Digitization of the B2B industry involves a lot more than just eCommerce adoption. If you have already made the leap and gotten on board a B2B eCommerce platform, the next step is to attract traffic to your site, generate more leads, and make more sales.
Before we take a dive into B2B marketing strategies, it’s important to understand one critical difference between B2B and B2C.
Since the average order value is a lot higher in B2B, buyers take more time researching products before they make a decision. The average sales cycle in B2B is four to six weeks long and involves 2-3 internal decision-makers.
That’s why Conversion Rate Optimization is very differently dealt within B2B. To drive your conversions higher, your B2B marketing strategies should be targeted towards the whole buyer’s journey as you aim to warm up your leads and nurture them before trying to convert.
Create a Lot of Valuable Content
Content has never been more important than today when everyone turns to Google for all of their problems and solutions.
And it’s all the more critical in the B2B space where buyers have to make big purchase decisions that not only involve a lot of money but also put their career on the line.
Unfortunately, very few B2B companies are capitalizing on that demand, making it more difficult for buyers to purchase from them.
And so, the number 1 strategy to drive more conversions is to create a lot of valuable content that targets different types of buyers at different stages of their purchasing journey.
A recent study by Focus Vision revealed that B2B buyers consume an average of 13 content pieces before they purchase something.
They even dug into the details to figure out the kind of content these buyers looked for at different stages of their journey. And this is what they found:
This clearly establishes the significance of content marketing in the B2B space.
Drive Traffic Through SEO
If you aren’t investing in SEO yet, here is a whopping stat for you: 70% of business buyers start their purchase with a generic, non-branded search term on Google and other search engines.
If you want to convert those visitors and leads, you first need to drive enough traffic and generate enough leads. And to do that, it’s critical for you to be found where your buyers are searching for: on search engines.
With that said, if you aren’t investing in SEO and trying to get ranked for keywords relevant to your industry, your competitors will soon take up that space.
And to make your SEO efforts really pay off, you need to target the right keywords.
Find out exactly what your customers are searching for. What do they call your solution? You may call it a shovel, but they may call it something different. Interview your customers to really narrow down your focus and find the best keywords.
Then, run those keywords through tools like Moz and SEMRush and find out the exact search volume and competitiveness of those keywords.
With the right keywords, your SEO campaign will give you better results in a short time.
Optimize your Site for Maximum Engagement with Visitors
Once you get traffic coming in, your next strategy should be to engage your prospects and provide them value on your site.
Make your messaging clear. Weed out the fluff and buzzwords and use natural, conversational language for your messaging. When a visitor first lands on your site, they are at the discovery or consideration stage where they want all the information and knowledge to empower them to make a decision.
Provide them with the information they are looking for through valuable content. Detailed product sheets or downloadables can help them convince their internal stakeholders and make a decision.
Optimize the user experience of your website. Use analytics and heat mapping tools to find out how your visitors are interacting with your site. Why are they taking certain actions or not taking the actions you want them to take? Where are they dropping off in the funnel?
With all this data in front of you, you can come up with different hypotheses for optimizations and run A/B tests on your site to see if something makes a difference or not.
Some B2B eCommerce features on your site that can affect your conversion rate:
- Bulk Order forms: this feature is especially good for your returning customers who already know what they need to buy and need a quick way to place their orders. A bulk order form with CSV upload can be a game-changer for these types of customers.
- Product Tables: Displaying your product catalog in the form of an intuitive table with Add to Cart options and search filters can make the buying process more efficient for your buyers.
- Downloadable content on the product page: your visitors might need to download some content, which they can use to present in front of their internal stakeholders. With a plugin like B2B eCommerce for Woocommerce, you can add downloadable content on product pages.
- Request for Quotation functionality: RFQ features will help your buyers negotiate over the price and quantity without calling your sales reps. With RFQ functionality, you can deliver a seamless, self-service experience to your business buyers.
Display Social Proof on Your Site
Social proof is extremely important in the world of eCommerce where buyers can’t physically assess the quality of the products, and so, they rely on what the business claims and what others have to say.
And in B2B, social proof becomes even more critical as buyers are more discerning because of the larger order value. They want to buy from companies that can provide them with quality products, timely shipping, and good customer support.
Encourage your customers to leave honest reviews and testimonials after they’ve purchased. Publish those testimonials on your website pages for social proof.
Once you start asking for reviews and testimonials, you need to stay prepared to handle negative reviews as well. Respond to customer queries proactively and aim to resolve any issues or complaints. Negative reviews can actually help you improve your services and enhance your product offerings.
These B2B marketing strategies will hopefully help you increase traffic to your site and get that traffic
