Posted 17.02.2022
B2B ecommerce is growing rapidly. With a projected market volume of £92,464 million by 2025, the market has an impressive annual growth rate of 3.5%. Yet there are many in the B2B space that are still resistant to the notion of adjusting to B2B ecommerce. They may feel that ecommerce doesn’t lend itself as well to transactions between businesses as it does transactions between businesses and consumers. Or they may worry that they can’t deliver the same personalised touch in the digital realm.
However, both of these misgivings are unfounded.
The global B2B ecommerce sector is actually around 6 times higher in value than the B2C ecommerce market. Here in the UK, B2B ecommerce is more than double the size of its B2C counterpart. And as more digitally-native millennials reach positions of buying power within companies, we can expect ecommerce to become the normalised method of facilitating business transactions. But ecommerce savvy millennial buyers aren’t just on their way. They’re already here! And with a growing wealth of online competition, they’ve begun to demand more from their online vendors. Brands of all shapes and sizes are leaning heavily on personalisation to create a satisfying experience that keeps customers coming back and making repeat purchases. Personalisation provides a point of differentiation with your competitors, and can help to create a strong relationship with your clientele. Let’s take a look at how it works.
If you assumed that greeting a customer with “Hello [Name]” on their homepage was the extent of B2B ecommerce personalisation, think again. Today’s sophisticated ecommerce platforms afford B2B companies many opportunities to create a personalised experience for customers.
By creating a user experience that’s better tailored to your customers’ needs, businesses stand a much better chance of retaining existing customers while also increasing their value proposition for newcomers.
Personalisation can take many forms, and the personalisation that you offer should be tailored to the needs of your target audience.
Some practical examples of personalisation include:
In many ways, B2B ecommerce and B2C ecommerce are virtually identical. Aside from the volume and value of transactions, B2B customers tend to want much the same sort of experience in their B2B and B2C experiences. However, B2B transactions and the B2B purchasing process are inherently more complex than their B2C equivalents. And this creates both additional challenges and opportunities when it comes to personalisation.
For instance:
Does B2B personalisation take time and effort to set up?
Of course.
Is it necessary?
Absolutely.
For starters, B2B end-users want personalisation, yet far too few of them are getting it. As many as 73% of B2B buyers want their experiences to be more personalised. And yet, studies show that only 22% of B2B buyers felt that their last online purchase was sufficiently personalised for their needs.
But aside from the clear demand for personalisation from B2B buyers, there are a number of other reasons why ecommerce retailers should integrate personalisation into their customer experience for business buyers.
When it comes to the benefits of personalisation, this is perhaps the most glaring. Companies that integrate personalisation are more likely to sell more when compared to those that don’t. In fact, merchants can see an increase in sales of up to 20% when they build a more personalised buying experience for the customer. And 80% of buyers say that they are more likely to buy from a company that will offer them a personalised experience.
This in and of itself should be enough to convince you that personalisation is a worthy goal. But don’t worry, there are more.
All ecommerce transactions should be built around a frictionless experience for the customer. The less time and effort the customer needs to expend to get what they want, the more likely they are to return. But this is especially important in the B2B space, where buyers need to make informed decisions about the purchases they make without wasting time.
Personalisation can help the customer to find the right product quickly, and provide access to information that’s relevant to inform their purchasing decisions.
B2B ecommerce should be about building long and mutually beneficial relationships with your customers. We all know that it costs substantially more (between 5 and 10 times more) to engage a new customer than it does to retain an existing customer.
The good news is that personalisation can also help you to improve customer retention. 44% of consumers say that they are more likely to become a repeat customer of a brand that offers them a personalised experience, and 77% of consumers state that they have either chosen or recommended a brand that provides a personalised experience.
The world of B2B ecommerce is extremely competitive. As new and established B2B companies realise the benefits of taking their brands online, the competition is only going to get fiercer. Businesses need to look at ways to build value in their brand so that their customers feel much less inclined to see what their competitors have to offer.
As we can see, personalisation is extremely important. If you’re a recent convert to B2B ecommerce, personalising your customer experience can help you to hit the ground running and help to differentiate you from your competitors. If you’ve been in the B2B ecommerce game for a while, integrating personalisation into your marketing strategy and customer journey can help you to boost sales and increase retention.
But what will an ecommerce personalisation strategy look like for your business?
The beauty of personalisation is that you can tailor it to the needs and preferred user experiences of your audiences. However, if you’re not sure where to start, here are some tips to keep in mind.
The more you know about your customers, the easier it is to tailor your online content to their needs and preferences. However, it’s not uncommon for individual customer data to be spread across multiple sources. For instance, you may have some data in your CRM, and some data stored in your ERP system.
Use an ecommerce platform that will integrate with your existing IT infrastructure to keep all of your customer data in one place. Not only does this make for easy engagement with your customers through AI and automation, it also provides insights on which you can build your strategy.
Through customer segmentation and RFM modelling, you can develop a clear picture of your customers’ needs, as well as which are most likely to convert, and which ones may churn unless you take action.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning have proven huge drivers in the pursuit of a higher standard of B2B ecommerce personalisation. They have enabled brands to provide personalisation in real-time based on customers’ behaviour as they navigate through the brand’s website.
Every click, every inch of scroll depth, every time a cursor hovers over an icon but doesn’t click, the website can collect data that can be used to enhance the customer experience. This can facilitate highly relevant product recommendations while also directing them to online content that they are likely to find valuable.
Automation takes the time and effort out of personalisation. Through automated email generation, brands can deliver highly targeted marketing copy to a prospect or customer’s email inbox. This may include links to special promotions tailored to them, curated relevant content from your website, and product recommendations. These can also be invaluable in targeting shopping cart abandonment, keeping prospective purchases fresh in their minds.
Automated emails can even be used to deliver exclusive single-use promotional codes to close sales quickly and decisively.
By delivering a superior user experience, brands can boost customer loyalty and keep delivering value for the customer in every transaction.
By leveraging AI, B2B ecommerce platforms can create a dynamic user experience, providing personalised content that’s relevant and useful to the end-user. Making them feel like they’re getting the VIP treatment every time they log into their user portal, and ensuring they remain loyal customers.
Data is a double-edged sword. It can prove unwieldy in huge volumes without the software necessary to mine it for actionable insights. With the right analytics software, you can translate data into insights that enable you to optimise your engagement.
Brands can A/B test different iterations of pages, make smart adjustments to user flow, and find out what works and what doesn’t for your customers.
If you want to implement true personalisation, this needs to be an ongoing process. B2B companies should be constantly learning, tweaking and building to deliver excellence and optimise conversions.
We’ve put a lot of effort into our B2B ecommerce platform to take the heavy lifting out of personalisation for you. Our platform integrates seamlessly with your existing infrastructure to give you access to the data you need for a personalised customer experience. Even if you use a custom solution.
Evolve Trader also provides you with granular control over your customer portals. So you can make your portal feel like their portal, adjusting it to their company branding. And with tiered access, the user experience won’t be obfuscated with products and information that aren’t relevant at their level. We make it easy to deliver a personalised user experience.
Request a demo of Evolve Trader today!
