Every sale counts

You can't open a newspaper or turn on the TV at the moment without hearing more implications of the global recession and 'credit crunch'.

One of the key strategies for surviving an economic downturn is ensuring that every customer touchpoint is working as efficiently as possible. For a great many B2B marketeers often fail to maximise the impact of their web presence. But there are a number of techniques that businesses can employ in order to evolve their online presence away from simply brochureware to make their site support the sales process and demand generation.

Jakob Nielsen, one of the pioneers of website usability, outlines the three major goals relevant for almost all B2B sites:

1. Survive the screening process
In the consumer market around 67% of consumers use the internet to research products before buying (source: InternetRetailing Feb 2008). Again this habit has translated into the workplace with more and more employees using the internet to shortlist vendors in an initial research phase. This is where search engine visibility, homepage usability, website accessibility and content usability are essential. Additionally, ensuring that site content explains exactly what a company does (rather than the often impenetrable language of marketing-speak missions, visions and propositions) and signposting users to key elements of content is critical. Remember, first impressions count - and the website is the most influential first impression that B2B marketers can control. Even if potential clients are visiting simply to find contact information, make it easy for them to make contact in the way that suits them – email, instant messaging, telephone etc. (How many websites make it difficult to find the company’s telephone number!)


2. Build a reputation
This is where the internet excels and where companies can provide excellent post-sales support online at a fraction of the cost of other methods. However, this is the area in which many companies fail. A recent report by Transversal (March 2008) showed the dire performance of many UK firms when responding to customers’ emails. Less than half (46%) answered those questions “adequately” and the average time they took to respond was almost two days (46 hours).

3. Support your advocates
Nielsen recommends the creation of Advocacy Kits to make it easy for potential clients to access materials and information that helps them support the argument for a particular vendor. This may include links to external PR coverage, webinars, downloadable video and product tables together with PowerPoint slides (that clients can use in their own presentations) and downloadable White papers (using this as a potential value exchange to obtain some data about potential customers).


As with the B2C world, content is king. Building content distribution deals and gaining associations with the right industry bodies/brands takes the marketing message to a wider audience – hitting those business buyers who may be actively trawling the internet within their own buying cycle - and in an tougher economic client every sale counts.