According to Forrester Research, B2B eCommerce in the U.S. is forecast to reach $1.8 trillion and account for 17% of all B2B sales by 2023. These are exciting times for B2B eCommerce no doubt—but the challenge for B2B marketers is delivering a superior online shopping experience that rivals the B2C one their customers have come to expect.
In B2C eCommerce, it is fine to employ a variety of individual tactics in each market or category with varying levels of success because sales cycles are short, target audiences are broad, products are easily understood and tracking ROI is easy and quick. Not so in B2B—where marketers can’t waste time or resources guessing. Successful B2B marketers know that there is no substitute for knowing exactly where your customers come from, and most importantly how they find you.
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Contact Elevation today. You’ll love the results.
Elevation Marketing is a B2B eCommerce agency that firmly believes in starting with the research, formulating a strategy and planning the development of creative concepts that will be visually compelling to your audience, improve user flow throughout your eCommerce site, provide a consistent customer experience, encourage customer engagement and ultimately boost conversion.
Depending on the stage in the eCommerce business lifecycle your B2B target customers reside in, we may implement organic search services including SEO and link-building, and paid media tactics like pay-per-click (PPC), paid search like Google Adwords and paid social media advertising to support stronger online sales. We may also employ a combination of tactical tools like text ads, banner ads, re-targeting, geo-fencing, programmatic digital techniques and website development. In addition, we can seamlessly integrate content management with ERP systems, and ensure your site is compatible on mobile devices too.
For B2B companies new to eCommerce, we offer an integrated, multi-phase approach that broadens awareness among prospective customers and fosters trusted, longstanding relationships. It begins with research to inform a strategy that streamlines the user experience and seamlessly ushers the customer to checkout, reducing friction in the buying process along the way as much as possible. We develop in-bound marketing strategies that increase net new opportunity for new businesses that need to generate quality leads and develop a pipeline of prospects fast. We also help grow customer conversion rates and streamline the customer experience to inspire return customers.
We put the deep-dive insights to work developing a marketing campaign, creative design and assets that entice customers to not only explore the full value proposition of sourcing their needs from your company’s product or services selection, but also go beyond transactions and provide meaningful interactions between customers and your brand.
Naturally, the actual deliverables of our innovation process vary depending on your business. Whether they are product concepts, service concepts, brand concepts, or actionable business strategies – they are directly driven by your company’s, customers’ and marketplace needs as articulated in this refined and proven process.
The resulting buy-in not only gives you better acceptance of new products and services, but also assures enduring customer loyalty (which is one of the main drivers of future growth).
For established B2B eCommerce companies, we begin with a comprehensive audit of your site which uncovers technical, functional, design and branding needs, while immersing our team into your brand positioning, messaging and competitive position in the market, to reveal opportunities for greater customer interaction along your online customer’s journey.
For example, when your eCommerce customers put items into their online shopping cart, only to abandon them without completing the purchase—understanding your customer’s user experience on their way to purchasing products on your site is actionable insight we use to craft a series of email reminders that are proven to help. We implement actionable insight to increase traffic to your eCommerce site, boost awareness about your brand, and better highlight special promotions and offers that will effectively move the needle with your targets. Our team is well experienced at creating personalized email campaigns, targeted promotions, and at crafting intimate messaging that speaks to each shopper individually, inspiring customer loyalty.
We not only focus on delivering more sales today, but also develop options for targeting audiences in the future, including A/B testing of landing pages and crafting successful email marketing messages that are based on knowledge about your buyers and their needs that they will respond to with clicks and conversions.
Our creative team puts its artistic intuition, technical ingenuity and creative intelligence to work producing innovative design, content assets and online experiences aligned to both your overall business strategy, and customer expectations, including online, print, social media and radio ads, out-of-home experiences, direct mail and email and social media campaigns that drive people to a custom landing page.
At Elevation Marketing, we strive to help you achieve extraordinary results—and we have experience meeting the high expectations of some of the most well-known B2B eCommerce companies in the world to prove we do just that.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a B2B ecommerce strategy?
A B2B ecommerce strategy is a plan for how a company will sell products or services to business customers online. It addresses the buyer journey, product catalog, account-specific pricing, bulk ordering, approval processes and system integrations. The goal is to make purchasing easier while supporting the company’s sales, marketing and operational needs.
Related Case Study: Cox Automotive: Online Auto Marketplace Re-Engages Buyers
What does a B2B ecommerce agency do?
A B2B ecommerce agency plans, builds and improves online buying experiences for business customers. Services may include ecommerce strategy, website development, UX design, SEO, paid media, conversion optimization and ERP or CRM integration. The agency helps remove friction from the buying process and connect ecommerce performance to broader business goals.
What features does a B2B ecommerce website need?
A B2B ecommerce website may need account-specific pricing, bulk ordering, purchase approvals, invoice payment options and ERP or procurement system integration. It should also provide clear navigation, detailed product information and search tools that help both returning customers and buyers who are still comparing options.
Which marketing strategies work best for B2B ecommerce?
Effective B2B ecommerce marketing often combines SEO, paid search, retargeting and email marketing. The right mix depends on how buyers research products and how long the purchase process takes. Campaigns should attract qualified traffic, bring previous visitors back and make it easier for buyers to complete a purchase.
Related Case Study: shopPOP: Digital and SEO Efforts Drive Rapid Success
Should B2B and B2C ecommerce websites be separate?
Separate B2B and B2C ecommerce websites can provide a better experience when the two audiences have different purchasing needs. Business buyers may require account pricing, bulk ordering, invoice payments and approval workflows. A dedicated B2B store supports these features without adding unnecessary steps to the consumer checkout process.
How is B2B ecommerce website development different?
B2B ecommerce website development must support more complex purchasing processes than a standard marketing website or a B2C ecommerce site. Requirements may include large product catalogs, account-specific pricing, bulk orders, purchase approvals, negotiated terms and ERP or CRM integration. It must also serve multiple buyer roles while maintaining mobile usability, site speed, security and scalability.
How does A/B testing work for B2B ecommerce websites?
A/B testing compares two versions of a page or feature to see which performs better. B2B ecommerce companies can test product page content, calls to action, forms, navigation and checkout steps. Because B2B websites may receive less traffic than consumer sites, tests often need to run longer before the results are reliable.
What does a B2B ecommerce website audit include?
A B2B ecommerce website audit evaluates site performance, search visibility, user experience and conversion paths. It may uncover slow pages, technical SEO problems, confusing navigation, inconsistent messaging or checkout barriers. The findings help prioritize improvements that can increase qualified traffic, conversions and online revenue.