That probably won’t come as much of a surprise to anyone in the B Corp community, although it may shock those who think that ethical business and commercial success are somehow sworn enemies.
But they’re not: you don’t have to choose between saving the world and saving your bottom line.
Research shows that B Corporations outperform non-certified businesses across a range of measures. Between 2023 and 2024, small and medium-sized UK B Corps achieved a 23.2% increase in turnover compared to the national average of 16.8%. Employee headcount increased by 9.6%, compared to a national decrease of 0.5%. Not bad for a group of organisations allegedly too busy hugging trees and saving bees to worry about growth!
The reasons behind that growth are fairly straightforward. People care more than ever about who they buy from, who they work for, and who they trust with their money. Businesses have spent years saying they care about sustainability, ethics, communities and social impact. Today, consumers are increasingly asking for proof before they hand over their credit card details and their loyalty.
That is where certifications become incredibly powerful. They help organisations prove they’re actually walking the walk – not just putting on their hiking boots for a quick selfie. Customers are smart, and they can spot the difference between real purpose and virtue-signalling.
63% of the public now use certifications to help guide decisions about which businesses they buy from or work for, up from 58% in 2023 and 56% in 2022. More people are actively seeking out organisations whose values align with their own, and B Corps are benefitting from that shift.
Is there a downside to this growth? Of course there is! Growth has a pretty wicked sense of humour: it solves your old problems and then drops some shiny new ones on your doorstep.
As organisations grow, the systems supporting them need to grow too. And that’s not always happening – at least, not at the rate it needs to. Unfortunately, the website built three, four, or five years ago often gets left behind like a digital time capsule. Today, many growing B Corps are finding that while their organisation has moved forward, their website is stubbornly stuck in the past.
When your website no longer reflects who you are
Getting certified is a great start to new growth. But it doesn’t guarantee success. There’s something else to consider.
As organisations evolve, services expand, audiences change, and positioning becomes more refined. The website that once represented the business perfectly can gradually become a snapshot of a company that no longer exists. And for many B Corps, certification itself marks a turning point. Afterwards, they need to be able to communicate their purpose and impact more clearly, yet the website is often still telling the same old story from before that journey began.
Why does all this matter? Because websites are where many relationships start.
Research shows that brands that build meaningful relationships with their customers grow between two and five times faster than their competitors. If visitors can’t quickly understand who you are, what you do and why your organisation exists, it becomes much harder to build that connection.
Rest assured that this is a very common problem. So if it’s all sounding a little familiar, don’t run into hiding, thinking you’ve epically messed up. You haven’t. It’s solvable. And it’s a challenge shared by plenty of B Corps. The key is recognising it before that old website starts really getting in the way.
Telltale signs you’ve outgrown your website
Most organisations don’t wake up one morning struck by the revelation that their website is now the digital equivalent of skinny jeans in a sweatpants world. What normally happens is that small frustrations bubble away underneath the surface until boiling lava pours all over your efforts.
Our mission is to help you recognise the problem before things get that far. Here’s what to look for:
Updating content has become a chore
If updating content requires a PhD in patience, it’s time to pay attention. What once felt like a sensible setup can become a nightmare as organisations grow, leaving teams battling clunky processes, outdated functionality, and an increasing reliance on developers to make simple changes.
Your website isn’t supporting growth
The website that worked brilliantly when the organisation was smaller may now buckle under the weight of your ambitions. New services, evolving customer journeys and growing marketing dreams all put fresh strain on a platform, to the point where it’s often ready to just give up.
Accessibility has become an afterthought
Accessibility isn’t a box you tick once and then forget about. As websites grow, sneaky new barriers can creep in through updates, fancy features and integrations. For B Corps, accessibility is a mirror for the inclusive values you parade everywhere else, so you really can’t afford to be leaving it behind.
Your digital presence doesn’t reflect your sustainability commitments
Many work hard to shrink their environmental impact, while their digital footprint stomps around like a carbon-breathing Yeti. Sustainable websites are faster, leaner, and less likely to eat up the planet’s resources. If sustainability is part of your identity, your website should be sustainable, too.
What to do if you’ve outgrown your website
Research suggests that B Corp growth rates keep increasing the longer you’ve been certified. That means the gap between an organisation and its website will only keep getting bigger and bigger.
Identifying the problem and acting quickly is the smart move here.
The first thing to understand is that this isn’t really a website problem. It’s a growth problem that happens to be showing up through your website. The platform that exists today was built to support a very different organisation. Whatever the reason, the website is no longer aligned with where the business is today. This means that the solution isn’t just updating a few pages and hoping for the best.
Instead, take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Ask yourself:
- What are your business goals?
- What do visitors need from your website?
- Where are people getting stuck, dropping off, or failing to take action?
A website audit can help uncover technical issues, content challenges, accessibility concerns, and user experience problems that have slowly and silently become a part of everyday life.
Most importantly, resist the temptation to build a website for the organisation you are today. Build one for the organisation you plan to become: the you of tomorrow. If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that B Corps have a habit of growing faster than anyone could have predicted!
Choosing the right website partner
Not every organisation that’s outgrown its website needs a complete rebuild, but you’ll definitely need a partner that understands both the technical and strategic challenges involved for B Corps.
That means looking beyond technical expertise alone.
Accessibility, sustainability, long-term support, and an understanding of purpose-led organisations should all form part of the conversation. As a certified B Corporation ourselves, we understand how quickly organisations can evolve, and how important it is for websites to evolve alongside them.
When evaluating potential partners, look for:
- Strong WordPress development expertise
- An understanding of B Corps and purpose-led organisations
- A commitment to accessibility
- Experience with sustainable web development and green hosting
- Long-term support and maintenance
- A genuine interest in your organisation’s goals
Basically, someone who just ‘gets you’!
Next steps
If your organisation has grown significantly over the last few years, there’s a good chance your website hasn’t kept pace with every change. Especially if you’ve grown quickly.
Don’t worry: that’s completely normal, and we see it all the time. Most growing organisations eventually reach the point where their business has evolved faster than the platform supporting it.
The important question is this: is your website helping you achieve your goals, communicate your impact, and support future growth? Or is it just haunting the internet like the Ghost of Business Past?
If it’s the latter, it may be time to see what comes next.
If you’d like to chat with fellow B Corp-ers about it all, our door is always open. Well, maybe not literally – after all, we’d struggle to get much work done if people kept wandering in for biscuits!