The Definitive Guide to B2B Website Best Practices and Design

B2B (business-to-business) has come a long way in such a short time. From being a technical slideshow presented by technology and marketing experts to practical data-driven strategies. B2B has leveraged advanced digital tools and techniques to capture more customers globally. 

In the past, B2B (business-to-consumer) markets were perceived to be less captivating than B2C (business-to-consumer) markets. Over the years, this has been evident in the consciousness of the general public, who are more familiar with popular brands and products. This perception partly arose due to the complexity of decision-making units and the visual appeal of B2B products, which emphasized functionality rather than aesthetics and positive user experience.

In 2024, B2B will be more recognized and well-regarded than ever, but not in the sense of traditional presentations or physical marketing materials that once influenced offline buying decisions. This approach has long become outdated. 

These days, everything is done on the internet. From search engines to online shopping carts, everything is accessible with a simple click or tap of your fingers. As a result, companies offering products, services, or information increasingly depend on websites.

Running a B2B business in 2024? 

If you are running one, your website is the most important asset and an essential part of the buyer's user behavior approach to decision-making. Your B2B website is the first door most customers can use to learn about your business. A high-quality website with relevant content can satisfy this need, becoming an invaluable marketing tool for lead generation, drawing visitors, attracting potential customers, and retaining them.

So, how can you create a compelling and successful B2B website design?

In this guide, I will explain each point to help you understand B2B websites, outline the best practices, and provide design examples to help you build a successful B2B website.

It simplifies transactions while promoting a user-centered experience, excellent customer service, and branding, among other things, for businesses involved in high-volume ventures.

Here are crucial elements that contribute to the success of a B2B website:

1. Structured Layout, Navigation and User Interface

B2B websites integrate design practices, organized site structure, and elements such as structured layouts, user-friendly navigation, appropriate color schemes, and intuitive interfaces. These factors make it easy for users to find information and navigate the website. 

2. Comprehensive Product or Service Catalog

Depending on what industry one is in or targeting niche markets, B2B websites typically feature well-organized product or service categories with detailed information. They may also include additional resources such as brochures and downloadable PDFs to aid decision-making while providing customers comprehensive knowledge.

3. Content Management System 

A successful B2B website includes standard content management systems in most e-commerce platforms. It can also include comprehensive content management systems, account management, and an ordering system with essential features such as cart, checkout, inventory management, and content storage.

4. Customer Support 

B2B websites combine digital and human interaction to achieve an excellent customer experience. This includes customer support channels such as FAQs, live chat, email support, and phone numbers for direct assistance.

5. Content and Resources

B2B websites are incomplete without high-quality content and resources. These can include landing pages, industry insights, case studies, blog articles, and social studies to help businesses make informed decisions about purchasing products or services.

6. Customer Reviews

According to Nicejob, 97% of customers implied that reviews could rationally influence purchasing decisions. In light of this, B2B websites often include customer reviews, star ratings, social reviews, online forums, etc., which generate leads while building credibility and trust with potential customers and target customers.

7. Security Elements

A secure website is more likely to be trusted by most customers. Thus, reputable B2B websites always incorporate security measures, including SSL certificates, trusted payment gateways, and compliance with data protection regulations, among other requirements related to their web design.

If done well, successful B2B websites can improve your marketing efforts and lead visitors down the intended action while enhancing user engagement. 

To capture the attention of your site visitors, you must carefully strategize your web design efforts to align with user intent for maximum performance. This ensures that your web design converts into meaningful interactions that lead to qualified leads.

How Do Create a Good B2B Website?

There is no universal way to create a perfect B2B website. Building a successful B2B website, like any other type, requires different approaches and careful considerations to ensure that your website serves its primary purpose. 

To help you create a successful B2B website, we've analyzed the best tips and approaches to incorporate into your design for optimal website effectiveness.

Define Your Business Goals and Target Audience

As a B2B business, your goals and objectives are crucial to success. These include evaluating your current branding position, listing your products or services, or even stating what you want to achieve with the website. Aligning these objectives with web design will ensure that each component and user interface work towards accomplishing them.

Next, determine your target audience, including their demographics and user intent, and analyze possible behavior to visualize their customer journey. For example, an e-commerce company might categorize its primary audience by age group (e.g., 20-40 years old), fashion preferences, and environmental consciousness, which will be helpful for business decisions and lead generation later on.

Conduct Market and Competitor Research

Market research is an incredibly effective tool. In fact, according to Hanover Research, about 80% of businesses use it for targeted insights, which ultimately leads to higher sales numbers and more substantial market share overall. This is extremely important because market and competitor research can help you understand customer needs, market position, and targeted keywords and optimize marketing strategies to make informed business decisions. 

Extensive research on your market and competitors can help refine targeting for effective lead generation and enhance visibility in organic search results. Analyzing competitor's websites can help you know what is working, improve user experience, and uncover the challenges and pain points faced by businesses that are also present in the existing market. 

Design Simple and Clutter-Free Web Pages

A Google study suggests that "visually complex" websites are considered less beautiful than their counterparts. Therefore, simplicity, minimalism, and clutter-free design should be prioritized when creating a B2B website. However, this does not mean one should ignore investing time and effort into web design; instead, it emphasizes ensuring that the brand message comes across easily without overwhelming users with unnecessary elements.

If you need more certainty about creating a clutter-free and practical B2B website, consulting a website design agency to build it can prevent potential mistakes during the design and coding process and save you significant time.

Track Performance Metrics

Performance metrics are methods used to measure how well or poorly your site performs. These metrics consist of measurable data collected to track and evaluate business activities, objectives, and user behavior when browsing a website. They might also include assessments of overall website traffic, bounce rate, and number of page views, offering comprehensive insights into performance across different areas of your website and business.

Various tools are available for measuring performance metrics, including Google Search Console and Ahrefs. These tools help you check how your B2B site performs on search engines, especially organic search traffic, and landing page effectiveness. 

Use SEO Strategies to Drive Traffic

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most critical marketing strategies for any website, regardless of its type.

According to Intergrowth, 68% of online experiences begin with search engines. SEO should be a priority in website design from day one, whether a site is new or existing.

If you haven't started investing time in SEO on your B2B website, consider the following SEO strategies for your B2B web design:

• Conduct keyword research and optimization.
• Implement both on-page and off-page SEO techniques for organic search.
• Prioritize UX and UI design over unnecessary elements.
• Optimize images, scripts, and plugins to improve page loading speed.
• Implement local SEO strategies (for the local market).
• Make your website mobile-friendly.
• Conduct A/B testing to refine your strategy.

Incorporate Trust-Building Elements

Website visitors will likely trust a website with testimonials, a rating system, and legitimate reviews from previous B2B customers. This makes building credibility and a strong brand presence easier for any website. 

To earn the trust of potential customers, it is recommended that you place testimonials and customer reviews, especially on your homepage and key landing pages, with authentic logos of the firms you've worked with. Third-party review platforms like Product Hunt or Trustpilot can also help you highlight positive experiences from past clients. 

Now that we have discussed how to create effective and efficient B2B websites let's discuss the best design practices for building one. 

Here is a list of the top 10 B2B web design best practices to help you create a professional-looking website while delivering an excellent user experience that builds trust, ultimately driving business growth:

1. Make Your Brand Story Clear

Every company has a unique story to tell. Ensure your homepage, landing page, and other web pages convey this narrative while highlighting what value you bring on board as an organization targeting potential clients.

2. Implement Easy and Intuitive Navigation

It is essential to ensure that your website can be easily navigated so website visitors do not get stuck on the same page. Use a clear and straightforward navigation setup that is easy to find and use. It doesn't need to be flashy or dynamic as long as it serves its purpose.

3. Write High-Quality and Compelling Content

Content is still king in 2024, and this phrase will remain relevant for many years. Writing content for your B2B website that resonates with potential customers can significantly improve their engagement.

4. Use Effective Call-to-Action

A call to action (CTA) is a signpost that guides visitors and tells them how to achieve your business goals.

5. Integrate Multimedia Content

While text-based content remains the priority for search engines, only some content must be entirely textual. Multimedia formats like images and videos can significantly increase user engagement and share your brand story in ways that text alone cannot fully capture.

According to Read Write, adding video content to your website has been proven to increase purchase intent by as much as 97%.  This shows how effectively multimedia engages and grabs your audience's attention.

6. Implement an Accessible and Responsive Design Approach

Many rely on assistive technologies like screen readers to access web content and other digital products. Your B2B website should cater to users of all screen sizes and devices.

7. Offer Services Across Key Sections

Unlike sales funnels, B2B websites do not follow linear steps where leads are captured at each stage before moving on to the next step until a purchase is made. Adding "offers" throughout crucial parts of your website is highly beneficial because it helps nurture leads while guiding them toward making buying decisions.

8. Improve Your Website's Page Load Speed

Google values faster-loading websites more than slower ones when it comes to ranking factors. This applies to both desktop and mobile search results. If your B2B website and landing page load faster, you may miss out on Google rankings alone. 

9. Make your Website Secure and Compliant 

Security is always a significant concern for all websites. Customers expect their information and privacy to be protected from theft or unauthorized access.

Therefore, your B2B website must be secure and compliant with any laws or regulated constraints applicable in your industry.

10. Test, Refine, and Repeat

Test and enhance your strategies over time. Continuously evaluate what works, what doesn't, and what can be improved regularly.

When designing an efficient B2B website, it is beneficial to draw inspiration from successful examples that integrate fundamental design principles effectively.

Here are some real-time design examples of B2B websites that excel in different aspects of web design:

1. Monday.com

Monday.com has a compelling and engaging visual design effectively represents the platform's services. It simplifies complex functionalities with an intuitive user experience while accommodating many use cases.

2. eWorldTrade

eWorldTrade has established a successful B2B platform with a buyer-seller website structure for global trade. The website supports trade across various industries and provides an easy-to-use interface for both parties. High transparency in operations is observable through real-time updates on homepage sections, such as the latest buyer offers, new products, and client testimonials. 

3. Stripe

Stripe offers a minimalist design featuring a clean, consistent, and uncluttered layout throughout its pages. Thanks to its intuitive navigation system, users can easily navigate different parts of the website, which allows them to understand Stripe's offerings and documentation quickly. 

4. Anrok

Anrok effectively communicates its brand message through simple headlines and subheadings supported by a minty flat design. Its visually dynamic illustrations and clear descriptions enhance its visual appeal and brand narrative. 

5. Lockheed Martin

Speaking of visually appealing multimedia content, Lockheed Martin effectively utilized its high-quality videos to narrate the company's story and showcase its innovations. Their website is designed with a minimalist principle but packed with video content showcasing progress in aerospace, land, and sea exploration technology.

Furthermore, Lockheed Martin provides blog resources discussing recent events, which improves the customer experience by offering insights into the company's ongoing developments.

6. Mailchimp

Mailchimp directs users to decide how to achieve their goals using its automation platform and email marketing services through the homepage's four-box navigation.

The website has a clean, minimalist design that preserves a consistent brand appeal across the platform. Mailchimp's customer journey builder automation is presented with animated scrolling illustrations integrated with concise promotional content that shows the platform's key benefits and how it can integrate with users. Mailchimp also features a live chat option, helping users connect for inquiries or issues.

7. Overpass

Overpass offers its website visitors sleek visuals and fluid animations to attract attention. As a talent-for-hire platform, over 6k profiles of top candidates are featured directly on its homepage, enabling users to make real-time decisions. The website design maintains high standards by using color blocks to emphasize benefits, FAQs, and testimonials from previous customers.

8. Evernote

Evernote effectively utilizes illustrations to communicate its platform's services and benefits to users. Its flat design is exceptionally straightforward, making it easily understandable even for first-time visitors. The straightforward navigation enhances the user experience, allowing seamless browsing without hassle.

9. Slack

The Slack website's homepage features a simple and sleek design. It utilizes graphic illustrations, typography, and white space to effectively communicate its brand services and collaboration tools. 

Strategic use of videos highlights client testimonials on the homepage to provide a connection with potential users. Slack offers direct contact features for customers who have questions, which is very helpful for users just deciding whether to try their service.

10. Intellum

Intellum presents an impressive and consistent visual flat-design appeal on its homepage. The strong headlines, beautiful illustrations, and customer logos contribute to its overall branding message. The inclusion of awards from previous years empowers its credibility with prospective customers. Its dedicated case studies page demonstrates its expertise and ability to deliver measurable success.

Building a better B2B website is achievable. It involves using strategies, technologies, and techniques to help you communicate your brand effectively to the target audience, achieve measurable results, and promote positive experiences that can lead to long-lasting customer relationships.

Applying the best practices and tips presented in this article can guide you in planning and designing a better B2B website that navigates future challenges and increases your visibility to users and search engines.