B2B web designs are often nothing more than online brochures. They are built to look good, have strong calls to action to capture potential leads, but little else.

However, new technologies and social shifts have led to changing expectations and online preferences among B2B decision-makers. It’s no longer enough to execute the basics flawlessly. Even dynamic content and onsite personalisation are becoming more commonplace.

Today’s B2B buyers expect your website to support their self-led approach to research and decision making. They want opportunities to interact with the brand and other people in the brand’s orbit. 

More than having the best product, having the best platform is becoming a key deciding factor in winning customer loyalty. As a result, B2B organisations need to think more creatively about their websites and consider their potential as an online platform.

It’s time to make your B2B website a place of business and achievement. Your site can be somewhere that people experience your brand and services, not just read about them.

What’s the Difference Between a Site and an Online Platform?

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) defines an ‘online platform’ as a digital service that facilitates interactions between two or more distinct but interdependent sets of users. This definition covers a wide range of services, including online marketplaces, search engines, social media, app stores, communications services, payment systems, ‘gig’ economy sites, and more.

They allow users to easily do things like:

• Book meetings, calls, demos.

• Search for answers.

• Access service channels via live chat (manned by bots or human) and raise support requests.

• Login to client portals where they can access account data, manage their account, track support requests etc.

• Access content that builds the relationship and helps them get the most out of their investment, including how-tos, tutorials, and case studies.

• Log in to a learning management system and user communities. These can be provided either as a paid add-on (e.g. Hootsuite Academy) or part of the service (e.g. Adobe’s Behance).

A shared key characteristic between all platforms is their use of information and communication technologies to facilitate interactions between users. They seek to create self-sustaining positive-feedback loops, where the platform value increases with each new participant – or through complementary innovations. (For instance, think Alphabet, Inc’s service ecosystem of Google, Chrome, YouTube, Android, etc). The network effect means that more people or organisations involved, the more valuable the platform is to other users.

The B2B Platform

Consider the benefits of having your website at the centre of an ecosystem of interconnected buyers, sellers, vendors, staff members and other stakeholders. Instead of acting as a one-way marketing channel, your site becomes a place where valued connections between people can form and flourish.

Investing in building businesses relationships directly on your site can drive growth and ROI. By deepening relationships, you add value, create loyalty, and increase customer retention.

When done correctly, platformisation reduces friction for your customer and creates an engagement engine that speeds up the B2B buying cycle. It deepens the relationship with customers through exceptional service and attention to detail. The data you collect on users' interactions makes it easy to provide them with the information they want, just as they need it (and in their preferred format). It also enables you to offer relevant information and applications that they perhaps hadn’t considered yet.

But successful platformisation goes even further than great service. It creates space for your customer to co-create with your brand and other people within your platform ecosystem. Members become immersed in the brand experience and, ultimately, turn into brand ambassadors by becoming part of the brand itself.

In this model, driving traffic to your site is no longer dependent solely on your own efforts. Rather, the entire community helps your brand grow. It is the flywheel effect in action. A long-term digital marketing strategy of compounding value, where every contribution makes the next step easier and momentum accelerates as the network expands.

Website Platformisation In Action

Adobe Creative Cloud is an excellent example of a B2B platform brand. Their website acts as a portal and supports a user friendly, self-led customer journey. Users can easily do things like:

• Explore different Adobe products and business solutions.

• Contact sales or self-register for a free trial.

• Find answers via the Adobe Help Center, community forums and access 24/7 tech support.

• Login to their Admin Console to manage their account data, assign/reassign product licenses, share assets with team members, track support requests, billing information etc.

• Access and download content (i.e. Adobe’s stock images, video footage, fonts and templates) that helps them to create.

• Learn new skills by making use of Adobe’s vast library of learning content, including extensive product documentation, self-led tutorials and instructor-led training.

It also matches the OECD definition of an online platform by enabling ‘interactions between two or more distinct but interdependent sets of users’. In this case, interactions between clients, Adobe, and other product users (such as freelance web creatives).

As with other platforms, Adobe's online platform supports a community of users that creates content for each other. They have created the space for an entire ecosystem of complementary services to spring up and maintain a positive-feedback loop. These include:

• A marketplace for plug-ins and add ons from external partners and developers that enhance the core software.

• The Adobe Stock and Adobe Fonts marketplace for creatives to both buy and sell creatives assets.

• The Behance network where creatives can showcase their work, find inspiration, collaborate and participate in livestream tutorials and design challenges.

• The Behance site also provides an online marketplace for web creatives where individuals or brands can hire freelancers.

As you can imagine, this helps cement Adobe's position as the industry standard to the creative sector. It is also fertile ground to find potential brand ambassadors and user-generated content for their own channels.

All of these features are supported by sophisticated content marketing, marketing automation and artificial intelligence. After converting a prospect to a customer, their system continues to nurture the relationship past the initial purchase. Automated and personalised email campaigns guide new users through start-up content, progressing them to intermediate and advanced techniques. They can also be branched through other workflows, for example suggesting live streams and challenges to take part in, based on expressed preferences and the user’s online interactions.

From Web Design to Platform Design

As you can see, successful platformisation requires more than a great B2B website design team. It involves the entire company. In addition to site structure, layout and SEO, you must also consider how new products and services will integrate with the platform (and vice-versa).

There are also important social and community management elements to consider. For instance, how will you ensure data protection and privacy? Or monitor and enforce community standards?

Community trust is essential for achieving sustained success. Therefore, organisations need to be socially conscious in how they build and maintain their online platforms. For example, considering the various ethical dilemmas associated with digital technology and how a platform upholds and reflects brand values.

It requires breaking down internal silos and forming an integrated technology operating model that combines digital programs and IT operations. Platform teams should not only include engineers and web designers but also members from business operations, customer support, product development, marketing, and compliance. According to McKinsey & Company's most recent survey on technology transformation, one-third of respondents have adopted this type of integrated model (compared to only 18% two years ago).

Achieve More With 1827 Marketing

With the 1827 Marketing agency, you have access to the tools and knowledge you need to transform your website into the foundation for an online platform. Our team of experienced B2B marketing consultants will help your brand find the right strategic approach to engage with your target audience. We also partner with SharpSpring a sophisticated, A.I. powered marketing automation platform that allows you to deliver great user experiences and personalised buyer journeys at scale.

Give us a call at +44 20 7873 2233 or book a demo to get started.