A customer’s path-to-purchase can be long and may stretch over many channels. For B2B businesses, there are additional complexities to consider, such as large volume orders, complex trade regulations, and intricate fulfilment issues. A positive customer experience relies on all these parts to seamlessly meet customer needs. Below, we discuss three customer touchpoints that you can optimise to improve customer experience and increase sales.
Customer touchpoint 1 – Convert website visitors into subscribers
For any new prospects to your website, they’re likely just checking you out and not yet at a stage to engage with you. To encourage repeat visits and ultimately new sales, you must keep them returning to your site. One of the easiest ways to do this is to encourage them to subscribe to an email list. Gaining subscribers allows you to regularly promote your products and relevant offers without relying on them to come back to your site on their own.
This strategy works for existing customers too and sending product information, and deals, straight to their inbox may deter them from browsing the internet for alternative options.
Customer touchpoint 2 – Promote relevant recommendations on product pages
Over the past five years, research has proven that personalisation increases conversion, order values, lifetime customer value, and marketing ROI. It’s become so popular that over half of buyers are likely to switch away from brands that don’t personalise.
Digital disruptors such as Amazon, Facebook and Instagram are classic examples of how big platforms use personalisation such as product recommendations to improve the customer experience. However, these platforms often recommend the same types of products that customers have already bought.
To get personalisation right, you must utilise business intelligence to understand your customers better and recommend products that will provide value to them. That way, you can upsell and cross-sell products that complement customer needs and previous purchases. Remember, relevance is one of the critical elements of providing a great customer experience.
Customer touchpoint 3 – Reduce fiction at checkout
The shopping cart is essential to providing an excellent customer experience. It’s where sales are completed, and revenue is generated. Therefore, it needs to be easy and convenient for customers to use. Any friction at this stage increases the chance of customers abandoning their purchases altogether. A survey by a payment solutions provider showed that 57% of B2B buyers do not complete a purchase if the checkout process takes too long!
Our top tips are:
- Ensure you have suitable B2B payment options available on your site and other channels.
- If providing credit card payment options, think about services that enable you to store credit card details securely, so customers don’t have to type it in every time.
- If you’re thinking of expanding to a Direct-to-Consumer (B2C/D2C) market, ensure you can provide VAT inclusive pricing.
- Ensure your shopping cart can handle large B2B order volumes to not affect site performance. You’ll be surprised at how many shopping cart solutions can’t do this. You can read more about this on our Shopping Cart Report.
- Ensure your call-to-action buttons are clear and visible.
