Sometimes, it feels like B2C brands have an unfair advantage when using their website to drive sales. For starters, your B2B website needs to appeal to buying groups of multiple decision-makers. Additionally, according to HubSpot research on B2B product shoppers, 88% of B2B buyers report the process takes between 1 and 6 months. For B2C brands, on the contrary, buying decisions are typically made by one person within a few days or weeks.
That being said, your B2B website can still be a powerful sales tool — and it should be. Gartner research indicates that B2B buying groups spend 27 percent of their time related to buying activities conducting independent online research. Even more notable, Gartner reports that 75% of B2B buyers prefer having a representative-free sales experience. That’s where your B2B website comes into the picture.
How to Improve Website B2B Sales
- Provide instant, accurate answers.
- Create interactive product demos.
- Sell based on value, not price.
- Highlight customer success stories.
- Use visuals to tell your story.
- Include multiple calls to action.
- Content, content, content.
1. Provide instant, accurate answers.
Chances are, your B2B website's homepage won't feature an answer to every possible question a prospect may have about your offerings. But considering how many B2B buyers prefer to do their own research before purchasing, you must ensure that they can find the necessary answers without leaving your website — or having to reach out for more information.
Remember: Regardless of whether you have a B2B or B2C website, your role is to eliminate — or significantly reduce — friction for potential buyers. And if you don't provide instantaneous, accurate answers, friction is what your potential customers experience.
Luckily, two resources can help you reduce friction: Chatbots and knowledge management platforms. Let's start with chatbots. You've probably used one yourself, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say you're likely already familiar with what they do, but if you need some examples, you can check them out here. In 2022, a whopping 88% of users had at least one conversation with a chatbot, according to Tidio.
Chatbots are a great way to help reduce the lift on your team and get potential buyers the answers they want quickly. As a result, your chatbot should be able to handle basic inquiries and seamlessly transition to a human representative if there's a more complex question.
If you want to add a Chatbot to your website but don't want it to break the bank, consider ChatSpot, which is a free, AI-powered assistant that combines the power of ChatGPT with your data sources, including HubSpot CRM. This means you can generate personalized responses, discover impactful insights, and accelerate sales prospecting.
Another key feature you should include on your website to ensure your potential buyers have access to accurate, quick information is a knowledge management platform. Your representatives will use this to ensure they provide correct information in a timely manner. Gone are the days when your reps had to track down the right person to provide context or an answer to a question. Now, with a knowledge management platform, it's easier than ever to help prospects get the answers they need to make a purchasing decision.
Psst: You can also enhance your B2B website with a dedicated FAQ or resources page. If you don't already have this, you'll be happy to learn it's easy to build, so the lift is minimal. The easier you make it for buyers to instantly find the information they need, the more likely they are to buy.
2. Create interactive product demos.
Experiencing a B2B service firsthand before purchasing can give potential buyers the momentum they need to click 'purchase.' Of all the resources you can offer prospects through your website, an interactive product demo is the most convincing, in my experience.
Walnut, for instance, is a tool that allows SaaS businesses to create personalized, interactive product demos for prospects. These demos can even be annotated to guide prospects on using the software to address their specific pain points. This tailored "sample" of the software makes it easy for prospects to understand what the software looks like in action and how they can integrate it with their current tech stack. Again, this reduces the lift for your team — and helps streamline the decision-making process for prospects.
Regardless of the tool you choose to use, a demo gives prospects a much deeper understanding of what you have to offer. This ultimately provides a powerful advantage over competitors that don't feature an interactive demo on their website.
Free Sales Plan Template
Outline your company's sales strategy in one simple, coherent sales plan.
- Target Market
- Prospecting Strategy
- Budget
- Goals
Download Free
All fields are required.
3. Sell based on value, not price.
In my opinion, it's a good idea to advertise the price of your services. B2B buyers may not have the time to reach out to get additional information about pricing, or they simply may not want to. By clearly stating how much your services cost, you'll save prospects time and energy.
That being said, when you tailor your website copy to pitch your product or service, your focus should be on the unique value and benefits it offers. Ideally, you'll help prospects recognize that there's much to gain from using your services — even if it comes with a hefty price tag.
To demonstrate the value of your offerings, be mindful of the language that you use. Your copy should address your niche audience's pain points and interests. Want to see how impactful doing so can be? Consider this scenario.
You own a dental office, and you are considering two companies that offer SEO services for your business. One provides general SEO services and is cheaper, while the other focuses exclusively on dentists, and is more costly. The business that focuses on dentists has a competitive advantage in this situation — and they'd be wise to showcase the business value by emphasizing that the team understands the pain points that dental offices uniquely face when attempting to update their site for SEO value.
By selling based on value, the perceived value of your products or services will be quite high, even if your prices are higher than your competitors.
4. Highlight customer success stories.
92 percent of B2B buyers are more likely to make a purchase after they read a "trusted review." You can offer social proof on your B2B website by highlighting customer success stories. The more specific, the better — and bonus points if the stories you feature highlight specific statistics that demonstrate how your product up-leveled the client's business. We do this all the time at HubSpot — and even have a customer reviews page. Here's a favorite of mine:
By adding testimonials to your website, you are able to effectively highlight the experiences your customers enjoy. Be sure your testimonials explain how the customer achieved a relevant goal or improved their own results thanks to your services. These testimonials don't have to be long to pack a punch. You can even start by adding something as simple as a quote from a happy customer thanking your organization for helping them scale.
If you want to do this on a larger scale, you can also add case studies to your website. Think of a case study as an even deeper dive into how your product or service was able to drive impact for a customer. If you need help writing a case study, check out this post.
Not only does putting current customers front and center help prospects begin brainstorming how your product can help them, but it also demonstrates that customer satisfaction is a top concern for your business.
5. Use visuals to tell your story.
You've heard the saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words." It's cliche — but it's also true. Investing in quality visuals will make a tremendous difference in whether you can effectively sell your brand's story or not.
65 percent of people are primarily visual learners and, therefore, best retain information if you feed it to them with some form of visual reinforcement. I've used both infographics and videos as visual aids, and have found that they're a great way to help make content more digestible.
For example, you can insert images of your team interacting with clients to demonstrate your commitment to service. You can also add an infographic to display statistical information that showcases the type of results you achieve for your clients. And screenshots of your software can help prospects better understand how they would use it. Choose the types of images that best fit your marketing needs so they can effectively support your copy.
Free Sales Plan Template
Outline your company's sales strategy in one simple, coherent sales plan.
- Target Market
- Prospecting Strategy
- Budget
- Goals
Download Free
All fields are required.
6. Include multiple calls to action.
I get it: You're scared of overwhelming your prospects by adding too many calls to action (CTAs) to your website. But consider this: If you only include one CTA, there's a major risk that your prospective customers will miss it. A single CTA can easily get lost or skipped over amongst other content on the page.
Let's take a look at an effective CTA strategy. Asana shows how CTAs can be incorporated into content so they feel intuitive. Asana adds a CTA "above the fold" as well as additional throughout the page as visitors scroll. These buttons are generally positioned near eye-catching animations and interactive elements to capture attention.
-1.webp?width=650&height=347&name=7%20Proven%20Tips%20to%20Improve%20Your%20Website%E2%80%99s%20B2B%20Sales%20(HubSpot%2c%20Website%20-%20Guest%20Post)-1.webp)
Making call-to-action buttons stand out — and ensuring visitors can click on them from any part of the homepage — makes it much easier for them to navigate your site, sign up for a demo, or take other desired actions.
Figuring out how to create CTAs that will convert takes practice. You can use HubSpot's CTA tool to create branded CTAs for your web pages or emails easily. Then, you can run A/B testing, use contact data to personalize CTAs to ensure alignment with your audience, and beyond.
7. Content, content, content.
Content is one of the best ways to win your audience's trust. By producing high-value content, you demonstrate to your prospective customers that you have a clear understanding of the topic at hand. Whether in the form of how-to blogs, case studies, or user guides, providing free content through your website will help establish your brand as a true thought leader in its niche.
Notably, 88 percent of marketers felt they were able to successfully build trust and credibility for their brand through content marketing. Establishing your company as a trustworthy voice can encourage prospects to take further action. You've already provided them with something of value thanks to your content offerings — why wouldn't they take it a step further and invest in your product?
To ensure your content delivers, be sure that it isn't too promotional. Sure, you can mention your product offerings where it feels intuitive and natural — I did in this post. But it should never be at the expense of your content. Education comes first, and promotion comes second.
Ultimately, by developing a personable and consistent brand voice, your content will become more engaging. Keep it up, and eventually, you'll garner a reputation for being a thought leader in your industry.
Building a Better B2B Website
Like it or not, many of today's B2B buyers are far more comfortable doing product research on their own, only talking to a salesperson once they have already decided to buy. Because of this, building an engaging B2B website has never been more necessary.
By using these guidelines to build a compelling B2B site that effectively communicates what you have to offer, you will be far more effective at generating leads and sales.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in December 2022 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
