Thinking about personalisation and experience optimisation trends in B2C
In the ever-evolving digital environment, B2B websites stand to gain substantial insights from the practices and strategies implemented by B2C platforms. B2C websites have long excelled in creating user experiences that are intuitive, engaging, and highly personalised. By adopting similar approaches, B2B websites can significantly enhance the user journey and customer experience, making it easier for business customers and stakeholders to find and engage with the content, products, or services they need.
This becomes even more imperative as a younger, digitally savvy, population enters new life stages and increasingly interact with B2B sites as part of their daily lives. Used to the advanced B2C-level digital experiences common in eCommerce and online retail, they expect a smooth, engaging, and personalised experience in all their digital interactions.
Equally, the Covid 19 pandemic, associated lockdowns, and resulting increased reliance on eCommerce, online shopping and digital services generally, also raised the level of digital sophistication across the general population, exposing more and more people to what a good digital experience should look and feel like. Personalisation is a key B2C feature providing opportunities to B2B sites to offer contemporary digital experiences.
Other key inspirations from B2C include:
Mobile first (desktop worst)
Long a staple in the B2C world, websites that are properly optimised for mobile are now becoming essential for B2B, simply because of the growing number of people who carry out most of their digital activities on their mobile devices.
Content Marketing
The B2C sector has set a high bar for content marketing and communication, using compelling storytelling and high-quality content to engage customers. B2B websites can adopt these content strategies to demystify their offerings and communicate complex products and services in a more relatable way. The adoption of B2C content strategies can help B2B companies to articulate their value proposition better, foster trust, educate customers, enhance the overall brand experience and improve customer experience.
Social Proof
B2C sites often showcase user-generated content and mentions in the media, as well as integrating well with social media platforms. This helps a company create a sense of connectedness with their target audiences.
Frictionless Navigation
User-friendly navigation, commonly seen in B2C sites, should be essential for B2B website. Clear menus, effective search functionality, and intuitive site structure can help users find what they're looking for quickly and also support personalisation initiatives.
Vibrant and Modern Experience-First Design
B2C websites often use contemporary designs, vibrant colours, and high-quality images. Adopting a modern aesthetic at the B2B to appear more inviting and up to date. Importantly, experience design is not just about a pretty face – its about discoverability, ease of use and using technology to surface relevant content to diver stakeholders and visitors.
Privacy and data protection, front and centre
Consumer and business awareness of online data protection and privacy is growing rapidly, driven by a rising number of data breaches. This heightened awareness has placed greater pressure on organizations to meet not only regulatory requirements but also community expectations in terms of safeguarding personal data.
As a result, integrating privacy by design and building consumer trust in data collection is becoming a potential competitive advantage.
This shift has noteworthy implications for website design, analytics, and personalisation, with B2C websites now adopting more transparent and responsible practices, openly disclosing the collection of personal information and its intended use, offering users the choice to opt in or opt out of data collection, and emphasising the secure storage and handling of personal data.