How to Effectively Market a B2B E-commerce Business

The B2B ecommerce market is increasing and is expected to reach over $18 trillion in sales by 2027. As more B2B buyers shift their purchasing online, B2B companies must have a strong ecommerce presence and effective marketing strategies to reach potential customers. Here are some of the most impactful ways to market your B2B ecommerce business:

Optimize for search engines

Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most critical aspects of digital marketing for B2B ecommerce. Ranking high in relevant search results will make it easier for potential customers to find your business when searching for your products or services.

Some key SEO tactics for B2B ecommerce include:

• Conduct keyword research to identify the search terms your target audience uses

• Optimize your site structure and navigation to be search engine-friendly

• Create detailed, keyword-rich product descriptions

• Build out informative categories and content pages

• Secure high-quality, relevant backlinks from other reputable sites

• Ensure your site loads quickly and is mobile-friendly

Here are some authoritative articles for you to learn more about the ways you can optimize your website to improve on-page and technical SEO:

• Fast and Furious Websites are Good SEO

• Website Load Speed - User Experience

• SEO Basics - Can Your Website Be Crawled and Indexed

Investing in SEO can improve your search engine rankings and organic traffic. This will increase brand visibility and attract qualified leads to your ecommerce site.

Leverage email marketing

Email remains one of the most effective channels for engaging B2B buyers and driving ecommerce sales. Some email marketing strategies to consider:

• Build your email list by offering valuable gated content like ebooks, whitepapers, webinars, etc. Promote these lead magnets across your website and social media.

• Segment your email list based on job title, industry, past purchases, and email engagement. Then, tailor your email content and offers to each segment.

• Set up automated email flows, such as a welcome series for new subscribers, abandoned cart reminders, and post-purchase follow-ups.

• Send targeted promotional emails featuring relevant products, limited-time deals, and personalized recommendations based on past buying behavior.

• To nurture leads over time, share engaging newsletter content such as industry news, product updates, customer stories, and thought leadership pieces.

Email marketing keeps your brand top-of-mind, builds trust with potential customers, and directly drives revenue for your B2B ecommerce business. We have several case studies where we increased sales by 34% simply by implementing a highly targeted email blast. Here is some additional information about how to do email marketing right.

• Email Marketing is not Dead - You Just Forgot the Benefits.

Utilizing transactional emails with a 90% open rate is also critical. These emails can be highly effective in generating sales and upsells. Here is an article that discusses the benefits of transactional emails.

• Transactional Emails - Marketing's Trojan Horse

Always provide value and avoid bombarding your email list with too many sales-heavy messages.

Invest in paid advertising.

While organic marketing tactics like SEO and email are important, paid advertising can help you reach even more of your target audience and quickly scale your customer acquisition. Some effective paid channels for B2B ecommerce include:

• Google Ads: Use search ads to reach B2B buyers actively searching for what you offer or build brand awareness with display ads across millions of sites.

• LinkedIn Ads: Get your products in front of a professional audience on LinkedIn with sponsored content, message ads, lead gen forms, and more.

• Facebook & Instagram Ads: While typically seen as B2C platforms, Facebook and Instagram can also target niche B2B audiences with engaging product ads.

• Industry-specific advertising: Consider advertising in industry publications, newsletters, podcasts, and websites where your target customers spend time.

The key to success with paid advertising is precise targeting. Focus on reaching the most relevant audience possible—those most likely to be interested in your products. Experiment with different ad formats, messaging, and offers to see what performs best. Continuously track and measure your results to optimize your campaigns over time.

Focus on content marketing.

Content marketing is another powerful way to attract, engage, and convert B2B buyers. Creating valuable, informative content that addresses your target audience's needs and pain points can build trust, demonstrate your expertise, and ultimately drive more sales.

Some content marketing ideas for B2B ecommerce

• Write in-depth blog posts related to your products and industry

• Create product-focused guides, ebooks, and whitepapers

• Produce engaging videos showcasing your products, company, and thought leadership

• Host webinars teaching topics related to your offerings

• Appear as a guest on industry podcasts and webinars

• Develop case studies highlighting customer success stories

While Content is King, Distribution of the content is queen, and she wears the pants. Due to the importance of creating great content, some articles will show the value and provide best practices.

• Discover How To Create Great Content

• Content Marketing Formula - Rules for Success

• Introducing the NEW and IMPROVED Inbound Marketing

Promote your content across multiple channels—your website, email, social media, paid ads, etc. Use strong calls to action to drive content consumers to relevant product pages. Gate some of your best content behind lead capture forms to generate new contacts for your email list.

Highlight customer reviews & testimonials.

B2B buyers want to be confident they're making the right purchase decision. One of the best ways to build that trust is by showcasing reviews and testimonials from satisfied customers.

Whenever possible, collect feedback and reviews from your best customers. Display these prominently on your website, especially on critical pages like your homepage, product pages, and checkout pages. Contact your happiest customers and ask if they'd be willing to provide a more in-depth testimonial or case study.

You can also automate collecting reviews by setting up an email flow that goes out to customers after they purchase. And be sure to monitor and respond to any reviews posted on third-party sites relevant to your industry.

Positive reviews and testimonials provide powerful social proof that makes potential customers more likely to buy from you. Leverage this user-generated content across your marketing to build credibility and drive more B2B ecommerce sales.

Peer-to-Peer Review Sites
The power of referrals is not wholly obtained if you post them on your website. Reviews and testimonials posted on peer-to-peer review sites will have more impact and be deemed more credible.

There are many review sites that will provide product reviews and testimonials and make a competitive comparison between similar solutions. That same review process is available in the B2B business sector and increases a legitimate source for obtaining high-quality leads. These sites include Gartner Peer Insights, Capterra, G2 Crowd, Finances Online, GetApp, SourceForge, and Software Advice. Typically, these sites have both an organic and a pay-to-play option.

Personalize the customer experience.

B2B buyers expect a high level of personalization in their shopping experience. Use the data you collect on your site's visitors to provide tailored content, product recommendations, and offers.

Some ways to personalize the B2B ecommerce experience:

• Display dynamic content on your site based on a visitor's industry, company size, location, or other firmographic details.

• Create curated product categories and landing pages built around specific industries, job roles, or business needs.

• Implement a personalized product recommendation engine that suggests relevant products based on a user's browsing and purchase history.

• Customize your email marketing with personalized subject lines, product recommendations, and content based on a contact's profile and behavior.

• Provide a quick order pad or subscription option so customers can easily reorder frequently purchased products.

• Offer customer-specific pricing and volume-based discounts for clients with negotiated contracts.

Personalization makes B2B buyers feel understood and valued, increasing their likelihood of purchasing from you. Continually test and optimize your personalization efforts to provide an increasingly relevant experience for each customer.

Streamline the checkout process.

Your ecommerce site could generate significant traffic, but if your checkout process has too much friction, you'll struggle to convert that interest into actual revenue. Evaluate your current checkout flow and look for areas of improvement to reduce cart abandonment.

Some best practices for an optimized B2B checkout experience:

• Offer guest checkout so buyers aren't required to create an account

• Provide multiple payment options, including credit card, PayPal, and purchase orders

• Allow customers to save their payment information for faster future checkouts

• Minimize the number of fields and steps required to complete a purchase

• Offer instant credit decision to speed up the approval process for net payment terms

• Display trust signals like customer reviews, security badges, and privacy policies to build confidence

• Send abandoned cart emails to bring back visitors who left before completing their purchase

Even minor tweaks to your checkout process can significantly impact your conversion rates and overall sales. Continuously A/B test changes to your checkout flow to find the right formula for your B2B customers.

Provide exceptional customer service.

Providing excellent customer service drives repeat purchases and fosters long-term customer relationships. Make it easy for your B2B customers to get help whenever needed.

Some ways to deliver excellent B2B ecommerce customer service:

• Offer live chat support on your site so customers can get instant answers to their questions

• Provide phone and email support during business hours

• Develop a comprehensive FAQ page and knowledge base that addresses common customer questions and issues

• Create helpful product guides and how-to content to help customers make the most of their purchases

• Streamline your return and exchange process with clear policies and pre-paid return shipping labels

• Empower your customer service team to go above and beyond to resolve issues and wow your customers

Delivering a superb customer experience will set your B2B ecommerce business apart and keep buyers returning. Collect customer feedback regularly and look for opportunities to improve your service.

Here is some additional information to help you improve client retention and increase resales.

• Customer Churn: The Struggle Is Real

• The Client Retention Lifecycle: Departmental Roles

• Client Retention - The Marketing Department's Role

• Customer Retention - Product Development and Sales Dept.

• Client Retention - Operations, Support, and C-Suite Roles

Build a referral program.

Referrals are one of the most powerful and cost-effective ways to grow your B2B ecommerce business. Happy customers can be your best salespeople, recommending your products or services to their network.

A referral program differs from a partner program in that it usually involves customers or brand advocates whose only obligation is to refer a potential client. A referral program also leverages the trust between the referrer and their contact.

A financial reward motivates the referral. Many programs have a bifurcated reward structure, paying a small amount if the referred prospect takes a meeting and a larger amount if they become customers.

This program works for all the same reasons as the reseller program. However, you must adhere to some hard and fast rules if you want to succeed using a referral program.

The Program Must Have True Incentives - If you expect to get referrals, make the program worthwhile for the referral partner. Companies have tried to “reward” a highly paid professional $50 for a referral. Any already well-paid individual will not put their reputation on the line for such a meager amount. If you expect a referral program to work, ensure the people you ask will find the reward enticing.

Make it easy for customers to refer you by creating a formal referral program.

Other attractive incentives for both the referrer and the referred, like discounts, free products, or account credits. Promote your referral program to your customer base through email, social media, website, and other channels.

You can also incentivize referrals through partner programs with complementary businesses and influencers in your industry. Offer commission on any new customers or sales generated through their referral links. By tapping into the power of referral marketing, you can quickly expand your customer base and drive significant revenue growth for your B2B ecommerce business.

Analyze and optimize

Finally, one of the most critical aspects of marketing your B2B ecommerce site is consistently tracking, measuring, and optimizing your efforts. Use tools like Google Analytics to gain insights into your website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates.

At Prevail Marketing, We do not believe in guessing what is working and what may need to be tweaked, so we track over 400 key performance indicators (KPIs each month for every client. While the only metrics that matter are substantial customer increases, revenue, and profitability, you will never reach your goals if you don't track all the intermediate KPIs.

However, some specific KPIs are unique to e-commerce engagements. Some key metrics to track:

• Traffic volume and sources

• Bounce rate and time on site

• Number of product page views

• Add to cart rate

• Cart abandonment rate

• Conversion rate

• Average order value

• Lifetime customer value

• Net Promoter Score

Review your analytics data regularly to identify areas for improvement. Run A/B tests on your site to optimize your product pages, calls to action, checkout flow, and more. Monitor the results of your email, content, and advertising campaigns and adjust as needed.

You can scale your efforts and revenue more effectively by taking a data-driven approach to marketing your B2B ecommerce business. Continue experimenting, analyzing, and optimizing to stay ahead of the competition.

Conclusion

Marketing a B2B ecommerce business requires a multifaceted approach. By focusing on tactics like search engine optimization, email marketing, paid advertising, content marketing, customer reviews, personalization, conversion rate optimization, customer service, referral marketing, and data-driven optimization, you can successfully attract, convert, and retain B2B customers.

The B2B ecommerce landscape constantly evolves, so staying on top of emerging trends and new technologies is essential. Keep learning, testing, and iterating on your marketing strategy to continually grow your online sales. With the right marketing plan, you can build a thriving B2B ecommerce business that provides an exceptional customer experience and drives long-term revenue growth. Now is the time to take action and implement these marketing best practices to take your online sales to the next level.