Webdesign: B2B versus B2C

[Sheng]

B2B and B2C customers are different creatives. The first will make purchasing decisions more rationally, while the latter buy things emotionally.

When I read all the interesting discussions on this forum, I can clearly see the difference with when I am on a random tech forum. We talk about whether something is worth investing in, how to improve efficiency and we use terms like ROI.

Should this kind of differences be taken into account when designing a ecommerce site? I wonder how webdesign can be tailored to a B2B customers.

What's your opinion? Should different colors and styling be used? Anything else?

If you make a purchasing decision for your business? What kind of webdesign feel will make you consider purchasing from a certain site?

 

[fisicx]

I'm not sure B2C make purchases emotionally. I needed some car dollies - I did my research and made a very rational descision. My wife wanted a dress and made sure it was right for her before buying. Some purchases may be made emotionally but most won't be.

About the only difference in a website would be the means of payment. A Business may want to BACS or set up an account, PayPal may be sufficient for private sales

 

[Sheng]

Thanks for the payment tip! I agree with you that with all the available information online, B2C customers are also more and more making an informed decision.

So when it comes to webdesign, the focus on B2B should't affect the way a site should be designed?

 

[fisicx]

Nope.

Great content (images and descriptions), easy to use navigation, clear calls to actions, no suprises (additional charges etc) should be the same for Trade and Consumer.

Look at Screwfix - they serve both with one website.

 

[antropy]

So when it comes to webdesign, the focus on B2B should't affect the way a site should be designed?

We have a range of clients, some B2C, some B2B and whether it's right or not, the B2B ones who are selling in bulk are far less concerned about design. They still seem to process a large volume of orders, and tend to be more concerned about customer groups, pricing and functionality rather than design.

 

[Sheng]

@antropy I think even B2B who sell in bulk should be concerned about design. First impression matters. Especially for me, because I am starting a B2B ecommerce company that is based in China. We think our design has to represent professionalism and high quality products.

 

[fisicx]

No it doesn't. It's one of the biggest myths in web design. The website has to present the products or services in a clear manner with simple navigation and calls to action. The design is almost irrelevant. Look at Amazon - a very simple design with almost no features. what makes the site successful is the content and the buying process.

Remember as well that what you think represents professionalism everybody else things looks naff.

 

[Sheng]

@fisicx Amazon's design must stay neutral, because it must fit a very diverse range of products. I am not fond also of very outspoken design, but a B2B website needs a certain 'identity' and this must be represented also in the design.

 

[fisicx]

Very simple styling can create a strong identity.

The design of a website should begin with the content. This will lead to the navigation and calls to action. All you then need to to is wrap the content in some CSS.

So for example in creating the content you discover a predominance of red in the product images. So you then use complementary colours in the CSS to highlight the imagery.

 

[positivesparks]

Hi Sheng,
I believe that everything we buy is a mix of motion and logic - whether business or consumer sale. The logical parts of a sale are the price, delivery speed and in today's online world customer feedback. The emotional parts of a sale are the way a company/person/website makes us feel when we interact with them, brand values also usually fall into the emotional part of buying too. I think we can see how big a factor emotional parts of buying are by looking at the recent growth in social enterprise, many people in both B2B and B2C worlds would rather buy from a company that is looking to make the world a better place. So, in the B2B world people do the logical thing no doubt, but they also would rather do that with people they "feel" good about. For these reasons, I'd say it's important to reflect all of your selling points on your site, both your great prices/service (logical selling points) and who you are, what you believe in and why you started your business (your emotional selling points). Get both right, you'll do very well.