In UX Bites #15, we discover how B2B business can increase leads, and fill and convert their funnel through their websites.
B2B or not B2B that is the quest – increasing B2B conversion
Video: UX Bites by Fathom webinar 15 ‘B2B or not B2B that is the quest – increasing B2B conversion‘. Find this webinar and more on Fathom’s YouTube channel.
Q1 Which well–known B2B websites, in your opinion, have it nailed in terms of persuasion?
A1 In our experience smaller B2B organisations often do this better than larger ones. Many of the world’s leading IT consultancies and professional services businesses have almost unusable websites, not focused on solving user problems, with limited evidence of navigational design and the communing with unholy trinity of ego design – rolling video background, hamburger menu and cheesy pictures with a hit–tip to diversity – dominating their sites. Doubtless it gets their C–suites very excited when they’re drinking their cappuccinos looking at the site on the 85” screen in the boardroom but it does nothing for their prospects and customers who are, you know, trying to get actual stuff done in the actual real world.
Looking closer to home Fathom has contributed to persuasion focused B2B UX work for Xperience Group, ProStrategy and Big Red Cloud.
Q2 How do you feel about pricing pages withholding details and requiring the prospect to contact the business / submit their details?
A2 Communicating price (and value) is one of the most important functions a B2B website can carry out. For nearly every business they will sit somewhere on a spectrum between on the one hand not mentioning price and on the other publishing a full price list. Here are some principles which should help guide where you might sit on that spectrum:
- Have a plan for how you will present pricing on your site – don’t duck the issue
- Whether or not you display price, make sure you give your users a sense of how you price – so that they understand it is fair and have confidence that you have a consistent pricing structure (e.g. professional fees, licences, product–ised offering)
- If your prices are easy to understand and most customers buy online then show your prices – we see this very commonly with B2B and SaaS software
- Check what your competitors are doing – we don’t suggest that you should slavishly copy the approach of your competitors but be aware that a proportion of your users will view your site and that of your competitors during the decision–making process
- A/B test when you launch – try different combinations of pricing display and keep an eye on their impact on conversion, whether that is data capture or lead generation
Find us on YouTube
You can watch more of our webinars and talks about UX and service design on our YouTube channel.
