b2b e-commerce evolution: selling software in the digital age
DESCRIPTION
This infographic tells a story about a wonderful land of opportunity: The B2B software e-commerce market. Estimated to be almost $1 trillion in 2014, the B2B e-commerce market is bigger than its more famous sibling, the B2C market, and independent software vendors stand to make big bucks selling to business and organizations of all kinds. This infographic focuses on the kinds of digital tools and assets B2B software merchants need to succeed in selling software online in today’s e-commerce world.TRANSCRIPT
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“B2B E-commerce Gets Its Own Publication,” Internet Retailer, January, 2014 “The Forrester Wave™: B2B Commerce Suites, Q4 2013,” Forrester Research, October 7, 2013 “Benchmarking B2B eCommerce,” Forrester Research, March, 2014 http://blogs.forrester.com/andy_hoar/14-03-17-benchmarking_b2b_ecommerce “Gartner Says Worldwide IT Spending on Pace to Reach $3.8 Trillion in 2014,” Gartner, January, 2014 http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2643919 "From Promotion to Emotion: Connecting B2B Customers to Brands," CEB Marketing Leadership Council, 2013. http://www.executiveboard.com/exbd-resources/content/b2b-emotion/pdf/promotion-emotion-whitepaper-full.pdf
EVOLUTIONB2B E-COMMERCE
SELLING SOFTWARE IN THE DIGITAL AGE
The 2014 B2B e-commerce market will be between
800 $BILLION
1$ TRILLION.and
B2BB2C
The 2013 B2B e-commercemarket is more than
2xAS BIG
as the $252 BillionB2C e-commerce
market.
of B2B companies recently migrated offline
customers online,while
said that they moved
online customers offline.
86
500 $BILLION
Worldwide spending on enterprise software
is expected to hit
representing a 6.8% growth.
320 BILLION IN 2014,
$
For B2B software buyers, the growth of e-commerce has not changed their relative insensitivity to price, their need for loyal relationships with merchants, or the
length of their sales cycle. What it has done is shift their attention online, and B2B software merchants must now
figure out how to grab and hold it.
Brochures
Product Catalogs
Phone Calls
Business Cards
On-site Demos
Print Magazines
Order Forms
Website
Blog Posts
White Papers
Videos
Testimonials
Case Studies
Newsletters
Webinars
Prior to e-commerce, sales teams used the following assets to sell software to
business buyers:
With the explosion of e-commerce sales, the following digital assets are
additions to the tools of the past:
CLICK
Connect the links in each channel to a relevant landing page on your website with an easy to complete call-to-action (CTA).
Include up-sells and cross-sells during the checkout process to increase your average cart value.
Marketing Channels
Cart Values
Ensure the right message is going to the right person at the right time.Lead Segmentation
Make your marketing more customer-centric. Don’t talk about what your business does - show how it helps other businesses.
Marketing Messages
Offer your B2B buyers the convenience they have come to expect from their experiences as individual online consumers.
Online Shopping Experience
Search Email Retargeted Ads Social Media
1 2 3 DONE!
Tradeshows & Conferences
CONCLUSION
BIGIT’S
BIGGERGETTING
AND
Provide potential customers with details on your product’s functionality and pricing.
Make a strong impression on direct visitors to your site.
Educate visitors with engaging blogs, videos, etc.
Provide customers with the ability to manage personal information
like payment type and billing address.
Allow customers to submit payment directly through your
website.
Give customers the ability to help themselves with FAQs,
order-lookups and live chat.
Create a central resource hub for your affiliates, resellers and
partners.
>>
E-COMMERCE MERCHANTS MUST CREATE:
Content Product Functionality
and PricingHomepage
Channel Partner Portal
Customer Account Section
E-commerce Store
Self-Service Customer Support
THE 7 MAJOR COMPONENTS OF THE
MODERN B2B SITE
OPTIMIZE 5 CRUCIAL THINGS
B2B COMPANIES MUST
FOR BETTER LEADS & MORE REVENUE
Make sure your content can be found wherever your customers are, but watch out for increased
marketing costs from search, email, social and content
development.
The requirements for these are often more complex than for B2C
products, and the stakes are higher. Supporting B2B customers may even require training their IT
teams.
Remember, a website will never replace a sales team; it will just
make their job more complicated. Conflict often arises due to attribution and commission
concerns between sales people, affiliates, resellers and
the website.
IN THE B2B BUYER'S JOURNEY:PITFALLS
BEWARE OF THESE POTENTIAL
Fragmented Channel Experience
Implementation & Customer
Service Costs
Channel Conflict
THEN & NOW:GUIDING PROSPECTS THROUGH
THE B2B BUYER'S JOURNEY
NOW:
IS THE B2B E-COMMERCE MARKET?JUST HOW BIG
%
ONLY 14%
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THEN:
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