How to: Use ecommerce to retain your customers

Use ecommerce to retain your customers

When you’re at work, your expectations as a customer don’t change an awful lot, do they? You don’t suddenly become a person who wants to pick up a catalogue to make your next order. You automatically turn to the internet and expect to find an answer. But most of the time you’re disappointed.

Some might argue that ecommerce adds another dimension to an often lengthy and complex B2B buying process, but the rewards of going online are high. You can delight your customers who, by now probably have their bar set pretty low for B2B ecommerce.

This will become increasingly important as our consumer-facing cousins continue to accelerate and innovate their ecommerce offering, increasing customer expectation regardless of work or pleasure.  

It’s far from easy to get it right – but it’s no excuse for getting it completely wrong. To help, I have put together some tips from my experience of ecommerce in B2C retailing.

Know your customers

For B2B brands, identifying opportunities starts by talking to those who regularly interact with your customers; account managers and sales teams who engage with these people every single day. They have invaluable information and access. They can help you understand what your customers really value in the first place, their sticking points and the sweet spots that convert a conversation into a sale. If you have questions, these staff members have your answers.

Be interesting

The internet is not just a marketplace, it’s an endless source of information. A search for ‘how to’ videos on YouTube, for example, turns up over 100 million results; people are here to learn. So when you go online to find a product, you’re not just looking to buy. You want to be informed, whether that’s by cross-referencing prices or comprehensively checking reviews. A recent study by Ipsos and Google found that over 80 per cent of smartphone users say they research a product on the phone before making a purchase in store.

Similarly, when people are browsing and buying in B2B, they are looking for advice. Use content to engage people and establish a relationship before they even buy. This could be through whitepapers, webinars or newsletters, but whatever you do, make sure it sets you apart from your competitors.

Make their lives easier

One of your first priorities should be to make sure you’re the easiest person to do business with. It is easier to sell products online to customers when the website is easy to use on all devices, attractive and reassuring, while providing all the necessary information about the product. The easier and more frictionless your customer journey is, the better for your business.

Business customers want to control, manage and place repeat orders by themselves. The definition of a ‘great’ customer journey will vary across your customer base; larger organisations might want a user experience that enables a more efficient interaction between buyer and seller throughout, which might include order management, pricing, logistics and accounting. Other smaller businesses might simply want to make an order from their van. 

Become your own customer

Have you ever actually tried to buy something on your own website? If you haven’t, you’re definitely not alone. This is a simple step that puts you in the customer’s shoes. See their experience of your brand, and reflect honestly. Acknowledge what’s working and what’s not – and make those changes.

What are you measuring?

Do you know which KPIs are important to you in digital commerce? With so much easily accessible data across digital channels, the challenge isn’t so much wanting to measure, as it is knowing precisely what you should be measuring in the first place. I suspect that many B2B brands simply aren’t at the races in this respect. There’s no excuse. Thanks to free analytics packages such as Google Analytics, any business can quickly and easily access insights about how customers are interacting with their website.

Can your customers find you?

Marketers know how important a strong search marketing strategy is in B2C ecommerce. But what about B2B? According to Internet Retailer, 77 per cent of B2B buyers begin their product search on Google. Because they are shopping around more than ever, it’s important to adjust your strategy accordingly to be there when they need you. That’s now just as important on mobile devices as desktop.

Take advantage of SEO best practices to improve your search rankings. Start by enriching your product descriptions, URLs and general website content pages. Make sure they use language that customers use to describe your products rather than internal brand-led vernacular. Research keywords that your audience might be searching for when comparing products.

All of the ideas I have briefly covered add up to a big difference when using digital commerce to win the hearts of customers. A gap is now opening up between the B2B brands that have the culture, expertise and support in the boardroom to make the digital transformation that will be required to win and retain the ever-demanding customers of the future. Don’t get left behind.

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