UX for B2B
b2B is not b2c
Your company strives to provide the right experience at the right time. My approach is straightforward and designed to provide decision-makers with the right experience. My background includes years of digital strategy, creative, marketing, development, and sales which add to my toolkit in UX Design. Understanding of the entire buyer’s journey, from initial identification to closing and beyond, is what helps me build lasting partnerships for my clients.
The Challenge
GOAL: Decrease the time between sign up 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 customers 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. If the user's email address ended with gov, edu, mil, etc the verification was automatically triggered for approval.
RESULT: New accounts were 67% more likely to make a purchase within the first 90 days.
Allowing quick access with organizational email allowed 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. These corporate examples have both have B2B and B2C and sales teams, giving me an additional understanding of the differences between the two.
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.
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. Some examples are stakeholders, commercial, enterprise, small business, education, healthcare, government, and nonprofit.
B2B UX 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
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.
Personas
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.
Journey Maps
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.
Information Architecture
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.
Decision-Maker Content
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.
Maintaining Value
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.
Effective B2B
B2B drives the economy forward. It can be effective and beautiful. While B2B sites share commonalities with B2C sites, B2B audiences need to have requirements fulfilled in order to make a purchase.
Review your B2B marketing and see if it supports a complex buying cycle, and speaks in a tone for a decision-making audience. Identify how your services can integrate with potential clients and compare it to your competitors. Be transparent about price and provide specific scenarios. Help users find the products that add value and fit their needs.
It's impossible for anyone to sum up all of UX for B2B in one post. Please contact me below and we can continue the conversation.