/Insights/B2B sales enablement: Solutions and best practices for providing a self-service buyer experience

B2Bsalesenablement:Solutionsandbestpracticesforprovidingaself-servicebuyerexperience

Aug 26, 2024

7 min. read

When most people think of eCommerce, they think of Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and other brands that provide online shopping experiences for everyday consumers. But the rise of eCommerce has also changed how businesses interact with and sell products to other businesses.

Manufacturers, wholesalers, government agencies, and other B2B organizations can benefit from deploying online sales portals—where their customers can find products, customize orders, make payments, track deliveries, engage with helpful content, and so on.

For companies with straightforward, low-complexity products and back-office workflows, a templated eCommerce storefront may be enough to successfully bring the customer experience online. But for B2B companies with strict requirements from buyers, internal teams, and third-party vendors, building a customized, user-friendly, and secure online sales portal is critical—especially in today’s increasingly competitive eCommerce landscape.

Let’s take a closer look at B2B sales enablement for eCommerce merchants.

Providing a self-service B2B buyer experience

When it comes to customer expectations, the difference between B2B and B2C buyers is shrinking rapidly. Due to the influence of Amazon, Walmart, and other eCommerce giants, today’s consumers expect brands to provide fast and easy online shopping experiences across all browsers and devices. And companies that don’t keep up with this expectation will certainly struggle to compete.

The traditional B2B sales process involved taking orders from clients in person, over the phone, or by email, then executing those orders through a series of manual tasks. But with a modern online sales portal, the customer can create an account, find the product they’re looking for, include additional production or delivery instructions, and check out—all without the help of a sales rep. Other features specific to B2B portals include the ability to set up recurring orders, view transaction history, and use alternative payment methods like electronic bank transfers.

The goal here is to create a portal that mimics the speed and convenience of a B2C eCommerce store, while also providing custom features and functionality that meet your clients’ particular wants and needs. Giving buyers the freedom to move through your B2B sales process independently—at any given time or location—will help improve customer satisfaction, sales, and retention over time.

Automating back-office tasks

In addition to making your customers’ lives easier, a digital B2B sales enablement strategy helps streamline processes for your internal staff and third-party vendors. After all, with customers creating their own orders online, your sales and customer service reps are free to focus on other high-priority objectives. And since payments are handled within the portal and processed digitally, your accounting team won’t have to worry about mailing invoices or following up with buyers on outstanding payments. Finally, the data from each transaction—whether it be shipping information, product details, or payment credentials—can be automatically transferred between internal and external systems, eliminating the need for manual data entry.

These streamlined back-office tasks enable lower costs and greater productivity, which means you can spend more time, energy, and resources on really growing your business. While these changes may require an investment in new, modernized tools and strategies, the long-term ROI will come from higher business flexibility and scalability—on top of a superior customer experience.

Leveraging AI chatbots

Powered by artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and natural language processing (NLP) technologies, chatbots help B2B companies deliver smoother digital buying experiences. These bots—acting as a virtual front-desk receptionist—help users move through the customer journey, answering basic product questions, directing them to certain pages, providing order status updates, and so on. They also help customers connect with real sales or customer service reps when necessary.

Unlike human employees, chatbots are available 24/7 to assist customers, resulting in a faster and easier buying experience for all parties involved. Research shows that 40% of millennials interact with chatbots daily, and implementing this technology can increase your average sales by 67%.

Gaining valuable customer insights

Bringing the B2B sales process online presents an opportunity to learn more about your customers through data, rather than relying heavily on traditional feedback and surveys. By analyzing a buyer’s interactions with websites, sales portals, or email campaigns, you can bring their unique, unarticulated needs and preferences to the surface and leverage that information to deliver more personalized sales outreach, product recommendations, discounts, and more.

Customer information can be extracted from various sources, the most common being website analytics tools like Google Analytics. Other sources include customer accounts, transaction history, email marketing platforms, and customer services interactions. The key here is to establish a data management system that effectively consolidates, de-duplicates, and enriches customer data from all of these systems into one single source of truth.

Key B2B sales enablement solutions

Bringing the B2B sales process online—then continuously optimizing it based on new market trends and customer expectations—requires the integration of advanced tools and processes. To ensure the highest level of customer satisfaction and internal efficiency, these tools must be integrated seamlessly into your business’ current technological ecosystem, from its eCommerce platform, to its ERP, and so on.

These key B2B sales enablement solutions help streamline the following tasks:

Order management solutions: Establishing shipping rules, managing returns, processing payments, tracking inventory and orders, and sending status updates to customers.
Experience management platforms: Updating UX and UI designs, building landing pages, creating and sharing content, performing usability tests, and managing digital assets.
eCommerce platforms: Designing shopping cart and checkout pages, establishing price rules, adding promotions and coupons, facilitating customer accounts, creating sales quotes, configuring products, and displaying product recommendations.
Product information management (PIM) solutions: Establishing product taxonomy, updating product details and attributes across channels, collecting and visualizing product data, and maintaining product governance.
Customer relationship management (CRM) platforms: Centralizing sales operations, managing client interactions, tracking the sales pipeline, and storing valuable client data.
Content management systems (CMS): Creating, managing, and publishing sales content like web pages, blogs, eBooks, FAQ pages, and case studies.
Configure, price, quote (CPQ) solutions: Calculating prices and generating quotes under complex pricing structures and customization options.
Customer data (CDP) platforms: Aggregating data to create a comprehensive view of each customer, which can be used for segmentation, personalization, account based marketing, and targeted sales outreach.

Best practices for B2B eCommerce merchants

Now let’s explore some of the key ingredients to successful B2B sales enablement in the eCommerce landscape.

Optimize the user experience for mobile

With an increasing number of business professionals using mobile devices for work-related activities, ensuring that your B2B eCommerce experience is mobile-friendly can significantly impact your business’s success.

Firstly, a mobile-optimized user experience (UX) enhances accessibility. Decision-makers and procurement teams often need to access eCommerce platforms on the go, whether they're traveling or working remotely. A responsive design that adapts seamlessly to various screen sizes ensures that users can easily navigate, place orders, and manage accounts from their smartphones or tablets. This can lead to higher engagement and increased sales as users are more likely to complete transactions when they encounter a user-friendly interface.

Secondly, optimizing mobile UX improves customer satisfaction. A well-designed mobile experience reduces friction by offering quick load times, intuitive navigation, and easy-to-use features. This is particularly important for B2B transactions, which can be complex. Simplifying processes like searching for products, configuring orders, and completing checkouts on mobile devices helps in minimizing user frustration and potential abandonment of transactions.

Thirdly, a mobile-optimized UX can enhance competitive advantage. In a market where digital expectations are rapidly evolving, businesses that invest in mobile optimization differentiate themselves from competitors who may still offer a subpar mobile experience. This proactive approach can attract and retain clients who value seamless and efficient interactions.

Finally, improved mobile UX can also lead to better data insights. Mobile interactions provide valuable data on how users engage with your platform, helping to refine and enhance the overall user experience based on real-time feedback and behavior.

Offer dynamic pricing

Dynamic pricing involves adjusting prices in real time based on various factors such as demand, customer profile, and market conditions. With this approach, B2B companies better align their pricing strategies with market fluctuations and customer behaviors, optimizing both profitability and customer satisfaction.

The value of dynamic pricing lies in its ability to offer personalized pricing models that make customers more likely to buy. For instance, companies can set different prices for bulk orders, repeat customers, or long-term clients, ensuring that pricing reflects the value of the relationship and the scale of the purchase. This flexibility helps in attracting and retaining high-value customers while also maximizing revenue from each transaction.

Plus, dynamic pricing enables businesses to respond swiftly to market changes, such as shifts in demand or competitive pricing adjustments. This agility helps maintain competitiveness and improve margins, as prices can be adjusted to reflect real-time market conditions and inventory levels.

Integrate seamlessly with back-end systems

Your B2B eCommerce platform must connect smoothly with your CRM, inventory management system, and other back-end tools for maximum efficiency and scalability.

Seamless integration ensures data consistency across systems. By synchronizing data in real-time, you can maintain accurate inventory levels, up-to-date customer information, and consistent pricing. This eliminates discrepancies, reduces manual data entry errors, and enhances the reliability of business operations.

It also boosts operational efficiency by automating key tasks. For example, automated order processing between the eCommerce platform and ERP system reduces the need for manual intervention, accelerates order fulfillment, and minimizes the risk of delays. Integration also facilitates better management of customer relationships through CRM systems, enabling personalized interactions and targeted marketing.

Furthermore, it provides valuable insights through unified data analytics. Integrated systems allow for comprehensive reporting and analysis, helping your team make informed decisions based on real-time data. This visibility into operations and customer behavior supports strategic planning and continuous improvement.

Prioritize security and compliance

Given the complexity of B2B transactions and the volume of data exchanged, implementing robust security measures and adhering to regulatory standards are critical for safeguarding business operations and customer information.

Security is paramount to prevent data breaches and cyberattacks. Implementing SSL encryption ensures secure data transmission between the eCommerce platform and users, protecting sensitive information such as payment details and personal data. Additionally, using secure payment gateways and regular security audits helps identify and address vulnerabilities, minimizing the risk of unauthorized access and fraud.

Compliance with data protection regulations, such as GDPR or CCPA, is also crucial. These regulations mandate how businesses handle, store, and process personal data, requiring transparency and customer consent. Adhering to these regulations not only avoids legal penalties but also builds customer trust by demonstrating a commitment to data privacy.

Moreover, regular staff training on security best practices and maintaining up-to-date software and security protocols further strengthen your defenses. Prioritizing security and compliance not only safeguards your business from threats but also enhances your reputation as a reliable and trustworthy partner in the B2B space.

Case study: Launching a B2B sales portal for a specialty retailer’s wholesale clients

DEMDACO, a specialty retailer founded in 1997, required a dedicated B2B sales portal to better serve its wholesale clients. The brand’s existing eCommerce site was designed solely for B2C customers, lacking functionality critical for B2B transactions, such as order tracking, invoice payments, and shipment monitoring. This gap led to significant manual customer support and a cumbersome experience for wholesale buyers.

To address this, DEMDACO partnered with Codal, leveraging the BigCommerce platform to create a new B2B eCommerce website. The collaboration began with an in-depth analysis of the B2B sales funnel, identifying the specific needs and pain points of wholesale clients. Codal’s team focused on creating an intuitive user experience tailored to these needs, incorporating features such as product comparisons, recommendations, and advanced search functionalities.

The development process involved integrating the B2B portal with DEMDACO's complex ERP system using Stencil (BigCommerce’s design framework), PHP, HTML, and Node.js. Key functionalities included order modification, UPS access points, and preorders. The portal also features high-volume ordering capabilities, a quick-order function, and custom content for B2B users, such as buying guides and retailer success kits.

The result was a seamless B2B sales portal integrated with the main eCommerce site, enhancing the wholesale buying experience by providing easy order management, invoice payments, and streamlined reordering. This initiative has improved efficiency and customer satisfaction, allowing DEMDACO to extend its high-quality online shopping experience to its wholesale clientele.

Get started with B2B sales enablement for your business

When your brand is ready to enable B2B sales on its eCommerce website, or digitally transform the buyer experience from top to bottom, you’ll need a technology partner that can provide the necessary tools, resources, and expertise. And that’s where Codal comes in.

We’re a UX design and development consultancy that specializes in B2B eCommerce. Our award-winning team has built, tested, launched, and managed B2B sales portals and other custom solutions for organizations across all industries—helping them to improve customer engagement, increase sales, and maintain a competitive advantage in their niche.

In our thirteen years of experience, we’ve worked with many different technologies and formed partnerships with leading solutions providers like Shopify and BigCommerce. These partnerships allow us to stay on the cutting edge of new digital trends and technologies, and ultimately provide the highest ROI possible for our clients.

Topic

Unified commerce

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