When creating a website design as a B2B industry, there are a number of different factors to consider. A B2B website has much different needs than a B2C website because they aren’t attracting the same types of individuals. Such as generating leads or providing useful content for your clients. Today, we will discuss what to consider when restructuring your B2B website and best practices to make the most of your B2B website design.
What is the difference between B2B and B2C website?
A B2B website is catering their product or service to another professional business, so the design needs are a bit different than a business catering to a group of consumers. A B2C website for example, needs a design strategy that will encourage an individual to make a purchase sooner rather than later since the consumer market is a bit more fast paced and impulse driven. For example, a B2C website might use a landing page offering a discount if they make a purchase today.
A B2B website, however, caters to a market that is research driven and requires more thorough analysis before making a purchasing decision as there is often a greater investment behind these types of purchasing decisions. They usually will require more product information and communication with the business is order to compare features and benefits among similar organizations. Therefore, a B2B website must be designed with a client focused approach that caters to the needs of these individuals, as well as showcase their competitive advantage among competition.
How Does B2B Website Design Deliver Results?
Increased use of mobile phones and tablets has enabled individuals to access the internet from just about anywhere. B2B companies that have an enhanced digital presence are more likely to improve important areas of their business such as lead generation and client communication. A B2B website can now act as a powerful sales tool that drives brand awareness, develops trust through increased knowledge about products or services, and serves as a method of direct communication with visitors.
Best Practices When Developing Your B2B Website Design:
Incorporate a Client Centric Focus
What many B2B companies fail to realize is the importance of a client centric focus when it comes to your design. Instead of having your website focus on everything that is great about your business, have it focus on identifying the needs or issues faced by your customers and how your solutions will help to resolve this problem.
A client centric focus will help your B2B company create a sales ready website designed to help convert visitor traffic into sales leads. Your website should be designed to move visitors through the sales funnel through attraction and conversion. The attraction phase is developed through engaging content, which may or may not directly relate to your product or service but helps establish trust through the knowledge you provide. The conversion phase is developed through a call to action strategy through actionable requests and landing page design, which help visitors establish a further connection with your brand. These elements work together to keep visitors engaged and coming back to your website, eventually bringing them closer to a purchasing decision.
Develop a Better Experience Online
Knowing what your customers want and allowing them to find this information in a quick and easy manner will improve your online experience dramatically. But while we all generally know what creates a good experience (such as fast performance, interesting content and a responsive website), many B2B organizations are not taking the appropriate measures to create the most optimal online experience. In fact, studies have shown that only 58% of B2B organizations have optimized their website for a better user experience.
Below are a few areas on your website that will improve your user experience:
- Faster performance
- Reliable security
- Navigation that allows visitors to find product or contact information quickly
- Simple, clear offers and product descriptions (don’t overwhelm visitors)
- Engaging content such as a blog or news area
Humanize Your Brand
Make your business more relatable by humanizing your brand image on your website. “A brand does not exist within a company or organization. A brand exists in the minds of your customers. A brand is the sum of impressions a customer has, based on interaction with you, your company or products.” (LucidPress) Focus on creating a positive impression with your website visitors by giving your business a voice through content and new website integrations.
Below are a few onsite elements to incorporate that help to better humanize your brand:
- Use real photography rather than stock images. Choose images of staff members, business location, or products and services in use (for assistance with custom website photography click here)
- Add a blog to give your business a voice about industry topics, innovations and events
- Integrate social media to encourage business communication and client connection
- Add a chat feature to speak directly with a customer service representative
- Incorporate case studies to give visitors a relatable experience of how your product or service could be used
Provide a Consistent Brand Experience
One of the ways to provide a memorable online experience is to create a sense of consistency throughout your B2B website. “The greatest negative impact of inconsistent brand usage is the creation of confusion in the market. (Lucidpress)” Consistency will not only make your brand appear more professional, but it will also help visitors remember you when they are evaluating your business among competitors.
Some ways to provide a sense of consistency throughout your B2B website are:
- Use similar colors, fonts, logos throughout your website
- Keep your social posts or blog a specific tone of voice
- Update your website to be responsive across mobile devices (so visitors are provided the same experience no matter what device they access it from)
Segment Your Content Based on the Types of Visitors
Unlike a B2C website, a B2B company often has different types of individuals that their website caters to. For example, some individuals may come for technical resources, some attend events, some are members or some are looking for a product or service information.
Some types of content may not be available for all visitors, so it may be helpful to guide visitors through your website based on what they might be looking for. For example, you could create an industry professional section for resource documents to prevent new visitors accessing information that may not be available to them or related to what they are looking for.
Overall, your B2B website should focus on your customer and guiding them through the buying journey in an easy to understand way. Focus on providing a relatable brand experience that helps visitors easily find the information they are looking for. By investing in a website that focuses on how your business solutions can potentially help an individual, your business will be able to more effectively convert more leads to future clients.
Alliance Interactive is a full service agency providing custom B2B Website Design. Have a project you’d like us to review? Let’s Talk.