B2B Self-Service Is Your Hands-Free Sales Channel

The only constant in life is change.

Coined by the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, this popular adage remains as true as ever—even for B2B. 

A new era of B2B has arrived, ushered in by sky-high expectations for delightful, seamless buying experiences. These expectations are driven primarily by millennials, who are increasingly moving into positions that afford them decision-making power in B2B. 

Forrester found that 70% of B2B buyers are projected to be millennials by 2025—and because they’re already used to online buying due to its efficiency and constant availability, they’re poised to cause a major shift in B2B practices. 

Maybe the biggest shift in the industry is a new focus on providing self-serve experiences for B2B buyers. Intuitive, streamlined self-serve storefronts are vital to winning over this rising generation, in large part because the shopping experiences they’re used to have already made this a table-stakes reality.

In this blog, we’ll take a closer look at why buyers are prioritizing self-serve options, why they’re beneficial to businesses, and how you can get started with a self-service strategy today. 

B2B buyers prefer self-service

According to Gartner, 83% of buyers prefer to manage their orders and accounts online—and that number is on the rise. But here’s an even more telling stat: 100% of buyers want to self-serve all or part of the buying journey. And 83% prefer purchasing through digital self-serve channels over speaking with sales reps.

And when you think about who millennials are and what makes them tick, it starts to make sense.

These are people who grew up with the internet. They got to explore and enjoy it before it became a land of walled gardens and endless passwords. They’ve witnessed its evolution into the digitally optimized, UX-driven, globally connected ecosystem that it is now—which means that as the internet became more advanced, millennials’ expectations did as well.

What’s more, millennials are an independent, efficient, and practical generation, now well into their careers, family lives, and personal goals. And they often don’t have the time—or the energy—to deal with outdated, clunky experiences when there’s so much media demanding their attention.

The promise of self-serve essentially means two things: more control and free time for your buyers, and more sales and customer loyalty for you.

What are the benefits of self-service in B2B?

Self-service is truly a gold mine for B2B businesses, and it remains largely untapped due to so many still relying on legacy platforms that simply can’t keep up. Here are just a few of the key benefits self-service in B2B can fuel for your business.

Empower sales teams

While it might seem a bit contradictory, self-service can actually give more power to your sales reps. It shifts their role into a more strategic one that fits more naturally—and helpfully—into your buyers’ journeys. Because the truth is, while so many do want to self-serve at least part of their buying, your sales reps still play a key role. 

This hybrid approach of mostly self-service supported by some in-person interaction allows sales reps to spend more time with individual buyers, providing the more authentic interactions that millennials value. Plus, with a platform like Shopify, you can equip reps with tools like simple reordering and up-to-date product, pricing, customer, and order data, so they can focus on meeting buyers at the exact right moment to get the deals closed.

Improve customer retention

We’ve just touched on how self-service empowers sales teams, but it also gives the power to your buyers, who get more control over the entire process: They can manage their accounts, place orders, easily reorder shipments, and get support when it’s most convenient for them. Naturally, the outcome—besides more sales—is increased satisfaction and loyalty. And with the right platform, you can offer faster response times and more consistent service experiences, which in turn build trust. 

One other key aspect of self-service is personalization. Making each moment feel personal to your buyers has long been a key tenet of great customer experiences, and with an advanced self-service portal, you can tailor these moments to meet the specific needs of your buyers. This makes the overall buying journey feel more relevant and efficient.

Get better customer data

All great commerce experiences run on data and insights, and self-service opens the door to better data collection. Better data means greater insights into your customers’ behavior and preferences, which you can then use to improve your services, anticipate customer needs, and identify areas where your customers might need more support. 

And when you run your self-service experience on a platform like Shopify, you can easily integrate other tools like CRM, WMS, and ERP. This way, not only can you connect all your data for more accurate and deeper insights, you can also simplify your entire tech stack. 

Reduce costs

Let’s talk a bit about how self-service can actually help your business trim down on operational costs. By reducing the need for direct customer service interactions, a self-service experience boosts efficiency, streamlining processes from order placement to issue resolution. As a result, your staff spends less time and resources on each interaction, which means you can handle more customers with less cost. 

Because the entire process is more intuitive, your support and sales staff aren’t bogged down answering questions that the platform can answer for you. Instead, they reinvest their time into strategic initiatives that have a more positive impact on your business’s bottom line. 

How to implement B2B self-service

There are many ways to approach getting B2B self-service up and running at your business, but we’ll suggest a simple, straightforward strategy to use as a launchpad for your own ideas. Here are a few key steps.

1. Invest in an innovative platform

One thing that’s evident with the rise of self-service in B2B is that customer needs and expectations are always changing. The key to keeping up with those changes is to invest in a commerce platform that anticipates those changes and builds for them. These are the platforms that keep businesses ahead of the curve rather than letting them fall behind. 

At Shopify, we’re committed to making sure our customers stay ahead. There’s a reason we dedicate thousands of engineers to this important effort—and every year, they deliver big results across the platform, shipping more than 200 features that are immediately available. When you put your trust in Shopify, you know that not only will you get industry-best features and functionality, you’ll also be set up with a massive team that keeps your business poised for long-term success. 

2. Prioritize ease of use

We mentioned earlier that millennials don’t have time to deal with outdated experiences. A surefire way to keep them around, then, is to make the buying experience as simple and intuitive as possible—because the easier the experience, the less time it takes. Once again, it’s self-service to the rescue. By letting your customers manage as much as possible—all within a UI optimized for user-friendliness—you’ll be providing them with the simplest, most straightforward buying experience available. 

But self-service doesn’t just help them: with a great self-serve interface, you’ll also save time for your back-office team. Essentially, any team member can quickly learn your commerce setup and workflows, reducing your dependence on highly specialized staff and extensive training—and the massive time commitment that comes with them.

3. Tailor wholesale buying

In today’s B2B marketplace, your customers are coming from all over the world, across numerous markets and channels. So while tailoring the experience is crucial to a great self-serve interaction, it can absolutely feel daunting. 

With a platform like Shopify, you can easily make every buyer feel welcome on your site. You can make sure they see the correct pricing, currency, payment and shipping options, and ensure that no matter where they are in the buying process, they get the exact information they need. Plus, Shopify makes it a breeze for you to customize pricing and product availability, whether through our admin interface or custom APIs. 

4. Personalize storefronts

Because millennials are so accustomed to personalization in commerce, it’s vital to make your self-serve experience match what they’re looking for. We touched on this earlier, but this is where your data comes in. Equipped with valuable insights, you can create customized product recommendations or promotions, in addition to other marketing and sales strategies. 

Another way to make your storefront feel more personal is to create custom content: things like banner messages, section blogs, or promotional messages that speak to your customers’ needs, industries, or regions. This helps your customers feel more connected and more welcomed, which in turn will keep them coming back. 

Bring the best of self-service B2B to life with Shopify 

We kicked off this article with what may be Heraclitus’s most popular quote, but here’s another one for you: 

It is in changing that we find purpose.

Rather than letting the changes in B2B buying behaviors intimidate you, let them be your focus.

Here’s a quick recap of the strategies we’ve just outlined: 

1. Invest in an innovative platform: Stay ahead of the B2B evolution by investing in a commerce platform that builds for the future.
2. Prioritize ease of use: Empower your customers—and your back office—with intuitive interfaces that make both buying and onboarding easier. 
3. Tailor wholesale buying: Surface correct pricing, currency, payment and shipping options, no matter where your customer is in the world. 
4. Personalize storefronts: Use data to shape more engaging moments like product recommendations and promotions, or custom content like banners and blogs.

By prioritizing these approaches, you’ll be well on your way to creating the exact type of buying experience that today’s buyers are expecting. 

And we can help. 

At Shopify, we’re redefining B2B commerce with a platform as practical as it is powerful. With curated buyer journeys, an intuitive self-serve portal, and seamless integration with your tech stack, you’ll get all your commerce needs, all in one place.