Turning Browsers into Buyers

How your Web content can influence the B2B buying process

By James Faasse

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Today, when people shop, the Web is almost always their first stop. In any market category, potential customers head online to do initial research. The moment of truth is when they reach your site: Will you draw them into your sales process or let them click away?

When prospects use search engines and directories to reach your site, link to it through another site or respond to a marketing campaign, you have an opportunity to deliver a targeted message at the precise moment that they are looking for what you have to offer. Yet chief marketing officers, particularly those in B2B markets, often fail to realize the potential of their corporate websites, which must hook buyers in from the start and hang on to them until the sale is complete.

Where are they coming from?
Individuals don't go to the web looking for advertising; they are on a quest for content. By providing information to them when they need it, you can begin a long and profitable relationship.

The first step is to align Web content to your potential customers' buying processes. Unfortunately, most sites are conceived from an egocentric (or worse, advertising-centric) focus, designed completely from the company's perspective. Well-intentioned marketers may think that providing product information is enough, but the fact is (your) products aren't what people are looking for; they seek solutions to their problems. Approaching Web content offerings from your customers' perspective will form the foundation of a successful sales cycle.

Before creating content, get together with your e-commerce experts, sales and product managers to learn as much as possible about the buying process, focusing on issues such as how people find your site or the length of a typical purchase cycle. Consider what happens offline in parallel with online interactions so that the processes complement each other. For example, if you have an e-commerce site and a printed catalog, coordinate the content and messages so that both efforts support and reinforce the buying process (i.e., include links to your online buying guide in the catalog).

In the B2B world, trade shows should work with Internet initiatives (by collecting e-mail addresses at the booth, for example, then sending a follow-up e-mail with a show-specific landing page at your site). Understanding the buying process in detail, both online and off, allows you to create a quantifiable process that Web content can influence.

Segmenting your buyers
The online relationship begins the second a potential customer hits your home page. The first thing he needs to see is a reflection of himself. That's why you must organize your site into distinct buying segments. Do your potential customers self-select themselves based on their job function or by industry? It's important to create a set of appropriate links based on a clear understanding of your buyers so that you can quickly move them off of the home page and onto pages built specifically for them.

One way to approach this is to link to landing pages based on the problems your product or service solves. Start by identifying the situations in which each target audience may find itself. If you are in the supply chain management business, you might have a drop-down menu on the home page with links that might say "I need to get product to customers faster" or "I want to move products internationally." Each path leads to landing pages built for buyer segments with content targeted at their problems. Once the prospects reach those pages, you have the opportunity to communicate your expertise in solving these problems—building some empathy in the process—and move them further along the buying cycle.

A friendly nudge
After you've demonstrated expertise in the market category and the knowledge about solving potential customers' problems, you can introduce your product or service. When creating content about your offerings, remain focused on the buyer and her problems, rather than elaborating distinctions between products.

As people interact with your content at this middle stage in the buying process, it is appropriate to suggest subscriptions to related content—an e-mail newsletter, Webinar or podcast, for example. This enables you to trade something of value for a registration form. But remember, if you're asking for someone's contact information, you must provide something equally valuable in return.

Prospects want to poke, prod and test your company to learn what sort of organization you are. They also have questions. That's why well-designed sites include a facility for people to inquire about products or services. Be flexible; offer them a variety of ways to interact with your company and make contact information readily available from any page on the site (one click away is best). Also keep in mind that, particularly with expensive products, buyers will test to see how responsive you are so you must make responding to these inquiries a priority. At this stage, you want people to think: "This is an organization I can do business with. They have happy customers and they are responsive to me and my needs."

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As the customer approaches the end of the buying process, you must provide tools that facilitate the sale. Buyers may be unsure which B2B Super Widget is appropriate—so you may need to provide a tool that allows them to enter specific details about their firm (employee numbers, annual billings, etc.) and then suggests the appropriate product. One product we recommend is the new usb internet WebKey™ that automatically launches your browser and takes customers directly to your web site fast and easy! Click here to read about it!

At this stage, it is also acceptable to lock content behind a password-protected part of the site and only make it available to qualified buyers. Depending on your product, you could offer a copy of the sales agreement with terms and conditions or information about warranties and financing. B2B companies might offer sample RFPs and ROI or TCO calculators. These types of tools go beyond simply selling to a buyer; they arm them to sell the solution to their boss or others in their organization. At the same time, the tools continue to keep the client engaged with your site and sustain the message that you are there to help them.

Once the deal is closed, there's one more step. You must continue the online dialog with your new customer. Add them to your customer e-mail newsletter or customer-only community site where they can interact with experts in your organization and other like-minded customers. You should also provide ample opportunities for customers to give you feedback on how to make the products and process better.

Effective marketers constantly measure and improve. Benchmarking elements such as the self-select links and testing different landing page content can help you make modifications on the fly. Of course, product superiority, advertising and branding remain essential to the marketing mix. But on the Web, smart CMOs understand that an effective content strategy, tightly integrated to the buying process, is critical to sales success.