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Top 12 Features Your B2B Website Must Have to Drive Results
A B2B website must incorporate strategic elements that enhance functionality and user satisfaction to stand out.
Stephen Tseng
September 25, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes
September 25th, 2024
Hey friends, it’s Stephen.
Quick update: I am experimenting with different formats to ensure my newsletter delivers more value. Please let me know if you like or dislike it through the poll section at the bottom.
Unsurprisingly, the rumors became true.
Fed cut interest rates for the first time in the first year.
It has a negative and positive impact on the economy and business world.
For example, the US dollar has weakened since August. Good for US exports.
Is inflation in the US getting better?
I don’t know.
One thing I know is the egg🥚 price in my area keeps going up like crazy.😢
I hope it’s not the case in your area.
Question: how do you navigate this interest cut for your business or work?
I would love to know your thoughts!
In today’s issue:
Top 12 features your B2B website must have to drive results
Why B2B brands are embracing influencer marketing
China drafts national law on labeling AI-generated content
Ranked: Countries With The Most Native Chinese Speakers
And more….
First time reading? Sign up here.
👨💻 MY PICK FOR THE US MARKET
My take: Will influencer marketing become the next trend in B2B marketing? It is still too early to say, but this article did raise some valid points.
My take: I have to admit sometimes I am one of these 6 personas. If you can identify your current customers based on those personas, you can develop the right solution to retain them before they leave.
My take: TL;DR - Don’t humanize” AI Content. You might end up spending more time than writing yourself. It is just not there yet. Use AI for ideating, planning, and drafting.
🧙♂️ MY PICK FOR THE CHINA MARKET
My take: It is not surprising that China is making more efforts to control AI-generated content. Probably only China can make it happen.
My take: Temu is a budget-focused online marketplace whose products are shipped from China. I have heard several friends in the US use Temu, but I didn’t know It was that popular until now.
My take: Given the similar culture and language, you should consider the possibility of targeting overseas Chinese when you target the Chinese market. This chart should help evaluate.
📖 DEEP DIVE
Top 12 Features Your B2B Website Must Have to Drive Results
In today's digital landscape, a superior B2B website is essential for establishing a solid online presence and achieving business goals.
A well-designed website is the cornerstone of branding, lead generation, customer engagement, and direct sales.
A B2B website must incorporate strategic elements that enhance functionality and user satisfaction to stand out.
Define clear goals for your B2B website
Before designing a B2B company website and selecting features, we must define the purpose of building it.
This is the most critical question to answer initially.
Generally, a B2B website will focus on the following goals:
Branding.
It is the primary goal for a B2B website. This website will have company information, a product or service page, contact information, and company news.
It will give the company more credibility to its potential customers.
Online sales leads.
A good B2B website should generate sales leads.
Visitors should quickly understand your products/services and contact you via form, email, or phone.
E-commerce.
The B2B website sells certain services/products.
The visitor can place an order and finish the payment.
This type of e-commerce website has a shopping cart feature.
Portal site.
The B2B website is a portal site connected with other websites.
It will drive the traffic to other websites.
This type of website will happen to a corporate group website with many companies or a company with several independent product/service websites.
12 features a better B2B website should have
Once we define the website’s goal, we can start deciding what features it should have.
Below are the features to have.
User-friendly content editor
A good CMS (Content Management System) doesn’t need many features.
That is good enough when those features can help the webmaster get the job done.
Also, the speed should not be slow. No one likes to wait,
Basic on-site SEO feature
B2B companies have a specific target market.
It is easier to have defined keywords to increase website search results ranking.
a B2B website should have basic features to customize URL, page title, meta description. meta keyword.
Easy to access contact form.
A better B2B website should make it easy for visitors to contact them.
The contact us page must be the first row of the main menu.
Also, a call-to-action slogan or button should appear on the banners or product/service pages where most visitors will not miss or spend more time.
Organized product/service information.
B2B products usually have a more structured product line, technical information, and supporting documentation.
This means the CMS should be flexible in organizing product structure, product information, and upload/download support documentation.
Responsive web design.
It is a must for B2B websites.
Most people will use their mobile devices to visit websites more than desktops.
A responsive website will provide a better user experience.
Inform the right person.
The most important goal for B2B websites is to have a sales lead.
It is the last thing any companies want to miss.
A better B2B website should include a feature to reach the company’s responsible person when sales leads come in.
Easy to check leads database on the back-end.
The responsible person should easily find sales leads in the back-end.
A good B2B website allows the webmaster to download sales leads as CSV files, making it easier for the sales team to organize information.
Easy navigation menu.
This is cliche, but it is very important.
Make your website navigation menu easy to see and use, with only the necessary UI effects, not the other way around.
Just don’t make your visitors think.
Website Analytics tool.
Unlike offline marketing, the biggest advantage of online marketing is that everything is trackable.
That being said every website should have at least one web analytics tool installed.
Connect to Social media.
It informs your visitors to allow them to follow your social media accounts.
Never underestimate the power of social media.
Live chat.
In the past, live chat tools used to be an annoying or not user-friendly tool for visitors.
But the situation has changed.
With solutions like Intercom or Drift, live chat tools are now user-friendly and offer powerful marketing and CMS features.
Newsletter marketing.
Don’t miss any chance to collect user emails.
A better B2B website will have features to collect visitor’s email through offering incentives, e.g., ebook or white paper, or newsletter subscription.
The newsletter is not dead in B2B. It is still one of the most effective channels for reaching the target audience.
Plus, you own the channel.
Choosing the right CRM
After defining the features, we must decide which CRM to use.
There are three factors we will consider when we choose CMS:
Extendability.
CMS should be extendable.
Without rebuilding the website, you can always develop new features on the same infrastructure.
Security.
CRM should have good security. It is not easy to be hacked.
More importantly, this CMS should have security updates all the time.
Keep updated.
Internet technology changes all the time.
If your CMS can not update constantly, your technology and security will be outdated.
Conclusion
A good website not only has good design and powerful features.
More importantly, it has to be aligned with your marketing goal.
Having preliminary research before defining the goal of the website is crucial.
The main reason is that if you can gain more insights into your customer behavior, industry trends, and competitor information, you will better understand your website’s goals.
Next time you start to think about your new design and features for your website projects, ask yourself if you have done enough homework to understand your customers and market.
🔧 WHAT I HAVE USED
My experience: I have been using this AI assistant for a while. I use it every day. It is easy to use and keeps delivering new features.
📚 WHAT I HAVE READ
My thoughts: My wife introduced this book to me. It blows my mind. I am still reading it, but it has answered some of my long-time questions. More importantly, now I gain new perspective for my business and life.
Before you go: Here are 2 ways I can help
B2B Digital Marketing Solution — We help B2B companies grow business through proven B2B digital marketing approaches.
China B2B Digital Marketing Solution — We use China-specific digital marketing approaches to help B2B companies grow in China market.
Thanks for reading,
— Stephen Tseng
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