If you think that “customer centricity” doesn’t matter for B2B businesses, then you are missing out on crucial opportunities for growth and development. Here are a few reports that reinforce this point:
- By the year 2020, customer experience in B2B businesses will overtake product and price as the main differentiator.
- A moderate increase in customer experience can significantly boost revenues. For instance, a company with $1 billion in annual revenues can see a substantial increase in average revenue by $823 million with improved customer experience.
- 23% of B2B CMOs look at improving customer experience as one of their top three objectives.
With that said, only 12% of B2B marketers consider themselves as “effective” in delivering a compelling customer experience.
Why should B2B businesses migrate to a customer-centric approach?
In today’s digital world, customer experience is crucial. The B2B landscape is rapidly changing. Apart from product price and quality, B2B customers are looking for enhanced CX (Customer Experience). With increasing competition in the B2B market space, today’s customers are likely to shift their loyalties if they don’t get the service they require.
Here are a few points to keep in mind to deliver customer-centric marketing in B2B
1. Know Your Buyers
To provide your customers with enhanced and quality customer experience, you should first understand who you are working with. The sad truth is that today’s B2B customers are hesitant to interact with B2B salespersons.
As per a Forrester report, 59% of B2B buyers state that they prefer conducting sales research online, instead of dealing with a sales rep. This is because they feel that the reps are more likely to push their own agenda, instead of trying to solve the customer’s problems.
Hence, it’s imperative that you understand the unique needs of each B2B buyer to offer them an enhanced CX. Make use of the latest data analysis tools to know more about your customers. Learn the critical factors like – the industry of the customer, their geographic focus, their point in the sales funnel, and what problems are they looking to solve.
By understanding your customer’s goals and objectives, you are likely to provide a successful customer experience that delivers and converts.
2. Build a Customer-Centric Vision from Top-down
You can score on CX at all points of customer interaction. Right from initial sales calls to delivering the product, everything is part of the customer experience.Create a customer-centric approach for your entire business. Every interaction the customer has with your business should be positive and make them feel valued.
Excellent customer experience doesn’t happen by accident. It’s intentional and takes effort. Empower your employees to deliver an enhanced customer experience at all interactions with the customer.
3. Deliver Personalised Experiences
Just like B2C customers don’t want to be sold the same thing like everyone else, B2B customers hate businesses that push “one-size-fits-all” solutions.With increased competition in the B2B market space, an easy but efficient way for your B2B business to stand out is by – offering personalised services.
Personalisation should occur at all stages in the customer journey. From establishing customer information to offering them the best product recommendations, customisation must be at the focus at all times.
4. Embrace New Technology
Today’s B2B customers are highly tech-savvy and roughly more than 73% of B2B buyers today are millennials or digital natives who start their company’s purchase by searching the internet. It’s essential for B2B businesses to modernise their marketing by using the latest technologies like AI, machine learning, big data and more. This helps you gain a competitive advantage over your peers.
Using chatbots to interact with customers is a great way to ensure that customers receive the relevant and required information instantly. Work on building your database to offer customers tailored product and service recommendations.
The possibilities of integrating new technologies in B2B marketing to deliver customer-centric experiences are endless. Keep a pulse on new technology and stay ahead of the curve.
5. Offer a Consistent Experience
The backbone of delivering a delightful B2B customer experience is consistency. Consistency is not repeating the same thing over and over again in all your marketing campaigns. Instead, consistency is about delivering a uniform CX at every point in the customer journey. Consistency helps B2B customers recognise and connect with your brand.
It’s Time for B2B Marketers to BecomeCustomer-Centric
B2B marketing today is at crossroads and is rapidly evolving. As a B2B business, it’s essential that you take the right steps on delivering positive customer experience, and focus on becoming a customer-centric organisation, to stay ahead of the curve in 2019 and beyond.
