The Do's and Don'ts of B2B Copywriting

In a nutshell, B2B content and copy must help to build trust as a bridge towards a successful business relationship, using terminology that speaks to a buyer's pain points and priorities without telling them everything they already know.

Contrasts Between Copywriting for B2B and B2C

An individual website visitor looking for a B2C product or service makes decisions based on very different needs. The core focus of B2C copy is to appeal to broad customer groups, using marketing approaches to attract maximum sales volumes.

For example, if we're selling, say, a belt, we'll probably go for generic colours that sell in bulk, a limited range of the most popular sizes, and advocate for either value for money, product quality or the stylistic appearance of our product when we market it.

B2B does not work the same way. 

Buyers aren't interested in average or generic. They need precision-focused solutions to organisational problems or products that give them a competitive advantage over their rivals!

Every piece of copy, from a headline to a CTA, needs to showcase expertise and underlying knowledge of the sector or client base of your intended buyer.

A B2B procurement professional tends to spend a lot more than a private consumer and will care a great deal about factors such as price points, deliverables, technical specifications and innovations because long-term the knock-on impact is on their business.

Therefore, our first DON'T is to try and replicate copywriting strategies and methods for B2B websites based on standard approaches for B2C - because they won't work.

B2B Copywriting Tips

That basic explanation helps illustrate why crafting content to meet the needs of your audience is so essential.

Next, we'll run through our advice to ensure your B2B copywriting is perfectly aligned to capture your buyer's attention.

DO: Be Concise, Clear and Professional

Buyers are busy and won't spend hours browsing products, flicking through product catalogues or searching for product features if the information isn't readily available.

Copy should be easy to understand but credible; that means:

• Keeping the copy short, to the point, and cutting out the waffle.
• Using the correct industry terminology - you don't need to explain every point or expand on every acronym if it is widely used.
• Having word-perfect grammar and spelling, including minor details such as consistent spacing, so your copy is smooth, reads well and gives the right first impression.

DON'T: Try to Overcomplicate It

A common mistake is to assume that the more technical, wordy and complex your sentences, the more 'knowledgeable' you sound. The real-world effect is the opposite. Let's take a couple of quick examples:

• Our software works diligently around the clock to ensure your customers can continually connect with your service department and receive answers to their most important questions.
• Our always-on software delivers market-beating UX.

If your buyer is tasked with a website plugin to automate FAQ questions or an AI-enabled bot to power a Live Chat outside of operational hours, they simply want a solution.

A short, simple, to-the-point sentence tells them all they need to know, with the bonus of a hint at providing better UX than their competitors - problem solved, and advantage gained.

DO: Tell Your Buyer the Advantages / How you can solve their problem.

Every product or service has some kind of benefit, be that a cost saving, better productivity, improved customer engagement, faster processing speeds - anything that makes life easier, quicker, or less challenging!

Although B2B content must be short, sharp and specific, you must tell your buyer the benefit you're offering.

Think about this (applying the theory to our short seven-word sentence above!).

• Who benefits: the customer gets a better experience, and the buyer gets a software solution that operates 24/7. 
• What is the benefit: quicker responses, immediate answers, and customer support assistance at any time.
• Why is the benefit worth having: it provides UX that is better than the rest of the market, improves customer satisfaction levels, and helps the business improve customer service performance. 
• How does the benefit work: the software provides UX services and is available day or night.

You don't need to expand on the points because a buyer already knows what the product is they're looking at - they don't need a detailed explanation of what 24/7 means or why the plugin they're considering operates around the clock.

The trick is to think about what benefits your buyer cares about most and cut your copy back to the bare minimum that demonstrates those advantages with clarity and focus.

DON'T Make Unverified Claims

For a procurement team to select your company, they need to trust that you will deliver what you say you will and will be a reliable supplier.

Case studies, research figures and statistics are excellent ways to define your USP without belabouring the point and show quantifiable reasons why your product is the right choice or how it will actively address problems.

However, you must ensure that any facts or figures you quote are correct and verifiable - which means fact-checking.

Going back to our example, we might say:

• Our software improves response rates by 99% and customer satisfaction by 89%. 

You can back that up with a link to a survey or use a longer-form case study to show how you have achieved those performance improvements, assuring your buyer that they can get the same benefits as your previous client.

A poor example, with obviously fabricated or unverifiable metrics, might say:

• Our software makes your response rates millions of times faster and triples customer satisfaction.

The problem is that 'millions of times' isn't a real number, and the claim that it triples customer satisfaction rates is either a guess or a made-up statistic.

Be credible, authentic, and trustworthy, and use selected statistics that showcase real-world problem-solving, and your buyer won't hesitate to click on your CTA button because they have the confidence that everything you say is true.