, understand its value, and choose their next step.
- The challenge
- Busy buyers need a quick route to relevant software. A broad product story can delay the answer they came for.
- My role
- I established the strategy, aligned colleagues around buyer behavior, and sequenced initiatives for phased delivery across teams.
- A guiding decision
- Put product choices earlier. Connect short demonstrations to deeper tours so people can explore at their own pace.
- Progress and evidence
- The work improved conversion across multiple touchpoints. Ongoing testing guides the next release; content hubs remain in progress.
Start with the answer a buyer needs.
Business software is often a necessary purchase, not something people look forward to researching. Visitors want a useful answer quickly, and often turn to navigation before following a story down the page.
I organized the strategy around that behavior: help buyers find a relevant product, show one useful task, then offer the detail they need to evaluate it. The challenge was to connect those steps across the experience.
I worked with colleagues to build support for a sequence of initiatives, combining established marketing tools with new interactions. We used research, prototypes, and phased testing to guide the next step while protecting conversion. Declared needs and consented first-party interactions provide the foundation for account-based experiences (ABX).
Micro-learning
Demonstrate a business solution
Audience selection
Establish needs and relevance
Product tours
Support product evaluation
Content hub
Inform the buying group
Make product discovery easier.
A hero that fills the screen can look like the end of the page. I favored a shorter opening that brings product choices into view, giving visitors a useful place to start and a reason to keep exploring.
The cards connect business needs with relevant products. Scroll depth, product exploration, and progression through the funnel help evaluate whether that guidance is working.
Portfolio recreation. Destination links are inactive.
Accounting
Sole traders
Sage Sole Trader
Record income and expenses, and prepare for a tax return.
Tax return
- Record
- Review
- Submit
1–19 employees
Sage Accounting
Manage invoices, payments, and day-to-day accounts.
Sales invoice
- Created
- Sent
- Paid
20+ employees
Sage Intacct
Connect financial reporting across teams and entities.
Financial overview
- Collect
- Compare
- Report
Payroll
First employee
Getting started with payroll
Set up an employee record and prepare a first pay run.
First pay run
- Add details
- Calculate
- Pay
1–19 employees
Payroll for a small team
Calculate pay and deductions, and issue payslips.
Monthly payroll
- Review
- Approve
- Pay
20+ employees
Payroll across teams
Coordinate payroll information, approvals, and reporting.
Payroll overview
- Collect
- Approve
- Report
HR
First employee
First employee records
Keep essential information together when a business begins hiring.
Employee record
- Details
- Documents
- Ready
1–19 employees
HR for a small team
Organize employee records, leave, and onboarding.
Leave request
- Requested
- Reviewed
- Approved
20+ employees
HR across teams
Give teams a consistent way to manage people and approvals.
People overview
- Teams
- Approvals
- Overview
Explain the solution before the detail.
Micro-learning introduces a recognizable business problem and shows how a product feature addresses it. Short animations provide an entry point to product education without requiring a full demonstration.
Relevant product information and tours provide the next level of detail. Each format has a defined role, from initial understanding to product evaluation. The examples below use the Sage animations.
Close
Review a reconciliation.
A short sequence shows a discrepancy between accounts payable and the general ledger. The task provides a concrete reason to learn more.
Finance Intelligence
Ask a question about financial data.
A question leads to an answer and a suggested action. The example introduces the feature before asking someone to explore a full workflow.
Accounts Payable
Move from an invoice to a bill.
The demonstration connects a familiar document to the product workflow. It shows the action rather than describing a list of capabilities.
Time
Prepare a time entry.
An example shows how activity can inform time entry. The short format gives visitors a starting point for more detailed education.
Assurance
Review an unusual transaction.
The animation draws attention to an exception and its context. A product tour can then explain the review process in detail.
Use declared needs to improve relevance.
Vertical, role, and segment selections help visitors find relevant information while providing useful customer context. The interaction collects part of the information normally requested in a form, reducing repeated entry.
This establishes a foundation for account-based experiences (ABX). Declared needs and consented interactions can inform on-site content, relevant email follow-up, resources, and product tours for the people involved in a purchase.
Establishes context
Selecting a vertical, role, and segment helps visitors find more relevant content and gives Sage information about their needs.
Adjusts the experience
Use those choices to adapt content and its order. Declared context supports account-based experiences (ABX).
Reduces repetition
Carry selections into the contact form. Visitors can edit them or leave them out.
Demonstration only. Apply updates this preview, not the portfolio or contact form. Use the main navigation selector to personalize the site.
Interactive portfolio
Support product evaluation.
Product tours extend the initial demonstration into a complete workflow. Visitors can inspect the product at their own pace and focus on the tasks relevant to their role.
The sequence can be reorganized for different audiences, helping members of a buying group evaluate capabilities and address purchase questions. Embedded tours and more detailed demonstrations are the next area of exploration.
Hosted by Sage and Ceros, with provider analytics. Best viewed on a larger screen.
Support the buying group over time.
The planned EDU Center connects micro-learning, product tours, guides, and other resources in one place. Different members of a buying group can access the information needed for their responsibilities.
Audience selections and consented site interactions would personalize recommendations and content order. The wider ABX plan connects those resources with relevant email follow-up, supporting evaluation across visits and stakeholders.
Content hubs are in progress. The prototype below demonstrates the structure, not a live behavioral personalization system.
Explore by role
CFO
Financial performance and planning.
Controller
Close, controls and reporting.
Business owner
Cash flow and day-to-day decisions.
Operations
Processes, stock and delivery.
People and payroll
Pay, records and employee tasks.
Team manager
Time, projects and resources.
Accounting and finance
Micro-learning
- Review outstanding bills
- Ask a financial question
- Check an unusual transaction
Product tours
- Accounts payable
- Month-end close
- Financial reporting
Business operations
Micro-learning
- Review available stock
- Check project capacity
- Follow a customer order
Product tours
- Stock and fulfilment
- Projects and resources
- Operational reporting
People and payroll
Micro-learning
- Review employee records
- Prepare a pay run
- Check payroll changes
Product tours
- Employee records
- Payroll preparation
- Team reporting
Explore resources
Short lesson
Review cash flow before making a payment
See the balance, review bills and consider the next payment.
Product tour
Understand the month-end close
Follow the steps from a transaction to the financial report.
Guide
Plan a financial reporting workflow
Identify the reports and dimensions needed by a finance team.
Short lesson
Review stock and fulfilment
Connect current stock, incoming orders and delivery decisions.
Product tour
Review project time and capacity
Move from a time entry to a view of project resources.
Guide
Prepare for a payroll review
Check the records and changes needed for the next pay period.
Planned personalization uses selections and consented site behavior. This prototype uses only the controls above. Content and product matches are illustrative; resource destinations are not connected.
Interactive portfolio
Deliver change through phased testing.
I used research and rapid prototypes to make the proposed changes tangible. AI-assisted engineering helped me build and revise several interactions so colleagues could evaluate the experience.
At Sage's scale, a useful idea also needs organizational support. Sharing evidence about buyer behavior helped colleagues discuss the tradeoffs and build support for successive initiatives.
Each release tests a defined part of the journey. We look at comprehension, progression, and conversion to decide what to expand or revise. Content hubs remain in progress as part of the longer-term ABX plan.
Research
Identify buyer needs, barriers, and business constraints.
User research, behavioral evidence, and stakeholder alignment
Prototype
Make proposed experiences usable before committing to delivery.
Rapid prototypes, task flows, and AI-assisted engineering
Test
Evaluate comprehension, progression, and conversion.
User research and controlled comparisons
Roll out and revise
Release in stages and use the results to guide the next phase.
Conversion guardrails, monitoring, and a rollback path