UX for B2B
THE CHALLENGE
GOAL: Decrease the time between account creation and B2B portal access.
Potential Government, Educational, and Non-Profit B2B customers would fill out pages of information before gaining access to our store. It could take up to 14 days for approval. No shopping, pricing, or quotes could be given before the customer's account is approved. During that time the potential customer could order from our competitor.
For presentation purposes, the UX flow below has been simplified:
To avoid the frustration of filling out 6 forms and increase retention. The user's email address automatically triggered for verification approval when the email ended in .gov, .edu, .mil, etc.
RESULT: New accounts were 67% more likely to purchase within the first 90 days.
Allowing quick access with an organizational email enabled the customer to view products for purchase when then needed to purchase them. This process also aligned with a corporate goal to be more transparent. I designed a dashboard to complement the portal experience and house status on additional account requirements.
B2B Experience
Here are the top three companies that taught me the most about B2B relations. You may not see them on my resume but you can find out more about my roles on LinkedIn. I am accustomed to working strategically with a cross-functional team of product managers, lawyers, buyers, engineers, analysts, content designers, and my UX team.
Bay Area News Group
Hired specifically to research, design, and develop digital products for B2B such as websites, mobile apps, and advertisements. Production time was fast-paced and I learned how to be lean as well as create copy that was SEO tested. I was often responsible for the project's success from beginning to end with help only during the coding side.
Robert Half
Working with Strategic Accounts gave me an opportunity to understand the needs involved with billion-dollar partnerships. Multiple languages, different cultures, and country regulations only added to the complexity. Learning to bring value and service to major corporations helped me understand how to be part of a partnership.
B&H Photo Video
B&H is still all about building relationships. I learned about quantity, purchase orders, regulations, industry segments, and how to support a buying cycle. They taught me, early in my career, how to work with government, education, and business clients. Working with NYU or Disney was very different from working with someone walking onto the store floor.
B2B Deliverables
All of the standard UX principles for B2C apply to B2B. Only their needs are different. Some common B2B deliverables are in-depth research, buyer personas, journey maps, information architecture/faceted navigation, focused content, and maintaining value through a great customer service process.
Industry & B2B Research
Decision-Maker Content
Journey Maps
B2B research is unique. It requires both intelligence and insights from a select group of decision-makers who are often difficult to access. This revolving door of subject matter experts makes it so important to get the information right the first time.
Content needs to be based around long purchasing decisions. Help answer questions for people across their organization, including details on integration. We can provide sharable materials that help a subject matter expert explain a company's value.
The customer journey is the entire process of a customer’s interactions with your company, from the first moment of contact until purchase and repeat. I help with customer journey management, the process of determining what information customers need during each phase of their journey. We can help guide them to their next step.
Personas
Information Architecture
Maintaining Value
B2B personas include all the same info as B2C but include questions like who makes the decisions, allocates budgets, the preferred method of contact, and more. What makes the difference in a B2B persona is adding details based on specific decision-makers and segments such as education, government, and nonprofit.
Designing the right Information Architecture based on the segments you want to serve can really close a deal. Your website can be divided by industry or filtered/faceted navigation. The best choice depends on your customers and we can always use a combination of both.
You have just spent so much time closing a deal. Help keep your customers in the purchasing cycle by continuing to meet the ever-changing needs of business. Continue to provide value to your customers by guiding them through your new improvements, products, and services.
My Role in B2B
My part in creating a successful business is utilizing my UX methodology to meet clients, ask questions, and understand how to provide value to specific decision-makers. From there, I can create the vision for a complete B2B Journey Maps for your company. B2B decision-makers want to be treated like a person. Aiming to reach “everyone” with one strategy will miss the mark.
There is no easy way to make up for a good plan, dedication, and excellent execution. Take the time to define your customer’s journey with me by personalizing your content, strategy, and user experience to a handful of industries. My skills are specific and fine-tuned. See why so many companies have worked with me to elevate and empower their organization.