Creating a better customer experience is a never-ending goal for businesses. This is even more crucial if your business operates in the wholesale e-commerce sector. Wholesale buyers have unique needs from retail buyers, and tailoring the experience for them can make a difference in building lasting partnerships.
However, how do you achieve this level of personalization? One key way is by leveraging wholesale user roles on your e-commerce store. Implementing this feature enables you to segment your wholesale buyers, define distinct pricing tiers, and even tailor shipping methods based on their profiles.
In this article, we’ll explore how you can take advantage of this strategy to grow your WooCommerce wholesale business. By the end of this guide, you’ll have the knowledge you need to create, manage, and optimize wholesale user roles to deliver a tailored experience to your wholesale clients.
So, let’s get started!
The Importance Of Wholesale User Roles In Creating A Better Customer Experience
Prioritizing better customer experience is a defining factor for success in today’s business scene. According to industry insights, more than two-thirds of today’s businesses compete mostly on the basis of customer experience, up from just 36% in 2010.
What’s more, the businesses that get it right reap incredible benefits. For instance, 84% of businesses that work to improve customer experience report revenue growth. These compelling statistics highlight the importance of creating exceptional customer experiences.
In wholesale e-commerce, leveraging different user roles can help you do just that. Wholesale user roles allow you to categorize your clients based on their characteristics, preferences, and commitment levels. As a result, you can deliver a better customer experience for each group.
Below are some key ways wholesale customer roles help you achieve this:
- Customized Pricing: With wholesale user roles, you can set distinct pricing structures for different client categories. This means you can offer competitive rates to high-volume buyers while maintaining standard pricing for others.
- Personalized Services: Wholesale roles also allow you to personalize services, such as shipping methods, payment gateways, and minimum order requirements, to match the specific needs of each customer group.
- Building Loyalty: You can also create tiered user roles to resemble loyalty programs, where customers unlock increased benefits and pricing advantages as they progress. This fosters not only loyalty but also trust and long-term partnerships.
In the next section, we’ll explore how you can do this using Wholesale Prices Premium.
Getting Started: How To Set Up Wholesale Customer Roles In WooCommerce
Wholesale Prices Premium allows you to create WooCommerce customer roles for your wholesale buyers. With this powerful tool, you can create multiple wholesale roles and define the perks and privileges of each role.
For this tutorial, we’ll assume you have installed and activated Wholesale Prices Premium.
Important Note: You’ll need to have both the free WooCommerce Wholesale Prices plugin and Wholesale Prices Premium plugin installed and activated. The free plugin automatically adds a “Wholesale Customer” role to your store. However, you need to have the Premium plugin installed to create multiple wholesale customer roles.
Now, let’s dive into how you can create wholesale customer roles in two easy steps.
Step 1: Navigate to Wholesale Roles in your WordPress Dashboard
Log in to your WordPress Dashboard. Then, navigate to the “WooCommerce” section in the dashboard menu and click “Wholesale Roles.”
Step 2: Add new roles
On the Wholesale Roles page, you’ll find a straightforward option to add new wholesale roles.
You can define the Role Name, Role Key, and Role Description. You can also tick “Prevent purchase if wholesale condition is not met” to prevent wholesale customers from making a purchase if the criteria you’ll set aren’t met.
Once you’re satisfied with your settings, simply click “Add New Wholesale Role” to save your changes!
Tip: Before you start creating additional roles, take a moment to ponder how you want to categorize your wholesale buyers to give them a better customer experience.
You can also consider the following questions to guide your decision-making:
- Do you have specific pricing structures in mind for different groups of wholesale buyers?
- Are there particular minimum order requirements you want to establish for different customer categories?
- Do you want to provide exclusive product access or visibility to specific groups?
- Are there any unique shipping methods or preferences that should be associated with certain wholesale roles?
- Do you plan to reward long-term clients with special privileges or discounts?
How To Use WooCommerce Wholesale Roles To Create Better Customer Experience
Now that you’ve successfully created your wholesale customer roles using Wholesale Prices Premium, it’s time to use them to create a better customer experience for your wholesale buyers! In this section, we’ll explore 7 key ways you can use wholesale roles to deliver personalized experiences to your clients.
1. Set specific product discounts
As you build your relationship with wholesale customers, you’ll want to provide them with customized pricing based on their purchase history or commitment level. With Wholesale Prices Premium, you can easily set specific discounts for each wholesale customer role at the product level.
Simply navigate to Products > All Products. Select the product to which you want to apply a discount and click on “Edit.” Under the Wholesale Prices section, you can easily set the Wholesale Price for each role you’ve created.
2. Set general pricing discounts for each wholesale role
Wholesale Prices Premium also allows you to set a percentage-based discount for all products within a specific wholesale customer role. This is helpful if you want to provide consistent discounts across your entire product range without modifying your settings for each product.
Simply go to WooCommerce > Settings > Wholesale Prices. On the Discount tab, choose your wholesale role, and enter the discount you wish to map for each wholesale user role.
3. Define minimum order quantities for each role
Implementing minimum order quantities is a strategic move that can nudge your wholesale buyers to increase their order sizes. However, it can also contribute to providing your wholesale customers with a better customer experience. Take these scenarios, for example:
- Regular Wholesale Customers: Setting reasonable minimum order requirements can entice new customers to make their initial purchases. It reduces the barrier to entry and encourages them to explore your offerings.
- Intermediate Wholesalers: Buyers who have made a few purchases but aren’t yet high-volume buyers can benefit from moderate minimum order requirements. This encourages them to consolidate their orders to save more and grow their relationship with your brand.
- Geographic-Based Roles: You can also set minimum order requirements that consider shipping costs and logistics for customers in different geographic regions.
- Top-Tier Buyers: For your most loyal and high-volume buyers, setting higher minimum order requirements acknowledges their status and encourages them to maintain their level of engagement.
To set minimum order requirements at the product level, navigate under “Wholesale Minimum Order Quantity” under Product Data. In this section, you can effortlessly edit and specify the minimum order quantity required for each wholesale customer role you’ve created.
You can also define a minimum order quantity step, which indicates the interval by which customers can increase the number of their selected items. For example, if you set the step as 10, wholesale customers can purchase products in increments of 10.
4. Tailor product visibility
Not every product in your catalog may be relevant to your wholesale customers. Wholesale Prices Premium enables you to tailor product visibility, with the option to hide products without wholesale pricing to wholesale customers. However, you can take customization a step further by tweaking product visibility based on wholesale customer roles.
By presenting only the products relevant to each customer, you can streamline their shopping journey. To modify this setting, visit the Product Edit page and edit the “Restrict To Wholesale Roles” option. In this box, you can pick the wholesale customer roles your product will be visible to.
5. Provide tax exemptions
Tax exemptions can serve as a valuable incentive for your wholesale customers, offering them a cost-saving advantage when transacting with your business. This benefit can make your offerings more attractive and competitive.
With Wholesale Prices Premium, you can easily implement this benefit in different wholesale customer roles. To proceed, navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Wholesale Prices.
On the Tax page, scroll down to “Wholesale Role / Tax Exemption Mapping“. In this section, you can select a wholesale role and implement a tax exemption.
6. Configure shipping options
Defining preferred shipping methods for each customer role can help ensure that orders are delivered in the most efficient and cost-effective manner. Wholesale Prices Premium allows you to manage advanced shipping zones and methods and implement them for different wholesale users.
To do this, navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Wholesale Prices. Under the shipping tab, you can set shipping zones and methods for different wholesale roles.
7. Define payment gateways
Customizing payment gateways to different wholesale customer roles helps ensure you provide payment methods that best fit their requirements.
For example, you can configure direct bank transfers as the default payment method for wholesale customers who have an established transaction history with your business. This option can cater to customers who prioritize efficiency and security, as it allows for swift and secure fund transfers.
In contrast, you might want to offer cash-on-delivery options for new wholesale customers who have specific billing preferences. This payment choice provides a flexible and convenient approach for those who prefer to inspect products before making payments.
With Wholesale Prices Premium, configuring customized payment gateways is a straightforward process. To do this, go to WooCommerce > Settings > Wholesale Prices.
Then, select the Payment Gateway tab. In this section, you’ll find “Wholesale Role / Payment Gateway” where you can map different payment gateways for each wholesale customer role.
Conclusion
Delivering better customer experiences is a goal all businesses have. This is even more crucial in wholesale e-commerce, where buyers value efficiency and reliability.
In this article, we’ve discovered the power of creating wholesale customer roles in enhancing the customer experience. By creating different wholesale customer roles and modifying their perks and privileges, you transform how you engage with your valued customers. We’ve also discovered how you can easily do this in two steps using Wholesale Prices Premium:
Additionally, we explored key strategies you can use to leverage wholesale customer roles in creating tailored customer experiences. Let’s recap them below:
- Set specific product discounts
- Define general pricing discounts for each wholesale role
- Set minimum order quantities for each role
- Modify product visibility
- Create tax exemptions
- Configure shipping options
- Set payment gateways
Wholesale Prices Premium allows you to implement these strategies effortlessly. By leveraging these strategies, you demonstrate your commitment to addressing the unique needs of each wholesale customer segment. This is key to fostering lasting partnerships with your customers.
Do you have any questions about using wholesale customer roles to create a better customer experience? Let us know in the comments section below!
