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The B2B Difference

Why is B2B different?

While all websites need to look great and function smoothly, the strategy, structure, and messaging behind them are quite different. Here’s what sets B2B web design apart.

You are speaking to multiple decision-makers

Unlike B2C websites that focus on a single buyer, a B2B website needs to speak to an entire buying committee. Individuals involved in the purchasing decision may include an executive sponsor, a department manager, a technical evaluator, and a procurement officer – each with their own set of priorities and questions. A well-designed B2B website anticipates each of these personas and gives them the information they need to feel confident moving forward.

The sales cycle is much longer

Unlike more immediate B2C purchases, B2B decisions can take weeks, months, or in some cases years. Your website needs to nurture visitors over time, rather than expecting instant conversions.

Through the use of valuable content, clear messaging, and strategic calls-to-action you can ensure your target audience follows your sales funnel. So your website design has to be developed to support multiple touchpoints and return visits.

Your audience may be very niche

B2B websites often target a much narrower audience. That might be a specific industry, a certain size of organization, or a solution to a very particular problem. For this targeted messaging to be effective, each word and design choice needs to resonate deeply with that specific audience rather than appealing to the general public.

Content plays a much bigger role

B2B websites typically require deeper, more substantive content than B2C sites. This can include detailed service pages, in-depth case studies, white papers, resource articles, and FAQs that address specific challenges or pain points of your customers. And while the information within this content directly helps your prospective buyers, it also is very beneficial to your SEO efforts to attract the right companies to your site organically.

A focus on lead generation over instant sales

Very rarely is it the job of a B2B website to close a sale on the spot – they are designed to start a conversation. That means the entire site is built around capturing leads thoughtfully, through contact forms, gated content downloads, and newsletter sign-ups. Every page should have a clear, low-friction next step that moves the right visitor closer to a conversation with your team.

Integrations are more complex

To act as a proper sales and marketing tool, B2B websites often need to connect with a broader ecosystem of business tools such as CRMs (ex: HubSpot or Salesforce), marketing automation platforms (ex: MailChimp or Constant Contact), and even custom software such as ERP systems or client portals. To ensure your sales team is full supported, these integrations need to be planned in conjunction with your website re-design.

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B2B sales cycles are more than 6 months
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B2B customers use mobile devices
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B2B buyers prefer rep-free buying
Pillars for success

Essentials of effective B2B websites

For a B2B website to be valuable to your organization’s sales process, it must follow these foundational rules.

Strong messaging

Your site must highlight your benefits so buyers understand how you will solve their problem.

Enticing content

With a lengthy sales cycle, it is important to make a quick connection with prospective clients.

Shows your authority

Customers are looking for guidance, so it is essential to showcase your industry knowledge and expertise.

Establishes trust

Social proof via testimonials, press coverage, and case studies helps establish trust with new customers.

Overcomes objections

Clients are skeptical. Your website must speak to their concerns and how you eliminate that risk.

Provides re-assurance

Buyers don’t want to make the wrong decision. A quality B2B website must justify the value you provide.
Example B2B Website Page Design
Main menu

The main menu is how most visitors will locate the content they are interested in. This example uses dropdown menus to display the multitude of pages contained within the website.

Page title

Clearly indicate what the content of this page is about – for both the readers, as well as the search engines.

Breadcrumb trails

As the name implies, breadcrumb trails allow visitors to more easily navigate their way back to previously visited pages of the current section.

Headings and subheadings

Short, high-contrast headlines make it easy for readers to quickly scan the page.

Actionable items

By providing calls to action and contact details within your content, you make it easier for customers to reach out.

Bullet points

Easy to read bullet points are a great way to highlight the benefits of your services to potential customers.

Process

By laying out a simple step-by-step process, you provide confidence to readers that you can guide them to their desired result.

Testimonials

Existing customer testimonials provider social proof tor visitors that they are making the right decision.

Call to action

The end of the page should provide deeper readers with a highly noticeable call to action, giving them an opportunity to take the next step in your sales funnel.

Partnerships

Promote your partnerships to put visitors at ease that they are in good company.

Contact details

Ensure your contact details are accessible on every page by placing them within your website’s footer.

Secondary navigation

Footer menus provide easy access for visitors to continue reading more content when they reach the end of the page.

Good to Know

FAQs

Don’t see the answer you were looking for? Please send us a message and we’d be happy to help.
Contact Us
How do you design a website that appeals to multiple decision-makers within one company?

This is one of the most important challenges in B2B web design. For most B2B purchases, there isn’t just one person deciding whether to hire you. Usually, a committee is formed to make a group decision. And each member of that committee has different priorities, questions, and definitions of success. We make sure your website speaks clearly and convincingly to every one of them by:

  • Designing clear and intuitive navigation pathways
  • Layering the messaging strategically
  • Providing content that addresses each stakeholder’s core questions
  • Incorporating trust signals for each audience
  • Crafting calls-to-action that match where each person is in their journey
Can our website be designed to target specific industries or verticals?

For many of the B2B websites we build, we incorporate sections or pages that target specific industries. Rather than speaking broadly to anyone who might be a potential customer, a vertically targeted website speaks directly to the specific industries you serve – in your prospects language and about their problems. When done properly, the result is a website that feels more relevant to the right visitors and converts at a significantly higher rate than a website with more generic messaging.

How do you design calls-to-action for a B2B audience that has a longer buying cycle?

Simply placing a “Contact Us” link at the bottom of every page is not a strategy for B2B websites. Where buying decisions can take weeks or months and involve multiple stakeholders, that approach leaves a significant amount of value on the table. A well-designed call-to-action (CTA) strategy meets your prospects exactly where they are in their journey and moves them forward to the next step.

To accomplish this, we place CTAs strategically throughout the page, since not all users scroll to the bottom of the page. We also customize CTA headlines and subtext based on the surrounding content and what stage the user is at in the sales process. And finally, from a visual standpoint, we design our CTAs with a hierarchy so that the “weight” of the button is commensurate with what is being asked of the visitor.

Can you integrate our website with our CRM (e.g., HubSpot, Salesforce)?

Integrating your website with your CRM is one of the highest-impact investments you can make in your B2B marketing and sales infrastructure. Failure to do so results in your website and your sales process existing in separate silos, allowing valuable lead data to fall through the cracks. When integrated, your website becomes a seamless extension of your sales operation, automatically capturing, qualifying, and routing leads directly into the hands of your sales team.

Can our website support multiple languages or regions if we operate internationally?

Being in Canada, a multilingual website is isn’t just a nice-to-have feature, it is often a necessity to comply with French language laws. As a result, we have years of experience building multilingual websites. Depending on your website’s setup and amount of content, we integrate tools such as WPML and Weglot to provide multilingual version of your website’s pages and resources.

Can our website include a client portal or gated content area for existing customers?

For some B2B companies, a well-designed client portal is one a valuable investment. It transforms your site from a purely marketing tool into a genuine service platform that streamlines your operations.

Leaf Design has extensive experience in developing custom portals for clients and their customers. Our solutions are built specifically to your business requirements and objectives.

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