Features to Optimize Your B2B E-Commerce Website

There is stiff competition in B2B e-commerce, and only well-built websites will succeed.
B2B Ecommerce Website

If you’re considering a refresh for your B2B e-commerce website, it’s important to remember that B2C buyers’ preferences are ever-changing to stay in line with the changes brought about by digitization. B2B buyers are no different. According to a Forrester report, 55% of B2B buyers completed their purchases online. Indeed, the internet has provided a lucrative spot for B2B marketers to reach more customers and make more sales.

But B2B marketing requires a lot of work. For instance, you need a properly functioning website as part of your integrated marketing efforts. A B2B e-commerce site is an essential digital marketing tool. Considering the marketing opportunities presented by the internet, it is high time you start optimizing your website. In this article, I will walk you through the features of business-to-business websites you should include as part of your B2B marketing.

Optimize Your B2B E-Commerce Website

Quite a lot goes into optimizing your site architecture for your B2B e-commerce website. For instance, you will have to ensure your B2B platform is easy to navigate. It would be best if you categorized all items into specific categories and subcategories. Doing so makes it easy for site visitors to find whatever they want.

A good site arrangement deletes any frustrations your customers might experience as they navigate your website. You can boost your sales when the bounce rates brought about by frustrations are eliminated. 

Another critical component of your site architecture is the secure payment method. We all know how insecure the internet has become. Failing to add some elements of security to your checkout process can make clients fearful of completing their transactions. In short, checkout processes that do not display a sense of security could hurt your sales and revenues.

Design Your Site for Scalability

Scalability is an important aspect of any e-commerce website, especially if you anticipate more visitors will be coming to your site. Scalability refers to the ability of your B2B platform to cope with an increase in the number of site visitors. Your B2B website should be built to interact perfectly with one or thousands of users. In other words, it should be able to handle any B2B e-commerce use cases and traffic.

With B2B site scalability, you must start by assessing the need for scaling and expectations management. It is important to understand that, whereas scalability is important, there will be no point in scaling when you don’t need it. You should then proceed to determine the scalability issues you need to focus on. You should consider the four-scalability metrics for your B2B eCommerce website: network input/output, memory utilization, CPU usage, and disk input/output.

With B2B site scalability, you should also choose tools and infrastructure to monitor your scalability. Infrastructure such as IaaS and PaaS would be ideal for your B2B e-commerce use case.

Promote Your E-Commerce Website on Social Media

According to a Content Marketing Institute B2B Marketing report, 95% of B2B marketers produce social media content. There is a good reason why B2B marketers have continued to rely on social media content to promote their e-commerce websites. Social media platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter provide a free way of advertising products.

According to the Digital 2022: July Global Statshot Report, 59% of the global population now uses social media platforms. You can leverage this huge population to present your B2B products on a global scale. Remember to use hashtags and keep your comments section open. Keeping your social media pages as active as possible can be a great marketing strategy for your business.

Optimize Online Security

One of the major challenges e-commerce store owners face is insecurity regarding online threats. We live in a world where hackers are rampaging the internet streets. No one is immune to cyber attacks, not even the most secure B2B website can claim 100% immunity to cyber attackers.

Hackers use all forms of attacks to reach networks. Optimizing your B2B e-commerce website for security begins with knowing the different forms of attacks that are likely to hit you. Some of the security threats B2B merchants face include the following:

  • Credit card frauds
  • Distributed denial of service attacks
  • Phishing
  • Malware infections
  • Man-in-the-middle attacks
  • Password cracking attacks

These attacks bring severe repercussions to victims. According to IBM’s cost of data breach attack, the average cost of a data breach stood at $9.44M in 2022. That is a whopping amount.

Visitors will stop visiting your e-commerce website if they have doubts about its security. It is, therefore, prudent to ensure that you have a secure website and to add visible signals of security that show your visitors that your site is secure. One way to do this is with an SSL certificate. 

The SSL certificate initiates HTTPS encryption and brings confidence to your site visitors by displaying the padlock icon and the HTTPS status. Other security measures you can take for your B2B e-commerce site include the following:

  • Use strong and unique passwords to secure all authentication ports
  • Employ multi-factor authentication
  • Buy an SSL certificate for secure end-to-end encryption
  • Use antimalware scanners
  • Install firewalls 
  • Perform frequent updates to your operating system and software
  • Frequently backup your data
  • Educate all staff members on the best security practices

Add a FAQ Section That Brings People to Your Product

One of the most instrumental elements of an effective B2B e-commerce website is the FAQ section. The FAQ section can solve common customer problems and provide brief-yet-descriptive and point-on answers to popular questions your web visitors are likely to ask. 

Having a FAQ section is a straightforward approach to ensuring your customers do not waste time looking for answers and products on your website. The FAQ section is also an effective way of marketing your products online because it helps to bring more clients to your website.

Create a Mobile-Friendly Version of Your E-Commerce Website

According to Google’s Marketing Platform, 70% of internet time is spent on mobile devices. B2B and B2C customers alike prefer websites that are good for mobile. In fact, 90% of B2B buyers who report a superior mobile experience say they are likely to purchase from the vendor.

It is, therefore, an excellent idea to ensure that your B2B e-commerce website is optimized for mobile. You can check this page to learn more about optimizing your mobile website.

Don’t Forget Calls to Action

A clear call to action is another critical element of your B2B e-commerce website and lead generation. The job of a call to action is to drive conversions. As a starting point, you should consider your conversion goal. A good call to action should be clear, conspicuous and precise. It should be persuasive enough to drive web visitors into fulfilling a specific goal.

There is stiff competition in B2B e-commerce, and only well-built websites will succeed. You can use the features explained in this article to increase your chances at e-commerce success. You can put these features into practice to improve your lead generation and conversion rates. 



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