B2B Ecommerce and User Experience: Stealing Smart from B2C

Making your Buyer’s Job Easier is the Key to Success!

Driving your buyer’s purchasing activities to highly efficient web channels comes down to adopting the best practices from B2C web design, while supporting traditional B2B workflows online

B2C merchants have honed the art of online retailing over almost two decades, beginning with the Ecommerce revolution that started in the late 1990s. As a B2B seller moving into Ecommerce, success starts with a foundation of an easy shopping experience. There is good news here - there are many things that B2B Ecommerce merchants can learn from their B2C counterparts. B2C merchants have set B2B buyer expectations for what makes an easy-to-use Ecommerce web site. Modern business buyers are informed by their experiences as consumers in their personal lives, and these buyers are increasingly digital natives (yes, people, we are all getting older, and the generation soon to enter the workforce was born AFTER the Ecommerce was invented – believe it or not!) B2C-like expectations of the business buyer include how to navigate, search, and check out on B2B web sites. These expectations must be met by manufacturers, brands, and distributors in order to stay relevant and keep the business of the modern buyer.

It is important to note, however, that B2B is not simply a copy of B2C Ecommerce experiences. B2B merchants need to take a different, and expanded, approach to web design versus B2C merchants. The goal of online selling in a B2B setting is different than in B2C. The main thrust of a B2B Ecommerce site needs to be focused around making the buyer’s job—and therefore their life—easier. Conversely, the typical goal of B2C Ecommerce web sites is to provide a rich, deep, immersive experience that engages the consumer and creates a more emotional connection, often around lifestyle content.  In the highly competitive B2C world, retailers strive to use digital means to build brand and differentiate. B2C online shopping is about fun, adventure and browsing. 

Not so for B2B Ecommerce. B2B buyers frequently know exactly what they want, and need to be able to find it quickly and with the least friction possible. B2B buyers don’t need to go on an extensive clickfest. They want to get in, buy their products, get out and get on with their day.  So, what exactly can B2B learn from B2C and where do their approaches diverge? Let’s take a look.

Stealing Smart from B2C

There are number of elements of B2C user experience and web design that are highly applicable to B2B. These practices have been refined over the past 20+ years, and have been proven to work to drive online conversion (sales). These elements are also the foundation of your business buyer’s expectations of what comprises an acceptable online purchasing experience. The most important components are:

• Clear and easy site navigation - Web site navigation remains the most common way site visitors arrive at products, typically accounting for well over 50% of product views. Navigation incorporates the global navigation menu, normally found at the top of web pages (or via a menu icon on mobile), often delivered through a drop down menu when the menu categories are scrolled over or tapped on a mobile device. Major categories of interest to a web site visitor are presented through the navigation, which usually include product categories on an Ecommerce site. Navigation also includes product sub categories, filters, and attributes presented for narrowing an assortment or content list to the most relevant selection or the user. Unfortunately, many B2B sellers make site navigation too complex, fail to follow best practices, and load the navigation full of internal jargon that web site users do not understand. 
• On site search – Many B2B Ecommerce sellers have very large catalogs that feature thousands, in some cases millions, of products. In order to have a successful site, it is critical that your customers are able to quickly and easily find what they are looking for. As the assortment size grows, on site search becomes even more important to the user experience. B2C Ecommerce has taught us much here in terms of best practices for implementing a successful site search experience. A well-optimized site search should convert browsers to buyers at 4 to 5 times the web site average. Site visitors that use search are exhibiting a high degree of buying intent. A great site search experience is key to making the buyer’s job easier, and therefore is a critical component of delivering a solid B2B Ecommerce experience.  Make sure you have a capable, modern search software solution that is powering your search experience. 
• Easy checkout - If you have ever used an Ecommerce site that had a long and cumbersome shopping cart and checkout process, you know how frustrating it can be. Modern online buyers have no patience for an inefficient or confusing checkout process on Ecommerce web sites. Streamlining the process is critical, eliminating barriers to purchase. B2C best practices are well established in this area, and B2B merchants should follow these practices (with some B2B-specific additions, as highlighted below). Online buyers have come to expect a number of standard features in the cart and checkout. In general, these include a persistent shopping cart (accessible anywhere on the site), fewest checkout steps as possible, early and clear indication of shipping charges, every step of checkout clearly labeled, and the display of the shopping cart contents (or summary of same) and order totals throughout the checkout process.
• Web Merchandising and compelling Product Presentation - Web Merchandising approaches are well established in the B2C arena, and these practices can be leveraged in B2B.  Ecommerce provides an opportunity for sellers to make buyers aware of products they might otherwise not know the seller offers, and do so in a scalable fashion. Commonly utilized web merchandising methods that can be used by B2B merchants include product cross and upselling (on product pages and in the shopping cart), product bundling (a.k.a. kitting), promotions, automated product recommendations (based on customer click behavior on the web site), and manipulating product sorting order on category pages to highlight key products you want customers to see. 

This is your ‘stealing smart’ from B2C list (from a high level, at least!) These elements are standard to delivering a well functioning web site user experience on an Ecommerce site, whether B2B or B2C. B2B merchants would be well advised to adopt these approaches, and not try to re-invent these components or use a different approach than B2C best practice in these areas. 

So, what is different about B2B?

Remember that B2B web sites have a different goal than their B2C brethren – to make the buyer’s job easier.  As a result, B2B Ecommerce sites need to accommodate a number of things that will make buyers’ workflows easier and faster, and the web site design needs to accommodate these factors.  Workflow considerations have a major impact on design decisions. The most critical unique features of B2B Ecommerce design include:

• Understand the Buyer’s intent and needs - What does the buyer need from the design? In B2B, it is not just pretty product images. B2B sites typically need to contain very detailed product specs, technical data, and information about one product’s compatibility with other products (information on relevant consumables like chemicals, paper, or ink, for example, that a piece of equipment needs in order to operate). To that end, B2B Ecommerce sites generally require more content, and the design and underlying software solution needs to support this.  Product information needs be easily findable and readable, but also extremely accurate, down to the product attribute level. For example, in the medical supply field, accuracy of product data could be a matter of a patient’s life and death. Life-saving equipment may not operate if incompatible products are purchased by a healthcare institution.  
• Accommodating B2B Buying Paths and Workflows- Buying paths for B2B are often quite different from B2C. In B2B, it is common for the person buying the product (e.g. a procurement manager) to be different than the actual user of the product. To that end, there are a number of common administrative tasks that need to be considered in B2B that do not exist in B2C. These include using a purchase order as a form of payment, saving shopping carts or order lists, allowing for customer pick up of orders or customer-specific shipping methods, and workflows in the purchase process, such as sending an order for another person to review and/or authorize. Moreover, B2B purchases are often much larger and have more line items than a typical B2C purchase. This puts a premium on ease of use of the shopping cart, so that individuals can review items that are relevant to their roles, and not have to worry about others. 
• Customer Specific Pricing - The prices a B2B Ecommerce seller displays online to logged-in customers must be aligned with the prices that are being shared across other channels—such as within contracts, by the sales team, and in print catalogs. All too often, companies only present a single price or basic set of prices to customers on the web, allowing pricing discounts and customer catalogs to be handled by the sales team or through the call center. This is a guaranteed way to miss the revenue and efficiency benefits that Ecommerce can bring to your organization. Your customers do not view your company as two separate entities with different pricing depending on the selling channel, so do not present yourself this way. 
• Custom Catalogs – B2B sellers often need to provide a limited set of products to specific customers. This might include products that are available only to that buyer, or combinations of products that are exclusive to a specific buyer. This is not a common requirement in B2C Ecommerce, but is supported by a number of B2B Ecommerce software platforms. 

In short, B2B sites need to adopt many of the functional aspects of B2C Ecommerce, but not necessarily the flashier elements. It’s more about efficiency and getting the job done. Function trumps form, and the clearer the workflow is, the more likely buyers will come back to make purchases in the future.

Is this really true? Show me

I will! Let’s take a look at a few quick examples to see how this plays out in the real world. I have worked with several of these firms over my career, and what I will show you here is public information available just by going to their web site (try it yourself!)  

illumina

A superbly executed B2B Ecommerce site is found in illumina. This company is a global leader in genomics and biotechnology, projecting over $3 BN in annual sales for its 2018 fiscal year. Accuracy in product descriptions is critical for illumina and its customers.  illumina’s B2B Ecommerce effort is one of the best in the marketplace today, in my opinion. The Company excels by offering an Ecommerce experience that accommodates the various workflows of its different buyers, while also capturing the best practices of B2C.  The results have been astounding, with traffic up from 1 million site visits per year to over 6.5 million visits, and tremendous sales results via Ecommerce (I wish I could share publicly!)

illumina’s implementation is grounded in a customer-first approach. The company started the Ecommerce journey by interviewing its customers to uncover how they researched, discovered, and purchased products. Management then leveraged this information to create an online experience that both accommodated research and purchasing workflows, and met rigorous standards for B2C-like expectations for search, navigation, and checkout.  As an example, take a look at the functionality of the Company’s online shopping cart, shown below.

The key features here allow purchasing managers to:

• Schedule product shipments
• Ship simultaneous, but separate orders
• Save shopping carts for later
• Email the cart to a colleague

For illumina, the procurement department making the purchase is typically not the person using the product. The features demonstrated above make it easier for buyers to ensure they are getting the right product at the right time. Note the clearly labeled checkout steps, clear display of cart contents, and shipping information right within the cart. All B2C best practices. This is one of many examples that demonstrate how illumina has both accommodated B2B workflows, while also following B2C best practices. They are reaping the benefits. 

Epson

Epson provides a good example of how a manufacturer presents clear navigation and product ‘findability’ through a unique application of its site search functionality. You might know Epson for making value-priced printers for your home office, but this global giant actually does a heck of a lot more than that. A good portion of their business is B2B, including high-end, industrial printers, professional imaging machines, and even robots. For now, let’s just focus on printing and imaging, and examine their web site.

The first thing you may notice when you go to their website is the extremely well-organized navigation.

No matter who I am or what I am looking for, the navigation makes it relatively easy to find what I need. Multiple paths are presented, in a clear and easy to digest format. No industry jargon or internal naming conventions that could be confusing for buyers are used. If I’m unsure what products are right for my needs, I can click “Industries” and see products based on the type of work I do. See the following screen capture for an example.

But, let’s say I already know what I want—ink for my printer. Just below the scroll is a link for Epson's “Ink Finder.” Clicking on this, I can either search by printer series, printer model or even enter my model number or ink code. And, if for whatever reason I don’t use the ink finder, I can also get to this same information from every printer’s product page.

By conserving clicks and presenting clear navigation paths, Epson has made it incredibly easy to find the ink to my printer, ultimately saving me time and headache ensuring I buy compatible products. This ease and speed alone ensures this is my first stop when buying ink, even if it ends up costing me a few dollars more.

I say this often - speed and convenience is usually more important than price in B2B selling. Many of the clients I work with are getting higher prices and gross margins via Ecommerce channels. Higher gross margin drops right to the bottom line!

Steris

Steris is a leading provider of infection prevention products, primarily serving healthcare, pharmaceutical and medical device customers. They sell a wide range of medical products, ranging from equipment for operating rooms, to sterilization systems, to endocscope cleaning chemicals. In fact, the company sells such a large range of products that it would be easy to get lost on their site if a buyer doesn’t know what he or she is looking for.

As I mentioned above, in the medical field, it is essential to provide extremely accurate information in order to ensure patient safety. This includes meeting stringent, government mandated safety regulations. The company must ensure that buyers make purchases that are compatible with the equipment being utilized. To address this, Steris presents each product with tabbed information that includes compatible and related products. This shown below in the following screen capture from the company’s web site.

While this page is an eye-full, it is an excellent example of how important technical information is in B2B to the product researcher. In many cases, this person is also not the individual that will ultimately purchase the product. From my experience, it is common for large medical systems and hospitals to maintain a procurement department that manages the purchasing process. However, the procurement professionals working in these departments are not the scientists or health care professionals that are researching or utilizing the product. Steris provides deep information that helps to educate the buyer (the procurement pro), and provides confidence in making the purchase, and gives the researcher the tools they need as well.

Also notable is the depth to which Steris goes to ensure the product information that is presented is clear and accurate, and founded on a set of solid data.  The company clearly presents parts and components that match to specific equipment, ensuring the buyer makes the right purchase decision for the equipment they own. This is shown in the following screen capture. 

Companies often underestimate the amount of data preparation that is needed to effectively deploy an Ecommerce site. As you are thinking about your own Ecommerce efforts and ROI models, be realistic about this part of the effort (I often say take your first estimate of level of effort here, an triple it!)

Summing It Up

What these three examples show is how B2B can both draw on design and process considerations from B2C Ecommerce, but also how B2B firms need to forge their own way to accommodate the unique needs of its buyers. All of these factors have an impact on conversions, and ultimately on the bottom line. 

If you are a B2B firm ready to explore Ecommerce or improve your operations, I’m here to help. Shoot me a quick email at [email protected], and we can work together to craft the best strategy for making your buyers’ jobs easier!