By Jenny Goldade, Content Specialist
Website content and design trends constantly change, but there are a few consistent strategies that the best B2B websites use. Keeping up with certain design trends can be important, but a successful B2B website is more about how the business educates leads, builds trust, and drives revenue. These actionable goals make a B2B website among the best. To accomplish them, B2Bs should:
Utilize buyer-centric content and design
Focus on relationship building and a positive user experience
In other words, the best B2B websites speak to their target buying group’s pain points and nurture them with relevant content to convert them into customers.
A B2B website should be more than a brochure of its products and services, but not a dumping ground for content that covers every conceivable base. Websites often fall victim to “too many cooks in the kitchen” and sacrifice good design to make individual contributors and executives happy. Ultimately, B2B companies should prioritize website strategies that help nurture leads into buyers. Lead generation is the top priority for any B2B website. Companies can keep their team focused on using their website as a lead generation tool by conducting tests and analyzing the data.
Any strong conversion point, like a content offer or contact request, should have a form so businesses can take full advantage of the lead’s attention. Gated content is one of the most common ways to generate leads, and the Content Marketing Institute found that 90% of B2B marketers used their websites to distribute content in the last 12 months.1 Marketers must balance the value they provide with the amount of information they ask for on the form.
Prioritizing lead generation during website design can also help align sales and marketing teams. With a well-designed website and robust customer relationship management (CRM), B2B marketers and salespeople can gain valuable buyer insights and lead intelligence from form submission data. Eighty-four percent of marketers use form submissions as a conversion type2, and 69% of marketers who track content analytics said website engagement provides the most valuable insights.1
Forty percent of sales leaders said implementing a CRM was very or highly effective at improving sales/marketing alignment, making it a crucial tool for driving revenue.3
Buyer-centric content speaks to buyer pain points and the outcomes of using the seller’s product or service rather than being autobiographical. Thirty percent of B2B leaders surveyed by Ironpaper said pain points are the most important part of messaging. Additionally, Demand Gen found that 52% of B2B buyers surveyed want businesses to organize their websites by pain points.4
Only 8.2% of B2B leaders feel their messaging is very effective.
- Ironpaper, 2022
Website content should also incorporate the company’s value proposition. According to Ironpaper’s survey, only 8.2% of B2B leaders feel their messaging is very effective. When creating messaging, companies should consider why a lead would choose to work with their business over another and how they can address market forces impacting their industry. As Ironpaper’s CEO & Founder Jonathan Franchell mentioned in this article, buyers’ needs evolve, so B2Bs must change how they communicate.
Read more about how to write buyer-focused content here.
Along with content, this methodology can apply to design. Remember, the main goal of a B2B website is to nurture leads and convert them into customers. The best B2B website designs make the most useful information easy to find to appeal to potential buyers and customers. This means putting conversion opportunities in the right places, so website visitors can quickly locate relevant gated content. A buyer-centric website design also means the website is intuitive and easy to navigate.
A B2B company must understand how its buyers conduct research and make purchasing decisions when developing a website. Not only should the website content be arranged in a way that educates and converts buyers, but it should also contribute to positive associations with the company and building trusting relationships.
According to Demand Gen, 36% of B2B buyers said vendor websites were one of the top three resources to inform them about solutions to their challenges.5 Until they are very close to a purchase, buyers visiting B2B websites are looking for answers to their questions, not specific products. That’s why all website content should appeal to buyers’ pain points and goals to show they’re in the right place to find answers. Buyers should be able to find educational resources and information about vendor solutions on their website, all from a trustworthy source.
For example, the website’s navigation should be easy for different segments to find what they want. This will require testing and revision to see which design and copy work best for specific audiences.
Responsive design is another critical aspect of building a buyer-friendly website. The navigation bar and the rest of the website should be intuitive and functional on all devices. Forty-two percent of visitors will leave a website that needs better functionality.6
Websites are ongoing projects; B2B companies shouldn’t just launch their websites and forget about them. They need to optimize their sites for search engines and lead generation continuously.
Need ideas on what to test? Check out this blog post.
The best B2B websites follow these three tactics to create a valuable buyer experience and generate and convert qualified leads. Their websites address their buyer’s pain points and allow leads to find the most valuable resources for their needs. Ultimately, it also helps marketing and sales teams collaborate to nurture leads throughout the buyer’s journey to become customers.
Download the B2B marketing messaging report to explore content effectiveness.
Sources
1Content Marketing Institute, 12th Annual B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends, 2022.
2Ruler Analytics, Marketing Attribution and Reporting Analysis 2021.
3HubSpot, 2023 Sales Trends Report.
4Demand Gen Report, Content Preferences Survey Report, 2022.
5Demand Gen Report, 2022 B2B Buyer Behaviors Survey.
6Top Design Firms, Website Redesign Checklist: 5 Trends to Consider, April 21, 2021.