B2B Ecommerce: Everything You Need to Know to Drive Revenue This Year and Next

In this Revenue Weekly video, Dylan from the WebFX Earned Media team will give you tips for generating revenue with B2B ecommerce.

Transcript: Doing business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce successfully can make you feel like you’re on top of the world! I’m sure your customers will appreciate it, too.  But here’s the thing. Without a guide to help you achieve your ecommerce goals, you may feel like you’re stuck in a valley. That’s why I’m here to give you some advice for your B2B ecommerce business.  Let’s get started!

What is B2B ecommerce?

B2B ecommerce means selling products or services from one business to another through an online transaction.  B2B companies can sell everything from food to office supplies to business technology.  This is a bit different from business-to-consumer (B2C) ecommerce because B2C companies focus on selling to…well…everyone.  A company can certainly be B2C and B2B, but just know that each acronym represents a different audience.

What is the difference between B2B vs. B2C customers?

What is the difference between B2B vs. B2C customers? There’s usually a longer buying journey when it comes to B2B customers because they can’t just randomly decide to make a purchase like a regular B2C customer can. It’s likely that someone, or multiple people, in their organization have to approve the purchase. Plus, a B2B customer may be looking for a longer-term partnership than a B2C customer.

If you sell paper to businesses, for example, you’ll definitely want your customers to come back to you time and time again when they need more. And if you create a great experience for them, they will. 

How to decide on a B2B ecommerce platform

I’m not going to tell you which ecommerce platform to use, but I will help you with your decision. If you’re looking to get started with ecommerce, don’t just Google “B2B ecommerce platforms” and choose the first one that appears.  Know your needs and capabilities before you make your investment. It’ll make your decision so much easier.  First, what is your skill level when it comes to updating your website?

If you don’t have a lot of experience, you’ll want to choose a more beginner-friendly platform. Of course, if you partner with an agency or have a team of ecommerce experts working for you, you may have more options.  Second, how much do you plan on selling? Some platforms may work better than others for large inventories.  And that brings me to the third consideration, budgeting.

Like many other things in life and in marketing, an ecommerce platform costs money. The question is, how much are you willing to spend on your B2B ecommerce platform?  If you already have a website and want to add ecommerce functionality, you’ll have to consider which platform will work with what you already have. After you’ve chosen your platform, you still have a lot of work to do. We’ve got some tips for when you’re setting up your B2B ecommerce platform. 

3 excellent B2B ecommerce tips

Drive revenue for your B2B ecommerce business with these tips:

1. Include a lot of detail on your product pages

When people and businesses shop online, they need as much information as possible to help make their decisions. So give it to them! When someone lands on a product page, they should know:

• The price
• The colors available
• The sizes
• What comes in a package or shipment
• The weight
• Any warranties

And I can keep going, but I think you get the point.  Going beyond what’s written, make sure you show people what they’re purchasing. Use clear photos to show people what they’re really buying…from all angles. If they’re purchasing a service, include a photo or video of that work being performed, even testimonials from satisfied customers.  If you’re not sure where to start, ask yourself what you typically look for when making a purchase online, whether it’s for your business or yourself. 

2. Market your B2B ecommerce business

WebFX is a digital marketing agency, so I couldn’t make this video without discussing B2B ecommerce marketing. With digital marketing, you can drive more people to your website and generate more leads and revenue for your business.  It’s likely the people doing the purchasing for their businesses do a lot of research before making a final decision, so you definitely want to make sure they find your business in that research process. Search engine optimization (SEO) can help people searching for something you sell find your business.  You can get started with SEO by researching keywords relevant to your business and adding them to your product pages where they make sense. Don’t just shove them in there, though.  A content strategy is also very important to your ecommerce business.

You can create helpful guides, informative infographics, or in-depth videos to help bring people to your website and into your marketing funnel. Plus, your content strategy can help with your SEO. Other tactics you might want to consider are digital advertising, social media marketing, email marketing, and even conversion rate optimization to turn casual site visitors into loyal customers. 

3. Make your website easy to use

If you drive a ton of traffic to your website, that’s great! But if people get there and can’t figure out how to make a purchase or contact you, that’s not great.  Your website needs to be streamlined. Something as small as a broken button can cost you a lot of customers.  Start with the navigation.

People should be able to go back and forth between your pages pretty easily and find new pages quickly. If your navigation makes sense, check out your product pages. Do your images and videos load? Your “Add to cart” button works, right? Make sure all of your links work, too.

You don’t have to manually click on every link, though. You can use a tool like Screaming Frog to tell you if anything is broken.  You’re not done yet. Test that page speed.

People will jump to another business’s website if your pages are too slow. And your search engine rankings will suffer.  Don’t just look at things on your own. Use online focus groups or tools like Hotjar, Crazy Egg, and Userlytics to get some insight into what people like and dislike about your site.

You can also partner with a B2B ecommerce agency for an expert consultation.  And that brings us to the end of this video! If you aren’t already subscribed to our YouTube channel, hit that subscribe button before you move on. And we’ve also got our Revenue Weekly email newsletter for you to subscribe to.

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