B2B Website Design Needs

The first impression your website gives comes directly from its design. Your B2B website should convey a healthy amount of technical information while still providing an optimal user experience. The design also directly impacts how long a potential customer stays on your website. Since the needs of B2B companies are a bit more specific than B2C, we put together some suggestions that can help drive an increase in your website conversions, which has the potential to impact your business’s bottom line.

Improving The User Experience – Core Web Vitals

Core web vitals is a set of performance metrics from Google that they use to rank websites and highlight aspects of website development that impact user experience (UX).

Not only are these elements important for ranking on Google but they are also good guidelines for making your website as user-friendly as possible.

For a more detailed explanation of CWV, read the first part of our series on understanding Core Web Vitals.

Website Speed

One of the first things a user is going to notice is how long it takes your website page to load. Generally speaking, the entire page should load within 1.5 seconds. This is trickier for B2B sites with lots of pictures, technical details, white papers, videos, and more. Remember to compress your images before uploading them and consider having the objects with heavier load times be positioned toward the bottom of the page.

Speed up first input delay. This is the time between when a user clicks on something on the webpage and the action takes place.

Cumulative layout shift is looking for visual stability on the webpage. This means you want your webpage to fully load before people start scrolling so there’s no chance of them accidentally clicking something different than what they wanted.

If you use pop-up ads then it is recommended they are implemented in a way that doesn’t shift your content around when it appears. These include:

• Newsletter subscriptions
• Chat features
• Cookie Policies
• Announcements

Largest contentful paint is how long it takes the largest element within the webpage to load. Suggestions for helping with this element of the Core Web Vitals include:

• Having a mobile-friendly design
• Videos below the fold (having it above the fold can hurt your Google score)
• Video banners shrunk to the smallest usable and visible size
• ReCAPTCHA alternatives

Layout

It is best practice to start your website design process with a sitemap. When building your sitemap, be mindful of how many layers deep it goes. This will help avoid hidden pages or requiring users to click 4 or 5 times to get to the landing page they’d like to view. If you do have many layers on your sitemap, consider designing a mega menu-style main navigation so that users can easily find the landing page they are looking for.

Important things to include on a business website:

• Calls to action (CTAs)
• Photos
• Headers
• Elements of visual interest
• Easy to read text that’s unique and quick to read – 70% of users looked at lists with bullet points

Bonus things that help websites stand out:

• Depth and texture
• Testimonies and reviews
• Navigational tools such as internal site search bars
• Icons that represent different capabilities of products
• Videos, charts, images, and logos instead of just words

What Does This Mean for You?

These are some of the best ways to not just build out your website which is often the main point of contact between you and your customers. Updating some of these items will help you draw in visitors and help assure them your company is reputable and trustworthy. A well-thought-out and professionally designed website and UX is key to having a successful website that brings in customers at a more successful rate than an out-of-date website would. 

Need help with your website? We have a Team of designers and developers that can help create a fantastic customer-friendly website and they can’t wait to help you! Contact us today!