4 Sure-Fire Ways to Fail in B2B E-Commerce

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management system to provide one reliable place to manage, house and share all your product data and content. Before reaching out to e-commerce providers, meet with your IT, sales and product teams to determine your system requirements and limitations. The software platform is the cornerstone of your e-commerce. Without the proper platform and systems in place, you can expect mounting negative effects such as inefficiency, additional costs and customer frustration. Way to fail #2: Provide bare bones content Manufacturers may provide you with information about their products, but have you ever really looked at it to see how helpful it actually is for customers? Just because the manufacturer provides the data doesn’t mean it’s the best or most relevant information for that product. Unfortunately, most distributors tend to use only this basic information on their site, so customers are forced to either call customer service or try a different supplier’s site to get answers. You never want a potential customer to leave your site because your content is lacks the specifications and features needed to make a purchasing decision. Product content fuels your online sales; when that content features SEO-rich descriptions, tags and links, you have a greater chance of attracting visitors and ranking higher in searches. So go the extra mile and include more value-added information about your products by enriching the descriptions, product bullets and specifications. Provide additional images, product videos and important documents like installation manuals, user guides and MSDS sheets. The benefits to beefed-up content are twofold: customers will recognize you as a valuable resource for product information and Google and other search engines will notice your unique and relevant content and help bring more attention to your site. Way to fail #3: Avoid interaction Are you an introvert when it comes to social media? Do you feel it’s just a channel for B2C companies or young people to interact? Well, as we told you in a recent blog, social media is fast becoming a popular marketing channel for B2B companies. The majority of B2B companies actively engage in social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to market their company and products, but many of them are also using social media to help make purchasing decisions. This additional channel allows you to interact with customers, industry organizations and colleagues, and is a great way to promote your products, share industry news and provide an online Q&A. The advantage to social media is you’re in control of your content, and your posts and tweets keep you relevant and connected with people. In addition to social media, interaction is also critical throughout the stages of the customer lifecycle. Send personalized offers to customers with relevant product promotions to show you know them and their buying habits. Offer 24-hour assistance with a customer portal and online chat so that you can provide answers to their questions any time of day. Then, once a customer makes a purchase, follow up by sending them a customer satisfaction survey to
collect important feedback. This continuous level of engagement gives you great insight, and makes for a positive customer experience. Way to fail #4: Offer a Yugo experience Just because you have an e-commerce site doesn’t mean people are going to flock to it. If you’re not offering a dynamic experience online, you might as well call it a day. Sites without features like internal search, easy navigation or a responsive design do as much good as the Yugo car did back in the 1980s. Cheaply made, underpowered and undependable, the Yugo was one of the worst vehicles ever made. So why would you want to provide a Yugo-like site for customers? The user experience is everything, so if your site is slow, lacks content or makes it difficult to find products, people will go elsewhere. Don’t underestimate your customers; they are digital-savvy shoppers who know what they want, and you can bet they don’t want to spend a long time searching for products or information. When it comes to B2B e-commerce, you can’t afford to fail. The stakes are high in this increasingly competitive sales channel, so avoid these costly mistakes by building out a structured strategy that provides goals and initiatives for both the present and the future.
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4 Sure-Fire Ways to Fail in B2B E-Commerce

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