Taking the Clearly Acquired Platform to Market

Clearly Acquired is a SaaS-Enabled SBA Business Acquisition Marketplace on a mission to build a better way for business buyers and intermediaries to connect, get verified, qualified, and execute deals in a high trust, data rich, technology-driven environment.

My Primary Role:

Chief of User Experience

Time Frame:

Sept. 2023 - Present

Project Summary:

As Chief of UX, I led the design and development of the Clearly Acquired website, creating a user-centric platform for seamless business acquisition. By integrating a modern design and clear content structure, the website enhances engagement and thoroughly outlines the platform offering for each user type.

Responsibilities:

Built & managed the entire Clearly Acquired website from scratch in Webflow, integrating responsive design principles to ensure optimal performance across devices.
Developed a custom CMS system in Webflow, allowing seamless management page templates, blog posts, and more, improving workflow efficiency and overall site consistency.
I created a Scalable Design System, a flexible design system with reusable components and styles in Webflow, ensuring consistency across the platform and scalability for future updates or features.
Implemented on-page SEO best practices and optimized the site for speed, resulting in improved search engine visibility and faster page load times, which contributed to increased traffic.
Introduced Hotjar for tracking user behavior and gathering feedback through heatmaps and session recordings, enabling data-driven design iterations to improve the user experience and streamline the platform’s navigation.

📑 Marketing Collateral

✨ Results & Take Aways

🏆 Wins & Important Callouts:

6,500+ Visitors

We marketed our website immediately and saw an immediate abundance of website traffic per month.

< 40% Site BR

After making site design / layout adjustments with Hotjar insights, the site bounce rate remained below the industry standard 40%.

↗ Brand Reach

We saw well over 60K social impressions weekly through traditional organic posts across our channels.

Founder

As a founder I forged the path for the website design & user experience, for buyers, brokers, banks, and more.

🗒️ Project Overview:

As Chief of UX, I built a modern, fully responsive website for Clearly Acquired, a business acquisition platform, to address the specific needs of Brokers, Buyers, and Banks throughout the acquisition process. Utilizing Webflow, the site was designed to be easily managed and updated, while Hotjar was integrated to track user behavior, allowing for ongoing iterations to enhance user experience. The responsive design ensures a seamless experience across all devices, making business transactions smooth and efficient for all parties involved.

🆘 The Problem:

Many business acquisition websites often lack intuitive navigation, making it difficult for Brokers and Buyers to efficiently find relevant information about the tools and solution. Additionally, the majority also offer a poor user experience, with outdated designs that are not fully responsive, leading to frustration on mobile devices. Additionally, there is often insufficient integration of tools that facilitate smooth communication and document sharing between Brokers and Buyers, causing delays and miscommunications in the acquisition process.

User research informed us these primary issues:

❓ Many sites are overwhelmed with information, making it difficult for users to quickly find what they need.

❓ A lack of responsive design leads to usability issues on mobile devices.

❓ Many companies & tools lack modern solutions for brokers & buyers.

❓ Few companies offer integrated solutions, with fair pricing.

❓ How can we create an engaging, modern, responsive website, that communicates to all these user types?

💡 My Solution:

I embarked on an exciting journey to craft a standout website for Clearly Acquired using Webflow, blending cutting-edge design with dynamic functionality. To supercharge the user experience, I introduced Hotjar to dive deep into user engagement and uncover actionable insights. This innovative approach not only brought our vision to life but also ensured we stayed ahead of the curve by continuously optimizing the site based on real-time feedback.

My Goals for the website:

✅ Create a user-friendly, modern website, serving various site visitors

✅ Optimize for SEO, inclusive of site architecture, technical foundation, keyword support and editorial content

✅ Work Fast, creating page templates, and CMS collections

✅ Blend Imagery, Iconography, and Information in an aesthetically pleasing manner

✅ Get user feedback & team feedback to make site adjustments

✅ Track user interactions, and iterate on the site based on the data

✅ Test the site on various devices to ensure the best user experience

✅ Publish the content, take the site live, and continue to optimize

🧭 Website User Journey:

I developed a robust website architecture for Clearly Acquired, incorporating an SEO-driven strategy to enhance visibility and reach. The architecture was designed to shine light on various steps of the business acquisition process, making it easier for Brokers, Buyers, and Banks to navigate and find relevant information about the process, the platform, and the brand. By focusing on SEO best practices, the website effectively addressed user needs while improving search engine rankings and driving targeted traffic to the platform.

📲 The Website:

📑 Marketing Collateral:

I created a range of marketing collateral assets for Clearly Acquired, including videos, retargeting ads, and print assets, to elevate and maintain a cohesive brand identity. These materials were strategically designed to engage target audiences across multiple channels, ensuring consistent messaging and visual appeal. By aligning every asset with the brand’s core values, I helped drive awareness, engagement, and growth for the platform.

✨ Results & Takeaways:

The launch of the Clearly Acquired website successfully met the needs of Brokers, Buyers, and Banks by delivering a seamless, user-friendly experience that aligns with the brand's vision. Using tools like Hotjar to track user behavior, I made continuous improvements based on real-time feedback, enhancing navigation and functionality. The fully responsive design and consistent brand representation across all touchpoints have strengthened user trust and engagement, driving platform adoption and satisfaction.