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Qualify, route, and schedule prospects directly from your web form
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Connect your prospects through live calls
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Route prospects from field updates in Salesforce
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Route and schedule prospects from bizdev to sales to implementation
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Book the right meetings faster with one-click scheduling
A B2B website is a workhorse with many responsibilities, but its main goal is to convert prospects into customers.
Successful B2B websites handle everything from promoting brand awareness to conveying thought leadership to showcasing your products and talent.
But, at the end of the day, you want all of those things to push towards pipeline and revenue.
Right?
Let’s dive right in and see how you can boost your B2B website’s conversions with a few tried-and-true strategies.
Creating straightforward, easy-to-complete forms is key to a successful CRO strategy, and demo or discovery call form submissions are usually the final hurdle in the B2B conversion process.
There are plenty of form builders out there that’ll help you build an effective form, and general principles for form design, like:
But, what we’ve found to be unquestionably effective is something entirely different.
Install a web form scheduler, like Chili Piper’s Concierge, on your form to encourage the lead to book a meeting once they’ve submitted.
Studies show you lose out on 70% of interested prospects when you make them wait to book a meeting.
And 78% of people buy from the first company to contact them after a demo request has been completed.
So, why make them wait? Why take them to a thank you page that tells them they’ll hear back shortly?
Let prospects book a time immediately after they submit your form.
We’ve seen this double inbound leads and give sales teams more opportunities for conversion.
See what Chili Piper’s Concierge would look like on your site. Get a preview.
This strategy can be condensed into one word: Clarity.
Be clear about what you’re offering, clear about what value it provides, and clear about the action you want the visitor to take.
Your request needs to be evident.
B2B website conversion “best practices” or “hacks” often focus too heavily on winning in the short term, while completely ignoring the effects of these practices on your long-term relationship with users.
Anything you do to “trick” visitors into taking any action they weren’t actually motivated to take will wreak havoc on their trust in you.
So, make it as easy as possible for prospects to take the action they’re already motivated to take.
A few simple things you can do:
When I asked Dev Basu, founder of SaaS marketing agency Powered by Search, for his top tip on growing B2B website conversions, he said:
“The simplest way to grow B2B conversions is to make your offer both clear and compelling. Too many products have content and offers that are ignorable. To make a Godfather offer your content must be SAGE — Simple, actionable, goal-oriented, and easy to say yes to.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Social proof is a powerful part of the B2B decision-making process. The more testimonials you have, the more trust and credibility you can build.
Take note of these 6 steps to collect and display better testimonials:
Since we’re big fans of making data-driven decisions here at Chili Piper, we decided to put this idea to the test.
Specifically, our Sr. Demand Gen Manager, Tara Robertson, tested the hypothesis that adding social proof points on our demo page would increase conversions. (Inspired by this tweet by Marc Thomas.)
We A/B tested adding a new section to the page with “Recent customer wins” (bullet points with real stats from customers).
And guess what? We saw a 10% increase in web conversions with this simple fix.
Adding social proof points did have a positive impact on conversions and is now live for all traffic.
The takeaway: Customers love honesty — especially if it’s coming from their peers.
No matter how persuasive your marketing copy is, consumers are always going to trust other people more than they trust you.
Extra cool tip: The software Descript combines multiple tweets into one quote and then links to a Twitter “collection” of compliments from users. Visit their homepage and check it out (scroll down a little when you get there).
I chatted with Nichole Elizabeth DeMeré, B2B SaaS consultant, and they broke it down into four rules (and I loved it), so I’ll stick with that.
Rule 1: Landing Page First
“The first rule of landing page design is: Never start a marketing campaign without a landing page! I’d repeat it, but it’s long, so just read it one more time, write it down, and hand it to your tattoo artist along with your right arm.”
I love that this was Nichole’s first rule. It makes perfect sense.
Given that each landing page is created for a very specific audience and purpose, the conversion rate is much higher.
Rule 2: Respect the Attention Ratio
The second rule of landing page design has to do with the “Attention Ratio.”
Attention ratio, Nichole explains, “is the ratio of all the things you could do on a given page to the number of things you should be doing. And that ratio should be 1:1.”
In other words, one page, one purpose, one action. No distractions.
Follow this rule and conversion rates will rise.
Rule 3: Be very, exhaustively clear
The third rule of landing page design to boost B2B website conversions is: Be very, exhaustively clear.
“People get confused rather easily when presented with a form,” Nichole said. “So be sure to tell them what the form is, what the form will do once filled out, and how they will benefit from filling out the form.”
Be explicit. And, bonus points for putting all of this information succinctly on the form itself.
Rule 4: Know your people
The fourth and final rule of landing page design, according to Nichole, is: “Know who’s using it and what their expectations are.”
I love this last rule, and I’d give it plenty of thought.
“The landing page you create for your grandmother (who uses Facebook and email like a pro) versus the landing page you create for your sister (who schools you when it comes to phone apps and internet memes) are very different landing pages.”
Nichole’s got a point. What are the expectations of your target audience?
Most B2B buyers today are nearly through the customer journey before they ever reach out to a salesperson.
In fact, B2B buyers spend about 83% of their time independently researching, both online and offline, before making a purchase.
So, the best way to reach prospects while they’re doing this research is by using intent data. It’s a B2B marketer’s best friend.
If you’re a B2B marketer who’s not using intent data, you’re missing out on a key lever to boost your website conversions.
We’ve seen success with two tools at Chili Piper: G2 and Metadata.
G2’s Buyer Intent tool allows us to access real-time intent data about the category and competitor research our audience conducts so we can segment campaigns and focus on prospects most likely to convert.
For example, rather than targeting everyone in Demand Gen who uses HubSpot CRM or Salesforce, we target accounts via G2 intent (i.e. they view our G2 profile).
I highly recommend leveraging G2 to target people by intent when they’re “in market” for a solution like yours vs. just targeting everyone in your addressable market and hoping someone converts.
Bonus point for G2: It’s more efficient budget-wise too since you’re not just pestering absolutely everyone to “book a demo.”
Metadata is phenomenal too — it’s a platform for B2B marketers that helps enrich leads in real-time with actionable data.
Plus, it integrates seamlessly with G2.
Here’s how Metadata helps us optimize our demand gen efforts:
There are plenty of other tools you can try, like 6sense, Demandbase, or Terminus, but I wanted you to get value from our first-hand experience (and success).
The truth is, too many B2B websites fail to convert well. And, do you know why that is?
I can tell you right now it’s not because you haven’t devoted enough time to figure out the personas you’re targeting, nail down the marketing angles, or get designers to whip up an eye-popping layout.
It’s because the B2B buying experience has evolved and you need to adjust accordingly.
Not only have we seen success by implementing the 5 strategies above, but so have our clients.
If you want to see how Chili Piper can help you boost your conversions, book a demo.
Carlos Silva is an SEO Content Manager at Chili Piper. He's passionate about the craft of writing and the power of storytelling. You might find him trail running through the mountains of Valencia, Spain, or writing in his journal at home, but you'll always find him reading something new!
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