B2B4B Part 3 - B2B eCom for Beginners (Part 3)

Your website should help users research or buy quickly and easily. Each website page plays a different role. In Part 3 of our B2B4B series, we explain the key pages of a website and the role each page plays in a customer journey.

Homepage

The homepage is often the first place your customers are going to interact with your site and is generally considered to be your B2B digital storefront. Your goal is to deliver content to first-time and ongoing users so that they continue deeper into the website. Users may want their questions answered. They may want to buy. They may not know what they need and want your guidance.

A strong Content Management System (CMS) combined with robust integrations can provide dynamic, fresh content to site visitors. This leads to improved SEO scores that direct customers to your website. When users see what they need, they reward you with more time on site, purchases, and positive reviews.

The work of a strong customer/user experience team (CX/UX) can help create logical and natural navigation in menus and button navigation as well. You’ll also want to consider what items (content or products) you set up above the natural “fold” or page break of the site. This is best determined by thinking about the different ways a visitor might encounter your site (desktop, mobile phone, tablet browser, and more).

Integrations typically seen on the Homepage:

• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System Pricing & Inventory: Businesses can choose to allow anonymous (or guest) visitors to view pricing and inventory (stock) status.
• Images: Delivering these assets via a Content Delivery Network (CDN) can provide superior caching and enhanced features that can have a significant impact on website performance and SEO scores.
• Brands: Use product data to highlight the valued relationships you have established with your suppliers and brands. Logos really help drive further product browsing.
• Chat: Adding a chat feature to your site can directly improve customer service, increase sales, better customer engagement as well offer some indirect benefits such as reduced support costs and provide valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences.
  
  

Product List Page (PLP)

The Product List Page (PLP) is quite simply a collection of products typically organized by a common concept such as brand or category. The PLP is also the place to bring together all the product data elements with an organized User Interface (UI) to show your customers the products they need immediately and provide tools to help them decide which to purchase. 

Some integrations often seen on the PLP:

• PIM: Product Information Management systems can keep the product data organized and in a standard format to deliver consistent results.
• ERP: Allow the site to call the business' ERP to provide stock (In stock, Out of Stock) status as well as pricing.
• Compare Products: This popular feature allows customers to easily compare the features and specifications of different products helping them to make an informed purchasing decision which improves confidence in their choices and ultimately increase sales.
• Facets: Give your customers more control to display exactly what they need to get to by including options that filter a product list even further. Examples of facets can be as simple as brand names or as complex as a) the different measurements of a length of pipe or b) the voltage allowed through a circuit board. This information helps users unpack more of the products on the website and provide them with confidence that they will find what they need in your catalog.
  
  

Product Detail Page (PDP)

The Product Detail Page (PDP) takes the user from the 10,000 ft level of the homepage, and the 100 ft level of a PLP, down to the 10-foot level of the actual Product. This page utilizes the integrations in place throughout the site to present Specifications, Attributes, Documents, Images as well as price and availability to the customer. Armed with this information, that customer can add the product to a Wish List or potentially add to cart and create a sales order. 

Integrations recommended for the PDP:

• Realtime Pricing and Inventory: status from ERP
• Product Details: Specifications, attributes, documents and descriptions from PIM.
• Reviews: Integrated from a 3^rd party or straight from your own database, these increase a buyer’s confidence when researching products.

Cart

The Cart Page starts the checkout process. Product Data and strong integrations with the ERP help guide the user through the checkout experience into creating the sales order. A good checkout experience includes providing information on the tax and shipping rates, and even suggested products. This page should be extremely intuitive and facilitate an easy purchasing, repurchasing and/or cross-selling experiences. 

Integrations usually found in the checkout flow include:

• Shipping Options: Anything from selecting post shipments to direct from your closest warehouse can depend on where the inventory is and the customer’s needs. Integrating with the ERP assures accurate delivery costs.
• Lists: Allowing customers to create product lists from carts adds to their convenience on building future orders and ramps up the stickiness for your brand.
• Product Recommendations: Tailor product recommendations based on what is already in the cart potentially increasing the order total and increasing customer satisfaction by showing them items they may have forgotten they needed.

In Summary 

Combining these pages creates a satisfying journey that continues to build momentum and value. As your customer becomes more engaged with your brand and website, some of these pages will get bookmarked and others will become unnecessary. Be sure to update your website on a regular basis to improve your website quality scores, and occasionally do research to spot check for friction in the online experience. A partner like Xngage can help you review your customer journey regularly and make sure you are meeting, and exceeding, your B2B customers' expectations.