B2B versus B2C

When designing an e-commerce website, one of the first things to determine is, who you're designing for? Are you selling to other businesses or are you selling to consumers? Designing for B2B (business-to-business) is quite different than designing for B2C (business-to-consumer). Both parties are still human at the end of the day, thus the basic UX principles apply for both approaches. It's certain aspects of the user experience that need be tweaked to cater for the user's needs, which is different if the user is actually a group of individuals (B2B) versus an individual (B2C):

• B2C characteristics:
  • With B2C there is just one decision maker and the time it takes to make a decision is normally quick.
  • The B2C purchase is usually strongly motivated by emotion as the user is buying a product or service for themselves or someone they know. Thus the brand image plays a crucial role in influencing the emotion of the user, and as a result the decision making.
  • The product is usually straightforward and easily available.
  • With accessible products, the pricing structure is mostly basic. Pricing is transparent and the user knows upfront what the product or service will cost. Additional costs such as shipping are always visible on an e-commerce website and in most cases the user has the option to up-sell their product by adding additional extras such as a laptop bag when buying a laptop. With additional costs there are also discount vouchers and loyalty programs. The user knows in advance what the total price of the item is when making the decision.
  • The purchasing flow is uncomplicated. The user chooses the product or service, adds personal details such as delivery address, and makes the payment.

Because the B2C user can choose from a variety of websites, their decision to buy from a specific website is heavily influenced by brand, the price, and of course the user experience of the website. Users will not return to a website with a lengthy checkout process that is confusing, neither will they pay more for a product that they can get from another website if the brand image is not solid. Brand loyalty plays an important role in a B2C user's decision-making process and typically goes hand in hand with user experience.

• B2B characteristics:
  • With B2B there is a group of individuals that stands behind the final decision, and the time to make a decision is much longer than with B2C as the decision will have to follow the correct channels within a company and be approved by more than one person. This group of individuals is divided into choosers and users; users are the individuals that will use the product or service within the organization, while choosers are the individuals that will make the final decision if it's really needed and make the purchase. Often the user will need to justify the need for the product or service, thus ensure the content on the website supports both the needs of the users and choosers.
  • The B2B purchase is not emotional in the sense of personal motivations or impulse buying, but rather an emotion of responsibility such as considering the impact the decision will have on a team.
  • The product or service is typically complex. One of the factors that makes these types of products complex is the number of people that will use the product, for example, buying software licenses. The price for one licenses usually differs to an option for 5-10 people using the licenses, or more than 30 people and then there's an unlimited licenses. Another factor is time. How long is this licenses valid? Is it only for 30 days, a year, or an unlimited period? With most products or services the B2B user can choose additional support or maintenance for the purchase, which complicates it even more.
  • The pricing structure thus needs to accommodate all these different components of a product and service, which makes the pricing structure quite complicated and also the price of a B2B product a lot higher.
  • With the complex pricing tiers, the checkout flow needs to cater for all the possible combinations for the B2B user to build their own custom product or service. Also, the company details require additional information such as business billing information, tax numbers, and so on, which makes the checkout flow more comprehensive than B2C.

The B2B user is mainly focused on cost-effective pricing structures and quality of the product or service, which means the option for the user to build their own custom product to fit their team's needs within their budget is the main decision driver. No company will agree to pay for a service they'll not utilize 100%. Brand loyalty also plays an important role within the decision-making progress, but taps into a different angle than the B2C user. For the B2B user it's important to do business with a brand that has a flexible product or service and excellent customer support. There are some key points to consider when adding content to your website to support the B2B customer through the purchasing process:

• Supportive content: For the user who is in the early research phase, content to explain what solutions the product or service is offering, together with supporting content such as case studies, technical white papers, and buying guides will be very helpful to a user to consider the product or service.
• Analytical content: Provide concrete data and analytics to the user and choose to allow them to compare the solutions of your product or service with your competitors.
• Sharing of content: Because the purchase decision is a collaborative group effort, the user will most likely need to share relevant information to convince the chooser of the benefits of the product or service. Allow sharing options of products, reviews, and shopping carts for the user to share the necessary information.

Now that we've identified the main characteristics that influence the B2C and B2B user, let's look at the approaches to design for these users' needs.

B2C design approach:

• The content strategy should ideally focus on catchy headlines and no excessive content. The user doesn't want too much to read about the products. If there is a need to provide large amounts of content then this should be cleverly managed within the UI with accordions.
• Due to the fact that the product for the B2C user is most likely available on several other websites, the aesthetics and usability of the website is critical for decision making.
• Although the B2C checkout flow is naturally uncomplicated, it's easy to lose focus and complicate the flow with too many unnecessary fields, or not supplying the B2C user with the information they need to finalize the purchase. Offer the user with easy checkouts by creating an online profile where future checkouts can be done with one click.

B2B design approach:

• The cost of the product or services is higher, thus the B2B user needs as much content as possible to make an informed decision. Supportive content such as testimonials, videos, FAQs, or blogs are beneficial to convince the B2B user that the product or service will cater to their needs.
• An aesthetically pleasing website is always valuable to influence users, but in the B2B user's case building trust and providing the sufficient content to encourage the decision-making process is crucial.
• With the complex buying cycle of the B2B product or service the pricing structure needs to be simplified and easy to understand. If the pricing structure is too complex or confusing the B2B user will rather go to a competitor with a more user-friendly layout.
• Offer the B2B user different communication options such as a telephone number to a support center or emergency contact, online queries forms, and online demo requests.