Let’s be realistic — it’s not likely someone is going to stumble onto a SaaS website, armed with only the information provided by content on the internet and make a large purchase via a shopping cart.
On the contrary, B2B customers are making a greater investment and taking an increased risk, so they usually want to speak with a salesperson before they commit.
But that doesn’t mean that a B2B website design should just physician database be a static brochure. Even though the website might not be involved in the drafting of a contract or the physical exchange of money, it's still one of your best salespeople.
B2C companies have long realized the value of sales-ready website design to encourage consumer engagement, and it’s time that B2B catches up.
When Did Attractive Web Design Become So Important in the B2B Industry?
Over the past five years, B2B companies have set the bar higher and higher for web design.
It used to be good enough for a B2B website to just contain good content — but both B2C and B2B buyers expect to find high-end design everywhere now, even in the most unlikely of places. There’s no such thing as “good enough for B2B” anymore; your website should reflect your brand values and identity.
Today’s buyer contacts a sales representative at a stage much further down the marketing funnel than they would have 10 years ago. This means the content on your website is doing a lot of the legwork that was previously done by your sales team.
Instead of asking a salesperson what your product or service is all about, your buyer is looking through your website, reading your blog and downloading premium content offers.
In his book, To Sell Is Human, Daniel Pink has called this phenomenon “the age of information parity in sales.” In this age, the consumer has as much, if not more, information about the product he or she is buying than the salesperson. This means the buyers of today are much more educated.
Fortunately, if that education is taking place on your website, your company will be better positioned to establish brand preference at a very early stage of the buying process. It’s safe to say having an amazing B2B website design is more important than ever!
From planning to launch day, learn how to make your next redesign project a success with our Website Redesign Guide.
Your Website Is Your Best Salesperson — But Is It Sales-Ready?
Let’s clarify what we mean by “sales-ready web design.”
All B2B websites should be focused on generating leads. Although B2B buying decisions might take anywhere from six months to two years to finalize, a sales-ready website is set up to support that lengthy sales cycle.
In other words, the information architecture, form strategy, conversion strategy and every other component of the web design is built to:
Reflect the goals and pain points of your buyer personas
Attract high-quality leads organically
Encourage those leads to move through the sales funnel on their own
With all of those utilitarian components set up correctly, your website should also include polished topography, page layouts, photography, videos and more. Professionally-designed assets like these can make a website really shine.