You might not have seen that one coming!
86% of B2B companies use their website as a customer or prospect communication channel.
As the world of business continues to become more and more digital, modern B2B buyers are lost in the woods of the internet in search of a product or service that meets their needs.
B2B buyers like the sound of the self-serve era, as they gather information about your product before contacting you. Is there a secret place to dig out information about your product or service? Probably not. They retrieve information about your business from review sites, social media, customer reviews, and last but not least, your website.
So it’s in your best interest to help your customers by creating a website that is fast, user-friendly and offers your customers helpful information and transparent pricing information about your business and products to help you build a strong customer base, expand your market reach, and gain a competitive advantage in your industry. Investing in B2B website development will pay you huge dividends in the long run in the form of increased sales, more leads, and a better customer experience (CX).
In this article, you’ll get a hang of who are b2b buyers and their behaviors, and a detailed overview of the impact of website development on buyer expectations, the benefits of investing in B2B website development services, and how to create an effective b2b website that attracts business owners.
Who is A B2B Buyer?
A B2B (business-to-business) buyer is an individual or organization that buys products or services from another business. Generally, the B2B buying journey includes several individuals from an organization, decision-makers, influencers, stakeholders, and users.
Behavior Of Modern B2B Buyers
The vast majority of buyers (81%) want to find pricing information on their own.
As we’re swiftly approaching the self-serve purchasing era, it’s crystal clear that B2B buyers have also changed their roadmap for buying a product or service. B2C trends are slowly influencing the buying behavior of B2B, including pricing availability, customer reviews, try-before-you-buy options, and website usability.
A recent survey from Proper Insights & Analytics states that 80% of adult shoppers and business purchasers alike ranked website usability as a high priority for their online shopping experience. In addition, more than 50% of adult shoppers and more than 60% of business purchasers want access to a live customer service representative through the website. It all ties back to our findings that prove we’re shifting towards a self-serve era. (Source: Forbes)
Modern B2B buyers are most likely to rely on online resources and social media to research and compare products and services. They’d like to have all the basic information about the product on the website that helps them in the decision-making process. In this self-serve buying era, helping your prospective customers find information on their own on your website is a more effective strategy than making them get on the phone to know what you offer.
The Impact of B2B Website Development On Buyer Expectations
Vendors should be leveraging their websites and marketing materials to make it easy to find accurate, up-to-date information about the product—including pricing, features, and feedback from customers.
You have to understand that everyone has access to everything in this world right in their hand. As a B2B organization, you should be aware that your website plays an important role in acquiring customers. All you need to do is put your buyer first, and the website will last.
There are several aspects of a website that influence the buyer’s expectations. The primary aspect is the website’s usability. The simplicity-to-use feature will delight prospects and engage them. User-friendly sites are most likely to increase credibility, build trust, and enhance the customer experience.
For your information, most B2B buyers are likely to conduct in-depth research online through third-party review sites, customer reviews, and vendor websites (your site) before engaging with you to discuss further.
B2B buyers are more than halfway (57%) through the decision process when they finally get in touch with a potential vendor. (WebFX)
The content was, is, and will be king. B2B buyers have a weakness for high-quality content, regardless of the service or product. Quality content will serve up quality conversions.
After completing all the research via a third party, social media, and online forums, customers will fall off the cliff straight into your site. Every buyer expects to find detailed information about your products or services and how they benefit from those solutions in line with their pain points.
Be transparent with your clients about your service costs, product pricing features, and contact information. A report from TrustRadius claims that 16% of buyers are likely to cross a vendor off their shortlist for not including upfront and transparent pricing information online.
When it comes to converting your visitors into buyers, the website’s functionality plays a major role. The right B2B website will pass the “blink test” The blink test is from the moment a visitor lands on your website and judges it within 3 to 5 seconds and decides whether they want to stay there or leave right away. Ensure your website meets the needs of your buyers’ expectations, or else they’ll move on to your competitors.
Benefits Of Investing In Website Development
Having a website is a step ahead in business growth. Since the advent of new technology, customers have all the information they need at their fingertips, finding solutions to their problems and products based on their requirements.
B2B buyers are likely to do a lot of research when they need to buy a service or product. That being said, it’s necessary to have a website that satisfies the end users, meets their needs, and resonates with them. Since B2B buyers are never a single person but a committee of decision-makers across different industries, Your website should appeal to every decision-maker in the buying journey.
- Having a robust website is crucial to establishing a strong online presence, allowing you to reach more audiences and increase visibility in SERP.
- A well-designed website helps you improve the credibility of your website and makes it professional and trustworthy to prospects.
- A website that passes the blink test will most likely have more user engagement than other sites. Having chatbots, contact forms, and social media integration allows your business to engage with the right audience more effectively.
- With the help of a website, you can expand your market reach across the globe, allowing you to increase your customer base.
- A site with quality content can drive more website traffic to your business and convert those leads into sales, which results in increased ROI.
- A website created with prospects in mind and optimized with quality content and exceptional UI/UX can promise you a competitive advantage over your competitors.
How To Create An Effective B2B Website That Attracts Business Owners
The B2B buyer’s journey is much longer than the B2C buyer’s journey, and your website is the place to learn more about the products and services you offer. Your website is the meeting point between you and your customers. A B2B website aims to generate leads through valuable information about your products and services, and an eye-appealing user interface.
Have these things in mind before creating a website that attracts your targeted business owners.
1. Conduct threefold market research: identifying your target audience’s needs and business goals, and thorough competitor analysis.
2. Create a goal-oriented road mapping process.
3. Design with your prospects in mind.
4. Optimize UI and UX for a better user experience.
5. Leverage the best SEO practices.
6. Conduct regular A/B tests.
If you have these things in mind and build a website around them, you can make a website more appealing to your B2B buyers, and the chances are very high that they’ll engage with your business. Below are some of the important things to consider when creating an eye-appealing B2B website.
Focus On User Experience
Ensure your website is easy to navigate, loads faster, and has valuable information that your B2B prospects are looking for. Implement obvious, concise content logically and intuitively.
Provide Valuable Content
B2B buyers will always be found researching valuable information. A successful B2B buying journey must provide helpful insights that help your business prospects make informed decisions. Through white papers, case studies, and industry reports, you can offer valuable insights that allow your potential buyers to learn more about your products and services.
Leverage Quality Visuals
Although the content is king! A website without any visuals will look like a word-bald head. Quality images, videos, and relevant graphics make your site more engaging and memorable.
SEO Optimization
Include targeted keyphrases and semantic keywords in your content without stuffing it too much. Optimize your meta tags, and build backlinks from reliable sources to rank higher in SERP and make your brand visible to potential buyers.
Social Proofs
Incorporating social proofs, case studies, and customer testimonials on your site improves your brand’s credibility and builds trust with your prospects.
Be Available To Your Customers
Make it easy for people to reach you. Ensure you have included the right contact information on your website and professional social media profiles, making it easier for prospective customers to contact you.
Final Thoughts
With the advent of technology, modern B2B buyers’ behaviors have transformed a lot. In this self-serve era, buyers tend to get all the information by themselves. So they have all the information in hand, and it’s important to have a website that helps you stand out in a congested market for long-term success. Reach out to the best B2B website development companies in Chennai to create a website that gives you more traffic.
As a renowned offshore website development company in India, we’ve offered the best website development services across the globe for different industries that drive traffic to your website and convert it into sales. Get in touch with our experts to learn more about what we offer.
