Customer demands and expectations can be challenging for SMEs to manage without the right set of tools and processes. Giving customers the tools they need to help themselves is crucial for companies to scale their operations. What if you could accept orders, keep customers updated on their order status, and even accept payments online without lifting a finger? How much time would that save your business every year? A B2B portal can do just that and more. B2B portals have been around for quite some time and have helped thousands of businesses streamline order management and enhance customer experience.
What is a B2B Portal?
A B2B portal is a self-service system that allows your customers a secure way to browse through your product catalog, place orders, pay invoices and track the status of their orders online. B2B portals are usually an extension of a company’s website. However, a large number of businesses have a dedicated B2B portal. Integrating the B2B portal with your order management system enables you to automate order processing and product listing more efficiently.
5 Ways A B2B Portal Can Help Grow Your Business
Reduce manual tasks and save time
A B2B customer portal can help you save a ton of time by automating mundane tasks. By allowing your customers to place orders online, your team no longer needs to punch in orders manually. You can also free your customer service team from repetitive tasks such as sending order updates to customers via email and taking orders by phone.
Provide better customer service
Perhaps the most significant benefit of implementing a B2B customer portal is the positive impact it can have on your customer service quality. The hard truth is that consumers today expect near real-time service and certainly don’t like to wait. A B2B customer portal is a great tool to enable your customers to help themselves. It can provide your customers instant access to the status of their orders, make payments, and place orders, without having to go through your sales and customer service teams.
Get paid faster
A B2B portal can make accepting payments a breeze. By integrating your portal with popular payment processors such as Stripe and PayPal, you can offer customers a secure way to pay for their orders online. It also makes it easier for your customers to access their past orders and invoices without reaching your accounts team.
Grow your sales by offering a tailored shopping experience
With a B2B portal, you can welcome your customers to a tailored shopping experience. For example, you can set up your B2B portal to display pricing information based on whether the buyer is a distributor, retailer, or end-user. You could even allow customers to view pricing information in their preferred currency and save items into their favorites list. Simplifying the ordering process and tailoring the shopping experience to suit your customers’ needs are excellent ways to win repeat business.
Streamline order management
By integrating the B2B portal with your order management system, your sales and inventory teams can get instant visibility into orders. As a result, it also helps reduce fulfillment lead time by eliminating the need to punch in orders manually. A B2B portal can also send automatic updates to your customers on their order status and save your service team from sending them individual emails.
Manage Your B2B Portal with AccelGrid
A well-implemented B2B portal can dramatically decrease support requests. It allows customers to gain instant access to information they need regarding products, pricing, and much more. We’ve seen that a B2B portal provides a high Return on Investment (ROI) and can take your business to the next level. If you are looking for business management software with an integrated B2B customer portal, AccelGrid might just be what you need.
