(10.09.09)
Usability: Converting Business Users Into Leads and Customers
Business-to-business websites face usability challenges far beyond those of regular B2C sites. The products are more complex (in fact, they are often services), the customers are more diverse, and the buying process has many more steps and complications.
Here are the core themes that were included when eclore creates a B2B Website with impact to the customers commerce.
- Personas: Putting Faces to Your Users
- What are Personas?
- Personas: User Types
- Sam the Small-Biz Saver
- Ashley the Office Admin
- Erin the Enterprise Employee
- Barbara the Boss
- Pat the Professional Purchaser
- Big Business Versus Small Business Differences
- Success & Satisfaction Ratings of B2B Sites
- Success Ratings
- Satisfaction Ratings
- Correlation Between Success and Satisfaction
- Customer Priorities: Information Rankings
- How Company Reputation Affects Ratings and Web Behavior
- Designing for the Purchase Process
- Purchasing Phases
- B2B Usability Guidelines Summary
- Guidelines: Phase 1, Research
- Company Presence on the Web
- Making It Easy for Prospects to Find You
- Creating Good First Impressions
- Helping People Choose the Right Product
- Page Layout
- Category Names and Navigational Structure
- Search
- Product Pages
- Pricing Information
- Getting Rates on Fedex.com
- Product Images
- Multimedia and Demonstration Videos
- Designing Online Information for Offline Use
- Guidelines: Phase 2, Relationship
- Make Your Content Shine
- Contact Information
- Live Chat
- User Initiated Chat
- Uninitiated Chat
- Registration and Online Account Management
- Enhancing Credibility
- Case Studies
- White Papers & Technical Documents
- Corporate Information
- Tone & Writing Style
- Guidelines: Phase 3, Decide
- Comparison Tables
- Presentation Materials
- Guidelines: Phase 4, Buy
- Call to Action
- Shopping Cart and Checkout
- Special Sectors
- Guidelines: Phase 5, Support/Maintain
- Supporting and Maintaining Customers
- Partner-Specific Custom WebSites
- Guidelines: Phase 6, Replace
- Repair and Replace
- Retaining Salience
- The Online Impact of Offline Marketing Dollars