European Heritage is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of high quality tiles. It sells to both consumers and businesses, and until recently had three showrooms around London. However, earlier this year it closed two of them, and invested heavily in a revamped website. Ben Martin, MD at Yucca, the company’s online agency, reports the move has significantly reduced its overheads and improved communications with business customers.
It is just one of many B2B companies transforming themselves through more effective use of websites. Indeed, in the past decade B2B websites have changed beyond recognition, and B2B marketers now have an array of tools and technologies available to use.
However, not all B2B websites are this successful, and not everyone is convinced these new technologies warrant the hype. In fact, as we face the prospect of tougher economic times, and as achieving a return on online expenditure becomes ever more critical, many experts believe that B2B marketers need to adopt a radically different approach to their websites.
Over the years B2B websites have generally received pretty bad press. As Andy Rogers, MD of online at ETV Media Group, says, Traditionally B2B sites have been glorified brochures. These are poorly architected information repositories with lip-service paid to design and user interface. The usage tends to be confined to information delivery with little thought paid to collecting information from customers or providing a tailored service to clients.
Historically, there have been several reasons for this. Many B2B purchases involve large sums of money, so while we are happy to spend a few pounds on iTunes or Amazon, we are reluctant to buy new enterprise-wide software packages or other big-ticket items online. At the same time, B2B online budgets tend to be smaller than those in the B2C world.
However, as B2B marketers have become more sophisticated in their understanding of the Internet, they have placed an ever greater value on their websites. As Trenton Moss, director at Webcredible, says, The website is crucial to any B2B marketer. It can be used as a tool to communicate brand awareness, to bring in new business and also gather information about customers and prospects for future campaigns.
He adds, Either way, the website will tend to be the first thing any partner or customer checks to get information on your company and, although it will likely not influence any final decision on a deal, the website will often be a factor in the ‘whittling down’ process.
For this reason, B2B marketers have taken on more responsibility for the website. In fact, looking back over the past ten years, the most significant development in B2B website management is that it is no longer undertaken by the IT department.
Nick Rhind, MD of web design agency CTI Support Network, says, Control of the website has been amicably wrestled from the sole control of the developer over the years. While at first it was seen as primarily a technology function with marketing potential, most B2B marketers now realise that the website is first and foremost a marketing weapon.
At the same time, the rapid evolution of content management systems has allowed B2B marketers to take control away from external agencies. Andrew Libra, MD of the web development and marketing agency MPS & BBI International, says, Six years ago about 90 per cent of our B2B customers wanted us to handle web content. Now all but a handful of B2B sites are produced round a content management system. Clients are now empowered to control and direct the changes to the content of their websites.
With this increase in control, B2B marketers have been able to make important steps forward with their websites. Darren Evans, MD at online agency Engine Room, says, There has been a big shift in attitude. Nowadays clients recognise that websites need to be more than just brochures, and gone are the days when we are asked to ‘make our logo spin about a bit’.
However, while welcome, these improvements in website design and functionality have not gone far enough. Hoa Loranger is a user experience specialist at Nielsen Norman Group, and has conducted research into B2B websites for her report on B2B website usability. She says, Although website interaction design is improving, the usability of B2B websites is lagging behind mainstream websites. On average, people are able to accomplish tasks on B2B websites only 58 per cent of the time, compared to 66 per cent on general websites. Many B2B sites still act like online brochures, making it difficult for customers to find answers to simple questions, such as ‘what does the company sell’, ‘how much does an item cost’, or ‘will the product support my needs’? These sites might contain pictures of smiley people, but often they lack useful content.
That is not all. She continues, If customers want answers, they are forced to fill out lengthy forms and wait for a call back. Such self-serving strategies offend users. People use the Internet to serve themselves, not your company. Sites that fail to answer people’s questions are perceived as evasive, or even deceitful.
So the online B2B marketers’ end-of-term report card for the past decade reads something like, Steady improvement. Must make progress next term. But what improvements should they make? They need to make sure that any investment in their websites actually produces results.
The proponents of video and animation argue that adding these features enriches the user experience, and can convey complex B2B sales messages. The proponents of mobile Internet have continued to predict it is the next big thing.
While website animation, mobile compatibility and other cutting edge technologies can add value to a B2B website, they must remember the core lesson from Web 1.0: technology should follow, not lead, marketing imperatives and customer needs. Forgetting that lesson can easily lead to over-investment in irrelevant technologies, and fail to give customers what they want from the website.
Put simply, successful B2B websites are those that give users what they want from them. This was the starting point for Consumers Located, a list broker that primarily supplies call centres and marketing professionals. It knew that list buyers are frustrated by how complicated and slow the buying process is, and so it planned to use its website to provide a straightforward, speedy service.
It hired online agency CTI to build a website to allow customers to pre-plan, pre-cost and edit lists online, irrespective of time or location. It would allow any user, regardless of company size or budget, to order between one and 20 million records, and first-time visitors would receive the same level of service as regular clients.
Originally the site aimed to have 100 registrations in the first three months of trading. It achieved 182 registered clients in that start-up period. In only four months the sales figures were already over £234,000 and were set to smash the six-month target of £300,000. Consumers Located achieved these results not through the use of flashy technology on its website, but by giving customers what they wanted.
Those leading the way in B2B websites are seeking to engage customers in a two-way dialogue. For example, law firm Mills & Reeve has set up a blog. Called Naked Law, it covers topics such as data loss, copyright law and piracy, with several hundred subscribers
Peter Wainman, senior solicitor in the technology and commerce division, says, It takes us time to write the blogs, but the cost is minimal. Not only do potential clients engage with us by posting comments, but we’ve received several instructions as a result. We haven’t used it as an aggressive marketing tool, but it’s been successful at generating business.
It’s working because it gives users something they want. The company understands its customers, provides them with valuable information, and gives them an opportunity to interact. Web-savvy B2B marketers are recognising this is where the future of B2B websites lies not in technology for its own sake, but in genuine customer insight and meaningful customer interaction.
