In short and in plain language
Buyers look at your website before they call. That is where they choose whom to ask.
Show clearly what you make. Name your processes, materials, batch sizes and machines.
Offer proof documents and data sheets for download. Put the key facts next to them as text.
Your inquiry form should take drawings with a protected upload. Say who is in charge of what. Website and sales should say the same thing.
We check with you which answers your site is missing.
Before the phone rings at a supplier in Hildesheim, Sarstedt or Alfeld, the customer’s purchasing department has usually made a first selection. A buyer is looking for a second supplier of turned parts, an engineer needs someone to weld sheet-metal assemblies in small batches, and both of them open the websites of the companies that might fit. The ones that make the list are those whose site answers the first questions: which processes, which materials, which quantities, which certificates, who is responsible. Anyone who only finds “quality for generations” and a contact form has nothing to go on for that selection. This article goes through the website of a medium-sized manufacturer from the buyer’s point of view: which question is asked, which page answers it and what exactly needs to be on that page. How visitors turn into enquiries in general is covered in turning website visitors into enquiries – this article is about the website for industrial companies, meaning suppliers, machine builders and contract manufacturers, and about the check that comes before the first enquiry.
Key takeaways
- In a survey of 645 B2B buyers, 67 percent (Gartner) prefer a purchase without contact to a sales rep. The website therefore carries the part of the check in which nobody from the company is present.
- Buyers use an average of seven information sources (Gartner) per purchase. Your own site only holds its ground if processes, tolerances, materials and batch sizes are stated concretely.
- Certificates belong on the site as PDFs with scope and expiry date. Googlebot reads the first 64 MB (Google Search Central) of a PDF file, yet the key data should also appear as text next to it.
- Machine builders who provide instructions for use digitally keep them online for at least ten years (Regulation (EU) 2023/1230). The regulation applies from 14 January 2027 (Regulation (EU) 2023/1230).
- Customer drawings are often trade secrets whose protection requires appropriate confidentiality measures (section 2 GeschGehG). An enquiry form with secure upload and a stated deletion period therefore belongs on the site.
- 45 percent (Gartner) of respondents used generative AI, mainly for information on vendors, and 69 percent (Gartner) validate such answers with sales. Website and sales team need to say the same thing.
What a buyer settles alone
The figures that show this shift most clearly come from a survey of 645 B2B buyers (Gartner), conducted by the research company Gartner from August to September 2025 and presented in May 2026. 67 percent (Gartner) of respondents prefer a purchase without contact to a sales rep, and 70 percent (Gartner) even prefer a completely digital, self-service purchase. The survey is international and not limited to industrial goods; for a contract manufacturer in the district of Hildesheim it is therefore not a measurement but a direction. For your own website, that direction means: the first selection happens on screen, and the first conversation is held with the companies that are still on the list afterwards.
The same survey shows how widely buyers search. In a recent purchase they used an average of seven information sources (Gartner), and 45 percent (Gartner) said they had used generative AI – mainly to gather information on vendors and products. Your own website is therefore one source among several and is read alongside directories, catalogues, recommendations and AI answers. Respondents do not rely blindly on what they find this way, though: 51 percent (Gartner) consider it more likely to encounter misleading information from generative AI, while 49 percent (Gartner) expect that more from a sales rep. Both routes are seen as error-prone – one more reason to keep the facts where the company maintains them itself.
For a manufacturer this leads to an uncomfortable but useful insight: the website does not have to persuade, it has to be verifiable. A buyer looking for a second supplier for a milled part does not want to read that a company is flexible, reliable and innovative. Such words appear on many sites and do not help with the selection. The buyer wants to know whether the part fits into the working envelope, whether the material is processed, whether the quantity suits the production and whether there is a certificate that their quality management requires. If the answers are there, the company goes on the list and receives an enquiry. If they are not, the buyer usually checks the next company instead of asking.
The website is the first supplier self-assessment
Which question which page answers
When checking a new supplier, purchasing follows an order that is fairly predictable. First feasibility, then quantity, then assurance, then the route to a quote. For each of these questions the website needs a place where the answer can be found without a detour – ideally a page of its own, at least a section of its own with a jump link. The following overview assigns the usual questions to the pages that answer them and states what should be there.
| Question from purchasing | Page that answers it | What should be there |
|---|---|---|
| Can they make my part? | Manufacturing or services | Processes, repeatably achieved tolerances, maximum part dimensions, surfaces |
| Do they process my material? | Materials | Material groups with examples, material certificates, purchased or supplied by the customer |
| Does my quantity fit? | Batch sizes | Range from sample to series, framework orders, call-offs |
| What do they make it on? | Machine list | Machine list with working envelope and axes, measuring equipment, photos from the shop floor |
| Is the company qualified? | Quality and certificates | Certificates as PDF with scope and validity, inspection methods |
| Does it fit technically? | Downloads | Data sheets, material lists, design guidelines, each with its version date |
| Who is responsible? | Contacts | Name, role, direct phone line and email address for each department |
| How do I get a quote? | Enquiry | Form with drawing upload and a note on what happens next |
| Do they deliver to us? | Location and logistics | Delivery radius, shipping methods, packaging, directions for collection |
Not every company needs every row as a separate page. A contract manufacturer with two processes can combine manufacturing, materials and batch sizes on one page; a machine builder with several product lines, on the other hand, needs one page per line with its own data sheets. What matters is that each question has exactly one place where it is answered and that the navigation names this place with the word purchasing is looking for: manufacturing, machine list, certificates, downloads, enquiry. Paraphrasing menu items such as “our world” or “competences” cost time at this point that a buyer with ten open tabs will not spend.
Manufacturing: processes, tolerances, materials and batch sizes
The manufacturing page decides whether a company makes the list, and on industrial websites it is often the thinnest one. It typically holds a paragraph about modern technology and long experience, plus a photo of a machine. Purchasing needs something else: one line per process stating what the company achieves repeatably. For turning and milling, these are the maximum part dimensions, the tightest tolerance held in series production and the surface quality. For sheet metal, they are sheet thicknesses per material, bending lengths and welding processes. The word repeatably matters: a figure that was only reached on a single sample part leads to enquiries the company cannot serve – and to a buyer who asks elsewhere next time.
Materials belong on the page as groups with examples: structural steels, stainless steels, aluminium alloys, engineering plastics, each with the grades that are processed regularly. Add whether material is purchased or supplied by the customer and whether material certificates are included. For batch sizes, an honest range helps more than any adjective. A company that prefers samples and small series should say so as clearly as one that only produces economically from larger series upwards. Both are pieces of information that save purchasing an enquiry that would not fit anyway – and save your own sales team a quote that cannot be won.
- One line per process: turning, milling, grinding, laser cutting, bending, welding, assembly – only what actually takes place in-house.
- Maximum part dimensions and weights per process, as they are actually possible on the existing machines.
- The tightest tolerance held repeatably in series production, with a note on how it is measured.
- Material groups with the grades processed regularly and whether material certificates are included.
- The batch size range in which the company produces economically, plus framework orders and call-offs.
- Outsourced steps such as hardening or coating, with a sentence on whether the company coordinates them for the customer.
The details are already in the company
Showing the machine list and measuring room
For purchasing, the machine list is proof of capacity. It shows whether a part fits into the working envelope, whether there are several machines of the same type in case one fails, and whether simultaneous machining, bar feeders or automation are available. It belongs on the page as a table with machine type, quantity, working envelope, axes and special features – as text, not as a scanned image, so that search engines and the browser’s translation function can read it. Just as important and often forgotten is the measuring room: which measuring equipment is available, is a first article inspection report produced, how are inspection records supplied? For a customer with their own quality management, this is often the question an enquiry depends on.
A list instead of a brochure
Machine type, quantity, working envelope, axes, special features – one line per machine group. Manufacturer names are secondary for purchasing, dimensions and capabilities are not. The list carries a date so that it is clear it is being maintained.
The measuring room as a section of its own
Measuring equipment, inspection scope, first article inspection report and how inspection records are supplied. For customers with strict quality management, this section often weighs more than the machine list itself.
Photos from your own shop floor
Pictures of the real machines, your own sample parts and the measuring room, each with a caption. Symbolic images from picture libraries mainly show purchasing that it will learn nothing about the company at this point.
The same applies to the pictures as to the list: real, current and captioned. A photo of your own shop floor with visible machines, clamped parts and a tidy measuring room tells a buyer more than any graphic – how such pictures are taken without looking like an advertising brochure is covered in real photos instead of stock images. Customer parts whose shape is confidential have no place in these photos; your own sample parts or neutralised parts show the manufacturing just as well. And when a machine has been sold, it disappears from the list the same day. A machine list showing a machine that is no longer there will be noticed at the latest during a supplier audit – and then not just this line is in question, but every other statement on the page.
Certificates and data sheets to download
Certificates do not belong in the footer as a logo but in a download area as a document. Purchasing needs the certificate itself, with certificate number, scope, site and validity date, because it files it in its supplier records. Next to each PDF there is therefore a line of text with standard, scope and expiry date, and the reminder list states who uploads the new document after the surveillance audit. An expired certificate on the website is not a detail to a buyer but an indication of how the company handles documents. How seals and marks are used in general is covered in trust signals on the website.
Data sheets, material lists and design guidelines belong in the same area, each with version date and version number in the file name and in the file itself. For search, the PDF is not an obstacle: according to the documentation, when crawling for Google Search, Googlebot reads the first 2 MB (Google Search Central) of a supported file type and the first 64 MB (Google Search Central) of a PDF file. A real text layer helps: the content is then available as text and does not first have to be recognised from the image of a scanned sheet. The most important key data should nevertheless also appear as text on the HTML page from which the PDF is linked, because that is where it is read on a smartphone, translated and can appear in AI answers. How the site as a whole is found in searches for processes and materials is the task of search engine optimisation.
For machine builders there is an additional obligation that turns the download area into a permanent part of the website. The EU Machinery Regulation allows the instructions for use to be provided in digital form (Article 10(7) Regulation (EU) 2023/1230). They must then be available in a format that the user can print, download and save on a device, and they must be accessible online during the expected lifetime of the machine and for at least ten years (Regulation (EU) 2023/1230) after it has been placed on the market. If the user requests a paper version at the time of purchase, it must be provided free of charge within one month (Regulation (EU) 2023/1230). For a digitally provided EU declaration of conformity, Article 10(8) sets the same minimum period. The regulation applies from 14 January 2027 (Regulation (EU) 2023/1230).
Download addresses must survive the relaunch
A question that often comes up in this context concerns accessibility. According to section 1(3), the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) applies to certain services provided to consumers after 28 June 2025 (BFSG), including services in electronic commerce. A company website aimed exclusively at business customers that does not offer contracts with consumers is usually not covered; anyone who also sells to private customers should check this separately – the article on the BFSG requirement for websites sorts out the cases. Regardless of that, readable contrasts, labelled tables and PDFs with a text layer help every buyer who opens a data sheet on the road or in a meeting.
Contacts per department and delivery radius
A shared mailbox and a switchboard are the slowest answer purchasing can get to the question of who is responsible. Industrial customers have different concerns, and each one has a different person in the company: the enquiry for a new part goes to sales, the question about the drawing to production planning, the complaint to quality, the question about the delivery date to scheduling. A contacts page with name, role, direct phone line and email address for each department saves the customer the forwarding and saves the company the search for who was actually called. A photo helps if the employees agree; what matters more is that the page is updated as soon as someone leaves.
- Sales and quotes: new parts, framework orders, price enquiries, supplier questionnaires
- Engineering and production planning: questions on drawing, material, tolerance and feasibility
- Quality: certificates, first article inspection report, inspection records, complaints
- Scheduling and shipping: delivery dates, call-offs, packaging, collection
- Your own purchasing: suppliers and service providers who want to introduce themselves
This includes the question of whether the company delivers to the customer at all. A delivery radius naming the regions served with the company’s own vehicles, a note on freight forwarding for longer distances, the packaging types and the option of collection with directions answer it without a phone call. For a supplier from the Hildesheim region serving customers between Hanover, Salzgitter and Göttingen, this is one line on the page – for a buyer from another federal state, it may be the decisive one. Anyone who also supplies customers abroad should offer the core pages in English as well; when this pays off is described in the article on the bilingual website.
The enquiry: a form with a drawing
At the end of the check comes the enquiry, and for a manufacturer it can hardly be costed without a drawing. A general contact form with name, email and message leads to enquiries where the drawing is sent later by separate email, to follow-up questions about quantity and material and to quotes that only come about after several phone calls. An enquiry form for industrial customers therefore asks for what costing needs: material, quantity per batch and annual demand, requested delivery date, surface and inspection requirements – and it accepts the drawing directly as a STEP or PDF file. How such a form is built so that it gets completed rather than abandoned is the subject of conversion optimisation.
With the drawing, the customer entrusts the company with something that is often a trade secret. According to section 2 no. 1 of the German Trade Secrets Act, information is only protected if it is the subject of appropriate confidentiality measures (section 2 GeschGehG) by its lawful holder, as the circumstances require. The buyer who sends a drawing therefore has to watch where it goes – a secure route on the supplier’s side takes this worry off their hands. An upload over an encrypted connection, storage with restricted access, a stated deletion period for enquiries that do not lead to an order and a note that a non-disclosure agreement can be concluded before the upload on request therefore belong directly next to the form. Why an upload is safer than an email attachment and how to set one up is explained in receiving documents securely.
Even without a secret, the form collects data. Where personal data are collected from the data subject, the controller must, under Article 13 (GDPR), provide them at the time of collection with, among other things, name and contact details, the purposes and the legal basis of the processing. For an enquiry form this means a short notice with a link to the privacy policy directly at the form, not just in the footer. Drawings often carry the names of designers and inspectors in the title block – they, too, are part of the data to which the stated deletion period applies.
| Enquiry route | What purchasing experiences | What arrives at the company |
|---|---|---|
| Email to the shared address | Uncertainty about who reads the enquiry and where the drawing ends up | Attachments in changing formats, quantity and material often missing |
| General contact form | One field for everything, no way to attach the drawing | Follow-up questions before any costing, the drawing arrives separately later |
| Enquiry form with upload | Clear required fields, secure upload, note on the deletion period | Enquiry ready for costing with drawing, material, quantity and date |
What happens after sending
Being found: search, AI answers and sales
For the check to begin at all, the company has to be found – in classic search for process and region and increasingly in AI answers as well. If 45 percent (Gartner) of the surveyed buyers use generative AI mainly to gather information on vendors and products, then these answers draw on what is available online about the company. A manufacturing page that states processes, materials, batch sizes and location in clear sentences is a good basis for this; a page made of images and buzzwords gives an AI little it can reproduce. How content is prepared for AI-assisted search is described in the article on visibility in AI search, and how location, contact and services are marked up in machine-readable form in the one on structured data.
The survey also shows the limit of self-service. 69 percent (Gartner) of buyers want to validate AI-generated insights with sales, and respondents consider misleading information possible on both routes. For a manufacturer, this results in a simple rule: website, data sheet and sales must say the same thing. If the site states a tolerance that the inside sales team qualifies on the phone, or a machine that is no longer there, both lose credibility. The website does not replace the conversation, it prepares it – and the more precise it is, the shorter and more concrete the first phone call becomes.
In which order to start
An industrial website does not have to be rebuilt in one go. If you revise the site along the questions of purchasing, you can proceed in stages and observe after each stage whether the enquiries become more complete. The following order makes sense because it starts with the details that decide whether a company makes the list and ends with those that need ongoing maintenance.
- Put the latest supplier self-assessment next to the website and list the gaps: processes, tolerances, materials, batch sizes.
- Rewrite the manufacturing page – one line per process with dimensions and repeatably achieved tolerance.
- Set up the enquiry form with required fields for material, quantity and date plus a secure drawing upload.
- Publish the machine list and measuring room as text with a date, together with real photos from your own shop floor.
- Create a download area for certificates and data sheets, each document with version date, validity and a fixed address.
- Add contacts per department and the delivery radius, then the most important pages in English.
- Set up a reminder list for certificates, machine list and contacts so that the site is correct whenever purchasing checks it.
An industrial website does not have to persuade, it has to be verifiable: every question from purchasing needs a place where the answer is found.
For suppliers, machine builders and contract manufacturers in the region, this work is less a question of design than a question of order. The information is usually already available in the company – in data sheets, the quality manual, self-assessments and the heads of production planning. The website’s task is to sort it so that a buyer finds it in the order in which they check. How we build websites for manufacturing companies is shown on the page web design for industry.
Sources and legal basis
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