Techniques to Improve Your B2B eCommerce Website

Business-to-business electronic commerce, mainly referred to as B2B eCommerce, has undergone a drastic digital transformation over the past few years. It has presented an opportunity for businesses to transact with other businesses conveniently. Like in a Business to Consumer (B2C) model, there is a heightened expectation for a seamless digital shopping experience.

Buyers are looking for an eCommerce website store offering convenience, accuracy, security, and speed. There are many ways to improve your eCommerce site. Let us look into a few easy techniques to improve your website and convert more!

#1. Maximizing Your Website Searching Functionality

A B2B eCommerce site with poor and inadequate search functions usually leads to a high customer bounce rate and poor site ranking. Your customers don’t want to wade through a bunch of pages to find a specific product. This is why an excellent B2B website requires a very robust search functionality and for this some ecommerce agency services are doing a commendable job. Your eCommerce website search filter should give results that are most relevant and accurate. 

A few years ago, an on-site search function just needed basic standard features, regardless of the target customers. Today, it is not enough to embed a plain search box on your site. It is crucial to turn your search option into a marketing tool by fine-tuning and optimizing your search functionalities. Additionally, your search functionality should fetch the exact product a customer is searching for. It should be fast and easy to use. 

Remember, it is one of the customer’s primary tools of interaction with your website. It should give your customers the best experience possible.

#2. Optimize Your Website For Mobile

It can be catastrophic if your B2B website is not tailored for mobile. Most web visitors use mobile devices. It is a market segment you cannot afford to ignore. A mobile-unfriendly might end up driving unsatisfied customers to the competition. 

You will lose a lot on sales and conversions. Search engines might also push your site down on the results.
Like a day shopping in the San Ramon mall, online shopping should be fun irrespective of your visitors’ devices. Don’t miss out! Invest in a mobile-optimized B2B website to improve your users’ experience.

Tip: Ensure your website has a responsive design, planned layout, and easy navigations. Make it easy for your users to interact with the site on their favourite devices. 

#3. Enhancing Your Website Security And Privacy

The exponential growth of tech has also led to an increase in the number of cybercriminals. B2B websites are a haven of financial and personal data, making them a hot target for cyberattacks. No matter the size of your business, the cost of a breach, both in loss of customer data and trust, can be very detrimental. Of course, website security is a continuous process, given that cyber threats keep shifting. There are many ways to secure your web assets.

You can start by installing a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate. It is a piece of code installed on the web server. It will encrypt the connection between the end-user and the server-side. This way, your customers and your business information are private and secure. It is essential to keep delicate and confidential information such as bank details, passwords, and the likes safer on transit. SSL certificates are available in various kinds and at different validation levels.

It makes for a sensible decision to choose the right kind of SSL certificate for your business. For ecommerce websites that intend to add new subdomains under a primary domain soon, we suggest buying and installing a wildcard SSL certificate. This not only secures your primary domain but also an unlimited number of first-level subdomains at a lower cost. 

Again, data breaches are costly! In the US, the cost of a breach was estimated between $1.25 million to $8.19 million in 2018, depending on the industry. You need to invest more in security. A secure website will improve your SEO rankings, data integrity, good reputation, ensure compliance, among others.

#4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Having a website is only the first step to the online journey. To achieve the full benefit of your site, embrace the best SEO optimization practices. SEO is fundamental for you to gain a comparative advantage over your competition on the web. 

Your B2B website needs to be ranked at the top by relevant searches online. The higher the ranking, the higher the visibility of your website and products, leading to more searches and more sales. Yes, your SEO ranking will directly determine the success of your website. So, the best time to optimize your website is now! 

For starters, you should know that search engine ranking is done by indexing software called “crawlers”. The ranking and indexing are based on analysis of website traffic, length of URL, image sizes, mobile optimization, website loading speed, and user engagements.

#5. Use Chatbots

Think of what would happen if a customer is stranded on your website. It is likely the customer will leave your website. You can use chatbots to act as a helper to your visitors on your website. They can help your customer service team to engage visitors based on their requests and requirements. 

Consider getting a chatbot for your B2B website to enhance your customers’ experience at a reduced operating cost. Tailored bots can help reduce customer cart abandonment on your website and increase your revenue.

#6. Comply with Regulations

Don’t forget to make your B2B website compliant with relevant regulations. After all, engaging in a legal tussle can be very expensive and time-consuming. Some data compliance laws have been established, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force in May 2018.

Many of these regulations aim to ensure users’ personal data is adequately processed and protected by businesses. You ought to comply with the regulations to avoid severe penalties, license withdrawals, and fines. 

You should also comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) regulations if you handle any credit card processing on the site. One requirement is to protect customer data transmitted to and from your website by installing secure socket layer (SSL) certificates. 

Again, there are many options in the market. For example, you can go for a GoDaddy Wildcard SSL to protect your main domain and first-level subdomains at a lower cost. Other requirements include setting up a firewall, protecting cardholder data, monitoring network access relevant to card processing, etc.

Tip: Find out about the relevant regulations in your area and country, then work to comply.

Wrapping up

Developing a successful B2B eCommerce website should be a top priority for a venture handling other businesses as clients. You need to invest in a good site and work towards making it stand a cut above the competition. Make a point of delivering a website with a good user experience to the target users.

It should be compliant and accessible both on the computer and mobile devices. Ensure customer data is always safe and secure by embracing top-notch security practices. It is also paramount to invest in the best SEO practices to improve your ranking and indexing with “crawlers”.