The B2B website can save you time by providing clients with detailed product specifications and graphics instead of you having to provide it. Your client will get the information he or she needs more quickly which improves customer satisfaction and can improve brand trust by creating the perception of openness.
Product Specifications & Manuals
Product specifications in a downloadable format on your website can be helpful to your prospective customers by making it easier for them to add your product information to a purchasing project they may be working on. Phoenix Contact has a “Generate product PDF” button in their product details that allows you to decide what information is available in the PDF. The PDF generation link is also available at the bottom of the page so that the visitor has a second opportunity to download the data.
Downloadable manuals can reduce your costs by reducing the need to provide printed manuals when it makes sense such as manuals that will most likely be sent to the recycling bin shortly after the product is delivered. Online and downloadable manuals can also be more cost effective to support products further in their lifecycle. In the product details page in the “Downloads” tab, Phoenix Contact provides very detailed product manuals available for download.
Customer Satisfaction
When doing business with anyone including other businesses, it’s important to address issues and resolve them quickly. Using a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page, people can more quickly find answers to their questions by first viewing the FAQs page. This saves them time and can help reduce the workload on your customer service team, freeing them up to focus on other tasks to improve customer satisfaction. To learn more about FAQs, check out my previous article titled “7 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Website”.
In the B2B world, it’s possible that multiple people at the same company or different companies could be experiencing an issue with a product or service you provide. Rather than try to address each one individually, using a product or service status page can make it easier for everyone. Top-tier WordPress web hosting company WP Engine’s award-winning support team provides a system status page. WP Engine even sends its clients relevant notifications emails anytime the company detects an issue with any of its systems, and this has always happened before I’ve detected the problem.
Trust
Websites can help facilitate openness and transparency through sharing information about health & safety practices of your company. Additionally, showing the ways your business is committed to environmental responsibility and community involvement lets people know your organization cares more than simply working to make a profit. Tieto, a software and services company, details their environmental responsibility policies on its website, including statistics describing its contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Today’s buyers control their buying process and how they receive information. Instead of pushing information via direct media such as ads, commercials and mailers, they prefer to do a lot of their own research before ever speaking to a salesperson. Show them that you trust them to know what they are looking for and to educate themselves, and they will in turn trust you to engage in conversations to help them make better decisions.
Intermediary (or B2B2C)
Suppliers and end-user businesses can focus on their core functionality. Your B2B website can provide the functionality needed to connect those businesses at their edge by providing specialized interfaces and information.
Many businesses today place more value on information from a third party compared to the manufacturer. There is a belief that manufacturers invent a problem, then invent the solution. Their instructional product videos can be instructional but targeted to a general audience, whereas your videos can be more focused on your customers’ specific needs. An example of this could be purchasing an Apple iPhone from Verizon. Detailed product descriptions from both companies could appear on a single page and may even include accessories from an aftermarket company, increasing sales for all companies involved and providing the customer with a more well-rounded solution.
Summary
The benefits of having a robust B2B website are vast and the possibilities are limited only by your creativity and openness to new ideas. Change is a constant on the Internet and the rate of change is happening more quickly every day. New technologies and variations of existing technology are surfacing from nearly everywhere and a lot of untapped potential exists.
If your business is ready to maximize its opportunities with a strong B2B presence, contact Tell Your Tale.
