Kara Jensen January 15, 2021 
For businesses seeking to increase leads and boost sales, building a professional B2B website is important – but it’s not enough. The website must also be optimized to encourage visitors to convert. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the well-known term for making updates to a website that encourage these visitors to complete desired actions (like completing contact forms, signing up for newsletters, or downloading resources).
In this blog, we discuss essential website features that will maximize conversion rates on a B2B website.
Clear CTA
A clear call-to-action (CTA) is essential to get website visitors to perform a desired action, such as filling out a contact form, downloading a white paper, or reading a case study. If a potential prospect lands on your B2B website, they want you to lead them to the information they need to make a decision. Don’t expect them to know what to do next. Guide them. Establish your company as their personal guide to deciding whether you are the right fit to help them accomplish their goals.
The CTA should be immediately visible from any page on the website. The CTA can be at the top, on the right side of the page, and/or at the bottom of the website page. It should be easy to distinguish from the other elements on the page.
CTAs for Different Stages of the Buying Process
Not every website visitor is ready to schedule a call or consultation with your sales team. Particularly for B2B buyers, they may often have six or more interactions with your brand before they reach out to make contact. As such, it’s important to give them actions to take at every step of the buying process.
How do you do this? Create CTAs that don’t require much on their part.
- Invite them to sign up for your newsletter.
- Point them toward your blog or resources section for more information.
- Tell them where they can learn more about your products or services.
- Guide them to the information that discusses the features and benefits you offer.
- Let them know where to follow you on social media.
- Advise them to complete a RFP form.
- Show them where your pricing sheet is located.
These CTAs will vary on the types of products or services you sell, but the above list should give you a good idea of what to include.
Straightforward Navigation
Even if your company offers a variety of services or products, your B2B website design should include a clean, straightforward navigation. Straightforward navigation gets your website visitor to the information they need as fast as possible. If they can’t find what they need in 30 seconds or less, they will likely abandon your website and go back to their online search.
Creating a straightforward navigation is not easy. Working with an experienced B2B web designer is your best bet since they are well versed in taking complicated service or product offerings and organizing them for website visitors.
Defined Services or Product Offerings
As a web design agency, we’ve seen a lot of websites. Often, B2B companies come to us to design a website that clearly shows their services or product offerings. Their number one complaint we hear, besides having an outdated design, is they don’t feel that their current website showcases their service or product offerings well.
This is not a time to be cute or imaginative with how you define your services or products. You need to be clear and direct. If you offer software for hospitals, say so. There is a difference between service and product offerings and the benefits and features of those offerings. Before you can get into the value of what you offer clients, you need to state what you offer.
Easy-to-Find Contact Information
The websites that convert well have easy-to-find contact information. Even if you want prospects to complete a form on a website, be sure to provide other ways to get in touch with your company. Your B2B website design should include where you are located and a phone number that a live person answers. Prospects may have various reasons for why they need to call you rather than completing a form. Make it easy to get in contact with your company.
Resources Section
As mentioned above, prospects may not be ready to set up a call with your sales team. They may be determining their budget, or whether they are ready for your product or services, or they may need to sell internal stakeholders on why they need your products or services.
High converting B2B websites have some form of a resources section. It doesn’t need to have a ton of guides, case studies, blog posts, or other resources. It just needs to have the essential resources your prospects need to make decisions throughout the buying process. If you have a high-value piece of content, such as a white paper or e-book, don’t be afraid to gate it behind a form that requires a name and an email to access. However, don’t gate all resources, especially resources that are targeted towards the very top of the marketing funnel. Those users are less likely to convert if a form is gated.
Credibility Builders
Why should a prospect convert? Why should they trust you? Show them with credibility building elements. Credibility can be built in a number of ways. Below are a few ways to build credibility on a B2B website:
- Logos of companies you work with
- Industry associations
- Industry certifications
- Client reviews or testimonials
- Videos of you and your team
- Case studies or use cases of your products and services
The credibility elements you include depend on your industry and the clients you serve. If your industry is highly regulated, government certifications may be important. If your industry is highly competitive, customer testimonials may work better to build a case for why your company is the best fit.
Target Audiences
For B2B companies, it’s often crucial to include information about who you serve and who your clients are. Even if you can’t name your existing clients for privacy reasons, it’s important to describe the types of firms you work with. This can also help with building credibility and trust – prospects like to know that you have expertise in working with firms similar to theirs. For example, if you work with only Biotech firms, indicate that. Ideally, your “Who We Serve” section is clear enough so an ideal prospect says “that’s me!” and then completes a form for more information.
CRO Is Ongoing
Much like B2B marketing, conversion rate optimization on B2B websites is an ongoing effort. While the above checklist is a good start to optimizing your website, this is often something that needs continual attention and adjusting. If your website is getting a good amount of high-quality traffic but no conversions, it may be a good time to revisit the checklist above.
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