Introduction:
Customer experience has gathered a lot of attention in recent years. Brands have recognized its importance in the customer journey and have come up with diverse ways to fulfill the expectation of their clients. In a report, Accenture states that “90 percent of B2B executives cite CX as a very important factor in achieving their organization’s strategic priorities.”
The process of customer experience starts with a focus on customer needs and wants, and also on the problems they might be facing which they may or may not be even aware of. That focus is difficult enough with individual customers, each with their own requirements or problems.
Today, brands are aiming at finding innovative ways to provide customers with what they want by focusing on customer-first cultures and strong relationships. FedEx which is one of the most trusted B2B company, believes in open communication with its customers. It has streamlined its communication to create a single customer-focused newsletter instead of multiple emails from different departments. This has helped the customers extensively in getting information in an accurate and simple way. Thus, resulting in better customer experience.
Another brand which gives importance to customer experience is Slack. From the company’s early days, it has relied on customer feedback to fine-tune the service. When customers asked for emojis, Slack delivered an extensive options to choose from. The company’s customer experience is built on real, human communication.
Characteristics of B2B industry:
1. B2B experience is more personal in nature
In B2B industry, it is observed that the relationship between brands and clients are generally personal in nature. Factors like trust, customer experience, customer relationship and reliability plays a major role in establishing a long term relationship between them. For example: During a software implementation process, a brand may work with the same team at business for a long time. The experience that a brand goes through may contribute largely in future decision making. In most of the cases, it will have a positive or negative impact in future collaborations.
2. High expectations of customers
Gone are the days when businesses had the option of only one-size-fits-all solutions. Today, brands are in a better position to provide their clients with personalized recommendations based on their needs and budget. In this digitized world, when B2B buyers have access to endless information and choice, personalization is a necessity to stand out in the competition and reach out to its customers effectively.
3. Complex buying patterns of the customers
A B2B company’s customers and their buying patterns are complex in nature. With educated buyers, multiple decision makers and increasing expectations, it becomes a challenge for a B2B company to differentiate itself from others in the industry. It requires well thought strategies to make its own space in the competition via customer experience.
For example: If a B2B buyer collaborates with a brand, there will be numerous stakeholders in the decision making process right from the technical team, CEO/CFO to the legal team who looks after the various aspects of association and, accordingly, are responsible for decision making that falls under their domain. It is important to provide a great and consistent experience to all the stakeholders for successful conversion of leads and maintaining them. The business typically has to undertake a complex mapping exercise. Such a plurality of stakeholders also creates complex buying behaviors.
4. Longer sales cycle
The purchase cycle in B2B is longer as compared to B2C. It is the strength of the relationship with the buyer and the level of fulfillment of meeting their expectations that determines how soon or smooth a business is able to convert a prospect into a client. Here, CX plays a crucial role in ascertaining a strong relationship.
Ways for B2B brands to improve the customer experience:
1. Customer centricity
Commitment of a business to meet the buy’s expectations wherever feasible will take it a long way. We can say that it is a mantra to success of every brand. The motto of the company should be customer centricity. If all the employees share a common goal of customer centricity with 100% commitment to the customer experience across the organization, there is no looking back.
2. Understanding and delivering on customer needs
Understanding and delivering on customer needs is vital to customer satisfaction. With the needs of the buyers changing rapidly, and their expectation from the brands increasing, it becomes a challenge for the business to find ways to meet them. One of the ways of meeting their expectation is through raising their standards of customer experience. It is equally important for companies to not only understand their customers’ needs and behaviors, but also to display empathy, especially when customers report issues.
3. Responsiveness
Timely response, speedy delivery and fast problem resolution have become the new standard in today’s world. Companies that are able to provide these are in a better position to beat others in the completion. On-time responsiveness opens the door for a superior and memorable customer experience. Brands, now a days, have a 24/7 support team to attend to their client’s queries and grievances. This reflects a positive customer experience.
4. Hassle-free experience
In B2B space, one of the biggest driver of success is hassle-free experience that brands provides to its buyers. Brand loyalty and satisfaction automatically comes if the buyer experiences a seamless experience not only in the sales journey but also in the post sales period. For instance, If a buyer shows interest to do a trail run before purchasing the product, they should be in a position to experience it seamlessly. This encourages the buyer to take a rational decision.
5. Transparency in customer journey
Transparency in communication across customer journey is key to ensuring a great customer experience. In B2B, post-sales interactions are equally important as pre-sales engagement. For instance, if the brands makes it a practice to update its client about the workflow, delivery milestones, discrepancies or concerns that may arise on the way, etc. it opens room for transparency and a great customer experience.
Feedbacks from clients helps to bridge the gap and match client’s expectations thus, resulting in better customer experience. Feedback when done right has paved way for better performance in the industry and helped to understand the actual problems faced by client and find ways to resolve accordingly.
6. Connecting online
With digitalization, businesses are paying attention to online channels like company website, social media handles to connect with their clients and engage with them. Posting updates about relevant topics about the brand on a regular basis is helping them to update clients and engage with them better.
Chat bots and Live chats are another ways to connect with customers 24/7. By using chat bot and live chat on the website, businesses can help its customers find answers to their problems in real time.
A study by the American Marketing Association found that companies using live chat witnessed a 20% increase in conversions as compared to companies who don’t.
Conclusion:
Thus, we can conclude that a B2B customer experience strategy is crucial for companies who wish to stand out in the competition. The foundation of B2B customer experience excellence is a commitment to putting the customer at the core of what the company does, how it does it, and ultimately why it does it.
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