Today research firm MarketingSherpa published a B-to-B Web Site Homepage Design Research Study featuring results of eyetracking and user satisfaction tests conducted on the homepages of IBM, Oracle and Sun Microsystems as well as five other business-to-business Web sites. Results: MarketingSherpa's unauthorized redesigns of B-to-B homepages increased both user satisfaction and reading comprehension. The complete study is available in conjunction with the firm's newest Business Marketing Benchmark Guide at: http://www.BusinessTechPR07.Marketingsherpa.com

This May, MarketingSherpa researchers, together with study partner Enquiro, invited 60 business executives into an eyetracking lab to take part in the world's first B-to-B Home Page Study. "After reviewing 150 B-to-B Web sites, our research team had discovered 80% of large organizations used almost the exact same homepage layout," explains Content Director Anne Holland. "There's a reason why most business-to-business Web sites feel very similar - they all really do look alike. Our question was, is this nearly universal Web layout the best one? Or is it just the default? Can results be improved?"

The 60 business executives -- all influencers or decision makers for major technology purchases within their organizations -- examined versions of six Web sites, including Oracle, IBM and Sun Microsystems. MarketingSherpa tracked their eye scanning patterns, click patterns, and asked them to rate user satisfaction.

The results? The alternate designs of each Web site homepage created by MarketingSherpa's in-house design team got better ratings than the real-life home pages. Textual content (copy) and graphics were not altered for this test - only page layout differed.

For details on the tests, including extensive eyetracking heatmaps and data charts on all sites involved, are available in the resulting $127.00 Study at MarketingSherpa. This Study is available free of charge for a limited time as a bonus to all purchasers of MarketingSherpa Business Technology Marketing Benchmark Guide 2007 at:
http://www.BusinessTechPR07.Marketingsherpa.com