In the previous article What Do B2B Buyers Expect from Their Suppliers, we have explained the change that happened, and is still happening to B2B buyers, and how B2C approach influences them. Now, we want to focus on the behavior of modern B2B buyers, and their experience, which impacts the way their suppliers approach the process of B2B selling.
Marketing and Sales experts deeply understand the essentials of Psychology. Human behavior is complex, and finding and understanding the reasons why humans behave the way they do, is one of the first steps towards successful trading. Customer, or buyer behavior can be studied and transformed into smart, successful sales plans. Online stores, and B2B portals that have implemented Predictive Analytics, and Advanced Dashboards, are at least one step ahead their competition.
Business Intelligence upgraded into Predictive Analytics gives us high quality inputs, just in time when we need them, so we can make fast, yet smart decisions about improving the experience of our B2B buyers. It answers some key questions raised by every by B2B companies:
- What kind of buying experience the modern B2B buyers expect from their suppliers?
- Why is it necessary to optimize your B2B portal for all devices, especially mobile?
Here are the essentials every online marketer should understand:
- What kind of buying experience the modern B2B buyers expect from their suppliers?
If you really want to improve B2B buying experience of your customers, you should try providing:
- Advanced search
- Customer ratings
- Customer reviews
- Recommendations given from the experience of other customers
- Personalized offers tailored to specific customers, or customer groups
- Regular promotions
- Regular special offers
So, modern B2B buyers think similarly to B2C customers of Amazon or any other online retailer. As much you provide of that B2C buying experience to your B2B customers, chances are they will become more satisfied and more loyal to you as their supplier.
- Why is it necessary to optimize your B2B portal for all devices, especially mobile?
Let’s see the results of recent researches, and find out:
Online shopping has gone mobile already. Researchers predict that in 2017, 25% of all online transactions will take place on a mobile device. This shows the trend for B2C, or retail online business. But, we have already learned that B2B buyers expect to receive full shopping experience from their suppliers, just as B2C customers do. Just as regular online retail shoppers, the B2B buyers use mobile phones, and they are also always on the move. So, why wouldn’t they ask for a possibility to research and purchase products from their tablet or mobile phone? And they do so, more and more each day.
One more information supports the claim that it is necessary to optimize your B2B portal for mobile devices: 41% of all B2B buyers already expect their suppliers to have optimized B2B portals. Providing this kind of purchasing experience will put you as a supplier to a leading position in your industry. And, as we already said above, it is all about Psychology, and human/buyer behavior and experience.
In our previous article, we have talked about the necessity of having a B2B portal, but is that really enough? Are we missing something? No, don’t worry, we are on the right track. Your B2B portal should be equipped with powerful Predictive Analytics, and the Advanced Dashboard with vast variety of reports, crafted to the needs of your business. Being on the source of high quality information, you will be well informed and capable of making high quality decisions in a timely manner. Moreover, you won’t have to search for statistics on the internet, and follow the results of major marketing researches, as they will already be in your hands.