...missed opportunities in forging long-term relationships and generating incremental revenue. When...
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B2B E-Commerce Personalization:
Trends and Best Practices
B2B E-COMMERCE PERSONALIZATION: TRENDS AND BEST PRACTICES | 2 © 2016 EVERGAGE, INC
B2B E-Commerce Personalization: Trends and Best Practices
It may not be well publicized, but business-to-business (B2B) global e-commerce revenues
exceed business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce revenues…by a large margin. In fact, by 2020
the B2B e-commerce market is expected to be twice as large as the B2C e-commerce market,
according to Frost & Sullivan, at $6.7 trillion vs. $3.2 trillion globally.
It’s no surprise, then, that e-commerce giants like Amazon are making aggressive plays
to dominate the B2B market. And they’re doing it using their own proven successful B2C tactics.
Amazon Supply, for instance, offers detailed specifications, customer reviews and free shipping on orders
over $50 – which is very similar to the favorite features everyday Amazon consumers enjoy. Along the
same lines, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba – which does more trade volume than Amazon and
eBay combined – has made a name for itself with $27B in B2B transactions in 2015.
Of particular interest and importance is the growing use of personalization among
B2B e-commerce sites – leveraging many B2C tactics while accommodating the unique aspects of
B2B transactions. According to Gartner Research, by 2018 more than 70% of B2B e-commerce companies
will offer personalization features for customers. What’s more, companies with effective personalization
are expected to outsell lagging competitors by nearly one-third.
So, what does personalization look like in B2B e-commerce, what trends and best practices are emerging,
and how is it similar and different from B2C environments. Let’s take a closer look.
B2B E-COMMERCE PERSONALIZATION: TRENDS AND BEST PRACTICES | 3 © 2016 EVERGAGE, INC
B2B e-commerce combines elements of a traditional B2C
online store with elements of a software-as-a-service (SaaS)
solution. Business customers not only access the front-
end website like typical shoppers, but they also research,
discover and place orders from the logged-in area of a B2B
site. Therefore, it’s important to be able to monitor shopper
behavior and deliver personalized experiences on both
channels.
The best B2B e-commerce personalization programs incorporate a hybrid approach of both B2B and B2C tactics. Solely relying on one or the other will lead to missed opportunities in forging long-term
relationships and generating incremental revenue. When planning and implementing personalization for B2B e-commerce, the following unique aspects need to be taken into consideration:
Business relationship details are often formalized in annual contracts. These contracts commonly address details that need to
be factored into a successful B2B e-commerce personalization strategy. Examples include:
Although e-commerce makes it easy for businesses to quickly purchase goods on their own, accounts are often managed by
an account representative. And in order for the representative to provide responsive service, help increase customer value, and
minimize churn, it’s important that he have access to account-level behavioral insights as well as relevant order history data. Since
most companies use a CRM application to help manage accounts, it is critical to be able to pass details into and out of the system.
Whereas traditional B2C retailers cater to individual
shoppers, successful B2B companies must cater to both
business “accounts” and their “employees” (or individuals
authorized to make purchases under the account). Tracking,
understanding and responding to business customers needs
to occur at multiple levels.
What Makes B2B E-commerce Unique
Store + SaaS Individuals + Accounts
Contracts
Account Management
PRICING
Assuming larger order volumes and the importance
of loyalty, B2B e-commerce companies often
provide discounts or negotiate special pricing.
In these situations, pricing is different from what
is typically displayed on a website. As such, B2B
retailers must be able to adjust pricing details in
real time based on the account.
INVENTORY
Whoever negotiates a contract with a vendor
– whether the business owner or procurement
department – may choose to limit the types of
products that can be purchased. Because of this,
suppliers should to be able to control the
catalog of products displayed to specific accounts.
ROLES & PERMISSIONS
It’s common for individuals associated with a
particular account to have different roles and
permissions. An account administrator, for instance,
may define which products an individual within a
particular department can purchase and/or certain
spending thresholds before approvals are needed.
Companies at the forefront of B2B e-commerce
accommodate different shopper classifications.
B2B E-COMMERCE PERSONALIZATION: TRENDS AND BEST PRACTICES | 4 © 2016 EVERGAGE, INC
Lifecycle & Account-level Recognition in Real Time An important objective of B2B e-commerce marketers should
not necessarily be to target an individual; rather, the goal should
be to target groups of people associated with a company (or an
“account”). After all, most companies employ more than one person.
Equally important is being able to recognize business shoppers
based on the stage of their relationship, or lifecycle, with the vendor.
Among other things, these details can be used to recognize and
respond to situations when more than one person from a company
has shown interest in a particular product, to ease the onboarding
of new customers, or to preemptively troubleshoot issues.
When your e-commerce site is able to recognize users at both the
lifecycle stage and the account level – as well as the individual
level – it means you can also offer personalized, account-specific
experiences. For example, particular brands and categories or
pre-negotiated pricing may be shown to certain accounts. Special
incentives may also be offered to select accounts (e.g., new vs.
established customers, or high volume purchasers) that may not
be broadly communicated. Automatically recognizing and applying
the appropriate pricing and product selection in real time improves
loyalty and efficiency with business accounts.
Recognize individuals and accounts
Deliver personalized account-specific experiences
Showcase approved brands and categoriesOffice Manager
OMNI CORP
B2B E-COMMERCE PERSONALIZATION: TRENDS AND BEST PRACTICES | 5 © 2016 EVERGAGE, INC
Relevant, Account-appropriate Product Recommendations
Promote individualized product recommendations
Limit recommendations only to approved products
Recommend industry-related productsOffice Manager
OMNI CORP
Business buyers respond to many of the same personalization
strategies that are effective in B2C e-commerce, such as relevant
product recommendations. Whether placed on the homepage, a
product detail page, or on the order confirmation page, effective
recommendations need to consider an individual’s personal
shopping preferences – similar to a B2C-focused site – as well as
details like a company’s purchase history, industry, and any pre-
negotiated terms. For example, if a shopper works for a restaurant,
recommended items could be limited to those related to that
industry and/or take into consideration what the
shopper’s coworkers have viewed or purchased.
The B2C practice of up-selling or cross-selling complementary
products using recommendation algorithms may be even more
important to B2B commerce. Why? Because it demonstrates an
effort on the seller’s part to provide added value and help the
buyer be more effective at his or her job. Done well, personalized
recommendations can act like a personal assistant helping business
buyers save time and money and make better decisions.
B2B E-COMMERCE PERSONALIZATION: TRENDS AND BEST PRACTICES | 6 © 2016 EVERGAGE, INC
Responding “In the Moment” Based on Industry & Behavior
Recognize company and industry based on IP address
Personalize experiences based on behavioral patterns
Prioritize recommendations according to interests/industryGeneral ManagerOMNI RESTAURANT
While it’s important to target “known” business customers using
both their individual behavior and the account to which they belong,
it’s imperative that B2B retailers be able to respond to “unknown”
visitors, or prospective customers, the moment they arrive on your
site.
When new visitors arrive, for instance, with the right technology
you can detect their industry and company name based on their
IP address. Then, with real-time personalization, you can instantly
adjust their experiences to be more relevant. Case in point: a
shopper from a hospital can see a home page headline and main
image about healthcare-specific products, while someone from a
manufacturer might see featured content about factory supplies.
Furthermore, with personalization technology that processes and
interprets online behavior in real time, your e-commerce site can
learn what visitors are looking for and respond – in milliseconds –
with relevant content, incentives and product suggestions. If the
healthcare visitor starts looking for “drapes,” it very likely could
be that they are looking for surgical drapes or privacy drapes for
patient rooms, as opposed to window drapes. So you could start
to suggest pertinent products. And once they demonstrate a
preference for, let’s say, the surgical drapes based on products they
spend the most time on, you can refine your product suggestions
and perhaps even present a new customer incentive or offer.
B2B E-COMMERCE PERSONALIZATION: TRENDS AND BEST PRACTICES | 7 © 2016 EVERGAGE, INC
Order Anticipation & Predictive Offers
Offer a personalized boutique
Suggest reordering of previously purchased items
Customize search results based on approved products
General ManagerOMNI RESTAURANT
The ability to anticipate the needs of the business buyer can help
to cultivate long-term relationships. Whereas recommendations
aimed at cross-selling are designed to anticipate needs associated
with a one-time order (e.g., recommending a rack following an order
of rack-mounted servers), a sophisticated B2B e-commerce site
should be able to anticipate a customer’s needs based on previous
and current site behavior, purchase history and predictability of use.
There are a couple ways to cater to business buyers at this level.
One way would be to offer returning shoppers a customized
store or “boutique” (e.g., a store within a store) that could include
approved items they are allowed to purchase on behalf of their
company, products they (or someone at their company) recently
viewed or purchased, or even items based on common buying
patterns (e.g., the shopper typically buys in bulk). Another approach
could simply include organizing search results based on similar
parameters (e.g., approved products or those the shopper has
expressed interest in). A B2B e-commerce site might also predict
the time to reorder a product. So, if an office manager orders 20
reams of copy paper approximately every 45 days, you could make
an offer to re-order paper via email or an online message after 40
days. Or, in an effort to increase order size, you could present a
discounted offer after 35 days or 25 reams. Paper is an easy way to
demonstrate this value, but imagine the revenue benefits if you can
use this personalization tactic to increase order size or frequency
for machine parts, chemicals and other items with higher margins
that require regular replenishment.
Implementing a boutique, customizing search results, and
anticipating a customer’s next order are all ways to streamline
the discovery and checkout process for the buyer while driving
incremental revenue for your business.
B2B E-COMMERCE PERSONALIZATION: TRENDS AND BEST PRACTICES | 8 © 2016 EVERGAGE, INC
Testing and Optimization Combining A/B and multivariate testing with personalization can
be particularly powerful. It allows you to test personalized content,
offers, messaging, and even product recommendation strategies.
Targeted testing helps you find the optimal experience and moment
for reaching different audiences. Personalization strategies can
also vary from account to account, so being able to test at the
account level is particularly important if you’re looking to optimize
conversions.
Targeted testing is important to understand what’s working best,
what’s not working, and where to make adjustments to optimize
results. Effective personalization tactics deployed to one particular
segment on a B2B e-commerce site, like first-time visitors, might
not be effective on another, such as returning customers. And some
groups of customers, like healthcare accounts, might not be as
responsive to special offers as, say, small business accounts.
A/B and multivariate testing can help you determine which
campaigns are outperforming the control so that you can deploy
those personalized experiences that are most successful. The
key is to set goals and use testing to assess the most effective
personalization strategies.
When you have a deeper understanding of the customers
visiting your site, it enhances the possibilities for testing promotions,
messages, recommendations and more. According to Forrester
Research, as more B2B e-commerce companies pursue web
personalization, we can expect to see more of the best practices
that are used in B2C e-commerce, including customer reviews,
interactive catalogs, and real-time inventory availability. With
personalization, you can ensure this type of information is
directed at the right audiences at the ideal moments.
Test Candidate A Test Candidate B
Run A/B and multivariate tests
Test recommendation strategies
Restrict tests to specific accounts or segments
Office ManagerOMNI CORP
B2B E-COMMERCE PERSONALIZATION: TRENDS AND BEST PRACTICES | 9 © 2016 EVERGAGE, INC
Personalization has changed B2C e-commerce by making dynamic customer experiences an important part
of the value proposition for consumers. The same can be said about the emerging presence of personalization
strategies for B2B e-commerce. It is not just about selling more products or increasing order size, it is also about
making the customer’s job easier and developing better, longer term customer relationships. And those companies
that get it right are almost assured to realize greater revenues and produce a more loyal customer base.
Evergage can help you implement an industry-leading B2B personalization strategy that will outpace your
competition. We not only provide an industry-leading, comprehensive personalization platform for B2B and B2C
companies, we truly understand personalization, the many ways to employ it (and not to employ it), and
the value it can bring to our clients and their customers.
CRM Synchronization
Although B2B e-commerce has simplified the buying process for
many companies – by removing steps in the process and often
multiple sales rep interactions – most business customers are still
overseen and managed by an account representative who remains
actively involved. In fact, the account representative is often
responsible for winning the business, negotiating contract terms,
and maintaining customer satisfaction. As such, it’s imperative
that he or she has insight into account status – both in terms of
transaction volumes and digital engagement. Using these insights,
the representative or other staff members can monitor the overall
health of an account and intervene if and when needed.
To this end, it’s important for both the B2B retailer and account
managers to maintain regular visibility into important accounts.
And since CRM applications are essential for managing
relationships, this information should appear in a manner
that is familiar to the CRM users.
Although the primary use case for a personalization solution is
to deliver unique individualized and account-level experiences,
the analytics data collected can be relevant for “off-line” use as
well. For instance, the solution can analyze behavior at both
the individual and account level and, through easy-to-set-up
integrations, send important statistics and behavioral data to the
company’s CRM system. So, for example, if a customer whose
contract is coming up for renewal has not been engaged online
recently, an account representative can be notified in time –
through the CRM – to take action to improve the relationship.
Make Personalization a Top Priority
B2B E-COMMERCE PERSONALIZATION: TRENDS AND BEST PRACTICES | 10 © 2016 EVERGAGE, INC
About Evergage Evergage’s cloud-based platform empowers e-commerce companies to convert
more shoppers into buyers and increase average order values with real-time 1:1
personalization based on deep behavioral analytics and customer data.
Contact Evergage at 888-310-0589 to speak to an expert about your needs today!