1. Design
Never underestimate the importance of design. Your customers need to be able to find exactly what they're looking for as soon as they arrive at your online store. It needs to be fast and responsive with pages that load quickly and provide smooth, intuitive navigation on all major devices: desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
2. User Experience
Content may be king, but that doesn’t mean you should write endless sales pages filled with text. The best B2B online stores primarily use interactive media files: from images and videos to all kinds of widgets and social media sharing buttons. This way, you offer users a great online experience that guides them through the purchasing process. As your customer relationships grow, you can further enhance this experience with personalized catalogs and web promotions.
3. Information
The decision-making process in B2B sales is often a group effort involving all relevant decision-makers. That’s why it’s important for your website to provide all parties involved with the information they need to make their decision.
B2C websites, for example, do not automatically assume that the customer has a certain level of technical expertise. Technical specifications—if included at all—are therefore often kept to a minimum and are not prominently displayed. But in a B2B context, there will always be “specialists” involved who need to be able to evaluate the online information about your product. Therefore, always include such information when building your online store.
4. SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO), or search engine optimization, is the most important factor in driving traffic to your online store. So ask yourself this question: What are the most important search terms your customers use to find what they’re looking for? It’s vital that you optimize your website’s content as effectively as possible for these search terms, because ranking higher in Google and Bing also gives you a direct competitive advantage. The more search-friendly your site is, the more traffic you’ll get. The good news is that SEO doesn’t have to be difficult. Many e-commerce solutions include built-in tools for optimizing your online store pages.
5. Up-to-date
This may seem obvious, but it’s important to properly maintain your site and keep it up to date. If you host a blog, update it regularly with new posts. Also, check to make sure old links still work. And don’t leave seasonal, promotional, or other time-sensitive content online any longer than necessary. B2B companies often overlook these kinds of ‘details.’ By taking the time to address them, you’ll stay one step ahead of your competitors who may not be as focused on these aspects.
6. Scalability
Successful businesses grow and evolve. You don’t want to have to rebuild your website every few years just because you’re constantly adding new sections or content, do you? By planning ahead and choosing a scalable solution that adapts and expands, you’ll save yourself a lot of work in the long run.
This is certainly true for companies with more than one online store. Leading B2B organizations often manage multiple sites from a single platform, each with its own brand identity. A flexible solution is therefore crucial.
7. Integration
Integration is the secret ingredient of the best B2B companies… if not the most important part of your online store. Without integration, you’ll have to manually copy order, customer, and product information back and forth between your online store and your ERP system. Integration automates this process for you, keeps your store up to date with customer and catalog data, and processes orders directly into your ERP system from your online store.
8. Distribution and Logistics
Whether you do business locally or globally, you need the right logistics to receive and ship orders. When choosing an e-commerce solution, be sure to give extra consideration to factors such as national and international sales taxes, warehousing and shipping methods, and language support for the countries where you do business.
9. Social Media
Many B2B companies make the mistake of assuming that social media is merely a channel for B2C communication. By leveraging social media, you open your business up to millions of potential customers. All you need to do is identify the most effective channels for your business and tailor your content to capture your target audience’s attention. This content doesn’t even have to relate directly to your product or service. For example, marketing, finance, or technology-related topics can be a great way to reach other businesses.
10. Added Value
The best B2B sales practices focus on building relationships rather than chasing a quick sale. Prospective customers usually weigh their options. You can make your business stand out by offering them significant added value upfront. Establish yourself as an expert in your industry by sharing some of your knowledge with them. Featuring company blogs and customer stories on your website is an excellent way to do this and is also easy to implement.
