Aesthetics aren’t everything in business. But it can make a difference when it comes to drawing a potential customer’s attention and urging them to engage in your company. That, in many ways, is why custom branding is so important.
If you are a B2B company, specifically, you are likely to be operating in a space that is full of competitors. The brand itself is the first step in differentiating yourself from these competitors, especially with an innovative, engaging strategy that can immediately tell the customer who you are and what you are doing.
But it is important not to stop there. If you have a pre-existing custom brand, then this needs to be echoed in the website itself, working on adding a feeling of coherency in your company and avoiding any confusion on the part of the browser.
So why is this so important, and is it a good idea to focus your energy on it? Here are a few reasons why a B2B website needs to look good:
Creating A Theme For Existing Customers
Firstly, as a B2B company, you’re going to be putting a lot of your efforts into a b2b loyalty programme that retains your existing customers. This is because 20% of your repeat customers will be responsible for more than 80% of your future revenue – whilst also being far more cost-effective in a marketing sense.
With a loyalty programme, you will have worked to build a relationship with these clients, shedding away any ambiguity and focusing instead on being as transparent as possible. Along with this transparency, there needs to be coherency.
If a customer goes from your social media pages, emails or in-person events and over towards your website, they need to see a direct theme that links every one of them. Your website, therefore, needs to embody your company and be the spiritual online hub.
The Rule Does Not Lie
It is also important to remember the 10-second rule. On average, users will linger on a website for 10 to 20 seconds. In this way, you need to do everything you can to engage them quickly and give them a reason to explore further.
This cannot be done with the content alone. Remember, B2B customers will have plenty of competition to choose from, so they will make that initial decision based on simple things. Colour, theme, font, layout, format. They won’t know they are doing it, but it is a factor that must be considered. In other words, your website has to look professional and be eye-catching enough to make them stay.
How many times have you clicked on a website only to find that it looks like it was made back in 2010? And what’s the first thing you do after that? The immediate bounce rate of your website will depend on looks alone, so focus on aesthetics before anything else and make sure people know it was made in 2023!
Accessibility Leads To Loyalty
Lastly, it is crucial that you make the website as accessible as possible. In 2023, more than 70% of Americans do their shopping online, with the number of digital buyers said to reach 285 million by 2025. In this way, the online world has become a crucial marketplace for B2B companies; just as you would make a physical store or office inviting, welcoming and easy to navigate, so too should you make your online store accessible.
If you have given your customers ease of use, they will be far more likely to continue doing business with you. This is also true when it comes to your content. On your website, you need solid, snappy content that will tell them what a product or service is and why they need it. The clarity in this regard will be met with enthusiasm by the potential buyer and will draw them to navigate to the purchasing page.
Every company is different, but oftentimes, the differentiating factor comes in the website design itself. Do not fall at the first hurdle, and ensure that you have a website that perfectly embodies your brand whilst also being easy to use.
