Many B2B companies fail to meet their e-commerce goals because they overlook the details of how to carry out and test their online strategies, Forrester Research says.

In the world of e-commerce, B2B companies are often playing catch-up to consumer-focused peers. Forrester Research Inc. found that a major reason behind lagging B2B e-commerce tactics is that companies often fail to create detailed plans of how to put strategies into action and produce results. Instead, these strategies are worked on without measures or clear deadlines, languishing in limbo before being abandoned for the next project.

B2B online sellers must learn to balance the need to provide both self-service e-commerce and full-service sales and support through sales reps.

It’s not that B2B companies are inherently bad at e-commerce, it’s that selling to businesses involves more complex transactions than selling to consumers, Forrester says in the report, “Improve B2B eCommerce Execution by Using Active Strategies,” by Forrester vice president and principal e-business analyst Andy Hoar along with other Forrester analysts.

Andy Hoar, vice president and B2B e-commerce analyst, Forrester Research

For example, the report says, there are often two decision-makers in any B2B transaction: the procurement manager and the employee who needs the product to do his job. While each may get a say in the sale, they may also need separate levels of login access to match what they’re authorized to do on the seller’s website.

In addition, B2B online sellers must learn to balance the need to provide both self-service e-commerce and full-service sales and support through sales reps. “B2B ecommerce organizations will have some customers who prefer self-service customer support with live salespeople, and other customers who prefer do-it-yourself buying by way of configurators and automated customer support,” Forrester says. “Still other B2B e-commerce customers will choose to alternate between the two options on different days or in special circumstances. As a consequence, every strategy that B2B e-commerce organizations develop must incorporate a two-tiered customer interaction framework.”

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Dealing with this complexity requires rigorous planning up front to ensure that a company fully executes its strategies. The Forrester report outlines a number of ways to make sure plans are concrete, including assigning tasks, setting measurable goals and including time scales in the planning process.

Making clear who is responsible for a plan can avoid problems. For example, making sure that one team member owns a project or task and reports back on progress will help ensure that a strategy is fully implemented.

The owner should also be sure to involve people across teams, integrating stakeholders who will benefit from the improved strategy, Forrester adds. For example, sales, engineering and customer support staff may all understand a new initiative differently. “Because they touch several functions within an organization, B2B e-commerce strategies in particular must be architected from the start to reflect a new reality in which teams from across an entire organization make decisions.”

Citing a 2016 survey of 80 e-business professionals Forrester conducted last year with B2BecNews, the report notes that 39% cited multichannel integration as a top technology investment priority for 2016. Forrester defines multichannel integration as “a detailed strategy for serving and selling to customers across multiple channels or touchpoints.”

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