The investment in a future-proof B2B commerce platform is a must to stay in business and outperform your competition. This article provides 4 tips on how to make the most of it!
E-commerce makes the jobs of your customers easier and, thus, boosts customer satisfaction. But it is one thing to have digital catalogs and tons of product information. The trick is to stay relevant.
Increase the ROI of e-commerce with personalization
It is often not the highly configurable industrial machine park that is a best seller in digital sales. Less dazzling, but all the more important are the consumable goods when it comes to operating an online shop cost-efficiently. So it is important to turn customers into regular buyers. To do this, you need to align your offer consistently with their needs and preferences. Personalization in B2B is something very different from B2C:
- Show and hide catalogs according to customer segment
- offer custom prices
- configure definable budgets for different users
Bundle products with services to improve the ROI
Once the processes for selling consumables are established and sales are stable, the next step is to consider spare parts to increase the share of online sales. To do this, use the advanced functions of your B2B shop, where your customers have quick access to exactly the parts that match their registered machine. This saves them from error-prone searches or complex navigation. If you, as a manufacturer, provide data on the running time and wear of machines and components, you can proactively offer spare parts when you know they soon need replacement- and provide a service technician appointment along side it.
In this way, you can create optimal conditions for shifting and increasing the ROI of B2B e-commerce.
The field service plays a role in the ROI of e-commerce
Happy customers provide for lasting income. No matter how good and cost-effective your products may be - if the digital offerings do not fit their working methods and processes exactly, there is a high risk that they will turn to other providers - which will lower your e-commerce ROI. To prevent this, it helps to stay in close contact with them - preferably on a personal level:
- Listening instead of lecturing
- Understand online as a channel that takes care of automatable tasks
- Establish on-site appointments with added value
Field service personnel no longer need to track down spare parts or work through long order lists when they come to you. The online shop takes care of these recurring tasks. In the future, salespeople will increasingly become consultants who listen and show users tricks and functions that have not been used optimally up to now. People who take a self-determined approach will order more! Wholesalers and manufacturers who support their customers in all aspects of daily work will in future increasingly become trusted advisors and companions.
Digital self-services impact the e-commerce ROI
Digital self-services empower your B2B buyers to manage their own data, products, and service agreements. Having anytime access to the information they need, reduces their administrative workload and saves time – a benefit that they will really appreciate and make them return again and again, which is a perfect set-up for relevant up- and cross-selling!
4 tips weren't enough? Then download our free checklist right now:
![[free checklist] 10 value drivers for the ROI of e-commerce](https://hubspot-no-cache-eu1-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/default/4791871/e8587681-8889-472c-a447-ff3161b82ae6.png)
