A repeat buyer already knows what they want. They just want to get it ordered and get back to work.
I’ve worked with all seven of these on B2B sites. Some got used every day. Some only mattered to a handful of buyers, but those buyers ordered a lot.
1. Order History And Reorder
This is the one repeat buyers used the most.
Pull up the last order, hit reorder, change a quantity, done. No searching for the same parts again.
Some buyers still forwarded an old order email and asked us to reorder it in different amounts. Order history does the same thing without the email.
2. Saved Carts And Saved Lists
Buyers who order the same handful of parts every month shouldn’t have to rebuild the cart every time.
A saved list works like a standing order they control. It also helps when the cart gets passed from the field to purchasing.
3. Quick Order Form
Type a part number and a quantity. Add the next line. Check out.
Buyers who know their part numbers don’t want to click through categories. A quick order form lets them skip the browsing and go straight to the order.
4. Bulk Upload From A Spreadsheet
Some buyers already have the order in a spreadsheet. Maybe it came from a job estimate or their own inventory system.
Letting them upload it saves them typing 40 lines by hand, and saves you the typos that come with it.
5. Customer-Specific Pricing And Catalogs
Account buyers often have their own pricing, and sometimes their own set of approved parts.
When the site shows them their price and their parts, they don’t have to call to confirm it.
6. Saved Account Details
Shipping addresses, tax exempt status, net terms, and a place for a PO number.
Business buyers order the way their company buys. If they have to re-enter that every time, or can’t enter it at all, they’ll call instead. I saw that one firsthand.
7. Recently Viewed And Frequently Bought
A short list of what this buyer looks at and orders most.
It’s a shortcut back to the parts they already know, especially for buyers who don’t keep a saved list.
The One Buyers Asked For
There was one thing the site didn’t do that buyers kept asking for.
We had the manufacturer’s catalog on the website. Buyers would flip through it, find something they wanted, and want to order it. But not everything in the catalog was set up as a product on the site.
Not many competitors had those items on their websites either. That’s an opening. If buyers can find it in your catalog, give them a way to ask for it or order it: a request form, a quick order line for unlisted part numbers, or adding the most-asked-for items as products.
Where To Start
You don’t need all seven at once.
If you only add one, make it order history with a reorder button. Then ask your sales team which buyers order the same things over and over, and what would save them a phone call.
Coming back is the last stop on the journey. For the rest, see 5 Stops on the B2B Buyer’s Journey (And Where You Lose Them). For what keeps buyers coming back beyond the order itself, see 5 Things That Keep B2B Customers Coming Back.
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