Audience research
Part of Audience research for landing page software starts with a decision, not a persona
Define the landing page software audience with an organisation rule and screening fields
Define a landing page software target audience in England from observable buyer tasks, eligibility rules, sampling limits and decision authority.
A landing page software target audience is a declared set of organisations and roles facing a recent, observable page-production task. It is not everyone who advertises online, visits a website or submits a form. Define the product decision first, then recruit against evidence of the task.
No audience research was commissioned for this guide, and it reports no prevalence figure for England. It does not choose a lawful basis for processing personal information. What it gives you is the rule and the screening fields to apply before you recruit anyone. The worked rule is scoped to England; name Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland instead if that is where the buying unit sits.
What counts as landing page software
Landing page software is the category being bought: hosted page builders such as Unbounce, Leadpages and Instapage; website platforms with a built-in page builder such as Wix, Squarespace and Webflow; and marketing suites where pages sit alongside forms and a CRM, such as HubSpot and Mailchimp. Buyers weigh page building and publishing, form and CRM integration, A/B testing, templates and brand controls, and the pricing tier they sign up to.
A page-production task is one of these: building or publishing a landing page; creating or changing a lead-capture form; connecting that form to a CRM or email tool; running a split test on a page; or reviewing and approving someone else's page before it goes live. Everything below is written so a recruiter can recognise that task in a stranger's answers.
What to take away
- Define the product decision first, then recruit against evidence of the page-production task.
- Official datasets can describe possible frames but cannot identify landing page software buyers.
- Define roles from observable responsibility, not from job titles alone.
- Translate assumptions into neutral screening questions covering task, responsibility, geography and route.
- Keep a frame log and stop if the frame cannot reach the defined group.
Write an organisation rule
Start with an eligible buyer organisation, not a personality. Record:
- Activitythe work that creates a possible need: building or publishing landing pages, or running the lead-capture forms on them.
- England connectionthe buying unit operates in England, or the organisation is registered here.
- Recent periodthe task happened within the study period.
- Current routethe tool used today: a hosted builder, a website platform with a page builder, a marketing suite, a developer or agency, or nothing yet.
- Buying unitwho can approve the subscription or pricing tier, and who operates the pages day to day.
- Explicit exclusionsagencies acting for a client where the intended buyer is the client's in-house team, and anyone whose work does not include building, changing or approving a page or form.
Organisation rule fields
- Activity creating possible need
- England connection
- Recent period of task
- Current route
- Buying unit
- Explicit exclusions
Official datasets can describe possible frames but cannot identify buyers. The ONS business activity, size and location tables cover registered enterprises and local units, while the Department for Business and Trade's 2025 estimates include a broader estimated private-sector population. Neither records landing page software use. Use them only to explain coverage or frame gaps.
Worked example: a completed organisation rule
A team selling hosted landing page software might write its rule like this. Activity: building or publishing landing pages, or running the lead-capture forms on them. England connection: the buying unit sits in England. Recent period: the task happened within the study period. Current route: a hosted builder or a website platform with a page builder. Buying unit: the marketing team that approves the subscription. Exclusions: agencies building pages for clients, where the client's in-house team is the intended buyer, and organisations whose pages are built entirely by an outside developer.
Separate the people around the task
Within an eligible organisation, define roles by observable responsibility, not job title: the economic buyer approves the software spend and the pricing tier; a page operator builds and publishes pages, edits lead-capture forms and runs A/B tests in the builder; a reviewer checks claims, privacy, accessibility or security before a page goes live, including how form data reaches the CRM.
A website visitor sees the output but does not become a software buyer just by arriving. A lead meets the organisation's recorded lead rule. A customer meets a separate transaction or contract definition.
Do not assign authority, need or technical skill from a job title alone. Ask for a recent example and supporting artefact, with confidential material removed. A participant who chose a supplier may describe purchase criteria; an operator can explain publishing friction. Neither automatically speaks for the other.
Turn assumptions into screening fields
The GOV.UK Service Manual recommends that teams learn who users are and what they are trying to do, then treat non-user opinions as assumptions. Translate that into neutral screening fields, each with fixed answer options and one eligibility test:
- Task performed"Which page-related task did you perform, or approve, in the study period?" Options: built or published a landing page; created or changed a lead-capture form; connected a form to a CRM or email tool; ran a split test on a page; approved someone else's page; none of these. Eligible on any answer except "none of these".
- Direct responsibility"What was your own responsibility for that task?" Options: I do the work; I approve the work; I advise; I only observe. Eligible when the person does or approves the work.
- Organisation and operating geography"Which organisation ran the task, and where does the buying unit sit?" Options: England; Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland; elsewhere; unsure. Eligible when the buying unit is in England.
- Current route"Which route did the organisation use for that task?" Options: a hosted landing page builder; a website platform with a page builder; a marketing suite with pages and forms; a developer or agency; nothing yet. Record the answer as context; the route does not decide eligibility on its own.
- Buying boundary"Is the organisation inside the declared buyer boundary?" Options: yes, the team that owns the pages buys in-house; no, we buy or build for clients; unsure. Eligible on "yes" when the declared boundary is an in-house team.
Ask only for information needed to establish eligibility and schedule participation. The ICO's data-protection principles include purpose limitation, data minimisation, accuracy, storage limitation and security; check its current guidance, and the Data (Use and Access) Act, before you build the screening form, and take specialist advice before recruitment.
Check who the frame misses
A customer list excludes organisations using other routes and firms that abandoned the task. A professional network favours members. A voluntary web invitation may attract people with unusually strong views. GOV.UK's guidance on finding research participants says recruitment route, timing, venue and activity can introduce bias.
Keep a frame log: source, invitation count, ineligible count, non-response, withdrawals, completed sessions and observed omissions. Do not fill gaps by guessing identity or disability from names, profiles, browsing records or postcodes. Ask directly about task-relevant access requirements in an accessible process.
Make the decision traceable
For each proposed segment, write the eligibility rule, evidence source, sample reached, contrary cases and date. Then state what decision it can affect. If the evidence shows only that some page operators struggle with approval hand-offs before a builder subscription is renewed, it supports testing that workflow with similar operators. It does not establish prevalence across England or prove purchase intent.
The next action is to recruit one clearly defined group for one research question. Stop if the frame cannot reach that group or if the result would not change a named product decision.
Before you act
- Write the eligibility rule before recruiting anyone.
- Record the activity, England connection, recent period and current route.
- State explicit exclusions, including agencies if buying is in-house.
- Ask only for information needed to establish eligibility.
- Log source, invitation count, ineligible count, withdrawals and completed sessions.
- Stop if the result would not change a named product decision.
Common questions
What should an organisation rule record?
It should record the activity creating a possible need, the England connection, the recent period in which the task occurred, the current route, the buying unit and explicit exclusions. Agencies should be excluded if the intended buyer is an in-house team. Start with an eligible buyer organisation, not a personality.
Why can official datasets not identify buyers?
The ONS business activity, size and location tables cover registered enterprises and local units. The Department for Business and Trade's 2025 estimates include a broader estimated private-sector population. Neither records landing page software use, so they only explain coverage or frame gaps.
How should assumptions be turned into screening fields?
The GOV.UK Service Manual recommends learning who users are and what they are trying to do, then treating non-user opinions as assumptions. Ask which page-related task the person performed or approved, their direct responsibility, the organisation and geography concerned, the current route and whether the organisation is inside the buyer boundary.
