Hero Section

“Losing a loved one is hard enough” is a strong message that anyone can relate to. It compels the reader to read on. Which is great.

But after reading the paragraph below, I was surprised to see a “Book a demo” Call to Action. “Why would I want a demo if a loved one just died?”

Confusing, but Ok... moving on.

Benefits Section

Here I was confused again. “Who’s ‘they’? I thought this product was for me.”

Regarding the benefit cards below - “Holistic care” and “Empowerment” are relatively clear concepts, but what does “Better outcomes” mean?

If this benefit is financial (e.g. “Save money and time”), I’d try to create a clearer message around that.

Success Stories Section

This is a great place for this section. After the emotionally moving but vague messages above, getting a clear picture of what this company can do for me is exactly what I need.

But the design, although inspiring, does not make it seem like a personal story.

There’s no details that make me emotionally connect with the person in the story. Like a full name, where the live or any other details. A picture or even illustration of a person’s face would also go a long way here, emphasizing the human aspect.

Also - the illustrations on the right are unrelated to the story’s subject (insurance delay = birds?).

These design decisions cause the reader to have to work hard to assemble the information puzzle. Which increases the chance of them getting tired and scrolling on.

Numbers Section

Here, again, the “business” aspect of the messaging catches me off guard.

I can start to put together that this company helps businesses, but it’s not clear how.

The numbers are convincing and give some quantitive support to the abstract messages above. That’s good.

Video Section

This video is equally beautiful and moving as the rest of the site, and does a good job of presenting the value proposition. But it has a few fatal flaws.

1. It doesn’t play automatically, and there’s no title or explanation for what it contains. So there’s little motivation for me to click “Play”. Visitor curiosity is a very scarce resource and should not be counted on.
2. The video’s core is the narration, but after pressing “play” the video stays muted.
3. There are no subtitles for people who want to watch silently or are hearing disabled.

A lot of effort was put into this video, and it is a strong marketing asset. So solving these small technical issues should be a good way to boost its effect.

Features Section

This section is very important. It finally shows the visitor what the product contains. But the message in the heading doesn’t do a good job of presenting and contextualizing this information.

“Helping you through the challenge” might be a clearer messaging direction.

I’d also consider moving this section up in the website, to reduce the time until visitors see the actual product.

Testimonials Section

Wait what? Hotshot business people testimonials?

I thought this was all about helping families.

This is when it hit me. This is a B2B product.

Only now did I complete the information puzzle and understand that Empathy sell their service to companies, and then in turn help their employees’ families.

I might not be the sharpest pencil, and probably not so dumb either - but this is way too late in the website for a visitor to get this.

Press Section

Famous media outlet logos are nice and familiar - but they’re not clickable and don’t link anywhere. If Empathy had articles published about them and want to use them for credibility, why not add links?

This section could also use a heading, to add context to these logos and the cards below.

When designing things, adding headings and titles to things help us make sense of the information we’re putting under them.

For example, what does “The Cost of Dying Report” has to do with Empathy being an award winning app?

Banner Section

Finally, a clear(-ish) value proposition with a call to action.

This is the information that should have been at the very top of the website.

Notice the bold design (in contrast with the rest of the website) emphasizing this banner.

But the choice of a black background for this area, which is supposed to make me feel hopeful and inspired (to promote a buying decision) is questionable.

Summary

Empathy’s site is beautifully crafted to convey a precise combination of grief and hope. But the messaging is too vague and leaves a lot of critical questions unanswered.

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