Website: what buyers check before they call
A B2B buyer decides in a few minutes on your website whether you make the shortlist. Here is what they look at, in the order they look, and what makes them leave.
Buyers don't read your website. They test it. In a few minutes on a phone they try to answer four questions: what do you make, can you make what I need, are you still active, and how do I reach you. Every question your website leaves open is a reason to call the next supplier instead.
How a buyer actually uses your website
A purchase manager or engineer usually finds you in one of three ways: a Google search for a product, a name from a marketplace like IndiaMART, or a recommendation. In each case they open your website to check you, often on a phone, often between other work.
They are not there to be impressed. They are there to decide whether you go on the shortlist. That decision follows the same order almost every time.
1. Can I tell what you make?
The first screen has to answer this. Not “Committed to excellence since 1987”, but what you make and for whom: “Precision-machined components for pumps, valves and compressors.”
What makes them leave: a slider of factory photos with no words, a mission statement, or a list of every industry you have ever served.
What to fix first: one line at the top that a stranger can repeat after ten seconds.
2. Can you make what I need?
This is the real test. The buyer has a specific requirement: a size, a material, a pressure rating, a quantity. They look for the product, then for the details that prove you can meet it.
What makes them leave: product pages with a photo and two lines of text, specs only inside a 40-page PDF, or a “products” menu that lists categories but no actual products.
What to fix first: for your top ten products, a page with the key specs on the page itself, and the datasheet as a download. Two taps from the home page, no more.
3. Are you still active, and at what scale?
Buyers are cautious about suppliers who may have shrunk, changed hands or stopped making a product. They look for signs of life and of size.
What makes them leave: a copyright year from 2019, a news page whose last item is three years old, no mention of plant size, capacity or certifications.
What to fix first: a recent project or update with a date on it, and a short facts block: plant location, capacity, key certificates with numbers, years in business.
4. How do I reach you?
A buyer who has got this far wants to send an enquiry. Every extra step loses some of them.
What makes them leave: a contact form that asks for twelve fields, a phone number that is an image and cannot be tapped, an email address at a free mail service, or a form that sends to an inbox nobody checks.
What to fix first: an enquiry button on every product page, a tappable phone and WhatsApp number, and a test enquiry sent to yourself every month to confirm it arrives.
What not to spend on first
Animations, a new logo, a video banner, a chatbot. None of these answer the four questions. They can come later, once the basics work.
A common waste is a full redesign that looks better but still has thin product pages and a contact form that goes nowhere. Fix the four questions on the site you have, then decide whether you need a new one.
- Open your website on your phone. Can you tell what the company makes without scrolling?
- Pick your best-selling product. Can you reach its specs or datasheet in two taps?
- Is there a date on the site from the last six months: a project, a news item, a new product?
- Can a buyer send an enquiry from every product page, without hunting for the contact page?
- Are your phone number and WhatsApp tappable on a phone?
- Send yourself an enquiry from the site. Did it arrive, and who would have answered it?
- Search Google for your company name. Does your website come first, with a clear description?
Tick fewer than all of them? That is where buyers are dropping off.
Where does your company stand?
See your likely level in each area buyers check, and the gaps to look at first.
Take the free Quick Check →Questions owners ask
Do I need a new website?
Usually not first. Most of the gaps in this guide can be fixed on an existing site: product pages with specs, an enquiry form that works, a phone number you can tap. A redesign that keeps the same gaps changes nothing for the buyer. Check what is missing before you spend on a new site.
Our buyers know us. Does the website still matter?
Your existing buyers know you. New buyers, and new people at your existing buyers, do not. A new purchase manager or a design consultant will look you up before they add you to a vendor list, and the website is usually the first thing they open.
Should we put prices on the website?
For custom or engineered products, no one expects a price list. What buyers do expect is enough detail to judge fit: sizes, materials, capacities and standards. That is what lets them send you a real enquiry instead of a vague one.
Is a PDF catalogue enough?
As a download, it is useful. As the only place your products are described, it is not. A PDF is hard to read on a phone, Google reads it poorly, and a buyer cannot jump straight to the product they need. Put the key details on the page and offer the PDF as a download.
How often should the website be updated?
Often enough that a buyer sees something dated in the last six months. A site whose newest item is three years old makes a buyer wonder whether the company is still running at the same scale.