Concentrated effort towards building trust and relationships and portraying a professional appearance are the key components in Website Design for B2B companies.
Areas that need to be winning in a B2B website are:
Content: Decision making in B2B companies are complex. Gathering vendor information, vetting service providers, mapping market price and standards are few of the many processes that can prolong the otherwise long decision-making process.
It is necessary to portray detailed information on the website and in the form of white papers, case studies, and industry reviews while establishing expertise to scale your reputation. Marketing success also depends on informing buyers in all stages of a purchase lifecycle about your products, experience, skills, and services.
User Pathways: B2B websites usually have to cater to different user groups, from small to large sized companies, across different departments, functions, and roles. It is important to ensure that there are distinct user pathways for different stakeholders who have different goals and needs and to direct them with appropriate menu options to their desired page. Confusing user pathways that add cognitive load on end users seldom make it past the trial period.
Product Details: The products involved in B2B activities are usually complex, expensive, and part of a larger system. Hence, it is important to provide specific technical details to understand if it fits with the client’s existing system. Good B2B websites give information about products, the standards and certifications, compatibility with other machinery, technical support, software, etc. to enable the client to know how the product is compatible with and benefits their own system in the long run.
Focus on Lead Generation: B2B websites focus on lead generation over getting high volumes of visitors to their website. It is essential to make Calls to Action visible to induce users to submit their details which can then be used to generate leads. This is an important step to ensure online marketing success for B2B firms.
Functional Design: B2B firms need to convey professionalism and expertise. Using functional and minimalistic designs convey seriousness while conveying relevant information for B2B firms. This creates an uncluttered experience that is also easy to navigate while directing focus on the features of the product rather than the user interface of the website itself.
User Personas: B2B website visitors are from different departments, roles, and functions, and may even be from different industries. Hence, content and navigation must consider different user personas and provide relevant information for different user needs. Decision makers such as managers may require information regarding costs and outcomes, whereas, actual users of products may be concerned with only product features and benefits. Helpful navigation and content based on different users highlights the attention to detail, which justifies the relatively higher cost of B2B products.
A B2B website design should targets specific user personas, showcasing the product features which are tailored, with enough flexibilities, to suit the specific needs of end-users. Add to that a focus on lead generation and with enough traffic, you have a B2B website that aids a company’s marketing efforts.
