Global AppSec B2B Website Redesign

The website spoke engineer. The users didn't.

Sparrow sells application security testing (SAST, DAST, SCA) to enterprises. Its English website was the front door for North American and global buyers, but it described the product the way engineers do. I redesigned the website around the problems users faces, rewrote it in plain language, and shipped it with the development team.

01 · The problem: users arrived, then left in 17 seconds

I started with 2 weeks of Google Analytics data. Through analyzing user retention, conversion, funnels, and other user data, I found out that the homepage had 56% of all page views, yet half of the users left without a second click.

Insight: interest wasn't the problem. When visitors reached a page that explained Sparrow in context, they stayed more than twice as long. The homepage just wasn't getting them there.

02 · Diagnosis: a homepage written for people who already knew Sparrow

I audited every homepage section against one question: could a first-time buyer with no prior knowledge of Application Security can tell what Sparrow does for them, and where to go next?

[as-is hero section]

03 · Benchmarking: how security leaders talk to their users

I then studied four sites that sell complex security products to the similar targeted users.

04 · Trend Analysis: finding the trend based on Python

Before choosing the homepage's themes, I checked what users actually look for. Google Trends compares only five keywords at a time, so I wrote a Python script (pytrends, pandas, matplotlib) in Google Colab to pull and compare ten security keywords across three years. I paired that with Google Ads click rankings from 2023-2024.

Problem-level terms like open source and SBOM rose or held, while technical method names like static analysis fell. Buyers were searching for their problem, so the homepage needed to speak that way too. The data came from the Korean market, but it matched the global shift toward software supply chain mandates.

05 · Re-design: IA reframing and hero section design

I regrouped the hero around three problems the market was already searching for, and gave each one a single destination.

1. A hero that names the user's problem. The single slogan became a three-slide carousel, one per problem. Each slide pairs a plain headline with one line of explanation and two CTAs. "Learn more" goes to the matching product; "Get in Touch" goes straight to the inquiry form. Explorers and ready buyers both get a next step.

2. Product cards that explain the difference. I rewrote each card around who it is for, so buyers can tell the three offerings apart without a sales call.

3. Proof where doubt starts. A customer logo band now sits directly under the hero, grouped by public, enterprise and financial sectors. A new partner map shows Sparrow's reach across Japan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore; hovering a pin reveals the partner.

4. A contact section that invites a conversation. The thin banner became a full block: a brand story video, a direct 1:1 inquiry link and social channels.

5. CTAs that match how enterprises buy. Following the SonarQube pattern, I proposed replacing "Buy it" with "Request a demo" and "Contact sales" on the pricing page.

Alongside these, I translated Korean-only company content (business areas, mission, milestones) so global visitors saw the same story as domestic ones.

06 · Shipping: from deck to live site

Design only counts once it ships, so I stayed with the work through launch.

1. Proposal: presented the as-is analysis and to-be design to the marketing team as one deck, and got sign-off on copy and structure.

2. Build: worked with the MIS web developers in WordPress (Elementor), making smaller layout and copy fixes myself in HTML/CSS.

3. QA: joined cross-team UAT rounds logged in a shared sheet: issue type, browser and device, page, request, status. We tested on Chrome, Edge and Safari, desktop and iPhone.

4. Launch: the redesign went live as part of Sparrow's second-half 2024 web renewal.

07 · Results

After launch, the bounce rate fell 15% and conversion rose 10%. More visitors were finding a reason to stay, and more of them were reaching out.

What I learned

• Jargon is a structure problem, not just a word problem. Every term on the old site was accurate. What failed was the order: visitors had to translate product names into their own problems before they knew where to click.

• Numbers show where; people explain why. Analytics showed where the homepage was leaking. Search data, benchmarking and the buyer's point of view showed what to change.

• The work isn't done at the mockup. A broken link or a stray Korean label can undo a good layout, so the UAT sheet mattered as much as the deck.

• Proactiveness matters. I joined as a sales and marketing intern, not a designer. Working next to sales, I saw buyers leave before they ever reached us, so I raised the problem and took the redesign from analysis to launch.