Making a user-friendly B2B web store - Microsoft Azure · PDF filewhen creating a user-friendly B2B web store ... guided navigation or quick search. These navigation guidelines will

Making a user-friendly B2B web storethe usability guide

the usability guide CONTENTS1. Top 5 Priorities When Creating a User-Friendly B2B Web Store 5

2. Personalize the Buying Experience 6

3. Improve Product Information and Content 8

4. Enable Easy Navigation 9

5. Keep Design and Functionality Light, Clean and Simple 11

6. Integrate Your Web Store with Your ERP System 13

7. Concluding Remarks 14

In today’s fast-paced world, business-to-business (B2B)

buyers are short on time and expect even better service when

buying online than your average consumer. A personal touch

makes a big difference in B2B E-Commerce, for example, a

customized buying experience that provides relevant product

and pricing information not only saves the business buyer

time, it creates a positive impression of your company as well.

According to the B2B Web Usability Report 2014, 70% of B2B

buyers rank overall website features as extremely important.

However, their main priority is a website that is easy to

navigate rather than one with lots of bells and whistles.

“Buyers, who are busy and efficient, follow certain behaviors

when they arrive at a vendor website. They head directly to

the products and services pages; they thoroughly dislike

website elements that waste their time or distract them”

states the report.

Introduction

4 | B2B E-Commerce: The Usability Guide

It’s much easier to sell online when a B2B web

store is easy to use, attractive and simple,

yet still provides all the necessary product

information and search functionality. While

wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers

can re-use elements of attractive consumer

E-Commerce sites, it’s even more important that

business buyers can find items and prices as

efficiently as possible. Essentially, an effective

B2B web store should act as a one-stop shop and

information source for B2B buyers and provide a

good first impression of your company.

Clients want to have a choice to do practically

everything they need online via a web store,

whereas in the past they would have called a sales

agent. Companies are beginning to realize that

B2B e-commerce is about more than just adding

an online sales channel, creating a user-friendly

web store is important to improve customer

service and the overall sales experience.

In this paper, we explore the top five

priorities to consider when creating a

user-friendly B2B web store.

everything they need online via a web store, whereas in the

past they would have called a sales agent.

1


top 5 prioritieswhen creating a user-friendly B2B web store

1

PERSONALIZE THE BUYING EXPERIENCEUnique My Account portals deliver a personal touch

IMPROVE PRODUCT INFORMATION AND CONTENTHigh quality product images, descriptions and technical

information encourage B2B customers to buy online

ENABLE EASY NAVIGATIONClear menu bars and sub-menu bars enable easy navigation

KEEP THE DESIGN AND FUNCTIONALITY LIGHT, CLEAN AND SIMPLEA well-designed B2B store is responsive and easy to use

INTEGRATE YOUR WEB STORE WITH YOUR ERP SYSTEMAn integrated ERP and web store speeds up the buying process

1


B2B selling is all about building long-term relation-ships with customers. A web store provides an opportunity to develop close customer relationships and provide a completely personalized experience. This personalization is based on the history of the customer relationship including previous interactions, order history, negotiated pricing and contracts etc.

A self-service portal or My Account provides dynamic

and relevant content that allows business customers to

customize their interactions. These user-friendly features

can include:

- Allow customers to log in with their email address

- Provide access to complete order history

- Include details on previous orders

- Enable easy repeat purchasing based on order history

- Create custom shopping lists of favorite or frequently

bought products to speed up repeat purchases

- Track order status and shipments

- Access account balances

- View invoices

- Make payments online

Personalize the buying experience2

Unique My Account Portals Deliver a Personal TouchSana customers can use their company email address to access their personalized My Account dashboard where they can view recent orders, check order status, and easily place a new order using the templates provided.

This portal should be customer-centric and include both

online and offline customer interactions and transactions.

The value to the customer only occurs if the web store

and self-service portal provide a truly accurate and up-to-

date version of their entire relationship history with your

company.


Relevant product suggestions e.g., additional or related

products and spare parts can be presented to customers.

These suggestions can be based on their previous order

history, their business type, browsing behavior and items

that are currently in their shopping cart. This helps your

customers to discover new and better products, and

more importantly enhances your cross-sell and

upsell opportunities.

Customized pricing and company discounts are

frequently used in B2B selling. Your customers will expect

the web store to reflect the same personal prices and

discounts they receive from a sales rep. This is possible

to achieve online by establishing different price levels for

products depending on each customer’s negotiated price

and volume discount and works really well if the web store is

integrated with your ERP system.

Create views for different roles within your customer’s

organization, which allows you to customize self-service

capabilities. For example, a person who works in a retail

shop may be able to select products, but only their manager

can actually authorize the order. This can be arranged by

limiting the authorization of his or her online account to

preparing an order. Likewise, segmenting customers by

their role enables more targeted marketing campaigns and

promotions, as well as more relevant product suggestions

and price agreements specific to their role and department.

1


As well as being an important sales channel, a B2B web store functions as a valuable information source where customers can access documentation about your products and business. Most B2B buyers (89%) use the Internet to research products, and frequently require additional product information before they progress to the ordering phase. This isn’t surprising, as they need to purchase exactly the right products, especially when it comes to highly technical products such as construction materials.

improve product information and content3Besides making technical product information available to

B2B buyers, wholesalers and manufacturers can also use

product brochures to underline their differentiation with

competing products. A B2B web store is also a valuable

information source for internal employees. Sales reps and

other teams can look up product information, customers

buying history and transactions, etc.

The following are considered “must-have content” for any

successful B2B web store according to the B2B Web

Usability Report:

- Online pricing information

- Technical information

- White papers and blog posts

- Shipping information

B2B web stores can provide detailed product information

in multiple formats such as high quality brochures, visual

images, videos, and interactive technical manuals.

Products can be presented using a gallery of high quality

product images with zoom capabilities. In addition, the

site can display related products and suggest alternative

products when a certain product is out of stock.

High quality product images, descriptions and technical information encourage B2B customers to buy onlineSana customers have access to a range of high quality product images, how-to videos on installations, technical descriptions and drawings. It is also possible to download technical specs and brochures and/or share the product information.

1


Users need to be able to find what they are looking forquickly and with minimum effort. Studies show that most website users are not willing to stick around andfigure out a complex navigational scheme. If your menu structure isn’t user-friendly, you’ll lose their interest. This is particularly true for B2B buyers, who want a fast and efficient online buying process.

A challenge is that B2B product catalogs tend to be large,

varied and complex, with unique product assortments

and pricing for each customer, and technical product

information. It is therefore really important to enable easy

navigation through your web store so that customers can

quickly and efficiently look up products by using faceted

search, guided navigation or quick search.

These navigation guidelines will make your B2B web store

easier to navigate and although some may seem obvious,

it is surprising how often companies fall short

on implementing them.

enable easy navigation4

Clear menu bars and sub-menu bars enable easy navigationSana customers can easily navigate product categories using the main menu bars in red. It is also possible to use sub-menus to drill down further by brand, price, color, etc. A search box is also available if a customer wants to search for a specific product or model number.


Menu bars are the primary way people navigate through

web stores. The categories should be logical and their

purpose obvious. Limit the number of menu and sub-menu

bars to enable a clear overview.

Keywords used in the menu and sub-menu bars should

be relevant, logical, and also Search Engine Optimization

(SEO) ready. For example, check how often a particular

term is being searched for in Google and whether it will

perform better in search if you change the name of the

category slightly.

Search boxes should be visible on every page in the upper

right side of the menu or in the right upper corner of the

web store.

Auto complete search should be enabled so that when

a customer starts typing, the search box automatically

retrieves the results using a fast index based search engine.

Sort and filter capability is useful so that customers can

sort products based on categories and attributes such as

brand, size, material, color or type to enable an effortless

search process.

Adjustable product views provide a user with a choice

between detailed product lists or informative grid views

with images.

Optimal catalog classification means that you may need

to adjust your ERP or administration system’s classification

of product groups, so that product category descriptions are

more user-friendly and easier to navigate.

Breadcrumbs or a text-based navigation system keeps

track of a customer’s movement through a web store and

shows where, within different categories, a current page is

located. It gives customers a sense of direction and provides

shortcuts to instantly navigate within the categories.

A footer is essential to have with links to informative pages

about the company and products, FAQs, customer service

and contact information.

1


When designing a web store it is important to keep the design and functionality as light, clean and simple as possible. The focus should be on helping B2B buyers to navigate through content and not bother them with unnecessary features.

The following features and functionality will ensure your

customers have a positive B2B web store experience:

keep design and functionality light, clean and simple

5

Ensure your web store is fast. Nothing is more annoying

for customers than a web store that takes a long time to

load. Slow speed is one of the main reasons why visitors

leave a web store and can also lower your search engine

ranking. Making sure your web store loads within one to

two seconds is important for a good user experience. When

considering elements such as full screen video, first think

about the impact on your loading time.

Make bulk purchasing easy and fast by providing a multi-

add to cart feature and enabling bulk ordering.

Create a responsive website that automatically adapts

screen sizes and capabilities to the device a customer is

using, e.g. laptops, smartphones or tablets. Offer suitable

B2B payment methods such as invoice billing, credit cards

and ACH payment processing.

A well-designed B2B store isresponsive and easy to useSana’s web store features quick order suggestions when typing in search and allows for bulk ordering or multi-add to the shopping cart. Corporate identity and menus are consistent and design is cleanand simple.


Ensure a consistent corporate identity throughout

the web store so there is uniformity between all the pages.

That means keeping the corporate identity layout uniform

throughout your tabs, buttons, commands, imagery, and

menus. Usage of design templates will ensure consistency in

your web store.

The readability of the website is largely dependent on

contrast, color, font and the use of formatting features.

The right contrast between the background of the website

and content is one of the most basic yet most important

web design principles. With regard to the color scheme used,

customers generally prefer to visit light and bright web

pages. People process information best in black and white

as our brains are designed for simplicity and efficiency.

Similarly, a simpler font will increase the readability of the

web page. Most design experts agree that san serif fonts

work best for online design. Formatting can also greatly

improve the design of your web store. Avoid long chunks of

text and instead use headlines, bulleted lists and bolding to

increase readability.

1


Integrating your B2B web store with your EnterpriseResource Planning (ERP) system enables additionalfunctionalities and benefits that can really improve the customer’s buying experience. A fully integrated B2B e-commerce solution leverages ERP data and uses this information to run your web store. The real benefits of having a B2B e-commerce solution integrated with your ERP system are at an operational business level, but integration will also improve the customer friendliness of your web store through added functionalities.

Online sales automation is a key example of how an

integrated web store and ERP system can improve usability.

Since many businesses have long-term relationships with

their suppliers, it is easy for them to predict buying behavior

based on order history, both online and offline, using ERP

data. By using predictions based on actual ERP order

history, you can proactively send order templates/quotes

to existing customers.

integrate your web store with your erP system6

A Web Store With ERP Integration Speeds Up the Buying ProcessA customer can quickly place an order because all product data is available in real time from the ERP, combined with images from the web store. Using order templates based on previous purchase history means customers only have to confirm the order quote in the template to finalize their order.

Real-time order validation that includes exact pricing and

inventory data as well as complex volume discounts, saves

time and makes life easier for each customer. It is a way of

automating online selling that has only just started and will

rapidly transform the B2B market.

1


Digital advancements have not only changed the way B2B buyers search and buy items, their expectations regarding the buying experience are higher as well. With the growing popularity of e-commerce, consumers are now bringing those same expectations of a seamless shopping experience to the world of B2B e-commerce. In this respect, B2B web stores are starting to adopt the best practices from consumer websites to optimize the business buyer’s online experience - a trend which we expect to see more often in the future.

A B2B web store is required to function as an online sales

portal, online information portal and customer service portal,

all at the same time. This is where usability plays a vital role in

the success of a web store. A user-friendly web store provides

a positive experience for business customers and improves

the rate of sales conversions and repeat visits. Usability

is one of the main factors to consider when developing a

professional and well-designed web store.

This is especially the case for B2B web stores, where buyers

are busy, and require fast and efficient service and relevant

product information before ordering. The long-term nature

of B2B e-commerce relationships leads to expectations of

personalized service, customized prices and product lists

that are tailored to different roles within the organization.

Essentially, it means that customers should be able to

quickly find what they need and buy your products without

any problems or hassle. This requires you to think as your

customer and help them in ways they are not expecting.

By paying attention to the five top priorities we discussed

when it comes to usability: personalize the purchase

experience; improve product information and content;

optimize navigation; keep design and functionality light,

clean and simple; and surprise them by using online sales

automation from your ERP system to provide personalized

service. Making it easy to buy from your company and saving

business buyers’ time and energy by using automation and

personalization is the future for successful B2B e-commerce.

Concluding remarks7

Having a customer friendly web store requires you to think as a customer. You should help them find what they need without any hassle.

So what does a customer friendly web store really mean?

How can you achieve this?

Sana delivers fully integrated E-Commerce solutions for Microsoft Dynamics

and SAP that help manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers grow online,

including mobile support for sales agents.

With more than 20 years of E-Commerce experience and a worldwide network

of partners, Sana offers a complete set of additional services e.g. advice on

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), online marketing, hosting, online payment

providers and graphic design that are essential to successfully run your online

business.

Sana is a Gold Microsoft Partner, Certified for Microsoft Dynamics NAV & AX

(CfMD) and a SAP Partner.

© 2016 Sana Commerce. All rights reserved.This document contains proprietary information protected by copyright. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording for any purpose without the written permission of Sana Commerce.

ABOUT US

Sana Commerce © 2016

Europe (HQ) + 31-10-243-6030Americas + 1-646-362-0432UK & Ireland + 44-7921-859911

DACH +43-664-501-0708APAC [email protected]

www.sana-commerce.com

Documents

Making a user-friendly B2B web store - Microsoft Azure · PDF filewhen creating a user-friendly B2B web store ... guided navigation or quick search. These navigation guidelines will