Strategic Elements of Your B2B Website
For B2B businesses a website’s role in the buyer’s journey is less self-evident than in B2C companies. While a B2C website is designed to sell products to an end-consumer, a B2B website’s role is much more nuanced.
A B2B website must provide a design and user experience that is distinct from its B2C counterpart to educate and demonstrate its authority over competitors to potential customers. A well-designed and informative B2B website has been shown to build credibility, increase exposure, and supplement sales efforts to support sales growth. The value of a good website for B2B businesses lies in its ability to shorten sales cycles through educating customers about services upfront.
For B2B businesses, a well-designed website includes four essential elements that influence the user experience:
- Design The look and feel of a B2B website play a critical role in its ability to support sales success. Did you know that…
- A potential customer can form an impression of your website in 50 milliseconds, or .05 seconds. (1)
- 94% of first impressions are design related.
- 75% of users say they judge a company’s credibility based on its website design.
- 38% of visitors admit to leaving a website altogether if it is unattractive. (2)
The impact of a bad website can lead to the loss of potential customers, loss of trust in your brand, and negatively impact your bottom line.
- Navigation and flow In addition to its design and visual aesthetics, the ease at which users travel through a business’s site and access the information is essential. A website’s navigation functions as a roadmap to guide visitors toward the information they need. If that roadmap is confusing, cumbersome, or inaccurate, it won’t take long for a potential customer to abandon the B2B website, and business, altogether.
- Site speed 93% of consumers begin their online experience by using a search engine. (3) The loading speed of your site has a direct impact on your Google ranking. In fact, Google considers usability in its algorithm, giving preference to sites that load quickly. (4) Site speed is also critical in keeping a visitor on your site, with 40% of users reporting they will abandon a page if it takes more than three seconds to load. (5) Even a one-second delay can result in a 123% bounce rate (when a user leaves a site quickly after landing on it) (6) and a 7% reduction in conversions, such as filling out a form or making a phone call. (5) It is estimated that businesses lose $2.6 billion in revenue due to slow-loading websites. (7)
- Content Today’s B2B buyers want to know that the vendors they are working with are knowledgeable and experienced. One way to showcase this is by offering thought leadership through online content. Well-developed content on its B2B website helps a business demonstrate expertise and an intrinsic understanding of customers’ wants and needs. This gives customers confidence in a business’s ability to provide solutions that meet those needs. And research supports the efficacy of this method:
- Nine out of 10 B2B buyers say online content has a moderate to major effect on purchasing decisions. (8)
- 97% of B2B buyers expect vendor websites to have content relevant to their company, and 96% say it’s important for vendor websites to directly address industry needs and demonstrate expertise. (9)
- Additionally, 47% of buyers view three to five pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep. (10)
While the importance of a website can never be overstated, it is equally as important to ensure your site has the elements it needs to help you meet your business goals. A B2B website that’s purpose-built to entice, educate, and offer guidance to users is crucial in helping a business establish an online presence, boost credibility, and ultimately support sales growth.
At Paradigm, we purposefully design each website to function as a marketing and sales tool. We ensure it educates potential clients, differentiates you from your competition, establishes you as an authority in your sector, and produces a call to action that moves the prospect to the next step in their sales journey. Contact us today to learn how our award-winning web design team can help you build your most powerful marketing tool.
(1) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01449290500330448
(2) https://www.webfx.com/blog/web-design/user-experience-matters-marketing/
(3) https://www.webfx.com/seo/statistics/
(4) https://www.google.com/search/howsearchworks/how-search-works/ranking-results/
(5) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJHt_irVc0w
(6) https://techjury.net/blog/user-experience-stats/
(7) https://techjury.net/blog/user-experience-stats/
(9) https://financesonline.com/b2b-statistics/
About the Author
Rachel is the Founder and President of Paradigm Marketing and Design. Blending data, creativity, and strategic marketing expertise, Rachel and her team help organizations with a complex sale shorten sales cycles, increase the number of quality meetings sales teams conduct, and boost ROI. A recipient of several coveted industry awards, Rachel is a highly regarded figure in the marketing realm, widely recognized for her exceptional business, sales, and marketing acumen.
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