Hi Reader,

It's been a while since I did a marketing site audit in the Dispatch, so that's what I have for you today!

We can learn a lot by analysing the choices other designers have made on a marketing site. And today I'm doing a deep dive into the homepage for the writing/planning/workspace tool Notion.

Let's jump in.

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Notion marketing homepage critique

The Notion site starts off with an illustration of three people working, the heading "All-in-one workspace" and a subheading that says "One tool for your whole team. Write, plan, and get organized."

This illustration, combined with the choice of copy, instantly tells me this is a tool designed for teams and companies primarily. I know (because I use it myself) that Notion is a tool for individuals too, but I like that they've picked a core audience for their main messaging. When you try to appeal to everyone, you end up appealing to no one. So by focussing their primary messaging on teams Notion are prioritising one of their target audiences (this is the audience that makes them money, so it makes sense!).

I like that you can sign up for an account right there on the page by entering your email, but this design pattern—an email field to the left of a 'sign up' button—is most commonly used for email list sign up forms which could be misleading or off-putting to some. It'd be interesting to know if their conversion rates would improve if the button CTA said something like "create account" instead.

Peeking out above the "fold" is this product image carousel that shows three core use-cases for Notion. I like that they've included this right at the start of a page because when I'm researching a piece of software, I always want to know what the tool itself looks like. Sometimes a company uses illustrations in place of product imagery, but Notion have taken the approach of doing both.

Further down the page they have embedded videos showing the three screenshots in action, and giving a little more information about each one. The "replaces" piece is strong not only because it helps a user see what tools in their suite Notion could take over from, but it also helps to explain the product. If I'm a Trello user I know what it does, and therefore I can make some assumptions about what Notion can do too.

I wonder if Notion could combine these 3 points with the carousel above, because we are seeing very similar information in both places (one just has more depth).

Before the embedded videos there's a section about how different teams can use Notion in their process. As with the heading I like that this is leaning in to the team target audience, but the centered sub-points here under each team name are hard to scan. I wish it was possible to click on a team to dig in to a use case or a specific feature page. Maybe it's in the plan for Notion but right now it feels like a missed opportunity to give a product tour to a specific audience (if I click on the "Design" block for example, I want to see all the features that help a design team).

Midway on the page they have another signup CTA which again feels more like an email opt-in form. But it's presence halfway down the page is a great idea, especially when accompanied by testimonials.

Near the bottom we see some messaging for the personal plan. The heading "Free for personal use" is a great one. Had they gone with something more like the "Write better. Think more clearly." subheading it wouldn't catch your eye as easily.

The only issue I have with this part of the page is that someone who has been recommended Notion by a friend as a tool to use for their individual tasks/note taking, and has zero interest in the team aspect might never see it. Having something near the top of the page to skip down to this section could help, as would something in the sticky nav about personal use so that the person looking for that plan is reassured they're in the right place.

The homepage ends with a plethora of tweet screenshots on the page. They're not embedded tweets, but they look like they are. These are great social proof and much more convincing than a custom designed testimonial quote in Notion's branding. The Twitter design patterns instil a sense of trust that these are indeed real people, and real things they've said about the tool. The inclusion of the verified accounts further adds to that social proof and we're reassured that this is a tool our peers are using.

I wish the page ended with one last convincing CTA. Perhaps one that's a little larger than the ones previously on the page to make a bit of impact and connect to the "these people are using it, you should too" implicit messaging.

Overall, this is a super solid piece of product marketing from Notion. The homepage explains just enough of the features to get you interested to try it, but doesn't overwhelm you with too much complexity.

​Check the site out for yourself here and let me know what you thought of this audit! Did it give you any ideas of things to try with the site you work on?

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A walkthrough of a Webflow site build

Interested in hearing about some of the design decisions I make when working on a website? Check out my video walking through the design and build of a recent micro-site I created for ConvertKit.

It's a show and tell that gives you an overview of the site itself, along with some of the cool features of the build in Webflow!

I'm getting started on a new Webflow build this week, so follow me on Twitch to join in on the livestreams I do throughout the process.

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Let me know if you’d like to see more marketing site audits like this Notion one in future! Tell me what sites you’d like me to critique too.

As always if you reply to this email it lands in my inbox. I’m always interested in any feedback you have about this newsletter!

Hope you have a good week,

Charli