When it comes to online marketing, one of the biggest challenges can be having a strong website that converts visitors into leads and sales. When it comes to B2B websites compared to B2C websites, there are some differences that you need to consider. When you change who you’re selling to, the goals change and how you achieve those goals will change. For example, a B2B site is going to likely be serving fewer buyers in general, but far more buyers that are stakeholders and decision-makers with more high-cost sales.
If your goal is to bring in sales and leads, a website that can’t convert visitors is no better than a website with no visitors. Whether it’s traffic or a conversion strategy issue, if you’re here, you’ve probably figured out that something isn’t working on your site. Maybe you think it looks great and is designed beautifully, but what else could be wrong? It’s not uncommon to have issues with your website, whether it's brand new or you’ve been around for a while. Luckily, it’s not unsolvable! First, it’s important to understand the common issues that could be why your website isn’t converting leads.
Here are 4 reasons your B2B website isn’t converting traffic
1. Weak Calls to Action
One of the first things to look into, and one of the most common mistakes, is having weak and ineffective calls to action (CTA). The most important rule is that your CTAs can’t be passive or unexciting. You want to draw your visitors' attention and interest enough that they’re enticed to do what you want them to do. When it comes to CTAs for B2B websites, you don’t need to have the same sense of urgency as you would for B2C websites. B2B prospects generally have longer buying cycles, meaning they not only have but need to take the extra time to familiarize themselves with your brand and get a feel for how your organizations might work together. For example, if you have CTAs on your landing pages, you don’t want CTAs like “sign up now” or “submit today” because your visitors still need to learn more about your brand and get to know what you do, so CTAs like “learn more” or “discover more” would be more effective for a B2B site.
2. You’re Overwhelming Your Visitors
Another simple and common mistake across B2B sites is providing too much information to your visitors. This could overwhelm them and make it harder to understand where to find what they came looking for or understand what you do. Visitors are looking for quick answers to their questions, so you should try to make it as easy as possible for them to find exactly what they’re looking for. It’s important as a B2B business to remember to avoid using jargon and industry-specific vocabulary. Your target audience is likely businesses that aren’t in the same industry as you, so you can’t expect your audience to know everything about your industry and know the industry jargon. If your visitors are overwhelmed or can’t understand your language, it will be harder for them to make a decision which means they’re less likely to make a purchase and more likely to leave your site; if your goal is sales and lead generation, this is an issue that needs to be addressed ASAP.
3. Poor User Experience
Do you know that phrase don’t judge a book by its cover? Well, your visitors are definitely judging your site by its first impression. Especially when your target audience is other businesses who have their own websites and their own standards for what a website should include or how it should function. Most people visiting your site won’t stick around if your site has a poor design or poor functionality; they're likely judging your company based on their first impressions, so poor design and links that don’t work won’t lead the visitor to trust your company. An out-of-date or over-complicated website design could drastically decrease your conversion rates.
4. Ineffective Forms
We know that forms are an effective way to boost your conversion rate, but the key is having effective forms. It can be easy to get caught up in data collection above the customer experience when you’re thinking about forms, but unhappy customers aren’t going to fill out your forms! You have to think about form content, language, and length. Recent research from Hubspot shows that shorter forms generally receive more responses. Of course, it’s different for every industry and depends on what your goals of the form are. But, in general, unless a longer, more in-depth form is necessary for what you’re trying to achieve, stick to shorter, more basic forms that require less work and less thinking from your visitors.
How to convert more traffic on your B2B Website
So, you’ve figured out what might be causing your site not to reach those conversion rates you’re hoping for, so what now? This is where conversion rate optimization starts. Here are 4 tips for converting more traffic on your B2B site by focusing on improving the most common issues.
1. Utilize Strong CTAs
When it comes to your calls of action on your B2B website, you have to think about your target audience from the start. Your CTAs will differ from those you may write for a B2C website.
Luckily, we have 3 things you must include for effective CTAs for a B2B website:
1. keep it short and simple
You don’t want to be writing long sentences for your CTA. You want something that will be a quick attention grabber; try to stick around 4-5 words.
2. use commanding language
It shouldn’t be too pushy or demanding. For example, instead of “sign up now,” say something like “start your free trial.”
3. make sure your CTA isn’t hidden on your site
It should be obvious and clear so that as many viewers as possible will see it and hopefully interact, like at the top of the page.
2. Keep It Simple
As we mentioned in the previous section, you don’t want to be overwhelming your visitors. Your website should be easy to understand and easy to navigate. One of the first things you should look at is cleaning up your navigation on your site to make sure it’s simple and straightforward for your visitors to find what they’re looking for. The goal here is to focus on the user journey: the path that users may take to reach their goal on your website. You can craft your website and navigation to guide your visitors on a specific journey and push them toward where you want them to go. This all adds to the user experience and may even make it easier for your users to navigate your site. Next, look at readability. Will it be easy for your target audience to understand? Is it clear and concise? Do you use a lot of jargon or industry language? The goal here is to craft a positive user experience that won’t have your visitors feeling overwhelmed or confused so they can learn about your business and make a clear decision.
3. Optimize Your Web Design
While making sure your site is easy to navigate and understand, you also have to pay attention to your website's visual design. Are your website pages consistent (font, colour, style, etc.)? Is your site visually appealing or cluttered? Is your site optimized for mobile browsing? It’s all about making your website comfortable, attractive, and easy to use for your visitors. It’s important to remember that your visitors might be making a snap decision about your business based on your website and that your visitors likely have their own business websites, which likely means higher standards, so make sure your website represents your business how you want it to be perceived.
4. Optimize Your Forms
Forms are an effective way to boost conversions on your website and generate leads, but you must understand how to use forms effectively. Most commonly, B2B businesses should be using their forms to gather contact information, for newsletters for example, or perhaps more in-depth information and feedback depending on your goals for the form. In general, we’re looking for the name and email addresses as the key information for your form. It’s important to not get too caught up in data collection over customer experience, after all an unhappy customer isn’t likely to fill out your form.
There are 3 things you should focus on to have effective forms for your B2B site.
1. Don’t ask for too much information, only collect the information you need. The fewer fields you have in your form, the more likely it is that you’ll receive more conversions.
2. Make sure you add value and make that clear to your visitors. More value means more conversions. This could be something like offering a free PDF guide when they sign up for your email newsletter or including a giveaway.
3. Make your form stress free. Even for something as simple as a newsletter, people are wary about giving their information to businesses for fear of being spammed with daily or weekly emails. If your form shows that it might lead to clogging their inbox, they will avoid it. Ensure you add a privacy message that clarifies how you use their information, that you won’t share it, and assure them you won’t be spamming their inboxes.
Symetris Can Help You to Increase the Traffic of Your B2B Website
We know that tackling a conversion issue on your B2B website can be intimidating, there’s a lot to consider, and it can seem pretty daunting. Luckily for you, with our expertise and proven skill in increasing website traffic for our clients, Symetris is here to help. Whether your website is new or you’ve been around for years, it’s important to stay one step ahead of the competition, and that’s what we can help you do. Every journey to success starts with a solid foundation; our experts will work with you to identify your goals, and how to get there and help you get started by creating a solid strategy and roadmap for your business. So, what are you waiting for?
Get in touch with us today to start working towards your goals and boost your conversion rate.
