How To Structure International B2B-Websites

First, you should ask yourself a few basic questions about your international B2B website. The first step is a target group analysis.

• Decide in which target countries you want to be active with your international B2B website.
• Create a needs-based target group analysis for each country: What does your target group expect in the respective country? What is she looking for?
• Identify the most important search terms (keywords) that your customers would search for.
• Depending on these results, you may also reconsider your product portfolio offered online. In principle, e-commerce in the B2B area is characterized by some special features that you should also consider on your international B2B website.

There are also a few important points to consider when it comes to the layout of your international B2B website. The different cultures in the target countries make specific adjustments necessary. The customer must be able to find their way around your homepage and feel comfortable in order to convert. Simply copying the look of your international website is not a solution. So keep the following things in mind:

• Check whether texts in the target country are read from left to right or from right to left.
• Adjust the navigation menu etc. accordingly.
• Make sure to keep the metadata of images etc. in the target language.
• Note the different notation for the date format, e.g. 03.07.15 or 15-07-03 or 03/07/15.
• Adjust the website locally, e.g. with pictures of local contact persons or local product pictures.

Colors are a special aspect of the layout design of your international B2B website. In the numerous cultures, different colors are sometimes assigned very different meanings. The wrong or correct color can address the customer positively or be frightened. The color red in our culture often stands for “stop” or “danger”, while in China it means “happiness” and while we associate yellow with “envy”, it means “misfortune” for people in Russia and for potential people Customers in China “honor”. There are similar notable differences for the color white, which customers in Western Europe mostly associate with “purity” and “innocence”, but in Asia and the Orient it stands for “sadness”. Informing yourself beforehand is particularly important here!

In addition, there are many other things that can easily make the difference between home page and generating a request for a foreign customer on your international B2B website.

• Make sure you adapt your imprint to the legal requirements of the target countries. This is primarily about questions of data protection and trademark rights!
• Check the customs import regulations before selling your products in other countries. Not all products can always be imported.
• Check and integrate different shipping costs abroad. In this way you avoid nasty surprises for buyers and sellers at the shipping company.
• Find out about foreign tax rates and adjust them if necessary. Even the VAT rate can vary slightly from 7 to 27 percent depending on the destination country.
• Take into account local contact habits. Are chats common in the target country and what are the average phone times? Local contacts are always a good idea because they increase customer confidence in the target country.

In this way, you will also receive more leads on your international B2B website.

Monitor the success of your new international B2B website and adapt it regularly. Because the same applies to your online presence: constant monitoring ensures success! But even if you follow all of these tips, studies show that only around two percent of website visitors convert, i.e. make an inquiry about a product. KytoGen is of great help to you. With KytoGen you can analyze the origin of the visitors to your international website and gain more transparency about your website. The visitor behavior and relevant KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are evaluated for you and made available to you in a very simple way. This means you can easily measure and monitor the success of your international B2B website. Also get an overview of other useful marketing tools.