Baving Verpackungstechnik GmbH & Co. KG, a company specialising in packaging technology and based in Sassenberg in the Münsterland region of Germany, develops custom packaging solutions for trade customers. Due to the high demand for consulting services, its business is conducted exclusively through direct sales. Still, online visibility is playing an increasingly important role in acquisition. That’s why Matthias Baving, Head of Sales and Marketing, opted for Visable. We had a conversation with him about how to successfully make sales on the internet.
Mr Baving, what does your company specialise in?
As a system partner for packaging technology, we offer our customers flexible and individualised packaging solutions with on-site consulting and service. This includes a wide selection of strapping, stretching and box-sealing machinery. Working as closely as we do with well-regarded manufacturers offers our customers many options for variation and combination, so we’re able to meet just about any requirement. The associated packaging materials round off our range.
What are the challenges of your core business?
Our roller conveyors, conveying and packaging technology require a high degree of information flow, for example regarding measurement, construction and project planning. This in turn requires our connection to the customer to be as close as possible. Since each product is individually designed, our solutions cannot be ordered online or replicated as a standard package.
So what role does the internet play in the distribution of your products?
We should clarify something at this point. We only sell a small selection of standard packaging materials through our online store. However, our main business is exclusively in direct sales to business customers, as this is where our packaging solutions – which require a great deal of consultation – are focused. Nevertheless, a good online presence is important for us to generate new inquiries.
What developments can be expected in the packaging industry?
The German economy is expecting strong growth in our industry nationwide. In the coming years, we therefore anticipate a rising demand for cardboard boxes, adhesive and strapping tapes, and all packaging materials. The market for packaging technology and partial automation through roller conveyors and conveyor technology also shows good forecasts.
How are you preparing for this market growth?
We closely monitor market changes and develop our portfolio accordingly. Incidentally, a useful tool for this is the detailed search result evaluation that we receive through our company profile at wlw.
And our online presence is playing an increasingly important role as we look to the future. These include, above all, our wlw company profile and our Google Ads campaigns, which are also carried out by wlw.
Why did you choose wlw, Visable’s B2B marketplace?
At first, our curiosity was sparked by the great success statistics. That’s why we took a closer look at the wlw marketplace internally and assigned our services to potential categories. During the subsequent initial interview, the Visable team provided us with more information about these categories and the respective opportunities for success. Due to the continued close contact with our customer consultants, all our remaining questions were answered within a few follow-up conversations, and soon after we started the implementation.
How long did it take before you received your first inquiries?
Preparations for the implementation took about two weeks. Once we had compiled all the data internally, our company profile was online two weeks later. Just a few days later, we received concrete inquiries and were able to generate the first orders.
Do you use other Visable products in addition to your service package for wlw?
As part of our future strategy, we wanted to increase our online presence and made Google Ads a focus for us. Initially, we contracted a regional provider for this. But the ads he designed only achieved a very low click-through rate (CTR) of around 1.00%. Since this was not a satisfactory result for us, we turned to Visable again.
We were somewhat sceptical due to our previous experience. But after the short testing period of a successful Google Ads campaign created and managed by Visable, we decided to go for it without hesitation.
Since then, the Visable team has significantly improved our visibility online and our CTR has increased to nearly 9.50%. Thanks to this tool, we receive 10-15 new requests every day.
To what extent were your expectations met?
It exceeded our expectations. We originally set ourselves a target of 20 inquiries per month. However, with Visable’s current advertising efforts, we are achieving over 300 inquiries each month.
Of these, around 20 customer contacts are initiated directly via our company profile on wlw. The detailed visitor statistics in the performance report of our company profile enable our sales force to generate an additional 10 inquiries per month. As I mentioned earlier, the Google Ads campaign ensures that we receive a further 10-15 inquiries a day through our website. We expect these numbers to continue to rise in the coming months as the campaign is optimised on a daily basis and we add new products to our product portfolio.
What other effects were you able to achieve?
Within a few weeks we were able to enter the market of roller conveyors and conveyor technology. In addition, Visable’s regular search results analysis makes it easier for us to analyse the needs of the market and attract more new customers through discount promotions. This also enables us to further develop our portfolio in a targeted manner based on market demand and to design new modules for our conveyor technology.
Furthermore, we were able to reduce our production costs due to higher sales volumes; this means our existing customers also benefit.
