7 B2B E-Commerce Trends To Pay Attention To

The B2B e-commerce industry continues to grow as more and more businesses purchase online. In fact, it’s predicted that by 2020, the B2B e-commerce industry will hit $12 trillion. Since the e-commerce industry continues to grow, it is crucial your business continues to optimize your website to ensure it is up-to-date on current e-commerce trends. Here are a few trends you should be aware of this year.

Mobile E-Commerce

With 50 percent of B2B search queries coming from smartphones, taking steps to ensure a seamless mobile experience will help you please a large customer base. More consumers use their mobile devices at work and multitasking using multiple screens. While traveling or working from home, users can easily continue to work and research using their mobile devices.

If a user does not have a good experience (UX) on the mobile version of your website, they will be less likely to make a purchase. Ensuring your website is mobile friendly will help consumers establish trust in your brand. Researching products and comparing prices should be easy for users to do on the mobile version of your site. The entire purchasing path should be straightforward on mobile devices.

On-Page Video

Many websites use online guides, white papers or webinars to educate users. By adding video, you provide users with a unique way to learn about your products. Adding a video to your website helps build trust and provides valuable content to users.

Videos have proven to be an engaging form of content for many websites. In fact, 58 percent of B2B marketers say video is an effective content marketing strategy. You can create videos that highlight product features, reviews and much more.

Millennial Buyers

According to Google’s B2B report, there has been a shift in the average age of today’s buyers. From 2012 to 2014 there was a 70 percent increase in 18- to 34-year-old B2B researchers. These millennial researchers are extremely familiar with digital. In your marketing strategy, you should make sure you implement strategies to reach this audience.

Millennials expect to have a simplified online purchasing process they can complete with little outside communication with other individuals. Your website should include enough information about your products, and the purchasing process should be intuitive. Making the purchasing process as easy as possible for these buyers will help improve your conversion rates.

Advanced Site Search

Having advanced on-page search options for B2B consumers can help users to find information on your website. Although site search is more commonly found on B2C websites, it can prove beneficial for your B2B e-commerce strategy. Having a well-designed search bar that incorporates advanced features such as auto-completion and synonym search can help users find more information on your site.

Personalization

Consumers have started to expect company interactions tailored to their needs. When a buyer enters a website, they want to find information relevant to them. Personalization tactics can help provide each user with a unique experience that fits their needs. Personalization shows your consumers that you value their experience and want to make the process as easy as possible for them.

Creating custom catalogs using dynamic pricing and segmenting content on the homepage based on a user’s industry are a few ways B2B companies have used personalization to improve conversions. Personalization improves the user experience, which in turn helps to increase revenue. Gartner predicts that companies using personalization on their site will improve revenue by up to 15 percent.

Live Chat

Many B2B companies have begun to use live chat to engage with users while they are on their website. According to J.D. Power, 42 percent of customers prefer using live chat, making it the leading online contact source. Live chat is an ideal way for a business to connect directly with customers to provide quick answers to their questions. Live chat also allows an easy way to connect with multiple customers at once.

Conversion Rate Optimization

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) focuses on improving the percentage of website visitors who make a purchase. More and more B2B companies have started to focus on CRO tactics to help improve the user’s experience and convince them to make a purchase.

CRO involves testing different items on your website to see which converts better. Some ideas for items you can test are calls-to-action, button placements, navigation elements or payment form fields. The possibilities of what you can test are limitless! As you test and make adjustments based on what converts the best, you will improve your overall conversion rates.

Stay On Top of B2B E-Commerce Trends

There are many new trends that your B2B e-commerce business should start taking advantage of to help improve the user experience and help increase revenue. Investing in some of the above strategies will help your business continue to grow and remain competitive in your industry. Choose a trend and get started today!

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