In this second installment of our three-part blog series, we take a closer look at the payments experience B2B buyers want from their sellers. In the first installment of the series, B2B Sales Strategy: Where Buyers Say Sellers Are Falling Short, we discussed the top barriers buyers face when making purchases and payments.
This blog is based on our most recent research, The Data Is In: B2B Buyers Expect a Better Payments Experience.
B2B Buyers Know What They Want from Sellers
When business buyers are looking for a new merchant, they have an ideal vendor profile in mind based on reputation, consistency and purchasing preferences. When given a list of 25 factors, a majority said these 10 are their most important.
Buyers Want to Pay with Trade Credit
In the first blog in this series, we explained the problems B2B buyers face when using credit cards for corporate purchases. These include transaction limits, high fees and surcharges. Our respondents also said that increased strain on their A/R and Procurement departments are also a barrier to corporate card use, suggesting there are strict payment policies in place.
Trade credit, or net terms, is the preferred B2B payment method, especially for larger purchases. These invoice-based transactions are especially important if you want to compete for and win bigger deals. According to our respondents, trade credit is their leading way to pay, especially for larger purchases, and nearly half of them would buy more from a seller that offered them trade credit. In other words, trade credit is a very important payment choice to make buyer loyalty a priority.
Buyers Want Flexible Net Terms
Not only do B2B buyers want the option to pay with trade credit, but they also want flexibility within these payment agreements. Specifically, 81% of B2B buyers say it’s very or extremely important to choose their invoicing schedule—30-, 60- or 90-day options are most common. It’s so important that more than half of buyers surveyed said that they would choose a merchant that offers adjustable scheduling.
Buyers Want to Customize Their Purchasing Experience
B2B buyers say customization is essential because invoicing requirements vary immensely from company to company. One-size-fits-all invoicing doesn’t work in today’s digital world with detailed data requirements.
Nearly eight out of 10 B2B buyers (78%) need to be able to customize or control certain aspects of their purchasing experience. For example, some buyers require fields to capture PO numbers, serial numbers, VINs or other important tracking details.
Components of a Better Payments Experience
The widespread digital transformation that’s been happening across the B2B supply chain has been exciting and it’s only just begun. Buyers have clearly expressed their wishes, and they have very specific needs when it comes to the payments experience, including:
- Access to trade credit
- Flexible net terms
- ERP integrations
- Customizable purchasing controls
These components are all part of unified, seamless and automated B2B payments offering. Get more details about B2B Sales Strategy: The Perfected B2B Payments Experience in the final installment of this series.
Get the Full Report
This blog series is an introduction to the key findings in The Data Is In: B2B Buyers Expect a Better Payments Experience. In this comprehensive report, we take a deeper dive into many topics, including:
- Top 3 Barriers to New Buyer Onboarding
- The Business Consequences of Inefficient Payments
- B2B Buyers’ Most Important Seller Features
- Top 7 Drivers of B2B Buyer Loyalty
- The Perfected B2B Payments Experience
