briteskies-knowledge-base

Grow Your Online B2B Business by Paying Attention to Your Users

Michelle Kowalski
08/2016

grow_B2B_business.pngAre you looking to grow your B2B business online? Do you think you might be missing out on B2B business? Throughout our numerous projects, we have noticed that there are some common reasons that shoppers are visiting your site. The best way to grow your B2B business is to pay attention to those reasons and cater to your users’ needs.

The Top Three Reasons B2B Users are on Your Site:

  1. In search of a deal, they want to see how your price compares to other vendors
  2. They have already made a purchasing decision and want to buy from you
  3. They are researching technical details about your product

In search of a deal, they want to see how your price compares to other retailers

B2B customers tend to have corporate policies in place that require them to compare the cost of materials from multiple sources before placing an order. Keep your pricing front and center. Showing the MSRP is a good start for regular browsers or B2C users, but showing your B2B customers their specific pricing can help influence their decision. Increasing transparency and showing your customers their specific price breakdown or quantity discounts they are eligible for can increase your sales and help your customers make a purchasing decision.

If price is not the competitive factor for your products, be sure to highlight other impactful and valuable differences to justify your price. Is your product tested more rigorously? Do you use higher quality materials or ingredients? Whatever sets your products above those of your competitors, make sure your customers can’t miss it.

Give your users the ability to request a quote to send to their purchasing department for approval. Then take it to the next level by letting them turn that quote into an order.

They have already made a purchasing decision and want to buy from you

B2B Bob filled out the quote, sent it to Purchasing Pam and got approval, and now he is ready to order, so make it easy for him! Building in a process to convert a quote to an order is a great option. Creating a quick order portal is another method for letting Bob place his orders quickly. He knows the SKUs and quantities he needs and isn’t interested in the traditional B2C eCommerce process. He doesn’t need pictures, descriptions, or additional information, he just wants to order a ton of materials from you and get on with his day. Building a SKU + Quantity table and allowing a Quick Order is great option for customers like Bob.

They are researching technical details about your product

B2B users in the research stage need a different level of technical detail than many B2C shoppers. Consider including PDFs of your spec sheets for your customers to download. As we’ve said before, content is king, and making sure you are sharing the information your customers need is critical.

Sharing your product knowledge includes opportunities to cross-sell or upsell to your customers by recommending new products to them. If you have great technical resources available for your products, don’t make your users dig for it. Keep your product pages organized and give your downloads a designated area to help your customers quickly find what they need.

Become a trusted resource for your customers by sharing news and updates on a blog. A blog can also be used to feature new products or advancements in technology that could impact your B2B customers’ operations.

Of course, there are other reasons a B2B user may visit your site (curiosity, Reddit links, internet black holes, etc.), but making sure your eCommerce site reaches these three main groups is a great way to improve your B2B user experience.

Are you reaching these three types of B2B users? Contact us to grow your business online.  

Download 5 Questions to ask yourself before starting an eCommerce project.

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