Getting visitors to a website is only half the battle- converting their visit into a purchase or action is another challenge entirely. John Ryder, client services director, Silverbean, lists the most common website conversion mistakes made by B2B websites.
In the second part of a series looking at how to ensure websites really convert, John Ryder, client services director at Silverbean, explains how B2B sites can make the most of their web traffic.
Many B2B websites focus very heavily on one main goal – securing as many relevant visitors as possible. But unlike consumer sites, most B2B organisations aren’t working in markets which offer unlimited potential for building traffic, so the visitors you do get are much more valuable. It’s vital, therefore, to make sure your site does everything possible to sell to customers once they arrive if that value is going to maximised.
The good news is that many of the most common faults are also relatively easy to fix. Take basic communication and messaging for example – are you clearly articulating what your business does? Think about your own experience of searching for suppliers – in general terms you almost always have a choice, and most of us are reluctant to spend time deciphering a website if we can look at the next option more quickly. So, test your messaging – bring together a small group of friends, partners and customers together with your web designer or digital marketing supplier and get them to give you honest feedback about your site messaging and whether it matches their understanding of what your business does. Ask yourself this question: if spending some time and effort testing your communication would win you one more customer a year, would you do it?
Stay in contact
The there’s the issue of contact information – it’s incredible how many B2B sites leave the user to hunt around for their contact details, provide a very poorly designed contact form or don’t include their contact number on every page. You simply must make it as easy as possible for people to contact you – if your site is doing its job and your visitors want to take things further, the last thing you want is to put them off because they can’t easily call or email you. So, ensure your phone number and primary contact email address is displayed on as many pages as possible.
The same problem is also apparent when it comes to data capture – many of us just don’t try hard enough. Every site visitor offers an opportunity for a B2B organisation to establish and maintain contact with potential customers, so presenting people with compelling reasons to leave their details behind is a must. Offering them free and insightful content is a great way of getting people to engage with you. This can range from newsletters and research to advice articles and case studies – whatever it is, it’s got to be of genuine value for people to sign up.
Keep your site content fresh
Feed all of this content into your overall marketing efforts – if you’re securing good PR or social media coverage for the content you are producing, that in turn will create a virtuous circle, driving new traffic to your site. Also consider any special offers, discounts or deals which your business can create and offer them to site visitors in exchange for contact information. Keep the content fresh and varied, and once you’ve made the commitment to keep customers informed (especially with anything regular such as newsletters) don’t give up.
But ultimately, try to steer your B2B visitors through a logical sales process, where they can clearly and quickly understand what you are offering, why you are good at it and why they should want to talk to you further. Make it as easy for them as possible to pursue their interest in you, and measure how your site is performing to fully optimise your conversion efforts.
By John Ryder
Client services director
Silverbean
www.silverbean.co.uk
Read part one of the article here
