The products, services, and goals of different companies will vary. Some companies sell directly to the end-user, B2C companies, while others sell to other businesses, B2B business. The marketing strategies for B2B companies will undoubtedly be different from B2C companies. So would be their websites and their website designing. Although both B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Consumer) websites need to be clear, concise, and aesthetically pleasing, there are significant differences in their web designs. B2B websites are often lacking and fail to create an impact as they fail to recognize the need for a different design approach to their website(s). 

Here are fundamental differences between B2B and B2C marketing that will help you plan its website design more effectively.

Target Audience

One of the more evident and critical differences between B2B and B2C websites is the audience. B2B customers make decisions based on logic, information, and well-explained benefits, while B2C customers are more influenced by emotion. They want quick solutions to their problems. Marketing and design teams will put a lot of effort into defining buyer personas for a B2C website. A good B2C website will focus on personalization of the website based on individual consumers, and upon their purchasing and browsing habits. 

It is different for most of the B2B websites, which must cater to their user experience to vastly different personas who may potentially become a new lead. With B2B websites, you’ll be speaking to a range of highly-educated individuals who already have a general knowledge of your service. B2B marketers are mostly targeting an audience group of 3-4 people at certain organizations. The language and content of the website are all about highlighting the key benefits of the products, and the kind of outcomes that they can deliver. Designers need to work harder at convincing B2B buyers that they’re making the right decision. 

The Buying Purpose

Another key differentiating factor between B2C to B2B websites is the motive behind a customer’s purchase. Knowing what’s driving a target audience to interact with a brand will help you in creating a website that appeals to specific goals.

For B2C businesses, consumers are a lot easier to appeal to in terms of emotional impact, because many of them come to a website looking to suffice an urgent need. As a result, many web designers can take advantage of things like urgency and demand to encourage conversions. On the other hand, B2B websites often aim to solve expensive and time-consuming problems for companies. To sell the validity of a solution to a decision-maker, it’s important to comprehensively explain the solution, how it works, and how it addresses a specific pain point.

A B2B website must focus on providing information that facilitates the decision-making process of companies. Furthermore, decisions are often made by several stakeholders in B2B businesses, while B2C websites ask a single person to make a choice. A B2C website needs to address immediate concerns and connect with customers on an emotional level. B2C buyers still want to do their research on products or services, but the turnaround is much quicker, and often requires less information.

Sales Cycle

The typical sales cycle for B2C is much shorter than for B2B. Selling straight-to-consumer often happens within one website browsing session. A typical B2C sales cycle has the following procedure:

• Check a few websites
• Read some reviews
• Revisit websites with good reviews
• Do a final review and comparison
• Place the order

The cycle is different for B2C customers. The cycle can even last for weeks, months, maybe a year.

B2C Sales Cycle:

• Internal meeting to discuss the needs 
• Initial research
• 6 to 7 potential vendors shortlisted
• Pros and cons reviewed for each one
• Selected vendors list forwarded to the decision-maker(s)
• The decision-maker(s) analyze the options and decide on a top 3
• The lead form on the top 3 websites filled
• Several weeks (even months) of determining the final purchase price, delivery, terms, etc.
• The final close of the sale

Clearly, designing a website that addresses the B2B scenario requires a number of strategies that vary from the B2C scenario. Because pricing is often not visible on B2B websites, customers are instead vetting potential partners for trust, quality, and expertise.

Content

The way of conveying information, or the messaging, will be totally different for both B2B websites and B2C websites. Generally, everything from the language, to the amount of content that you use on these websites will differ hugely. 

When designing a B2C website, you need to make sure the content strategy is up to par. The site will need catchy and compelling headlines. Short, yet appealing to the customer. Since the consumer is not looking for tons of information, you do not want to overload the website with content. Minimal content and large images will do the job.

When designing for a B2B website, you’ll need to be careful with content, as you’ll be speaking to a very mixed audience. If your site caters to different industries, you’ll need to ensure that you show authority, without using too much jargon. Some companies even create different pages on their site for specific customers.

Visual Elements

Just as the focus of your website design and the audience that you’re creating the experience for can differ from B2B to B2C websites, the visual elements of the design might change too. 

In most cases, B2B websites are all about presenting a highly professional and respectable image. You’ll notice a lot of safe and clear choices when it comes to typography and imagery. It’s unusual to see a B2B website that takes risks with things like illustrations and animations. On the other hand, B2C websites can be a little bolder. With so many different options to choose from, and most customers buying out of a sense of urgency or sudden demand, designers are under pressure to capture attention quickly. This means that it’s much more likely to see large pieces of eye-catching imagery on B2C sites, with very little text.

Want to build a useful B2B website that gets organic traffic and generates qualified leads for your business? Or wish to accelerate your B2C business through a quality website? Please speak to our experts and let’s get started.

Read More about the importance of Graphics Design in your business here