8 Essentials for Creating a Customer-Friendly B2B E-Commerce Website

When developing an e-commerce website to sell products to other businesses (B2B), your goal shouldn't be that different from that of someone building an e-commerce site to sell to consumers (B2C). One of the most important aspects of B2B e-commerce is helping your users find what they're looking for with minimal effort.

If you want to sell your products to B2B consumers online, here are the 8 steps to follow when building your B2B e-commerce website.

B2B E-Commerce Website Essentials

Step #1: Develop User Personas

User personas are fictional customers that represent the people who will most likely buy your product. To help you identify and categorize personas, ask yourself questions such as:

• How does the product help the client? How does the product bring added value?
• What is the client's budget? Are they seeking a cheap solution, or are they willing to purchase an excellent solution regardless of price?
• Does the client have an understanding of what makes the product excellent? Can they appreciate its true value?
• Does the client use similar products, or is your product offering something new?
• What kind of preconceptions does the client have?
• What product characteristics interest the client most? Is there something in particular about the product that they like? Is there something they tend to not care about?
• What does the client know to obtain the most value from the product or how to give it a longer life?

Keep in mind, clients in different industries may have their own set of needs and your website must work equally well for everyone.

Step #2: Organize Your Product Pages

Many B2B e-commerce websites have cluttered and confusing product pages. An abundance of configurations, obscure product names, and a lack of clear categories can make navigating a website unnecessarily complicated. It's crucial that your products are neatly organized, which means:

• Making sure that a product is an actual object, not something abstract or highly customizable
• Clearly stating what the product does and how it differs from other products
• Grouping products in categories
• Grouping products according to other relevant criteria: applications, industries, etc.

One of the most important aspects of B2B e-commerce is helping users find what they're looking for with minimal effort. It's important to understand different types of clients and how they think so that your website is tailored to their thought process. Buyers should not have to change their thought process in order to make a purchase.

Step #3: Choose the Product Presentation Format

There are two types of product presentation formats prevalent within B2B e-commerce sites. The first format is the classic e-commerce model, which includes a product photo, price, purchase button, and product description. The second format type is a product landing page containing strong copywriting and varied content types (e.g., high quality videos and photos). In the second case, the purchase is conducted separately on a different page.

It's important to choose your presentation format early on in the process, because this will influence the structure of your online shop. The choice you make should be based on the assumptions you've made about users and their needs.

For example, if the person who is making a purchase does not understand the product, but is motivated to spend time going over its features, the landing page model can prove to be extremely advantageous. This type of user needs to feel ready before making a definitive purchase decision. It is worth noting, however, that it's difficult to showcase a large number of different products with the presentation model.

On the other hand, if the user's expectations are more transactional, the classic presentation format makes it easier for them to compare products within your shop or among several shops in the same niche.

Step #4: Start Creating Compelling Content

After you've established how your products should be showcased, you should next create the content for the product pages. Think about copywriting, photos, thematic descriptions, tables, technical sheets, selling points, and videos for each product. After you've gone through this process for three or four products, you'll have an understanding of what types of content will be most effective. You will then use this information to conceptualize other pages; this will also help you determine if you should change the product page format.

Step #5: Develop the Storytelling for the Landing Pages

Landing pages boost a website's SEO and direct clients towards the products they need. Regardless of whether a landing page is dedicated to a particular use type, industry sector, or is the solution to a client's problem, it is an important part of the e-commerce website's development process.

First outline your content strategy for a few example pages. Pay special attention to the order in which you highlight product benefits; also consider which visuals you want to use. (A visual could be a client video testimonial.) As you work on content for the landing pages, you may gain clarity in regards to your product pages and how to improve them as well.

Step #6: Conceptualize the Search Results Page

The product search bar is a staple of B2B e-commerce websites. Search results pages have similar structures, with filters typically on the left and results on the right. It is irrelevant whether search results are displayed in a list format or as cards.

You must decide on what data is displayed for each product so that users have all the information they need at a glance. Choose up to three data points to avoid information overload. Also, personalize the filters on the left side according to criteria you think your customers would use to find what they are looking for.

Step #7: Develop the Home Page

Home page development relies on information you have obtained during the previous stages of this process. A good home page will showcase the benefits of your product, it will guide users towards landing pages, and is easy to understand. Hierarchy is very important when conceptualizing the home page. You must establish:

• Which user is the most important?
• Which products do you want to showcase?
• What is the strongest differentiating factor for your company?
• How competitive is your offer when presented in a simplified manner?

Step #8: Establish the Checkout Process

In order to develop your checkout process, you must decide:

• What data will you be requiring customers to provide
• The order in which you will be requesting customer information
• What delivery options and payment methods will be available
• What happens after the client places an order

Also assess what internal processes will be necessary to successfully process orders, and be prepared to offer great customer support.

A Customer-Friendly B2B E-Commerce Website Should Be Your Goal

This guide to building an effective B2B e-commerce website is based on a user-centered approach to make your website accessible for your customers. If after going through the process you're feeling demotivated, remind yourself that the time you spend working on your site now will save your customers' time later, which ultimately will contribute to the success of your business.

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